Korg SP-500 - Manuals

7 Introduction Introduction Thank you for purchasing the Korg SP-500 digital piano.In order to enjoy this instrument to its fullest potential, please read this owner ’s manual care-fully and use the instrument as directed. 1. Before you begin Please read the sections entitled “Precautions” on p.ii o...

8 3. Main features Grand piano-like touch The SP-500 features an RH2 (Real Weighted Hammer Action 2) keyboard, which pro-vides a differing key weight in each of four keyboard ranges, just as on a grand piano. Diverse sounds Use the keyboard to play 412 different sounds (including 16 drum kits) produ...

9 Introduction Touch control Playing touch is a vital aspect of a piano’s response, and you can choose from six differ-ent touch settings. This allows the SP-500 to be played by anyone from children (who tend to have a lighter touch) to experienced pianists.You can also select a setting in which pla...

10 4. Panel layouts Front panel 1. Operating panel For the names of each switch, refer to p.12 “Operating panel.” 2. [ACC VOLUME] (accompaniment volume) slider When using automatic accompaniment or when playing the demo songs, this slider adjusts the volume of the sounds that are not being played fr...

11 Introduction Rear panel 1. AC 9V connector Connect the included AC/AC power supply here. ( ☞ p.14) 2. [POWER] switch This switch turns the power on or off. Each time you press it, the power will be switched on or off. ( ☞ p.14) 3. ASSIGNABLE SWITCH jack The included pedal or a separately sold DS-...

12 Operating panel 1. [DEMO] switch ☞ p.19 2. [HELP] switch ☞ p.17 3. [ACC] (accompaniment) switch ☞ p.37 4. [SMALL ACC] switch ☞ p.45 5. [ACC RESET] switch ☞ p.38 6. [RHYTHM STYLE GROUP] ☞ p.38 7. [FILL 1, 2] switches ☞ p.44 8. [INTRO/ENDING 1, 2] switches ☞ p.43 9. [ENSEMBLE] switch ☞ p.42 10. [SI...

13 Introduction Preparations for playing 1. Before you turn on the power Before you turn on the power, connect the included pedal and your powered monitor speaker/audio system (sold separately). Connections When using headphones Connect the plug (stereo mini plug) of your headphones to one of the he...

14 Using the music stand To use the music stand, insert it into the two holes located on the rear panel. Turning the power on 1 Connect the AC/AC power supply Insert the round connector of the AC/AC power adaptor into the AC9V jack located on the rear of the SP-500.Connect the plug of the AC/AC powe...

15 Introduction Basic operation 1. LCD screen Items in the LCD screen The LCD screen of the SP-500 features the Touch View system that uses a one touch-panel.By directly touching buttons or cells (referred to as “objects”) that are displayed in the LCD screen, you can directly select pages, set valu...

16 The main page This is the page that is displayed when the power is turned on.Most of the time, you will be playing the SP-500 in this main page. Noise may appear in the LCD screen when the power is turned on or off, but this is not a malfunction. 2. Operating panel [PAGE √ , ® ] switches If the L...

17 Introduction 3. Help function By using the Help function, you can view a simple explanation of the SP-500’s functions in the LCD screen. 1 Press the [HELP] switch The [HELP] switch indicator will light, and the LCD screen will show a list of the Help items. 2 Select the language for display The c...

18 4 Move through the pages Press the [PAGE ® ] switch to advance to the next page. Press the [PAGE √ ] switch to return to the previous page. To view another item Press the [EXIT] switch. You will return to the list of Help items. 5 To exit Help Press the [HELP] switch to turn off the indicator, an...

19 Demo playback Demo playback 1. Listening to the demo The SP-500 contains twenty-fourth piano demo songs, nine style demo songs, and nine sound demo songs. Listen to these demo performances to get an introduction to the rich sounds of the SP-500 and their expressive potential. To listen to the dem...

20 4 Start demo playback Press the RECORDER [PLAY/STOP] switch. If the [ACC VOLUME] slider is set to 0, you will not be able to hear the demo perfor-mance. Use the [ACC VOLUME] slider and [MASTER VOLUME] slider to adjust the volume. Stopping the demo performance To stop the performance, press the [P...

21 Demo playback 2. Practicing along with a demo song If the “Demo Group” radio button “Piano” is selected, you can use the following functions to practice playing along with the song. Practicing right hand and left hand separately For the piano demo songs, you can select either the right or left ha...

23 Playing the SP-500 Playing the SP-500 1. Playing a sound First let’s turn on the power and play the keyboard to produce sound. Turing the power on As described in the connection procedure on p.14, connect the AC/AC power supply, head-phones, and pedal. Then turn on the power of the SP-500. 1 Turn...

