New free OpenSource Sysex Librarian now with OB-6 - The KnobKraft Orm

kris

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Hi all,

in case you're not hanging around in the Rev2 forum as well - I have written a new Sysex Librarian, and after the very first release was only for the Rev2 the newly released version 1.1.0 now also supports the OB-6 (next to Access Virus B, Yamaha Reface DX, Oberheim Matrix 1000, and a new generic apation module which let's you add new synths if you can write a little Python).

To give you an idea on what it can do, watch the little video I did on version 1.0 when it was still only for the Rev2 (it's my first YouTube video ever, so please be gentle ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPoFOVpTANM

The open source code but also the download of a Windows executable installer can be found at the github site

https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

as well as build instructions for a Linux version, which works now but is largely untested. I hope to get access to a Mac soon so I can also try to provide a Mac version out of the box, any help in that regard appreciated.

Let me know what you think!




Check out the free Sysex Librarian for Sequential and more https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

Thanks!! I’ll check it out.

This will be very welcome. I really don’t want to pay £50 for software just to organise patches. Thank you for doing this. Any update / news on the Mac version? 

kris

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This will be very welcome. I really don’t want to pay £50 for software just to organise patches. Thank you for doing this. Any update / news on the Mac version?
Only that the plan is real - I ought to get a Mac to test the coming weekend, and then depending on complexity of problems creeping up it should be done in a week or two. If the weather is nice, though, it could take longer, as I'd rather be out sailing. And I have never done an installer build for Mac, I heard rumours you need a paid developer program license or something in order to release software for it, I have to find out about that too.
Check out the free Sysex Librarian for Sequential and more https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

W07

Great, thanks!
It seems to work well, a few comments: requests:

The program has no icon (i just whipped one up myself for now)

A way to get all banks with a single command would be handy

I don't see a way of sending a full bank of patches, or rearrange their order?
it's also hard to tell which number in the bank list a patch is.
 that's the main reason i'd use a librarian, i arrange patches into a bank, then send the bank to the synth.

On the Ob6, patches are divided into sets called 01-99, 100-199, etc whereas on the Pro3, they're called Bank1, bank2 etc... just an observation

only one crash so far, after i asked to load bank 10 from the Pro3 (doesn't exist)

What happens when you press 'import edit buffer'? I can't tell from the GUI if it imports it into the topleft slot, or something. No patch seems to be labelled 'edit buffer'
« Last Edit: June 05, 2020, 03:41:15 AM by W07 »

kris

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Great, thanks!
It seems to work well, a few comments: requests:

The program has no icon (i just whipped one up myself for now)
Ah yes, I am bad at design, if you have something you want to contribute, let me know and I can build it with. You're on Windows?

A way to get all banks with a single command would be handy
Agree, I was thinking of making a multiple selection in the bank chooser possible. The reason it's not there yet is that it takes forever for a Rev2 that is connected via DIN MIDI like mine, only via USB that is a feasible operation.

I don't see a way of sending a full bank of patches, or rearrange their order?
it's also hard to tell which number in the bank list a patch is.
 that's the main reason i'd use a librarian, i arrange patches into a bank, then send the bank to the synth.
True, the program is not so much a bank manager as a complete replacement for patch storage right now - I never use the storage places on the synth, but rather send them into the edit buffer for immediate play from the computer/tablet. If bank management is a feature many people are looking for, it's rather easy to add that technically, more a design question on how the UI should work (drag and drop, "clipboard", split view...). As I don't use bank managers, I have no good idea on how that would work best.

