Yamaha styles
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The engine is able to read all Yamaha style files (.sty, .prs, .bcs, .sst, at SFF1 or SFF2 format). You can find some style files on the web, most of them for free. Visit the page for useful links.
Yamaha styles usually have 4 variations Main A, Main B, Main C, Main D, plus some Intros and Endings.
Most of the time the variations have the following organisation:
Intro A: 1-bar drums-only intro
Intro B: 2-bar intro with a fixed chord sequence (i.e. your intro should contain only one initial chord to set the key)
Intro C: same than B but with 4 bars
Main A-D: the 4 main style variations, from lighter to heavier
Ending A: 1-bar ending with a final chord on 1st beat
Ending B: 2-bar ending with a fixed chord sequence (i.e. your ending should contain only one initial chord to set the key)
Ending C: same than B but with 4 bars
You will also find Fill In AA, Fill In BB, Fill In CC, Fill In DD, Fill In BA variations, which correspond to 1-bar transitions, usually with a drums fill or break. You normally don't have to use them directly because JJazzLab does it automatically at the end of each section, depending on the value of the drums Fill rhythm parameter.
Each variation can use tracks of the following types:
Rhythm (e.g. drums)
Sub-rhythm (e.g. percussion)
Bass
Chord1 (e.g. guitar)
Chord2 (e.g. keyboard)
Pad (e.g. strings)
Phrase1 (e.g. Brass)
Phrase2
Yamaha style files are optimized for Yamaha arranger keyboards. The latest models (Tyros, Genos…) has many voices with special features (e.g "Mega Voices"), especially for guitars which are optimized for style rendering.
Other keyboards or synths can’t reproduce these special voices correctly. That’s why some recent Yamaha style files (SFF2 format) may not sound right with JJazzLab. If this happens locate the faulty channels using the Solo button in the MixConsole, and lower their volume or mute them.
JJazzLab is designed to host any kind of rhythm generation engines, and they must work with any kind of output synth, not only the Yamaha keyboards. Therefore some specific Yamaha style file features are not supported:
SysEx Midi messages: ignored.
Controller messages: ignored.
Per-variation sounds: ignored, YamJJazz uses the style’s default sounds for all variations.
Yamaha Mega Voices : non musical notes or sound effects (notes above C6) are ignored.
Pitch bend Midi messages : ignored.
OTS and MDB sections: ignored.