CASIOTONE CS-T300

Trouble with Synthesia, your keyboard, or adapter? Think you found a bug?
When describing problems, always mention your OS and game version (shown at the bottom of the title screen).

If your keyboard has USB or MIDI ports, there is a tremendously high chance (>99%) it will work with Synthesia. See what you'll need on the keyboards page.
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Msiqueira9
Posts: 5

Post by Msiqueira9 »

Hi there,
From my android tablet I used to be able to change the sound of my keyboard using Synthesia, I recently had to format my table and now I am not being able to change the sound of the keyboard anymore. I have tried almost all the configs that I can see on my screen but still not being able to change the sound. If I use the keyboard on the screen it plays the sound of the selected instrument but if I use the actual keyboard. Any idea what I need to do to be able to change the sound again?
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

This sounds more like a setting that may have changed on your keyboard than anything going on inside Synthesia.

If the built-in synth is able to play different instruments, that means the app is sending the "program change" messages correctly. Do you remember changing anything on your CS-T300 recently?
Msiqueira9
Posts: 5

Post by Msiqueira9 »

Hi thanks for the reply, we didnt change anything on the keyboard just formatted the tablet. I am pretty sure that it is a setting thing on the app that we are getting wrong
Msiqueira9
Posts: 5

Post by Msiqueira9 »

Anything wrong that you could see in the picure?
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Bavi_H
Posts: 116

Post by Bavi_H »

Here are some possible ideas:

In the Synthesia Music Output page for "CASIO - CASIO USB-MIDI", try turning on "Prevent local notes".

In the Casio CT-S300 function menu, try setting "Local Control" to "Off".


Here are the Casio CT-S300 manuals. After reading through the manuals, especially the MIDI Implementation document, my understanding is the following:
Spoiler:
MIDI messages are tagged with a channel number from 1 to 16. In the Casio CT-S300, the keyboard can be set to send MIDI messages with any MIDI channel from 1 to 16.

In the Casio CT-S300, the sound generator has 32 channels organized in two groups of 16 channels each: Group A consists of channels A1 to A16 and Group B consists of channels B1 to B16.
  • The keyboard always controls sound generator channel A1, no matter what MIDI channel it is set to send MIDI messages for.

    MIDI messages coming in to the Casio CT-S300 always control the sound generator Group B channels.
If your Casio CT-S300 is set for a piano sound and Synthesia is set for a violin sound, then when you play a key on the keyboard, I think you would hear both sounds on your Casio CT-S300:
  • The keyboard would send a note to sound generator channel A1 that makes a piano sound.

    Synthesia would a note that goes to a sound generator B channel that makes a violin sound.
Using the "Local Off" setting on the keyboard will turn off the channel A1 sounds and then you would only hear the group B sounds coming from Synthesia.

Synthesia can send a "Local Off" message to the keyboard if you turn on the "Prevent local notes" setting in Synthesia. However, the MIDI Implementation Chart at the end of the Casio CT-S300 User's Guide says it doesn't respond to Local On/Off messages. If the manual is wrong and it actually does obey Local On/Off messages, maybe Synthesia's "Prevent local notes" setting was previously turned on before you reformatted your tablet?
Msiqueira9
Posts: 5

Post by Msiqueira9 »

Hi Bavi, thanks for the help, I did try your suggestions and it seems to work, the only issue is that the volume coming out of the keyboard is very very low now like with most instruments you need to put your ear close to the speakers, any ideas suggestions?
Bavi_H
Posts: 116

Post by Bavi_H »

Here are some ideas.

Try the following settings to start with:

In Synthesia's Music Input page for "CASIO - CASIO USB-MIDI", set the "Volume Scale" to 100%.
In Synthesia's Music Output page for "CASIO - CASIO USB-MIDI", set the "Volume Scale" to 100%.
In the Casio CT-S300 function menu, set "Touch Response" to "Normal".
In the Casio CT-S300 function menu, set "MIDI Out Velocity" to "Off".
Use the Casio CT-S300 VOLUME + and - buttons to make sure the current volume isn't too low.
In the Casio CT-S300 function menu, make sure the "Power On Volume" isn't too low.


If that still doesn't sound right, try the following steps until you find something that sounds okay to you.

The Casio CT-S300 has touch sensitive keys. If you press keys lightly the sound will be soft, if you press harder, the sound will be louder. If it feels like you have to press too hard to get loud sounds, you can adjust the sensitivity so that you don't need to press as hard to get a loud sound. In the Casio CT-S300 function menu, set "Touch Response" to "Light" (In the User's Guide, see printed page EN-11, PDF page 12).

Alternatively, you can leave the Casio's "Touch Response" on "Normal" and try increasing Synthesia's Music Output "Volume Scale" above 100% until you find something that sounds right. Note that once you get Synthesia's "Volume Scale" to 200%, Synthesia will always send MIDI notes with a maximum volume that's not based on how hard you press the key.

If you don't like touch sensitivity, you can set the Casio's "Touch Response" to "Off" and set Synthesia's Music Output "Volume Scale" to 100%. The sounds will always be one volume no matter how light or hard you press the keys. Then you can try increasing Syntheia's "Volume Scale" higher or lower if desired.

Alternatively, I think another way to disable the touch sensitivity is to set the Casio's "MIDI Out Velocity" to 100 and set Synthesia's Music Output "Volume Scale" to 100%. Then try changing the Casio's "MIDI Out Velocity" higher or lower until you find something that sounds right to you.


[Note: The Casio CT-S300 User's Guide says the "MIDI Out Velocity" setting "specifies the velocity of the note on message for MIDI Out" (printed page EN-34, PDF page 35), but it doesn't say what changing this setting to "Off" means. (A MIDI Note On message must always have a velocity number from 1 to 127, it's impossible to turn it "off".) I guess the "Off" setting means the Casio CT-S300 will vary the velocity number based on how hard you press the key, and a setting from 1 to 127 means it will send a constant velocity number that's not based on how hard you press the key.]
Msiqueira9
Posts: 5

Post by Msiqueira9 »

Thank you so much for your time and help, I changed the volume to 200% and now everything is fine again.
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