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ArrangerPilot for Yamaha — User Guide
Draft · 2026-10-06 · Instrument: Yamaha PSR-SX720 (other PSR-SX models as they are tested)
The app interface is currently in Russian only. English, Ukrainian and French versions are on the way; this guide already uses the English names of screens and buttons.
ArrangerPilot is a repertoire organizer and MIDI controller for arranger keyboard players. You keep a song library and set lists, and on stage the app recalls the right registration bank and its buttons on the instrument with a single tap.
The app never writes anything to the instrument. Banks are created and edited on the instrument itself; the app only recalls them over MIDI.
1. What you need
- Yamaha PSR-SX720.
- A USB flash drive — it holds the folder with your repertoire banks.
- One of these devices:
- a laptop (Windows or macOS) with Chrome or Edge. Safari will not work: it has no Web MIDI;
- a tablet or phone (iPad/iPhone app in the App Store, Android — Chrome or Google Play; as they are released).
- A USB cable from your device to the instrument's USB-to-host port (the square USB-B socket). For a tablet, an OTG adapter.
The USB-to-device port on the instrument is for flash drives only. MIDI does not go through it.
2. How it works (worth understanding once)
Over MIDI the instrument receives a number, not a file name: "open bank #5". It counts that number in the folder currently open on the instrument.
So:
- the app and the instrument must look at the same folder — your bank folder on the flash drive;
- the folder must be flat: all files directly inside, no subfolders;
- if another folder or playlist is open on the instrument, the app will recall files from there — you will get the wrong songs.
The app's set lists are not stored on the instrument. The only bridge between the app and the instrument is the bank folder on the flash drive.
3. Instrument setup (once)
- Menu → MIDI → Receive. Assign Part Keyboard to one channel (leave the others as they are). Remember the channel number — you will need it in the app.
- Press Save in the MIDI settings, otherwise the channel resets when the instrument is switched off.
- Connect the cable from your laptop or tablet to the USB-to-host port.
4. Bank folder: the "one flash drive" setup
4.1. How to prepare it
- Prepare registrations on the instrument as usual and keep them wherever you like: in User memory, on a flash drive, even in folders.
- Create one repertoire folder on the flash drive and copy the banks you need into it: on the instrument, in the registration bank selection → File Edit → Copy. This folder must not contain subfolders.
- Give every file a number at the start of its name:
000_,001_,002_… You can rename right on the instrument (File Edit → Rename) right after copying.
Example folder:
Repertoire/
000_Wave.rgt
001_Besame Mucho.rgt
002_Autumn Leaves.rgtWhen copying to a flash drive, the SX720 may add a model tag to the name, for example
Wave.T589.rgt. That is normal: the song title in the app has no tag.
4.2. Why numbers
Numbers are optional: without them banks are sorted alphabetically, and everything works as long as you re-import the folder after every change. Numbers are a safety net and your own bank order on the instrument's screen.
| What you did on the flash drive and forgot to import | Without numbers | With numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Added a bank | every song after it alphabetically "shifts" | the new bank goes to the end, the rest are recalled correctly |
| Deleted a bank | every song after it shifts | they shift as well |
| Renamed a bank | may shift | nothing, if the number stays the same |
4.3. Adding or removing a bank
- Add: copy the bank into the folder and give it the next number after the highest one. After import the app suggests that number ("Give the new bank number 029_").
- Remove: just delete the file. A gap in the numbers (
004,006…) does no harm. - Do not rename banks that are already in your library and set lists: the app recognizes a song by its file name. A renamed file becomes a new empty song, and the old one is marked "not in the bank folder".
- After any change — import again (section 5).
5. Importing the folder into the app
- Insert the same flash drive into your laptop or tablet. There is no need to copy the folder to the computer — import straight from the flash drive, so the folders never drift apart.
- In the app: Library → Import bank folder → choose the repertoire folder on the flash drive.
- The app reads the files right on your device — they are not uploaded anywhere. From each bank it takes the button labels and finds out which buttons are empty.
- Check the summary: how many songs were added, updated, missing. If the folder has subfolders, duplicate numbers or files without a number, the app will warn you.
Button labels appear by themselves. If you named a registration on the instrument ("Verse", "Solo"), that name becomes the label. If the name is the default ("New Regist"), the label is the Right1 voice, for example "CocktailPiano". Empty buttons are marked "empty" and cannot be pressed. Labels are not edited in the app: everything musical is set up on the instrument. To change a label, name the registration on the instrument, save the bank to the flash drive and import the folder again.
The song's style also comes from the bank. User and expansion styles are named by the app automatically. A factory style is stored in the file only as a number: if the app does not know it yet, the song card shows "factory style #… — which one is it?". Pick the name from the list once (look it up on the instrument's screen) — from then on this style is recognized in every bank. If a bank has several styles, the first one is the song's style, the others are shown as "Also in the bank".
Re-importing is safe: notes, duration, lyrics, sheet music and set lists are kept, while labels and button details are refreshed from the files.
Tablet with a single USB port: flash drive into the tablet → import → flash drive into the instrument → MIDI cable into the tablet. Or use a USB-C hub.
6. First-time setup in the app
On first launch a setup wizard opens (you can also start it later: Settings → "Setup wizard"):
- Instrument — a short reminder of section 3.
- Connection — allow the browser to access MIDI. The app finds the instrument (port "Digital Keyboard Port 1") and shows that it responds.
- Banks — folder import (section 5).
- Test — choose the Keyboard channel and a song, press a button that surely has a registration stored, and answer whether the instrument switched.
An empty registration button does nothing on the instrument — for the test, choose a button with a stored registration. Empty buttons are marked "empty".
