Experience with SoundTower plugins (Sound Editor and PlugSE) for Take 5

[lewisfrancis]

UPDATE: My bad, needed to switch to a tool that properly compared hex files -- the two files are different and so categorization is def preserved in the memory structure and sysex dumps.

Cool ! Thanks for your tests.
It seems that the Take 5 has room in its current program memory structure for potential new features !

I'll probably purchase the stand-alone sound editor for the Library and Category features.

I'm just annoyed by the following issues (specific to the Windows platform ?) :
- When clicking on ´Envelopes', the section containing the Envelope Routing button is not shown so I have to scroll horizontally a bit
- Scrolling with 2 fingers on the touchpad of my laptop doesn't work. I have to click on the list buttons or the list scrollbar to navigate within horizontal and vertical lists (as found in the Bank section). The scrolling via a mouse wheel works though but most of the time I don't use a mouse especially when I connect my laptop to the T5 (I don't have the space for that).

I'll reach SoundTower support.

FWIW clicking on the tabs slide the UI to the appropriate section for me on the Mac, but I can't scroll using the mouse or trackpad gestures unless I grab the scroll thumb and move that old-school. There's a lot of stuff in the UI that do not follow MacOS standard conventions, though, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[lewisfrancis]

Hi all,

I've created a Google spreadsheet to document my SoundTower bugs and workarounds while I explore this toolset. There are tabs for the standalone editor, PlugSE, and undocumented features.

If anyone would like to add their own bugs feel free to message me with your email address for editor access or just the bug details, and I'll add them to the tracker.

Cheers!

[lewisfrancis]

Regarding Phantom Banks functionality -- still haven't heard back from SoundTower but found a reference in the Rev2 forum where creativespiral writes: it has a "phantom banks" function that lets you create virtual banks outside the ones on the Rev2... useful for large scale reorganization of presets and creating your own user banks.

Makes sense, though it's not at all obvious to me just by looking at the feature. Maybe if it had been called something like "Organizing Banks" my brain may have sparked. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ElecStraTake]

I've got some answers from the SoundTower support :
- on Windows, the shortcut key (Alt+E) shows correctly envelopes with routings. That's a workaround for the Envelopes button. Hopefully, this will be corrected in the future as I found easier to use the button.
- Phantom program banks : "If you have  a collection of Take 5 banks then you can quicky load them to Phantom banks and have them there at your disposal without committing them to TAKE 5 banks."

Regarding Phantom Banks functionality -- still haven't heard back from SoundTower but found a reference in the Rev2 forum where creativespiral writes: it has a "phantom banks" function that lets you create virtual banks outside the ones on the Rev2... useful for large scale reorganization of presets and creating your own user banks.

So it's confirmed.

[lewisfrancis]

I've got some answers from the SoundTower support :
- on Windows, the shortcut key (Alt+E) shows correctly envelopes with routings. That's a workaround for the Envelopes button. Hopefully, this will be corrected in the future as I found easier to use the button.
- Phantom program banks : "If you have  a collection of Take 5 banks then you can quicky load them to Phantom banks and have them there at your disposal without committing them to TAKE 5 banks."

Regarding Phantom Banks functionality -- still haven't heard back from SoundTower but found a reference in the Rev2 forum where creativespiral writes: it has a "phantom banks" function that lets you create virtual banks outside the ones on the Rev2... useful for large scale reorganization of presets and creating your own user banks.

So it's confirmed.

Thanks. Just that description if placed in the docs would help new users so much, I find it's an odd omission, but it seems to be missing from even very old Soundtower products. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ElecStraTake]

- Renaming a program in the software still isn't stored/updated in the synth
- Renaming by right clicking on the program in the banks overview still doesn't work.

For your information, I've just bought the latest version (v1.1.4) of the standalone SoundEditor and the 2 features work seamlessly on my Windows 10 22H2 laptop :
- renaming a program or modifying the sound in the editor is reflected in the synth, but you need to perform a write to actually store it in the synth. This is done via the menu Edit > Write Program in the editor. Or you can do a write directly on the synth.
- renaming by right clicking on a program in the banks list is immediate / direct.
I hope this helps.