24 2. Selecting sounds The 412 sounds of the SP-500 are organized into ten groups.Each of the sounds stored in these groups is called a Program. Changing sounds 1 Select the program group Press the [DISPLAY HOLD] switch to turn on the DISPLAY HOLD function. Then press one of the [PROGRAM GROUP] swit...

25 Playing the SP-500 Selecting percussion instrument sounds You can play percussion instrument sounds from the keyboard. 1 Press the PROGRAM GROUP [PERCUSSION] switch 2 Select a program If you select one of the programs ending with the word “kit” - (“GM kit 1”–“SFX kit”) on page “5/6,” a different ...

26 3. Combining sounds Layer function (play two sounds together) This allows you to combine two programs to be played together when you play a single note. This is called the Layer function. 1 Press the [LAYER] switch The [LAYER] switch indicator will light, and the “Layer” page will appear. 2 Selec...

29 Playing the SP-500 4. Applying effects to a sound Depending on the program that you select, it may be difficult to hear the reverb or chorus (effects). If you have selected a drum kit, the effect will not apply even if you press the [CHORUS etc.] switch. Adding Reverb to the sound Applying this e...

30 To cancel Reverb Press the [REVERB] switch to make the [REVERB] indicator lamp turn off. Adding Chorus or other modulation effects to the sound You can apply modulation to the selected sound to create a sensation of rich spaciousness, or apply distortion to give the sound an Rock’n Roll character...

31 Playing the SP-500 3 Adjust the effect depth Press the “Balance” cell, and use the dial or the [VALUE] switches to adjust the setting.The selectable range is Dry (no effect), 01–99, Fx (maximum). 4 Return to the main page If the [DISPLAY HOLD] switch is on, press the [EXIT] switch to return to th...

32 2 Return to the main page If the [DISPLAY HOLD] switch is on, press the [EXIT] switch to return to the main page. Stopping the metronome To stop the metronome, press the [METRONOME] switch once again.The [METRONOME] switch indicator will turn off, and the metronome will stop. Adjusting the tempo ...

33 Playing the SP-500 6. Using pedals Two pedals can be connected to the SP-500.The included pedal switch, a DS-1H or a PS-1 (both sold separately) can be connected to the Damper pedal jack and/or Assignable Switch jack located on the rear panel. Assignable switch Connect the included pedal or a sep...

34 7. Changing the touch response of the keyboard You can change the way the piano will respond to how hard you strike the keyboard. This function is called Touch Control. 1 Press the [TOUCH] switch 2 Select the desired touch Press a radio button to select the desired playing touch.Light 1, 2: Even ...

35 Playing the SP-500 4 Press the “Copy” button The “Custom Copy” page will appear. 5 Select the program that you wish to copy Press the “Source Prog” cell, and select the program you wish to copy to the pro-gram that was selected in step 2. Use the same procedure as usual when selecting a program. ...

37 Automatic accompaniment Automatic accompaniment 1. Performing with automatic accompaniment When using the Automatic Accompaniment function, you can simply specify a chord from the keyboard, and an accompaniment appropriate for that chord will be added automatically.A variety of accompaniment styl...

38 4 Selecting a rhythm style Select a rhythm style group Press one of the [RHYTHM STYLE GROUP] switches to select a rhythm style group.By pressing the [PIANIST] switch, you can select an accompaniment style for only piano sounds. Select a rhythm style The rhythm styles in the selected group will ap...

40 Adjusting the overall volume The [ACC VOLUME] slider will adjust the volume balance between the automatic accompani-ment and the keyboard performance.To adjust the overall volume including your keyboard performance, use the [MASTER VOL-UME] slider. Adjusting the volume of individual parts To adju...

41 Automatic accompaniment 2. Various automatic accompaniment functions Selecting how you will start and stop automatic accompaniment There are several ways to start/stop automatic accompaniment.Use the method that is appropriate for your perfor-mance. a. Basic start and stop 1 Specify a chord Speci...

42 Changing how you specify the chords There are several different ways to use the key-board to specify chords, as appropriate for your preferences and abilities. 1 Press the [ACC] switch The [ACC] switch indicator will light, and the “Accompaniment” page will appear. 2 Select how you will specify t...

43 Automatic accompaniment Open1: Two notes will normally be added below the melody to create three voices (sometimes three notes will be added to create four voices).Open2: Two notes will normally be added above the melody to create three voices (some-times three notes will be added to create four ...

44 Adding an ending 1 While automatic accompaniment is playing, press the [INTRO/ENDING 1] switch or the [INTRO/ENDING 2] switch The ending will be played, and then the accompaniment will stop automatically.The switch indicator of the selected ending will continue blinking until the playback switche...

