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How To Move PCG Data From One Sound Bank To Another

EX: Move your “User-E” bank to your “User-G” bank

Now that the version 1.5 OS for Kronos has been released and we have all those extra banks of sounds, you may want to start moving stuff around. Here’s how…..

NOTE: Best to back up any edits to the factory sounds or any new programs or combis you have done to a PCG file before attempting anything. There is no need to save “all” the data when saving a PCG file. Just save the bank that you have been editing. Then if you have to load in that PCG again, it won’t affect any of the other banks.

Go to: DISK/SAVE/Name your PCG and Save your USER-E soundbank as a PCG file to your USB hard drive or memory stick. Make sure to save just the Programs and Combis from the User-E bank. Uncheck all the other banks as well as the Drum Kits, Wave Sequences, Global Settings & Set List.

Go to: DISK/LOAD/Choose your file – Select OPEN

Choose Programs – Select OPEN

Choose Your Program File – Select LOAD

Pick the new location bank (In our case User-G) where you want to store your file – Hit LOAD.

If your just moving programs around and your PCG does not include any combis or custom drum patterns, then your done. However, if your sound bank also contains combis then repeat the above loading procedure with your “combis” USER-E soundbank.

At this point all your sounds will be moved to the new soundbank (User-G). However, the combis are still referencing the programs in your old soundbank – so you need to fix that.

Go to “Global/Basic” and choose the “Change All Bank References” command.
Highlight the “combination” box
Change UE > UE to UE > UG – Leave everything else the same – Choose OK

When you move combis from one bank to another they are still referencing the programs in the old bank. So if you change around the programs in the old bank by doing something like loading in a new group of sounds, then the combis in the new bank will not work as programmed. The change all bank references command fixes this by changing the combis so they now reference the programs in the new bank.

If you do not have any custom drum patterns that you have created then your done. However, if you do have have any custom drum patterns you also need to change them to point to the new soundbank. You do this in “program mode”. Go to the drum track and change the drum pattern from the old bank to the new one.  In this case for our example, change from USER-E to USER-G. Unfortunately, there is no quick way to change all the programs at once. You must go in and change each program one at a time.

If you happen to mess up anything and want to start over again, you can always reload the factory PCG by going to Disk/Factory where you will find the Preload PCG along with all the other Preload files.

That’s it! The first one or two can be a little tricky, but like anything else it gets easier after you’ve done it a few times. If you have any problems and you need some help just let us know and we will be happy to help.

Note that if your a PC user, I’ve just discovered a cool free app called PCG tools which will do all this for you automatically! You can find more info over at KORG FORUMS.

 

 

How To Load The Demo:

Demo Package Includes:

1- WAV folder containing twenty Prophet VS WAV files.

2- V1DEMO.KSC file and folder containing all the .KMP files set up as a “Multi Sample” program. This must be loaded every time you start up since the Kronos does not retain sample data in it’s memory when shutting down.

3- V1DEMO.PCG file contains two programs set up to load into your USER-G Bank.

Program 000 – Prophet VS Crystal Pad. Program 001 – Prophet VS Super Pad.

NOTE: When loading the .KSC file, choose the “CLEAR RAM” option.

This demonstration can be used in two ways. You can either just load in the .KSC and .PCG files and get a taste of how we added new Prophet VS multi samples to our upcoming Kronos Vintage Synth Collection. Or, you can follow the steps below and create your own programs from the wav files that we have included. This tutorial will give you a much better idea on how to create new programs using your own samples. It is not meant to be used exactly the same in every situation since there are many different ways to import and set up sample programs, It’s more to be used as a guideline on how to key map samples across the keyboard and get you started with using sample data on the Knonos.

Each WAV file has been sampled from our vintage Prophet VS synthesizer and includes an assortment of C’s and G’s. The files must be “Key Mapped” into the Knonos in order for you to be able to use them in a program or combi. In case your not familiar with how all that works, we’ve created a step by step on how that’s done. Also included is a .KSC file which has the samples already set up as a program and shows an example of what your finished program should look/sound like. Also note the effects, SW1 & SW2, joystick, drum track, KARMA scenes and real time controls that were added to the program to put the finishing touches on everything.

HOW TO CREATE A PROGRAM FROM SAMPLE DATA WAV FILES

1- Save the “Kronos Sample Demo” folder to your USB hard drive or memory stick. Connect your drive/stick to the Knonos USB port. Clear your sample RAM memory before doing anything else!