7. Songs, set lists, stage
The menu has four sections: Library · Set lists · Stage · Settings.
Library. Every bank is a song. The song card has tabs:
- Registrations — 8 buttons (a tap recalls the registration on the instrument), labels from the bank file, under each button — voice, style section and tempo; under the buttons — the song's style; title, artist, duration, original key and your key (for example, if you sing lower than the original: original Am, yours Gm), notes;
- Lyrics — words with chords. The easiest way is to prepare the text in advance in any editor and tap "Attach lyrics file": a
.txtwith chords on a line above the words (as on chord websites) works, or a ChordPro file. Song parts go on a separate line: "Chorus:". You can also edit the text right in the app and see next to it how it will look on stage; - Sheets — PDF or images (scans, photos of pages), several files allowed, the order is changed with arrows;
- Progression — chords by part, one line per part: "Verse: Am F C G". Shown on stage under "Info";
- Details — a table like the Regist Bank Information screen on the instrument: registration name, Left/Right1/Right2/Right3 voices, style, style section and tempo for each button. Taken from the bank file on import; after changes on the instrument, save the bank to the flash drive and import the folder again.
Lyrics and sheet music are copied into the app and work offline.
Set lists. Arrange the songs in the order of the evening, drag them by the handle, add "Pause after" and "Encore" marks. The app adds up the set list's total duration.
Stage. Choose a set list or the whole library. Going to a song immediately recalls its bank and button 1.
- Always at the bottom: section buttons 1–8, "← Back" and "Next →" (with the name of the neighbouring song under them) and "Set list": the songs of the evening — tap a song to jump to it. There is also a search across the whole library — for requests from the audience: after such a song, "Next" continues the set list from where you left off.
- At the top — "Info", lyrics with chords or sheet music. The switch is on the right above the text, A− / A+ change the text size. "Info" opens by default and exists for every song: artist, your key and the original key, duration, notes and progression. The key is also shown next to the song title: "Gm (orig. Am)". The default view is changed in Settings → Stage.
- Transposition. Write chords in lyrics and progressions in the original key and enter both keys in the song card — on stage the chords are shown in yours (original Am, yours Gm: Am → Gm, F → Eb, C/E → Bb/D). Keys are changed only in the song card, so they cannot be knocked off by accident on stage. Sheet music (PDF, images) is not transposed.
- On a phone with the instrument there are no lyrics or sheets: only the section buttons across the whole screen and the bottom row.
- Without the instrument (for example, when you play guitar) the stage works the same, just without registration buttons: lyrics with chords in your key, info and sheets fill the whole screen — on a phone too. Move between songs with "Back", "Next", "Set list" or a pedal. No internet needed.
"Silence" (the red button at the top) — if a voice hangs, press it: everything sounding from the keyboard goes silent (right- and left-hand voices), even with the sustain pedal down. The style keeps playing — stop it with Start/Stop on the instrument. "Finish" — leaves performance mode and sends nothing to the instrument.
Pedal or keyboard: →, ↓, PageDown — next; ←, ↑, PageUp — back; digits 1–8 — buttons;
/— search. Bluetooth page-turner pedals work. The "Pedal …" button on stage (or Settings → Stage) switches the pedal between "turns songs" and "turns lyrics and sheets" — in the second mode songs are changed with the on-screen buttons.
Settings
- Instrument — connection, port, Keyboard channel, "Identify". If "no MIDI" is lit on stage, tap it — Settings open, and your place in the set list is kept.
- Stage — what the pedal does, what to show above the buttons, text size.
- Data — backup and restore (section 10).
- Diagnostics (collapsed) — manual bank recall, registration buttons and a log of MIDI messages. Useful if the instrument recalls the wrong thing, and when contacting support.
8. Before the performance — checklist
The Stage screen shows a "Before the performance" block.
- Changed banks on the flash drive? Import the folder again. The app shows when the last import was and highlights set lists with songs that have no file.
- Flash drive in the instrument, folder open. Press the registration bank buttons [–] and [+] together, enter the repertoire folder on the flash drive and select any bank. This is a must if you played from the instrument's playlist or opened another folder before.
- The MIDI indicator in the app is green.
- Check the first song: tap it — the instrument should switch.
9. Troubleshooting
| What happens | Cause and what to do |
|---|---|
| Someone else's song opens (for example, from the factory playlist) | The wrong folder is open on the instrument. Bank buttons [–] and [+] together → repertoire folder on the flash drive → select any bank |
| A neighbouring bank from your folder opens | The folder was changed but not re-imported. Import again |
| Nothing switches | The button in the bank is empty — try another. Check the Keyboard channel in the app (Settings → Instrument) and on the instrument (MIDI → Receive), and that the MIDI settings were saved (Save). Settings → Diagnostics → "MIDI log" shows exactly what is sent to the instrument |
| Instrument not found | Cable in USB-to-host (not USB-to-device), Chrome or Edge browser, MIDI access allowed |
| A song is marked "not in the bank folder" | The file is no longer in the folder (deleted or renamed). Put back a file with the same name and import, or delete the song from the library |
| After import, a warning about subfolders | Banks in subfolders are ignored, and the instrument sees them differently. Move all banks to the top level of the folder |
10. Backup
Your library and set lists are stored on your device, in the browser or the app. Clearing browser data erases them.
- Settings → Data → "Backup" — saves everything to a single JSON file: songs, set lists, lyrics, sheet music, progressions and the style names you chose.
.rgtbanks are not included — they live on the instrument and the flash drive. With sheet music the file is larger. - Settings → Data → "Restore from file" — loads such a file (replaces the current data). This is also how you move the library to a new device.
Make a backup after big changes and keep it separately (for example, on the same flash drive or in the cloud).