45 Automatic accompaniment Reducing the number of parts in the accompaniment 1 Press the [SMALL ACC] switch The Acc1 and Acc3 parts will automati-cally be muted.Use this when you want fewer parts than the normal accompaniment. This function will have no effect if you have already muted the Acc1 and ...

46 To modify the name of the rhythm style If you wish to modify the name of the rhythm style, press the “Rename” button before you write it, and then modify the rhythm style name. ( ☞ p.48) 7 Press the “Write” button to write the rhythm style If you are satisfied with the changed rhythm style, press...

47 Automatic accompaniment 5 Edit the rhythm style You can modify the settings in “Custom Style” pages 1/2 and 2/2.For details on the settings that can be modified, refer to “Custom style parame-ter list”. 6 Name your custom style In the “Custom Style 2/2” page, press the “Rename” button to access t...

49 Recording Recording 1. Recording your performance Just as you would record your performance on a tape recorder, you can capture your playing on the SP-500 song recorder. You can also record multiple tracks and edit any mistakes you may make. Basic recording (Realtime Recording) Here’s how to reco...

50 3 Specify the time signature Press the [METRONOME] switch to specify the time signature. ( ☞ p.31) If you do not need the metronome during recording, press the [METRONOME] switch once again to turn it off. If recording with the [ACC] switch on, you will not be able to specify the time signa-ture ...

51 Recording To stop recording When you are finished performing, press the RECORDER [PLAY/STOP] switch.You will return to the “Rec 1/3” page, and the track you had set to “Rec” will be set to “Play.”At this time the performance data will be automatically stored in internal memory. A message will be ...

53 Recording 2. Various recording methods Using Quantize while you record The Quantize function corrects the timing of your performance while you record.In the “Rec 2/3” page, press the “Quantize” cell, and use the dial or the [VALUE] switches to specify the resolution (timing precision). “High”: Da...

54 OVDB (overdub): The newly recorded data will be added to the previously-recorded data.AUTP (auto punch-in/out): Auto punch- in/out recording will be performed. In the “Rec 1/3” page, “OVWR” will be used regardless of this setting.For “OVWR” and “OVDB,” the “start mea-sure” cell and the “end measu...

55 Recording 6 Set the “end measure” cell Press the “end measure” cell, and use the dial or the [VALUE] switches to specify the last measure that you will re-record. 7 Start recording When you press the RECORDER [PAUSE] switch, the song will play back from the measure you specified in step 2. Record...

56 8 “Delete” button: The chord indicated by “ fi ” will be deleted. 9 “Put” button: Insert the specified chord at the specified measure and location. 0 “Time signature” cell: Specify the time sig- nature of the measure indicated by “ fi ”. 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 can be input from the key- board. To input ...

57 Recording 3. Editing functions Editing previously-saved data Data that you recorded in realtime or by step recording can be recalled again, so that you can edit the data or add an additional performance. 1 Select the performance data that you saved Load performance data that you saved in “Basic r...

58 : 8th note : quarter note “Start” cell: Specify the starting measure. “End” cell: Specify the ending measure. “QNTZ” button: Execute the Quantize oper- ation.“Cancel” button: Return to the previous screen without executing Quantize. “Event Edit” page Here you can directly rewrite or add to the da...

59 Recording Event editing procedure when the Ctrl track is selected The procedure is the same as for the Kbd track, but the “Event Filter” page will not appear. Also, the events that are displayed will be different. ( ☞ p.56 “Control event type list”) Event editing procedure when the Chord track is...

61 Recording “Initial Edit 1/2” page Here you can make effect settings, and spec-ify the keyboard sound and octave. “Reverb” cell: Specify the depth of the reverb.“Reverb type” cell: Specify the reverb type. “Chorus” cell: Specify the depth of the cho- rus or other effect.“Chorus type” cell: Specify...

63 Functions Functions 1. Adjusting the pitch Fine adjustments to the pitch Here’s how you can make fine adjustments to the pitch.When you are playing together with other instru-ments, you can use this function to tune the SP-500 to the other instruments.The pitch can be adjusted in half-step (0.5) ...

64 Changing the octave 1 Press the [FUNCTION] switch 2 Change the desired “Octave” setting Press the “ ▲ ” or “ ▼ ” of the “Octave” cell to change the setting.The range is –2, –1, 0, +1, +2 octaves.Upp1: The first sound when [LAYER] or [SPLIT] are on, or the keyboard when [LAYER] or [SPLIT] are offU...