On the Ob6, patches are divided into sets called 01-99, 100-199, etc whereas on the Pro3, they're called Bank1, bank2 etc... just an observation
Thank you! As the Pro3 implementation is an adaption done in a quick and dirty way, I hadn't bothered of putting in better bank names, but I'll take it on the list for the future!

only one crash so far, after i asked to load bank 10 from the Pro3 (doesn't exist)
Awesome! You're the first to test the Pro3 implementation, so I take that as a compliment :-)

What happens when you press 'import edit buffer'? I can't tell from the GUI if it imports it into the topleft slot, or something. No patch seems to be labelled 'edit buffer'
Hm, normally it should create a new import called "Import edit buffer", and show the patch that is currently active (if it is changed). Are you on a Pro3 or OB6 for this?
Check out the free Sysex Librarian for Sequential and more https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

W07

https://we.tl/t-QvRbHyB0ga
I made this icon with some opensource photoshop software.
Feel free to use it.

W07

regarding the edit buffer: i'd forgotten to change the preset, so the edit buffer was the original preset. It does work. There doesn't seem to be a way to remove patches from the edit buffer list, though?

kris

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regarding the edit buffer: i'd forgotten to change the preset, so the edit buffer was the original preset. It does work. There doesn't seem to be a way to remove patches from the edit buffer list, though?
Good to hear! Yes there is - you would just click the "hide" button in the top right corner, and edit buffer imports you no longer want are hidden. I don't have a proper "delete" yet, as I am always wary of accidental deletes.

The way I use this is to use the keyboard macros - so I while I am dialing a sound, if I like an intermediate step, I play the chord that triggers the import edit buffer command to save it on the computer, and then I can use the bass keys I setup to switch between different versions of the same patch (after I imported multiple times). The final version I favorite (again with the black and white keys), and only after I am done I go back to the computer and hide the intermediate results. Maybe there could be an option to hide all non-favorites or something. I think I ought to make a video on that now that I think about it.

And thanks for the Icon, I like it! It's already integrated in my Windows version and will be part of the next release!
Check out the free Sysex Librarian for Sequential and more https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

kris

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This will be very welcome. I really don’t want to pay £50 for software just to organise patches. Thank you for doing this. Any update / news on the Mac version?
Ok, happy to say that I have a working Mac version uploaded! It is still beta, and I am looking for feedback, but it works nicely on the MacBook Pro with macOS 10.15 that I got here.

The download link is here:
https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm/releases

Download the DMG file, open it and drag the KnobKraft Orm to the Applications folder. Then you need to launch the KnobkraftOrm with a CTRL-Click and select "Open", as I don't have a signing certificate (which costs >300 USD per year). There are also build instructions in the readme should you want to compile the software yourself ;-)

Looking forward to your feedback!
Check out the free Sysex Librarian for Sequential and more https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

kris

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Re: New free OpenSource Sysex Librarian now with OB-6 - The KnobKraft Orm
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2020, 03:15:19 AM »
A way to get all banks with a single command would be handy
Agree, I was thinking of making a multiple selection in the bank chooser possible. The reason it's not there yet is that it takes forever for a Rev2 that is connected via DIN MIDI like mine, only via USB that is a feasible operation.
Happy to say that the newly release version 1.7 of the KnobKraft Orm has a new dialog which lets you choose which banks you want to download, or just import all if you're patient enough to wait through it.

Remember it will automatically fingerprint patches and never create a new database entry for a patch it already knows, so it is very convenient to hit import all to just make sure that you have not stored any new work anywhere in the synth where you might forget it - it will just create new entries for the stuff you actually stored. This is so handy that I by now never care where I store my patches, I just write them in the synth and at the end of a session will just reimport so I know I have a backup in the Orm's database of everything I did.
Check out the free Sysex Librarian for Sequential and more https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

kris

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Re: New free OpenSource Sysex Librarian now with OB-6 - The KnobKraft Orm
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2020, 02:39:10 AM »
This is just to say that I just released version 1.7.3, which contains a few little new functions like exporting sysex edit buffer files from the database to be sent to somebody else. I believe this had been requested somewhere here or in some other forum :-)
Check out the free Sysex Librarian for Sequential and more https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

Re: New free OpenSource Sysex Librarian now with OB-6 - The KnobKraft Orm
« Reply #12 on: October 27, 2020, 01:11:01 PM »
Hello !

Thanks for the piece of software, its great !
I have an OB6.