2- Choose the Disk button and find the “WAVS” folder, find the Crystal Pad folder and choose “open”. Choose the “Multiple Select” button, then choose all the WAV files that are marked with the 16 next to the name and choose “load”, then choose “OK”. The data should load. NOTE: Files with the _ (underscore) next to the name will not load, so don’t choose any of them.

3- Choose the Sampling button and highlight at the very top of the page where it says “000: NewMS” and choose the next available Multisample slot. The “create new multisample” box will pop up. Highlight the stereo button if you have a stereo sample and then choose OK. If your sample is mono then do not check the stereo box. Note that you can “rename” the multi sample by going to the “recording” function on the top/right and choosing “rename ms”. Highlight the “Sample” function. Choose the top sample “PVSPAD1_C2.WAV”. That sample should appear in the Knonos sample function display.

4- Just under the sample you will see the OrigKey and TopKey parameters. Leave them both at  C2 and choose “create”. At that point that one sample should now be “mapped” on C2 (the bottom note on a 61 note Knonos. If you have an extended keyboard with 73 or 88 keys then the sample should also be any note under C2. Play C2 on your keyboard and the you should hear the sample. If you can hear the sample when you play C2 then move on. If not then recheck your steps. You probably overlooked something.

5- Choose the sample arrow option again and now choose the PVSPAD1_G2.WAV sample this time. Set OrigKey to G2 and TopKey to A#2 and choose “create” again. This will map out the second sample between C#2 and A#2 and fill out most of the next octave. Play any of the keys in that range to test.

If you have gotten this far and everything is OK then you probably have a good idea how to finish key mapping the rest. Basically you now have to repeat step five several times where you set the range of the sample with the OrigKey and TopKey functions. The OrigKey is always the same as the original sample name (C3, G3 and so on) and you always “stretch” the TopKey usually three or four notes above the original. Usually a E or A# in this example. Remember that the goal is to fill in all the notes on the keyboard.

Also remember to create your multi samples in the following order:

1- C2 – index slot 1      2- G2 – index slot 2      3- C3 – index slot 3      4- G3 – index slot 4      5- C4 – index slot 5      6- G4 – index slot 6   7- C5 – index slot 7     8- G5 – index slot 8      9- C6 – index slot 9     10- G6 – index slot 10      11- C7 -index slot 11

6- Play the keyboard to see if all the notes are filled in and that everything is correctly tuned. Your getting there, but you may be thinking that this VS Pad thing sure does not sound like much. Yeah, that’s exactly right! To get the sound just right we have to turn this into a Knonos program.

7- Choose the top/right arrow to get to all the sampling options and choose “Convert MS to Program”. Select the program slot where you would like to store the program and choose OK. Then save your program to the Knonos memory by going to “write program”.

8- Select program mode and find your program. Now you can start editing it the same way that you edit any factory program. The first couple of things I would do is name the program and then save everything. Then you can get on to creating that cool pad sound. You now have to create two separate files. 1- A PCG file which will save your program 2- A KSC file which saves the multi sample data.

You don’t actually “have” to create a PCG file right now since this program will stay in your Kronos memory until you load over it with something else, but it’s always a good idea to back up your data.  However, you do have to save your sample data as a .KSC file since the Knonos does not hold the data in it’s internal memory and must be loaded in each time you boot up the machine.

To create and save a .KSC file:

Choose Disk – Select Save

Select “Save Sampling Data”

Name your file. Lets call it DEMOSOUNDS

Choose OK

All your samples should now save to your USB drive or memory stick and you should now have a file on your drive called: DEMOSOUNDS along with all the samples saved as Korg .KMP files.

Now you don’t have to go through all of that the next time you boot up the machine! Just load the file and your ready to start editing the program.

To create and save a .PCG file:

Choose Disk – Select Save – Select “Save PCG”.

In this case your only saving one program bank so uncheck all the program banks except the one bank where your Prophet VS Pad is living. We have chosen the User G bank and have unchecked everything in the program section except the USER G bank. Your not saving any combi, drum kit, drum track, global, set list or wave sequence data so you can uncheck all of the combi and drum kits boxes as well as the  drum track, global, set list and wave sequence boxes. Choose OK.

OK great. You have now backed up all your data and won’t have to start all over again if the power goes off at your house!

At this point the editing and creation of the final program begins. There is much that needs to be done to create a finished program and since programming is an art, the results will vary from person to person. However, here are a couple of tips to get you going. First notice that your program does not quite sound right. As soon as you lift your hand from the keys, the sound cuts off. Not a very natural sounding patch is it? What you need to do is adjust the “amp envelope” settings.

