Here is the first instalment of a series of basic instructions for making a style from scratch. It should be applicable to all recent Yamaha arranger keyboards as I believe the buttons are the same.
For the purpose of this lesson I'm going to assume that we want a 4/4 beat at a tempo of 120.
Go to [DIGITAL RECORDING/STYLE CREATOR] and press [BUTTON C - NEW STYLE] The default is Main A, Pattern length 1, tempo 120, Beat 4/4.
At this point you can adjust those values using [BUTTONS A,B,3 & 5]. For this style we'll change the pattern length to 4 - this means we will record a loop of 4 measures. Press [EXECUTE] and [SAVE]. This takes you to the [USER] section where you can save as a 'new style' or rename to one of your choice. Press [EXIT] to return to Style Creator.
Press [BUTTON F - REC CH] you will notice that along the bottom of the screen are the 8 style channels with ch 10 [RHY 2] set to [REC], all others should be [OFF]. Select Metronome [ON].
Press [PERC/DRUM KIT] in the [VOICE] section and select the drum kit you wish to use. Press [EXIT] to return to Style Creator.
The [MAIN A] button should now be lit, you can practice playing various drums now as each key soundsa different drum. Let us have selected Standard Kit 2 . The bass drum, which is the one we want to lay down first is C1. Practice the timing of the hit and when you are happy with it and want to record press [SYNCH START] and hit C1 in time with the metronome ticks at 4 beats to the bar. Don't worry about getting it dead on the beat as I'll show you how to correct any mistakes.
At the end of 4 measures press [STOP]. Remember that this recording is 'overdubbing' therefore it will continue to add hits and you can end up with a muddle. You have now recorded the bass drum for the 4 measures of Main A.
At this point it is as well to correct any mistakes in timing (unless of course you want them so that it 'humanizes' the rhythm) so we now tab over to [EDIT].
You will now see the rhythm channel in a 'list view' with all the events in chronological order starting with the channel data like which drum kit, reverb setting, volume,pan etc then further down there are the drum events themselves.
The first 3 columns are the important ones for the purpose of correcting timings and the are MEASURE:BEAT:TICK , There are 1920 ticks per beat.
Using [BUTTON B] scroll down to the bass drum C1 entries and you may find the following values in the 3 colums

001:1:0000
001:2:0045
001:2:1910
001:4:0121

this would indicate that in the first measure the first beat was on time, the second beat was 45 ticks late, the third beat was 10 ticks early and the fourth beat was 121 beats late. The other 3 measures may have similar values.
You can adjust the values by highlighting the value using [BUTTONS A or B ] to scroll down and [BUTTONS C or D] to scroll across, and using the [DATA ENTRY] wheel or[BUTTONS 4 & 5] adjust so that the 3rd column (ticks) value is 0000.
The columns should now read

001:1:0000
001:2:0000
001:3:0000
001:4:0000

Now do the same to the next measures so the second measure would read

002:1:0000
002:2:0000
002:3:0000
002:4:0000
etc.
You can also remove any duplicated notes or mis-hit notes by highlighting the line and pressing [BUTTON 7 - DELETE]
You have now recorded the bass drum so press [SAVE]

Lets say you now want to add a High Hat eg. F#1. Tab back to the [BASIC] page and press [REC CH] the RHY 2 channel may already be still on REC. Press [SYNCH START] and play the F#1 note on the half beat ie 8 to a measure (bar). You will hear the previously recorded bass drum playing while you do this. Press [STOP] after the 4 measures, Tab to [EDIT] , you will now see that the High Hat F#1 has been inserted into the list view and the first measure should be at the following ;

001:1:0000
001:1:0960
001:2:0000
001:2:0960
001:3:0000
001:3:0960
001:4:0000
001:4:0960

if they aren't then adjust as above and repeat for the other 3 measures.

Repeat the above for adding eg. snare drum, ride cymbal, tom toms etc but remember after you've got each added drum right - SAVE
Experiment by inserting double bass drum beats , drum arpeggios etc - if you don't like them don't save them - you still have the original.

You can now transfer this drum channel to the other 3 variations using the [ASSEMBLY] function as described in a previous thread and then you can select each variation in turn and add further drum beats to effect the variation. Just select [CH REC] as before and add your drum beats while the original is playing as described above. Then you can record the Intros and Endings in a way which makes the style song specific if you want - and don't forget the fill-ins!

This should enable you to record a basic style from scratch - it is then down to your imagination to experiment with the style creation but if you have any questions or there's something I haven't explained clearly enough on the above feel free to ask.

The midi is an example of a drum channel which I will add to with other parts as we go along

Here's the second part - adding the Bass

The procedure is the same as before but instead of choosing a set of drums you chose which bass voice you want, in this case it was Electric Bass.

Go to [DIGITAL RECORDING/STYLE CREATOR] after you have loaded your style file.
Press [BUTTON F - REC CH] and at the same time press [BUTTON 3] and check that [REC] comes on the bass channel icon.
As before select [SYNCH START] , turn on the metronome and play the bass notes whilst listening to the drums. after the 4 measures press [STOP]
You can then tab to [EDIT] if you need to correct any mistakes.
I've added the bass to the drum midi above

Ok having got the bass and drums down we can add other bits - this time it's a chord.
Proceed as before but this time select eg. a guitar. and record it as previously described but pressing the [CHRD1]
Play your chord whilst listening to the bass and drums
I've added a guitar chord (well a couple actually) to the previous midi

Now we add the first phrase [PHR1] to the previous recording.
Exactly as before - I shouldn't have to repeat the procedure.
Select a suitable voice - this one was called Crying Lead and here's the midi

Now we add a bit of a choral voice for PHR2 - an Uuh Choir
Same procedure as before and here's the style with it added

To add the finishing touch I've added some Tom Toms in RHY1
so here's the final product.
I then added an Intro using the same methods

So there we are - forming a style from scratch
This is Main A plus a brief Intro - now you can do the other intros, an ending and the other 3 variations because here we have the basics which can be manipulated and assembled to form a complete style.
The best part of doing it yourself is that you can edit every part - unlike Yamaha styles where you can only edit RHY1 and RHY2 - something to do with copyright (you can't copyright the drums apparently.)

I would download the midi and play it on your keyboard - it'll sound crap on the computer and voices which are incorporated will be substituted by your keyboard if it doesn't recognise them

Have a go-------it's a P-of P

Another great resource from you Spike. I hope the members appreciate the time and effort involved.



Paul

Just a PS to the above....don't forget you can record parts to CHRD2 and PAD also and when you have recorded all the parts for the style you can edit them in Style Creator or Mixing Console - if you do it with the latter then for the changes to take effect you must go Style Creator to save those changes (you can't save in Mixing Console)

Hi Spike, Well you certainly put a lot of effort into this, all looks very complcated to me,trouble is Eileen put's so many lovely styles on box.net, she makes one lazy, I must have thousands of them by now, anyway thanks for the mammoth effort...Pam

Thanks Pam - it's nice to get some reaction from yourself and Paul - currently 88 views so obviously 86 people can't be bothered or don't find it sufficiently interesting.
I don't know whether Eileen assembles the styles or converts them from other formats, maybe she does some from scratch too - she's certainly clever enough.
Cheers
Spike