65 Functions Selecting a temperament 1 Press the [FUNCTION] switch 2 Access the “Func 9/10” page 3 Select a temperament Use the dial or the [VALUE] switches to change the “Main Scale” cell or the “Sub Scale” cell.Refer to the temperaments list on the pre-vious page. When the power is turned on, “Mai...

67 Functions 4. All setup Settings such as the [FUNCTION] settings are stored in internal memory.If you execute this operation, the settings will be preserved in internal memory even when the power is turned off, so that the same settings will still be in effect when the power is next turned on.The ...

68 5. Convenient functions Adjusting the left/right balance Here’s how to adjust the left/right balance of the sound. 1 Press the [FUNCTION] switch 2 Access the “Func 2/10” screen 3 Adjust the “Pan” If you are not using layer or split, or if you wish to change the panning of Upp1 when using Layer, p...

69 Functions Connecting other equipment 1. Connecting MIDI equipment What is MIDI? MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a standard for connecting a variety of MIDI instru-ments together allowing to talk to each other. By playing the SP-500, you can connect other MIDI-equipped instruments. ...

70 “Keyboard” Receive channel functionsUse this when you wish to use an exter-nal device to control the SP-500 via MIDI with the same operation as the SP-500’s own keyboard. If [LAYER] or [SPLIT] is on, note events will be sounded in the same way as when the SP-500’s own key-board is used. However, ...

71 Functions To return to the previous display If you press the [EXIT] switch or the [FUNCTION] switch, the [FUNCTION] switch indicator will go dark, and you will return to the previous LCD screen. When the power is turned on, this setting will automatically be Local On. Synchronizing to an external...

73 Appendices Appendices Troubleshooting Power does not turn on • Is the AC/AC power supply connected to an appropriate AC outlet? ( ☞ p.14) • Is the AC/AC power supply connected to the AC9V connector of the SP-500? ( ☞ p.14) • Is the power switch turned on? ( ☞ p.14) • If the power still does not t...

74 Specifications * Specifications and appearance are subject to change without notice for improve-ment. • Other product names and company names are the registered trademarks and trade- marks of their respective owners. • Sound processed with INFINITY ™. Keyboard 88 notes (RH2 keyboard) Touch contro...

75 Appendices Program list * “No.” is the program number used in the “Mixer 1/3” page etc. • Programs with a “MIDI Bank#” of “0” are GM programs. • s: Programs with up to 64-note polyphony w: Programs with up to 32-note polyphony Program Name Piano プログラム名 ピアノ No.* MIDI# Bank Prog Grand Piano1 グランドピア...

78 Rhythm style list Program Name USER プログラム名 ユーザー No.* MIDI# Bank Prog Ambipiano Ambipiano 320 3 0 w Respiano Respiano 321 3 1 w FusionEP FusionEP 322 3 2 w Click EP Click EP 323 3 3 w SoftEP/Pad SoftEP/Pad 324 3 4 w Reed EP Reed EP 325 3 5 w BuzzBassEP BuzzBassEP 326 3 6 w Syn Piano Syn Piano 327 ...

81 Appendices Drum kits list Key GM Kit 1 GM Kit 2 Room Kit Power Kit Electronic Kit Analog Kit Dance Kit Jazz Kit # Note Inst Excl Inst Excl Inst Excl Inst Excl Inst Excl Inst Excl Inst Excl Inst Excl 21 A0 Syn Kick 1 --- Syn Kick 1 --- Syn Kick 2 --- Dance Kick --- Dance Kick --- Explosion --- Sna...

83 Appendices Demo songs list Piano demo songs Style demo songs Program demo 曲 名 Piano Demo Songs 1 J.S. バッハ / プレリュード （ 平均律第 1 番より） J.S.Bach/The equal temperament No.1~Prelude 2 W.A. モーツァルト / ソナタ K.545 第 1 楽章 W.A.Mozart/Sonata K.545 3 W.A. モーツァルト / ソナタ K.331 第 3 楽章「トルコ行進曲」 W.A.Mozart/Sonata K.331 4 ...

84 List of detected chords Each of the chords pictured rught are shown in root position with a root note of C. In order for the SP-500 to correctly recognize major 6th and minor 6th chords, they must be played in root position as pictured. This is because these chords consist of the same notes as th...

MIDI Implementation Chart Recorder data All Sound Off, Reset All Controllers [Digital Piano] SP-500 MIDI Implementation Chart Function Transmitted Recognized Remarks Basic Channel: Default Changed Memorized Messages Altered Mode Note Number: True Voice Velocity: Note On Note Off Aftertouch: Polyphon...

87 Index A Accompaniment ..................................................... 37Assignable switch .................................................. 33Automatic accompaniment .................................. 37 C Chords Specifying the chord .................................. 37, 41 Chorus ..........