What is a Technics Song?
On this website you will often see us discussing Songs (note the capital 'S'). We try to consistently use the naming conventions that Technics used in the manuals for the keyboards. At least, I do my best to do so!
When using these terms I try to use capitals. Some examples of terms used in the manuals (or terms that are in general use when talking about the files used by Technics keyboards) are:
- Song
- Composer
- Custom
- Single Custom
- Sequencer
- and many more
In due course I'll provide a glossary of terms so that you can understand them well. For now we need to concentrate on the Technics 'Song' because it is fundamentally important to understand this term in order to use the files available on this website. I'll use files that you can find on this site as examples.
One File or Many Files?
A Song can consist of many files or a single file. A Song usually has about five or six files. It is different to a musical song in the sense that you would usually understand.
So, think of a Song as a cluster of files. Each of the files contains a set of instructions that the keyboard can understand.
Here are three examples of Technics Songs:
Song Example 1
This Song is from Styles Series Y1. It is the ninth Song in the first folder.
What you need to notice, for now, is that each file in the Song has eight identical characters, starting with two digits.
If I want to LOAD this Song on my keyboard I have to copy all six files onto my SD Card or Floppy Disk. The keyboard will recognise these six files to be a Song called 0908BTMO (That's what you will see on the keyboard's screen).
We won't worry about what the individual files are for now. If I LOAD the Song the keyboard will recognise it as a Composer Rhythm called 8BeatModern along with some other settings such as the tempo and Panel Memories.
[Edit 1st March 2017] More information about LOADing Songs is added at the end of this article.
Song Example 2
This Song is the first file from the Movie Production Sounds series.
Notice that it has eight characters, starting with two digits.
If I want to LOAD this Song on my keyboard I have to copy this file onto my SD Card or Floppy Disk. The keyboard will recognise this file to be a Song called 01K7SND1 (That's what you will see on the keyboard's screen).
If I LOAD the Song, the keyboard will recognise that it contains 40 Sounds and will load them into the Memory Sound Group.
Song Example 3
This Song is a Composer Rhythm called Dreamy Organ. Again, notice that each file starts with two digits and has eight identical characters.
Summary: What is a Song?
- A Song is a file (or a set of files) that will LOAD into the keyboard to set it up in various ways.
- All of the files in a Song are named the same.
- I need to copy ALL of the files in a Song to my SD Card or Floppy Disk in order to transfer the Song to my keyboard.
LOADing Technics Songs
To LOAD from a Floppy Disk, press and Hold the DISK button.
To LOAD from SD Card, press and Hold the SD button.
To transfer files to SD Card on your computer you must either use our special Drag N Drop files that have been prepared for that purpose (they will replace the files that are already on the SD Card, if any), or, you must transfer them to the SD Card using a program such as KN-SDExplorer. More information about transferring files to Floppy and SD Card is available on the Help Menu.