MIDI implementation (sysex) documentation - manual mistakes, info anywhere?

[kris]

Hi all, I have been asked if it is possible for the KnobKraft Orm to support the OB-X8 (also in firmware 2.x version), and
when it first came out I could not find the MIDI implementation in the usual section of the manual. In the meantime, it has been added.

But I think there are some copy/paste errors in the current manual (2.1) - it lists the Oberheim  X8 ID as 0b00110011 (page 124), which is actually the ID of the desktop module of the Prophet 5, on page 125 and following the ID is listed as being 0b00110001, which is actually the ID of the Pro-3. Note that the title of the OB-X8 manual (displayed in the title of the browser window tab) is also Pro-3 Users manual, indicating the file has been copied.

My early look at some files from the OB-X8 had indicated the ID to be rather two bytes, namely 0x10, 0x58...

is the correct information to be found somewhere? If the OB-X8 firmware is based on the original DSI firmware like all other synths than the Tempest, getting it hooked up to KnobKraft should be a matter of minutes, and I have users asking for it :-)

[discombob]

I wish someone had reached out, Kris.  I could really use a preset librarian alternative to SoundTower.

Did you only need the above question answered or did you need someone with an OB-X8 to pull more information or additional SysEx for you?

[kris]

I wish someone had reached out, Kris.  I could really use a preset librarian alternative to SoundTower.

Did you only need the above question answered or did you need someone with an OB-X8 to pull more information or additional SysEx for you?

A coincidence you ask today! Because yesterday night I did the adaptation for the Oberheim Teo-5, and found that it indeed uses manufacturer ID 0x10 (which was Oberheim) and the device ID of the Teo-5 is 0x5a. So 0x58 might be just the OB-X8.

If you have a device, we can give it a try. I'll need to make a new build to allow the generic Sequential module to also handle the Oberheim manufacturer ID (I guess the software in the OB-X8 is very close to the other Sequential synths), but then we should be able to give it a go.

Actually Sequential never updates their manuals correctly, the Teo-5 manual has the sysex IDs of the Take-5...

[discombob]

OK, I do have an OB-X8 and can help you test.

Just let me know when that update is available and if there are any special / extra steps I should take to reproduce what you want to see in this development phase for this synth.

Thanks!

[kris]

OK, I do have an OB-X8 and can help you test.

Just let me know when that update is available and if there are any special / extra steps I should take to reproduce what you want to see in this development phase for this synth.

Thanks!

I made a 2.5.1 with a new version of the OB-X8 adaptation today (and added the Trigon-6 and the Teo-5). If you like hop over to github and give it a try!

[discombob]

It is now working for basic patch import and sending back to the OB-X8!  The send to synth button won't let me send more than something like 9 or 10 patches at once that I've staged in the Synth Bank column on right.  Perhaps that is a boundary line between groups in a bank (which each contain 8 programs)?

I'm going to use it for a while, and then perhaps I can make some workflow suggestions, but first of all the most important that would make this quite a bit faster to use:

- drag and drop to everywhere... the interface invites and begs for this.
- along with multiple selection via shift (sequentially) or ctrl (individually) before dragging, and having it parse out in the target list or column by visually previewing the sort and landing program slots before you let go of the mouse button.

Thank you for this effort!!  I really like it so far.

[kris]

It is now working for basic patch import and sending back to the OB-X8!  The send to synth button won't let me send more than something like 9 or 10 patches at once that I've staged in the Synth Bank column on right.  Perhaps that is a boundary line between groups in a bank (which each contain 8 programs)?

I'm going to use it for a while, and then perhaps I can make some workflow suggestions, but first of all the most important that would make this quite a bit faster to use:

- drag and drop to everywhere... the interface invites and begs for this.
- along with multiple selection via shift (sequentially) or ctrl (individually) before dragging, and having it parse out in the target list or column by visually previewing the sort and landing program slots before you let go of the mouse button.

Thank you for this effort!!  I really like it so far.

Ah, good, that's some progress!

They might have actually done the old 8 patches per bank thing? I need to look at how the convertToProgram function works, that needs to be consistent with the bank definitions.

Agree on drag and drop! Single drag and drop works in many place already, let me know when you find a particular gap.

Multi-select is the next big thing for the UI. I want to make it touch friendly, so I need to investigate having multiple ways of doing multi-select. I am pretty much bound to what the JUCE library I use allows. The one thing where you can already multi drag is you can drag a list with all its contents into the synth bank on the right. It will basically highlight in red the slots that will be overwritten.

I collect most feedback in github issues, will try to capture this as well!

[wintoid]

I collect most feedback in github issues, will try to capture this as well!

Hi Kris,

Thanks for this, it looks great.  I've downloaded the latest version today and get the green bar for my Trigon 6 but not for my OBX8.  However, the OBX8 does work for Import Patches From Synth.  Anything I can do to help you investigate?

Hopefully you'll read this, but perhaps I need to log it on github somehow? (Edit: I logged this on github too)

Simon

[kris]

I collect most feedback in github issues, will try to capture this as well!

Hi Kris,

Thanks for this, it looks great.  I've downloaded the latest version today and get the green bar for my Trigon 6 but not for my OBX8.  However, the OBX8 does work for Import Patches From Synth.  Anything I can do to help you investigate?

Hopefully you'll read this, but perhaps I need to log it on github somehow? (Edit: I logged this on github too)

Simon

Yes, thanks, I got you here as well! The reason I direct people to Github is that for a few years, email notifications wouldn't work on the Sequential forums. But this is long gone, and they now work reliably. Just that my eye is trained to prioritize Github mails higher than these ;-9

Happy to hear the Trigon is working, I am sure we can figure out the rest of the OB-X8 as well.

How do you like it btw? I am still on the fence, I love my OB-6 but am lusting for the big brother. Both though wouldn't make sense, and space is as usual limited!

[wintoid]

I collect most feedback in github issues, will try to capture this as well!

Hi Kris,

Thanks for this, it looks great.  I've downloaded the latest version today and get the green bar for my Trigon 6 but not for my OBX8.  However, the OBX8 does work for Import Patches From Synth.  Anything I can do to help you investigate?

Hopefully you'll read this, but perhaps I need to log it on github somehow? (Edit: I logged this on github too)

Simon

Yes, thanks, I got you here as well! The reason I direct people to Github is that for a few years, email notifications wouldn't work on the Sequential forums. But this is long gone, and they now work reliably. Just that my eye is trained to prioritize Github mails higher than these ;-9

Happy to hear the Trigon is working, I am sure we can figure out the rest of the OB-X8 as well.

How do you like it btw? I am still on the fence, I love my OB-6 but am lusting for the big brother. Both though wouldn't make sense, and space is as usual limited!

I haven't used my OBX8 anywhere near enough, mostly because I hate the whole interface design with Page 2 and all that.  I'm now working on making my own editor for it.

In fact I'm here because I'm hoping to find some documention for the actual contents of the SYSEX sent by the synth.  Does anyone know if there is such a document?  I can only find the info in the user guide about how to send/receive SYSEX and it doesn't explain the actual contents of the dump.