A few suggestions to make it even more useful for me :
1. I overwrote the patches from 000 to 099, and it seems they appear on KnobKraftOrm with the names of the original patch I started with when I created thoses patches. It would be cool if they were labelled as "unnamed" instead to avoid confusion.
2. Ideally, I would love to have a view of all the patches stored on my OB6 on one page, with the patch number and the patch name (if it's the original factory patch) and the patches I have on my computer on another page, and being able to transfer patches from the OB6 to my computer and vice-versa
3. Can I reset the library on KnobKraftOrm to start with a blank page ?

Thanks again for making this opensource and free !

All the best

geoffroy

kris

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Re: New free OpenSource Sysex Librarian now with OB-6 - The KnobKraft Orm
« Reply #13 on: November 01, 2020, 02:29:47 PM »
Hello !

Thanks for the piece of software, its great !
Thank you so much! This motivates me - I initially only made it for myself, but it is much more fun when other people can use it as well!

Quote
A few suggestions to make it even more useful for me :
1. I overwrote the patches from 000 to 099, and it seems they appear on KnobKraftOrm with the names of the original patch I started with when I created thoses patches. It would be cool if they were labelled as "unnamed" instead to avoid confusion.
Uuuuh. Let me think. I normally start a new patch on the OB-6 by pressing Manual+Write on the synth, to get an init patch. I think Sequential implemented it that this patch will be called "Basic Program". But if you modify an existing patch, it will still have the invisible name from the factory preset. Now if you have modified that into something completely different, this can be *very* confusing, as the synth only shows the red three digit number, but in the Librarian suddenly the old name pops up. Do I understand you correctly here?

Quote
2. Ideally, I would love to have a view of all the patches stored on my OB6 on one page, with the patch number and the patch name (if it's the original factory patch) and the patches I have on my computer on another page, and being able to transfer patches from the OB6 to my computer and vice-versa
Yes, I understand, this is a slightly different use than I do where I store all patches on the computer and normally also select them from the computer. Arranging the content of the synth is not really built in yet, but I am thinking of doing something like a bank management in the future. There are other tools that already do this today in a better way, I think.

Quote
3. Can I reset the library on KnobKraftOrm to start with a blank page ?
This is easy, on a Windows machine you can just delete or rename the database file, and on the next start of the Orm it will start without any patches, and you can reimport. The database is stored in the directory %APPDATA%\knobkraft\SysexDatabaseOfAllPatches.db3, on my computer that would be C:\Users\<myusername>\AppData\Roaming\knobkraft\SysexDatabaseOfAllPatches.db3

Hope that helps!
Check out the free Sysex Librarian for Sequential and more https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

Re: New free OpenSource Sysex Librarian now with OB-6 - The KnobKraft Orm
« Reply #14 on: November 04, 2020, 07:07:12 AM »
Uuuuh. Let me think. I normally start a new patch on the OB-6 by pressing Manual+Write on the synth, to get an init patch. I think Sequential implemented it that this patch will be called "Basic Program". But if you modify an existing patch, it will still have the invisible name from the factory preset. Now if you have modified that into something completely different, this can be *very* confusing, as the synth only shows the red three digit number, but in the Librarian suddenly the old name pops up. Do I understand you correctly here?

Exactly !

Quote
Yes, I understand, this is a slightly different use than I do where I store all patches on the computer and normally also select them from the computer. Arranging the content of the synth is not really built in yet, but I am thinking of doing something like a bank management in the future.

Cool ! Will look into it when it's implemented !

Quote
This is easy, on a Windows machine you can just delete or rename the database file, and on the next start of the Orm it will start without any patches, and you can reimport. The database is stored in the directory %APPDATA%\knobkraft\SysexDatabaseOfAllPatches.db3, on my computer that would be C:\Users\<myusername>\AppData\Roaming\knobkraft\SysexDatabaseOfAllPatches.db3

Thanks, that's what I was looking for !