Go to; AMP/EQ and Choose AMP1 EG. This is where you adjust the settings. Below are two pictures. Example A: shows the envelope settings for a pre-edited program and should have the same settings as the program that you have created. Example B: shows what the correct envelope settings should be. Make the adjustments, play the keyboard and now when you release the key, there is a much more natural decay of the notes played. Your program is now staring to take shape.

NOTE: Since the Kronos Editor is not available yet, the screen shots were taken from the Korg M3 Editor. The layout is slightly different then on the Kronos, but the ADSR settings are the same.

Example A:

Example B:

 

There are many more steps involved in finishing up your new program. Adding effects, real time controls, drum track and KARMA settings just to name a few. For those who are interested we have included two finished Prophet VS Pad programs which includes all of the above and more. Just load in the V1DEMO.PCG file into your User G bank and you will see/hear what a complete program should look/sound like.

For those interested in learning how to program, look take a good look at the finished program and you can see how the effects, SW1 & 2, joystick, ribbon and real time KARMA controls look compared to the “bare bones” program that’s created when you first convert your multi sample to a program. That should give you some ideas on how everything works. You can also go ahead and take things to the next level by importing additional multi samples and setting each to play on different velocity levels. This is useful for creating keyboards, drums as well as many other types of sounds.

Well that’s a mouth full! I hope this gives you a much greater understanding of how to work with new multi samples on your Korg Kronos. Setting up one from scratch can be a bit confusing when your first starting out, but like anything else if you keep doing it your bound to get better. If you have any questions or comments please contact us at: support@kidnepro.com and we will be happy to assist.

Happy sampling and good luck!

More info on our Korg Kronos sounds can be found HERE!

 

 

 

 

Just about every week, we get several e-mails from someone looking to buy our sounds on the old RAM cards. I usually respond and explain that the cards have not been made in many years and are no longer available. I also mention that all our sounds are available in other formats including system exclusive (sysex) or standard midi files and that all you need to load them into their synth is a “midi interface”.

All of those old RAM cards have a battery inside of them. It’s usually a small “lithium” battery about the size of a US nickel. The battery usually has a lifespan of about five to ten years. After that, they go dead and whatever data you have stored on the card is lost.

A midi interface is not as complicated as you think. As you can see in the picture, It’s just a little USB device that you connect to your computers USB port. You then run a midi cable from the midi interface “midi output” to your synths “midi input”. Takes about two minutes to set up everything. There are two types of midi interfaces. One is a actual piece of hardware consisting of a small box or rack mount device that has midi inputs and outputs. You only need a simple one that has one midi in and out. However, if you have a lot of synths and samplers and plan on recording them using midi, you can purchase a larger midi interface which can have up to sixteen in’s and outs. The second kind of interface is just a simple USB to Midi cable. This should also do the job for simple sysex dumps, but I have not had the opportunity to test this yet so it’s possible you may run into problems with certain midi devices if you go this route. A USB to mid cable can be purchased for under $20. Midi interfaces are a bit more, but you can find a simple one that will do the job for around $75. USD. That’s about the same amount of money that you would spend on one or two RAM cards!

As I mentioned, we provide you will a software app with your order that lets you load in the sounds from the computer to your synth. The apps are available for both the Mac or PC users. We also provide instructions on how to set up everything to get your computer and your synth talking to each other. This does take a bit more time to sort out everything, but most users have things set up within an half hour or less. The set up is a bit different depending on which synth or computer you have, but most synths are pretty easy to deal with – the older ones only have a few midi parameters so it’s easy to access the midi section and see what’s going on inside.

If you do wind up having a problem once you get our sounds, we don’t forget about you. I’m happy to answer as many e-mails or phone calls as it takes to get you up and running. Our customer support is as good as it gets.

3- Once you have your midi interface up and running you will now be able to do lots of cool stuff with your computer. Not only can you now load our sounds into your synth, but you can also use the software that we give you to “save” whatever sounds you have in your synths memory to your computers hard drive. The midi interface and software app will work with just about any synth that has midi, so you can now do a “bulk dump” to load and save sounds from any synth you happen to have in your rig that has a midi port.

After you get used to using our app to load and save sounds you can then take the next step and get yourself a “librarian” or “editor”. A librarian is a software app which lets you take several banks of sounds and choose the ones you like most to create your own “custom sound banks”. Need a bank of sounds with just organ or piano sounds? No problem. Just use your librarian to drag and drop all your keyboard sounds into one custom sound bank. Some librarians are sold by music software companies, but there are also lot’s of free ones that can you can download online. An “editor” not only lets you set up your own custom sound banks, but you can also access all your synths parameters and “edit” them to create your own sounds. This is what we use when we create the sounds that we offer for sale. Who knows, maybe you can become the next Patch King! Just like librarians, editors can be purchased or found online for free. The ones that are for sale usually have lot’s more features. Some of them, like Mark Of The Unicorns “Unisyn” or Sound Quests “Midi Quest” are both librarians and editors and work with hundreds of different synths and are the top choice among musicians who want to store and edit sounds with their computers.

