Preset Manager for External Devices

Software
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Hi @jofemodo !

I begin my reflection on a “patch organizer” for MIDI hardware devices

Since I have not yet a Zynthian module and I have no knowledge of its architecture (organization / hierarchy), I may have made mistakes or suggested things that do not correpond to the interface of Zynthian (as it exists today).

This solution assumes that it is possible to create “Engines” for each hardware synth (much like Ableton Live allows to create an instance of an “instrument rack” for external instruments)
We could then see several lists of presets, classed by category
(It would be nice to offer the ability to easily edit these lists via a file format such as XML, CSV …)

Here is an example of the tree:
http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/341155Schema.png

This solution would also offer the advantage to allow the user to build some “Control Panels” to be able to control several parameters of the MIDI device (four per page / panel)

Does it seem possible to you?

:slight_smile:

1 Like
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Hi @Loud65!

Your proposal is very similar (virtually identical) to the current Zynthian UI workflow, including the “Control Panels”, so i think it would be very easy to implement. I think that you should try a Zynthian Box :wink:

Best Regards!

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I think that you should try a Zynthian Box

I think so, too… :wink:

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Hi @Loud65!
1.) In your scheme, every hardware synth (external engine) would be in a different MIDI channel?
2.) I’m thinking that better than XML/Text editing, we could create a nice web interface for editing the categories/presets and controller maps (perhaps including some kind of MIDI learning :wink:

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Hi @jofemodo

  1. Yes indeed
    one synth per MIDI channel
    I think it is the most effective way
    and if a synth is multitimbral, we can create several instances (e.g. Blofeld #1, Blofeld #2…)
    so we are not forced to use all the available “parts” within the Zynthian

how does it work for (software) engines currently? (ZynAddSubFX, Linux Sampler, Fluid Synth etc.)
do you specify the MIDI channel after have selected the engine? or do you have 16 slots (16 midi channels) and put engines on them?

because what would be great is to be able to mix software and hardware engines which would be handled in the same way

  1. It would be perfect!
    Nice GUI are always better… :slight_smile:

That said, it may be necessary to import text files at some point because there are synths with too many patches to be edited one by one …
For example, I have synths with over 1,000 patches (even one with more than 6000 patches …)
hence the interest to have a module that categorizes them … :wink:

(I started to save some money for a Zynthian … :wink: )

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Hi @Loud65!

Currently you only have a multitimbral engine running, and 16 channels for this engine. But this should evolve towards a more flexible, multi-engine approach.
Regarding the file import, can you give more info about the file format? Is there some standarized format for this?

Regards!

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Currently you only have a multitimbral engine running, and 16 channels
for this engine. But this should evolve towards a more flexible,
multi-engine approach.

OK.
How do you plan to evolve this (with the “multi-engine implementation”)?
Is there would be the possibility to display on the home screen the 16 empty slots (for the 16 MIDI channels)
and then choose the “Engine” (software & hardware) for each slot ?
Is it possible?

Regarding the file import, can you give more info about the file format? Is there some standarized format for this?

There is no “official” format (unfortunately)
the best known is probably the “midnam” format

but if I mentioned cvs or xls files is because it would be quite easy to copy/paste a long list of presets from the devices documentation
often there is already a column for the categories
which would make easier to organize via a software like Open Office Calc for example …
(and of course it would be also very easy to create categories…)

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Hi @Loud65!

Yes. This is the idea i have in my mind :wink:

OK! So we would like to have web interface for configuring external “engines”, each one having their own categories, presets and controller maps. This may be edited by hand, but also entered with an “Import” function that takes CSV files.

I think we are starting to be close to a good definition for this feature. And i think it could be a nice feature to add to Zynthian, but i need to prioritize the tasks to be done, so …

Do you think this feature could be of interest for musicians? What profile? Do you think that there is a real demand for that kind of manager? Normally, what kind of tool is used for this purpose? Perhaps a full featured DAW? Or there are specific tools or devices? etc.

Thanks a lot! :wink:

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@jofemodo

Yes. This is the idea i have in my mind

Great :slight_smile:

OK! So we would like to have web interface for configuring external
“engines”, each one having their own categories, presets and controller
maps. This may be edited by hand, but also entered with an “Import”
function that takes CSV files.

Yes
and the web interface could be very handy for the building of the controller maps

Do you think this feature could be of interest for musicians?

Yes. Definitively.
This would be very interesting for musicians (and I even think it would be pertinent to communicate on this feature once it will be implemented…)

What profile? Do you think that there is a real demand for that kind of manager?

basically, the musicians who exclusively use hardware synths
but also those who use computer AND hardware synths since there is not much solutions for that purpose currently

Normally, what kind of tool is used for this purpose? Perhaps a full featured DAW? Or there are specific tools or devices? etc.

One can see there is currently a tendency to help the user to better organize his libraries of presets from an external controller

For the software area, recently, we can see the offer grow in that direction

Alesis VX49
M-Audio CTRL 49
Akai Advance series
Native Instruments Kontrol S Series…
+
the “big” plug-ins (like Spectrasonics Omnisphere) have to propose a system of categories and tags to help to manage the tons of presets…

but this principle haven’t been extended to hardware yet…

Principal cause (I guess), during many years, the synthesizers doesn’t have presets (full analog synthesizers)
but in recent years, all synths can handle presets…
(even analog synths which are digitally controlled now)

So for “hardware” users there is no many solutions
a software like Midi Quest (https://www.squest.com/Products/MidiQuest11/index.html) can do the job but it is pretty expensive and not very handy
also, most of DAWs propose to import preset lists from files (but, again, no standardized format…)

and all these solutions involve to have a computer to find/change a preset…

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“Do you think this feature could be of interest for musicians? What
profile? Do you think that there is a real demand for that kind of
manager? Normally, what kind of tool is used for this purpose? Perhaps a
full featured DAW? Or there are specific tools or devices? etc.”

-I’m a musician with very old analog synths and last digital machines.
After reading slowly all the post, I’m taking a best panorama of the question.

The Zynthian Project is a ‘low cost’ bet, (Please, let me this license). This is: Now I’ll construct one as a synth machine and a second as controller. Pros: little boxes, good price, flexible software. Cons: under development (it’s my bet and my hopes), hard to setup for non-linux users.

And now, my congratulations for all the people who are hard working on this project!

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Hi @Mister_Carrington!

Of course. I think it’s quite accurate :wink:

We will try to solve this problem in the next software release :wink:

Regards!

1 Like
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‘About how to power-on and start the Zylthian unit’ I could write a dummy manual (this is for me) and share it. I hope to have the first Zynthian constructed and running for this december (last week).

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Please, do it!! It would a good contribution to the project!! :wink: