Roland FP-30: Access to "hidden sounds"

Kawai keyboards have similar sounds accesible by MIDI, as stated on their user manual, it has been discussed on pianoworld forum. By the way Piano Man Chuck once showed it. I didn't know there was a software to explore those sounds

I am so grateful to have discovered this thread. The feature enhances the FP-30 in ways I could have never imagined.

My goal is to record a drum track that I can play back from my keyboard live. So far, I've been unable to record (or play back for that matter) the drum sounds I am able to produce thanks to your amazing software. I have tried recording to the keyboard itself and to a FP-30-compatible USB drive, but no sound is emitted from the keyboard when I try and play it back. It doesn't change when I disable the midi in/midi out function.

Any ideas on how to record and play back the hidden sounds directly onto the keyboard or a USB drive?

@quinncummings

The only (unsatisfying) solution i can come up with is to put your drumtrack in wav-format on a thumbdrive and play it back on the FP-30 for accompaniment.

Unfortunately the developer seems to have deleted his YouTube channel (Yummy Mudcake).
All of his tutorials about the editor are gone.
When the channel was still there he was quite active and answered questions almost immediately.

His Blogspot page still exists, his last post was in may 21.

Try to contact him via blogspot, his email adress is also there.

Zaskar

Oh no, it was such a neat project!

@dv
I dont' know if all the Yamahas have hidden settings but most of them do i guess.
Since most pianos have a GM chip built-in in order to play back multi-instrument midi files it's "only" a matter of how to access it.

If i just wanted to find out if my piano has "hidden sounds" i'd prepare and play back a midi file with a distinctive general midi instrument which is not in the normal preset list of the piano model. For example GM sound 125 (telephone ring).

Then i'd try to find a midi reference for the particular piano model and work my way through.
If there's the right bank change (MSB/LSB) listed, you should be able to access the sounds with a DAW.
In case of Yamaha, even the XG sounds should be accessible.

I don't know if it's worth the hassle though, for those GM sounds, even XG sounds, aren't of good quality for modern standards imo.

Maybe picman was removed by a hitman named Roland? :-\

@BarbaraRB
This is an old thread about an inofficial PC software written to grant access to the GM chip of the FP-30.
The GM sounds normally couldn't be accessed. Neither directly on the piano nor with the official apps.

"Piano Every Day" and the newer "Roland Piano App" are not compatible with the older FP-30, just the newer FP-30X.
The FP-30 is not on the list of compatible Pianos and the apps fail to connect with the FP-30 if you try.

However there is an app called "Piano Partner 2" but it's not able to use the onboard "General Midi" sounds.
In my opinion Roland did not intend them to be used as playable instruments because they sound bad compared to their "SuperNATURAL" sounds. They are just there to provide some crude instrument selection if you play back a midi file with anything other than a piano instrument in it i guess.

In the manual of the newer FP-30X the GM sounds aren't even mentioned but in the midi implementation chart they are listed.
I'm curious if Roland actually made it possible to use these sounds with their latest iteration of the app like you said.
If so i'd immediately dial in GM sound 127 (Applause).

Rolands apps are cluttered, clunky and buggy. They put out new messy apps instead of fixing the old ones. The reviews of those apps are bad. Piano Partner 2 only works on one of my 4 android devices even though they all fulfill the requirements. It's sheer luck to get it connected. The compulsion to be online and the audacity to charge in app purchases makes the apps even worse. Roland wants to appeal to a younger audience in making their pianos "smart" i think. It's a gimmick.

I'm glad you said you couldn't connect. After the first time I logged in it didn't recognize me. Then, when I tried to resubscribe, it said the account already exists! But it didn't recognize me. So crazy. However, I don't need it, especially with Pianoteq.

The only thing I wish I could do is reassign the center pedal to turn pages on my tablet. I haven't been able to do that using the manual, and the app did let me do that easily. I don't want to get a new device, like an Air Turn. So I just turn pages with my finger. I'm not a concert performer amyway.