Unlike the old RAM cards which will just hold a small number of sounds, your midi interface lets you store all your sounds on your computers hard drive – so you can now store an unlimited number of sounds on your drive and access them with a few click of the mouse. You also don’t have to worry that the battery is going to go dead (like on the RAM cards) and you will lose all your sounds. Also remember that your synthesizer has an internal battery with a lifespan about the same amount of time (5-10 years) as the RAM cards. When your synths internal battery goes dead, just like the cards, you lose all the sounds in the synths memory. When this happens, all you have to do is replace the battery and reload the sounds again using our software app and your back in business!

There are many other good reasons for purchasing a midi interface that I won’t go into at the moment. Your welcome to call or e-mail us if you need any more info and I’ll be happy to fill you in.

Kid Nepro Main Catalog

Directions are for a Triton Classic. There may be minor differences if you own a different Triton model. This tutorial will work with the Triton Classic, Triton Rack, Triton Studio, Triton LE or Triton Extreme. Don’t forget to save your the sounds that are in your Triton before loading in our sounds.

Before attempting to load in any sounds, make sure that the effects are not turned off on your Triton. To check this go to “Global”. There is a section on the lower left side of the screen titled “Effect Global”. There are three parts to it. 1-IFX 1-5 OFF  2-MFX1 OFF  3-MFX2 OFF – Make sure none of them are checked.

All our Korg Triton sounds are set up to load into your “A” bank. If you would like to load the sounds into your A bank, just go to disk mode, choose the PCG file, “choose load” and then “load selected”. Everything will load into your A bank at once. The is the quickest way to load in our sounds.

If you would like to load the sounds into another sound bank, (Banks B, C, D or E) follow these instructions.

PART 1

1-Insert floppy disk into your Triton – Select Disk

2-Select Load

3-Choose the file you want to load and highlight it

4-Select Open

5-Choose Program and highlight it

6-Select Open

7-Select Load/Load selected – in right corner of screen

8-Change from bank A to B, C, D or E – Choose OK – File will load

Repeat  the process and choose “Combis” instead of Programs. You can only load programs into Bank-E.

You do not have to load the Drum Kits & ARP patterns unless you have overwritten the factory Drum Kits or ARP patterns with your own custom kits or patterns.

9- Go to Global/Basic/Change All Bank References

10- Highlight Combination Box

11- Change Program A>A to A>B, C, D, or E Depending on what bank your moving the sounds to

12- Choose OK – Global setting will write to memory

At this point all data should now be moved to the new bank that you have selected. Choose the new bank and play a few of the programs and combos to check and see if everything looks/sounds right.

PART 2

Take note that whatever you have in your “A bank” is now, not going to sound correct in combi mode. That’s because you changed the “Bank References”. What you need to do now is to reload whatever you had in Bank A before you loaded in our sounds and then follow similar steps to change the Bank References back in bank A.

1- Go to Global/Basic/Change All Bank References

2- Highlight Combination Box

3-Change Program  A>B, C, D, or E Depending on what bank you moved our sounds, back to A>A

4- Choose OK – Global setting will write to memory

If you have done everything right then your A Bank should now sound just like it did before you loaded in our sounds and our sounds should now be in one of your other banks.

If you have purchased more then one of our Triton sound collections (we have twelve PCG’s for sale), then you can repeat the process with any of our other PCG collections, each time loading the sounds into a different bank. You can load “up to five” of our PCG’s in the Triton’s memory at the same time. Just keep in mind you can only load programs into Bank E. Combi data can not be loaded into Bank E.

Remember to repeat PART 2 after you have loaded your last set of sounds.

Once you have everything loaded you can then “Save All” in your disk section and then save everything as one PCG file. It takes a little while to set all this up, but well worth it, since you wind up with one file that will load in everything up to five banks at once. You can now create several custom set ups for your live gig or studio session that can load in hundreds of new sounds in just a few seconds.

Click Here For More info and audio demos for all our Triton Sounds

Have an old Roland Super JV or XP synth that you want to load new sounds into? Here’s how to set up your synth to receive the sounds.

The following instructions are for the Roland JV1010, JV1080, JV2080, XP30, XP50, XP60 & XP80.

