Alright, this is going to sound bad.  I have had a S90 keyboard for years but have NEVER backed-up all my custom Performance settings onto a memory card.  The book talks about an old SmartMedia memory card but I have the following questions:

1. All the SmartMedia memory offerings I see on E-Bay are USB, but I thought I had to use the 3.3V Card Slot.  There is a square USB port next to the card slot.  Can I use that, or do I have to find something that will fit in the Card Slot?  If it has to fit the Card Slot, any ideas on where to get one?

2. Would this be easier to do through MIDI to a computer?  I have a cable with dual MIDI connectors on one end and two 15-pin connectors - both male and female - on the other end.  Is that good enough, or do I need some kind of board?  Do I need special software?  I have both PC and Apple computers.  Which is easier?

3. Is it easier to save all the Performance settings in 1 big .W4A file or 128 separate files?  All I want to do is to be able to download them back to my S90 or to a new Yamaha keyboard in case I lose my settings or the S90 dies/is stolen.

4. Any other pitfalls or tips that anyone can offer to a rookie who will be nervously going through the menus the first time hoping not to make a fatal mistake?

1) SmartMedia != USB; the square port is a host connection directly to a PC or such.
You can use it in combination with some software, but you can’t save what you want.

2) As far as I know MIDI does not define performances or other settings.

3) an ALL file is the ONLY way: you can’t save single performances.
If you lose your S90 you will probably NOT buy another S90, but a
new type of synth.
Therefore: MAKE NOTES! Don’t expect newer synths to ‘understand’ the S90 data.

4) For the time being: go with (small) SMC cards, but back them up on your PC using a reader ($9).
Make notes (on paper or in a text file) of all your creations.

Do you still have SMC cards available for this?

;JOOP!

Actually, You can backup performances one at a time to your computer via either the MIDI interface or the USB (virtual MIDI) interface. To do this you would simply use the BULK Dump capability of the S90 to dump each performance to a MIDI utility program (such as midiox) running on your computer. For more information on this approach, see this thread from several years ago.

Regards,

Brad Weber ;^)

OK.  Good help! 

I hooked the USB to my computer and assigned MIDI to USB (Bad_Mister is right:  the manaul is much easier to use when you do it ‘live’ with the keyboard on) but I found I don’t have compatible computer software for a bulk dump.  I think I’ll just do an ALL save anyway to capture all the settings, so I’ll go the memory card route.

I found a 3.3V Memory Card, 16MB, on e-bay for $10.  I’ll have it next week.

It is a good point to make notes via good old paper and pencil because you’re right:  if the S90 completely dies I’ll upgrade to a new keyboard and I doubt a .W4A file will do much good then.  But at least with the memory card I’m protected against a memory disaster or reset on the S90.

I assume a card reader for the 3.3V would allow me to back-up the memory card to my computer via USB, right? 

Thanks for all the help - I’ll let you know how it goes!

Done!  I got a Smart Media 3.3V card, 16 MB, from e-bay for $30 and downloaded “All” into a file.  Then, as a test, I used the instruction manual (which is indeed much easier to follow when you are actually following the instructions as you punch buttons on the keyboard) to download one of my saved Performance settings into a new slot.  Worked great.