Have a good day !

kris

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Re: New free OpenSource Sysex Librarian now with OB-6 - The KnobKraft Orm
« Reply #15 on: November 29, 2020, 04:51:50 AM »
Hello folks,

I just released version 1.8.0 of the KnobKraft Orm, with some new synths but also with some new features requested.

The download direct download link is here: https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm/releases

* Now supporting multiple database files - the File menu has open/save and recent file list. Makes testing much easier, and can be used to sort patches by projects
* Allowing to permanently delete all currently listed patches from the database. This is important for an undo of an import.
* MIDI USB device plug'n'play support, at least on Windows. Now you can connect or disconnect devices while the software is running, and it tries to do the right thing
* New and better layout of Setup tab, now that the synth list grows that fast
* Many bugfixes in Setup tab around manually assigning channels and interfaces, and better unboxing experience to start in the SetupView when no synth has been selected yet
* Added a quick check for MIDI loop (echo) detection into the Setup tab. The Kawai K3M and the Roland MKS-80 in my setup tend to create those loops, if the filtering in the interface is not setup correctly.
* Storing last used synth and opening its library again on startup

and more and smaller things. The next topics I will try to tackle are documentation on how to make your own adaptations for synths not supported yet, and the bank management feature to arrange patches in lists and send lists into the synths' storage. Thanks for watching!
Check out the free Sysex Librarian for Sequential and more https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

This app is truly amazing!! Thanks so much!

Re: New free OpenSource Sysex Librarian now with OB-6 - The KnobKraft Orm
« Reply #17 on: June 13, 2021, 09:07:27 AM »
Hi all,

in case you're not hanging around in the Rev2 forum as well - I have written a new Sysex Librarian, and after the very first release was only for the Rev2 the newly released version 1.1.0 now also supports the OB-6 (next to Access Virus B, Yamaha Reface DX, Oberheim Matrix 1000, and a new generic apation module which let's you add new synths if you can write a little Python).

To give you an idea on what it can do, watch the little video I did on version 1.0 when it was still only for the Rev2 (it's my first YouTube video ever, so please be gentle ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPoFOVpTANM

The open source code but also the download of a Windows executable installer can be found at the github site

https://github.com/christofmuc/KnobKraft-orm

as well as build instructions for a Linux version, which works now but is largely untested. I hope to get access to a Mac soon so I can also try to provide a Mac version out of the box, any help in that regard appreciated.

Let me know what you think!

BTW, thank you for everything!

Re: New free OpenSource Sysex Librarian now with OB-6 - The KnobKraft Orm
« Reply #18 on: July 05, 2021, 12:54:00 PM »
This looks really great, and feels very well written (so quick!). Thanks for the hard work.

Can I just second the feature request of the above user: If your library view could display patch numbers, that would be hugely helpful. As the OB6 only has this 3 digit display, patch numbers are the only way of retrieving a patch... over the years I've always written them down as #023 and #477 and so on. (and just like the above user I typically don't start from scratch, but edit exisiting sounds. How about including a checkbox to hide the patch names? But that's not so urgent :) )

Another detail in that regard: You added a slider that sets the number of patches per row. 10 would be a much friendlier number than 8, seeing how the synth uses banks of ten.

Again, thank you!

Re: New free OpenSource Sysex Librarian now with OB-6 - The KnobKraft Orm
« Reply #19 on: August 12, 2021, 06:04:17 AM »
Many thanks, kris! The OB-6 is such a great sounding synth, and with some of the interesting sound packs being programed and sold, it's hard for me to shuffle things around when I'm forced to load a new whole bank, or even a 100's or 10's (better) group all at once. I'm hoping your program will allow me to audition the new sounds in the computer (and the OB-6's edit buffer) and send  over one-by-one only the ones I 'need', without a massive swap-swap-swapping procedure. THANKS AGAIN.
T8, Tempest, OB6, Prophet X. 8DIO Prophet 5 add-on, Sample Packs from Lady Gaia (synth waveforms) and Modulatable.com (Moog One.)