There are two sections in your synth that you need to make adjustments – SYSTEM & UTILITY

SYSTEM SETTINGS

1- Choose system button

2- On Patch Midi Page – Set Receive Ch to #1

3- Use the Arrow Down Button to get to the next page

4- On Sys Exclusive Midi Page – Set RX EXC to “ON”

5- Use Arrow Down Button to get to the next page

6- On Receive Midi Page – Set everything to “ON”

UTILITY SETTINGS

1- Choose utility button

2- On Menu 1 – PROTECT – Use right arrow – scroll to Protect – choose “ENTER BUTTON”

3- On Write Protect Page – Set Internal “Off” & Exclusive “Off”

That should set up your synth to receive the sounds. Look for the midi light to flash when your loading in the sounds from the computer. They end up in your “USER” Bank.

Remember that on Roland synths Midi Channel 1 = Midi Channel 17 – so If you get an error message after setting up the JV or XP, try changing the midi channel in the software your using to load the sounds from channel #1 to channel #17.

If you continue to have problems, there are also a couple of settings in your software that you might need to change – the “buffer” & “transmission speed”. Raise the buffer & lower the transmission speed. Experiment to find the right settings for your system.

More info on all our Roland JV & XP Series sounds can be found

“At the Roland Sound Section Of Our Web Site”

The Yamaha DX7 was one of the best selling synthesizers in the history of electronic music. It’s been over twenty years since the last ones finally rolled off Yamaha’s assembly line, but there are still a lot of them in use all over the world and lots of musicians still looking for new sounds. The sound collection that we programmed for the DX back in the 80’s has been one of our best selling patch sets with over 1000 new sounds in all. The sounds are no longer available on ROM or RAM cards. They come in a system exclusive (also known as sysex) or a standard midi file format (.mid) – so you need to load the sounds using your computer and a midi interface.

Here are some tips on how that is done……

The first thing to remember is that there were several different models of DX7’s. The original “brown” DX was one of the first instruments to have MIDI. It had limited midi features and several bugs which were improved on the later DX7-2 models. The DX7-2 Series included the DX7-2, DX7s and the DX7-2FD. The 2FD had a built in floppy disk drive and we actually offer our DX7 sounds in that format as well. In addition the company “Grey Matter” produced the “E” update. When the E board was installed in the DX it expanded the memory. Loading new sounds into each version via midi is a bit different on each model – so we have listed the set up procedure for each model DX.

In order to load sounds into any of the DX models via midi your need a “Midi Interface” and two “Midi Cables”. There are two types of midi interfaces. One is a actual piece of hardware consisting of a small box or rack mount device that has midi inputs and outputs. You only need a simple one that has one midi in and out. However, if you have a lot of synths and samplers and plan on recording them using midi, you can purchase a larger midi interface which can have up to sixteen in’s and outs. The second kind of interface is just a simple USB to Midi cable. This should also do the job for simple sysex dumps, but I have not had the opportunity to test this yet so it’s possible you may run into problems with certain midi devices if you go this route.

The interface gets connected to your computers USB port. You then run a midi cable from the “Midi out” on your interface to the DX “midi in” port. You can then connect another midi cable from your interface “midi in” to your DX “midi out”. This is called “handshaking” and assures better communication between the DX and your interface. It’s not always necessary to handshake the midi cables, but best to have a second cable around just in case you have to. Some synths will not respond to the dump if the second cable is not connected.

Original DX7 NOTE: You can only load 32 sounds at a time into the original DX7Select Memory SelectSet Memory Protect Internal to “off”The original DX will only receive on midi channel 1 – so make sure your software is set to transmit on channel 1When the display reads “Sys Info Avail”, the DX is ready to receive the data.

Grey Matter E Card

If you have the Grey Matter E board installed there are several additional steps: Press “function”, then “operator select” twice to select the “memory” page, push button 31 twice (Memory Protect Internal) and then “off”. This disables the memory protect. Then press “function”, then “operator select” four times to select the “keyboard control” page, push button 2 (Midi in filters: SYSEX) and then “on”. This enables SYSEX data transfer.

DX7-2 Series

In the DX7-2 synths, most of the midi functions and parameters are adjusted using buttons 31 and 32. Make sure you set the “Rcv Ch” on the DX and your software program set to channel 1. The DX-2 series can hold 64 patches in it’s memory. There are two different memory banks (A and B). The “receive block” (button 31) lets you set which memory bank you load the sounds into. You also need to turn memory protection off (Button #14) and set “MIDI IN” to “normal” (button #29). If you don’t do this step, you get no error message and no hint of what is wrong, but the keyboard will not accept the sysex data.

