How to select snapshots with midi PC's

Using Zynthian
1

Hi, I like to select saved Snapshots with a external midi-controler command but I don’t know how.
The SZ3 selection via midi PC commands works fine.

Tried to send via Channel 16 with Master-Channel on (16) and also without the Master-Channel on, it does not work yet.

Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks

2

When you save a ZS3 snapshot you do it under a Program Change number.
You need to send MIDI Program Change commands from the MIDI conttroller and you’ll be done.

3

Thnks Pau,

The Zs3 snapshots work fine with Midi Program change commands, but what is the method
for selecting a Snapshot with Midi Program Change?,

4

Mmmmmm snapshots are slow, they take a significant amount of time to swap.

I don’t think you can assign a Program Change to select a snapshot, I have looked and I haven’t found it.

5

Yes, it’s probably slower than a ZS3 change but I need the Chaannel changes.
In the userguide it says “It is possible to recall snapshots via MIDI Program Change. New snapshots are assigned the next available MIDI Program Change”.
and in the Snapshot page you can set a program (I asume a Midi Program Change) number.

6

There’s a new version coming soon that unbinds MIDI channels from what in zynthian are called chains, now a MIDI channel is linked to an engine.

Until now I’ve been able to use ZS3 snapshots for live performances, Program Change is super fast and you can change the engine preset every time. The only limitation is that you need to load all your engines in the snapshot. IMHO there’s no need to use snapshots unless you have a completely different set of engines

Anyway, maybe someone that knows better than I do can answer :slight_smile:

7

I can confirm that the documentation does state that snapshots can be recalled by program change and that this does not seem to work in any scenarios / configurations I have tried.

Progam Change operates differently depending on the mode of the device, e.g. recalling the ZS3 or the engine’s native preset. I can imagine that the behaviour described in this part of the docs may be intended for master channel but it does not work.

@jofemodo could you explain what the intended behaviour is? (I have been working on program change behaviour recently so this question is timely.)

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8

Thanks Pau, your method using ZS3’s is understood en working.

@jofemodo
Due to the fact changing Snapshots via Midi Program Change Commands seems interesting (at least for me) and in the current implementation Midi Program Changes are used to select ZS3’s maybe the masterchannel could be used. So Midi Program Change commands in the masterchannel are used for Snapshot selection and Midi Program Changes on the other 15 channels are used for selection of ZS3’s.

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9

This is exactly the intended behaviour :wink: It could be broken in some recent update, given that not many people use this feature. Let me check it.

Regards,

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10

I just committed a fix that solves the problem. It’s on stable & testing branches.

Enjoy!!

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11

Wiki needs updating to describe this behaviour more accurately.

12

This only works after the snapshot page has been accessed once. If you start Zynthian up fresh and send program change on master channel then the snapshot is not loaded.

13

Thanks for your effort both! Your quick responses are really fantastic. I will play with this functionality the comming days.

Sincerely yours
Pete

14

The fix should solve this.

15

Sorry - my update must have not worked properly. I see this expected behaviour now, cheers!

[Edit] Wiki updated to indicate that MIDI Program Change on Master MIDI Channel can select Snapshot.

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