Well that about covers it. If you need a program to load in the sounds we provide a couple of good ones that are easy to use for both the Mac and PC. More info on how to load the sounds using sysex software programs can be found at our web site.

Click Here for more info on our Yamaha DX7 sound collection

It may be a bit confusing if you never loaded in new sounds into your synthesizer via the midi port – so we have put a tutorial together on exactly how it’s done. When you purchase any of our sounds in PC format we usually provide the files in both system exclusive (.syx) and standard midi files (.mid) formats . This gives you a wider option as to what programs you can use to load the sounds. There are many programs that you can use to load the standard midi files including DAW programs such as Logic, Cubase or Digital Performer. We also provide a easy to use program called MIDIOX (http://www.midiox.com) that you can use to load our SYSEX files. This tutorial will show you how to load in SYSEX (.syx) files using MidiOX.

1- Make sure you “Save” your internal sounds before loading in our sounds. Our sounds will replace your internal presets, so it’s best to save them to disk so you can reload them in later if you wish. Many synths have a “re-initilize memory” setting which you can use to restore the original factory settings. Each synthesizer is set up differently – so refer to your owners manuel on how to transmit a “Bulk Dump” or “Sysex Dump” from your synth to your computer.  Be sure you have installed the latest drivers for your MIDI interface (these are available from the maker of the midi interface).

2- First you need to set up your synthesizer to receive the file. The owners manuel will also inform you on how to set up your synth to receive a “System Exclusive” or SYSEX Dump. Some synths require you to turn off the memory protect. Others require you to “Enable” or “Turn on” the System Exclusive. It varies from synth to synth. We recommend that you set your synthesizer to Midi Channel #1. This is the default channel when “Midiox” loads. 

3- Connect a midi cable from your computers midi interface or sound card midi out to your synthesizers midi in. Also connect a cable from your computer midi in to your synthesizers midi out. If your sound card just has one port then connect it to the midi in of your synthesizer

4- Open Midiox and click on “Help/Contents/Getting Started” and read that. 

Also click on “Making Connections”. That tells you how to connect Midiox to your synthesizer.

You set this up by going to “Options/Mididevices”. While your in the contents menu also click on “System Exclusive/Sending A File”. Under the “Options” menu, select “MIDI Devices”. Look in the “MIDI Outputs:” box and select the appropriate MIDI OUT device (this tells MidiOx where to direct the MIDI data). If you do not see an entry for your MIDI interface, then you probably need to reinstall or update the appropriate drivers for your MIDI interface.

5- Then take any one of our sysex files and drag them from your desktop into the “Monitor – Output” box. The Sysex View and Scratchpad window should pop up and you should see the data in the window. Then go to the File Menu and click on “Send Sysex File. The data will automatically begin sending to the synth. Wait for the progress bar to complete.

If you never loaded in new sounds via midi, it can be confusing at first. So, we’ve put a tutorial together on how it’s done. When you purchase any of our sounds in Macintosh format you receive the files in both system exclusive (.syx) and standard midi (.mid) files. This gives you a wider option as to what programs you can use to load the sounds. There are many programs that you can use to load the files including DAW programs such as Logic, Cubase or Digital Performer. We also provide a great program called “SysEx Librarian” that will do all sorts of cool stuff including load both system exclusive and standard midi files.

Make sure you “Save” your internal sounds to disk before loading in our sounds. Our sounds will replace your internal presets, so it’s best to save them to disk so you can reload them in later if you wish. Many synth have a “re-initilize memory” setting which you can use to restore the original factory settings, so if you have one in your synth there is no need to save your factory sounds (if you have not changed anything).

First connect your midi cables from your midi interface to the synthesizer. Remember that your synth must first be set up to receive data via midi. Each synthesizer is set up differently, so refer to your owners manuel on how to transmit a “Bulk Dump” or “Sysex Dump” from your synth to your computer. Some synths require you to turn off the memory protect. Others require you to “enable” or “turn on” the system exclusive. It varies from synth to synth.

Before you boot up the sysex librarian you have to set up your instrument(s) in the Mac’s “Audio/Midi Setup”. The Audio/Midi setup can be found in the Utility’s folder inside the Mac’s Application folder. Open up the Audio/Midi setup and click on “Midi Devices” (if you using OS 10.4 or earlier). If your running OS 10.5 or later then go to the “window” menu and choose “show midi window”.

You should see your midi interface in the window. For our example we are using a Midi Timepiece AV as the midi interface and a Korg Triton Extreme as the synthesizer we want to load the new sounds into. Click on “add device” and a icon will appear that say’s “new external device”. Double click on the icon and the “properties” box will pop up. Give the device a name, choose the manufacture and model and fill in the midi channel info. The “system exclusive” ID, in the bottom right corner is the setting for the midi channel that you have your synth set to. Note that if you happen to have a synth made by Roland: midi channel 1 is actually channel 17, midi channel 2 is channel 18 and so on.

Once you create your settings, close the properties box and go back to the main Audio/Midi box. Then as in the top photo, you have to connect your midi interface to your synth with the patch cables. Just click and drag to connect the two. Connect both the “out to in” and the “in to out” just as in the first photo.

Close the Audio/Midi setup and open the SysEx librarian. In the pull down box choose the port that you have your synthesizer connected to. In our example we are using port 1. Then just drag the sysex or midi file from your desktop into the SysEx librarian box and you should see the name appear in the box (Kid Nepro Triton V1.syx). Then just hit the “play” button and if everything is connected properly the data should load into your synth.

From the SysEx librarian docs: Transmit Speed: Most MIDI devices can handle sysex messages sent at full speed, but a few older ones have problems keeping up. If your device doesn’t work, try turning down the transmit speed a little bit. (this is done in the sysex librarian preferences) Note that you can change the speed on an individual device, if you’ve set it up in Audio MIDI Setup. This is the recommended way to do it (instead of setting the speed on the whole output port), because SysEx Librarian will use the appropriate speed even if you change which port the device is hooked up to.

Please note two things:

•SysEx Librarian is absolutely dependent on the MIDI interface’s driver

•MIDI drivers can and do have bugs, especially when dealing with SysEx messages

If you’re having problems, your first step should be to get the latest version of the driver for your MIDI interface. Almost all manufacturers have web sites where the drivers can be downloaded — please check with the manufacturer of your particular device.

You must have a Mac OS X driver for your MIDI interface; Mac OS 9 drivers will not work.

More info on how to use the sysex librarian can be found at; http://www.snoize.com/SysExLibrarian/docs.html

Complete info on all our sounds can be found at: www.kidnepro.com. If you have any questions please contact us.

To SAVE a complete set of 64 patches and 8 patch preset pairs:

A- Press the JP-8 dump button. The JP-8 will send a pilot tone to your tape recorder, indicated by a double dash (— —) in the patch number display window. If possible, adjust your tape recorder so that the pilot tone registers near 0dB.

B- Begin recording with your tape recorder, beginning with a clear portion of the pilot tone. The JP-8 will soon produce a modulated tone and indicate which patch numbers are being dumped at any given moment by displaying those numbers in the lower portion of the display window.

C- When the Jupiter-8 has dumped it’s entire memory (ending with the number 88) the pilot tone will appear again then drop to silence and the display window will become blank to indicate the end of the dump sequence. Record enough of the silence to separate different JP-8 program memories to the same tape.

The Jupiter-8 includes the ability to assign a file number to each set of programs dumped, to make later identification easier. Merely select one of the 64 available patch numbers and place it in the upper section of the patch number display window before the dump procedure is begun. This number will be memorized along with the rest of the JP-8 memories and will be displayed in that position whenever the tape memory is played back into the Jupiter-8.

The Jupiter-8 includes a verify function to allow you to check the accuracy of your tape recorded memories before you change any patches in the Jupiter-8, providing extra securing against accidental loss of your precious programs.

To VERIFY a complete set of 64 patches and 8 patch preset pairs:

A- Play back the recorded set of JP-8 programs at a relatively high level, adjusting the tape recorder output until you obtain the brightest and most continuous signal from the JP-8’s data check LED. Once you have made your adjustments, begin tape playback with the pilot tone and press the JP-8 verify switch.

B- If your recorded memory is accurate and is being played back clearly and at the correct level, the JP-8 will now proceed to display all 64 patch numbers in sequence as it did in dump mode. If the entire sequence is completed, the tape memory is accurate and secure.

C- If there is an error in your recorded memory or it’s playback, patch number of upper section of the display window will begin to flash intermittently. Return to the beginning of the verify procedure, check your tape recorders levels and connections, and try again. If an error is indicated again, repeat the dump procedure again. Continue until your tape passes the verify test.

To LOAD a complete set of 64 patches and 8 patch preset pairs:

A- Adjust the tape output level according to the JP-8 data check indicator. Once this adjustment has been made, begin tape playback with the pilot tone and press the JP-8 load switch.

B- The JP-8 will indicate the file number of the program being loaded in the upper portion of the display window, and the patch numbers being loaded at any given moment in the lower portion of the display window. When the entire sequence has ended and the display window becomes blank, the load procedure is complete and the Jupiter-8 may be played normally using the new set of programs.

Hit Dump (verify, load) key to quit dump operation.

If errors have been detected, the display window keeps the flashing patch number until you hit any key.

The Jupiter-8 tape memory section includes some special features which make the tape memory more useful. Any bank of patches (such as the teens, twenty’s, etc) may be dumped, verified and loaded by itself or in combination with any other banks. This allows specific parts of any Jupiter-8 program to be stored or recalled without effecting the rest of the programs. This procedure is exactly the same as dumping, loading and verifying with one simple addition. Immediately after pressing the dump, load or verify switch, press the patch number switches for the bank or banks you wish to include. This will limit the process to the banks you have chosen.

If you wish to load specific parts of entire programs you have dumped into tape, it is even possible to drop into that program and load that information into any new banks you wish. To accomplish this, begin the verify procedure. The instant before you reach the specific patch number you wish to begin loading, press the load button and then the bank of sounds you wish to load. The Jupiter-8 begins loading at that point.

The patch preset memories are dealt with as a group and are the first items loaded, dumped of verified in any of these procedures. Remember that these memories are pairs of numbers referring to patches within the 64 patch memories, not a separate set of patches.

When you are completely finished with the tape memory section of the Jupiter-8, always return to the memory protect switch on the back panel to the “ON” position so that the LED indicator on the front panel is lit.

Need new sounds for your Jupiter? We have a cool collection of sounds for your Vintage Jupiter-8. 64 new patches on data cassette or WAV file download. That will get your Jupiter back on it’s feet again or give you some new sounds to work with. More info can be found At The Jupiter-8 Section Of Our Web Site

The Korg M1 is one of, if not the best selling synthesizers of all time so there are a lot of M1 owners out there still looking for new sounds. You can find more info on all our Korg M1 sounds and Patches over here. We have a great collection which will get your M1 back on it’s feet again, but there are a few important things you should know.

NOTE: These settings will also work with the Korg M1R Rack Module as well as the Korg T-Series (T1, T2, T3 and T3-EX).

The ROM, RAM and PCM cards that fit into the M1 card slots have not been made in many years and are hard to find. Even if you do happen to find one, there is a good chance that the internal battery on the card is dead. That makes the card useless in most cases. You can change the battery on “some” cards, but even if you do any sounds that were on the card are gone. The cards are also expensive and do not hold much memory (usually only one bank of sounds can fit on a typical RAM card).

As described in our “Sysex Made Simple article”, there are better ways to do things. A simple midi interface will connect to your computers USB port and enable you to load and save sounds to your computers hard drive. Each synthesizer is set up differently, so refer to your owners manuel on how to transmit a “Bulk Dump” or “Sysex Dump” from your computer to your synth. Here are the settings that will let you do this on the M1:

To load in new sounds:

Set your M1 as follows in the global section:
Midi channel to 1
Memory protects to OFF
Midi filtering excl: ENA; 100/100 mode

To save sounds to your computer:

Set your software to receive the bulk dump
Set your M1 as follows in the global section:
Midi channel to 1
Midi filtering excl: ENA; 100/100 mode
Go to “Midi Data Dump Page”
You can set to dump Programs, Combis, Global, Sequence Data or All. Set to “All” unless you just want to save part of your internal data.
press “DUMP”

If the file does not transfer then check your cables and software settings and repeat.

If you need a program to load the sounds in, we provide easy to use applications that will load in sounds to just about any synth with midi.

Here are a few other tips in working with sysex transfers;

Before you do anything, make sure your Midi cables are correctly connected. “Midi Out” of your Computer interface to “Midi In” of your synth & “Midi Out” of your synth to “Midi In” of your computer interface. Then copy the file to your hard drive or back up everything on a CD, floppy of whatever your using.

Make sure you “Save” your internal sounds to disk before loading in our sounds. Our sounds will replace your internal presets, so it’s best to save them to disk so you can reload them in later if you wish. Many synth have a “re-initilize memory” setting which you can use to restore the original factory settings. Note that there is no re-initilize setting on the M1, M1R or T- Series.

The sounds that we sell for the M1 are in .syx format (system exclusive) We recommend using Midiox or OSX Sysex to transfer the sounds. Although there are many other programs available that will transfer sysex files. We also provide the sounds in a standard midi file format (.mid). You can use your sequencer program (Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer etc) to load in the data. To load via your sequencer just import the file into a track. Then play the track and the data will load into your synth. The midi files will also work with windows media player. Just import them into windows media player and play.