VG-99 Librarian Tips

Started by kneagle, June 01, 2008, 09:02:18 PM

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kneagle

I'm trying to put together a user bank of my own patches, and those I've downloaded from this site.

I've read both of the manuals (Librarian and Editor) several times. The Librarian docs imply that you can import a MIDI file from your HD, but it doesn't work - as others have noted.

Is there no way to bring in patches from the HD, or do we have to first load them into the VG-99 one at a time, and then transfer them to the librarian.

Thanks for a great user group!!

Ken

Brent Flash

#1
Subject: Using the Editor and Librarian

Here is how it works. The Editor and the Librarian both make .mid files but they are not interchangeable. If you make it in the Editor it will only open in the Editor. Same with the Librarian.

So, the way I do it is make all my patches in the Editor. File/Export SMF/Patch. I have each patch saved from the editor in a folder.
It is also a good idea to save your "SYSTEM" just in case you accidentally overwrite it with a patch someone else made that includes the system. That way you can just load it back with File/Import SMF...
Once you have a bunch of patches to get started do File/Import SMF... and WRITE the patches in the positions you want them in with the Editor. I know the Librarian is what you are suppose to do this with but it is easier this way. (IMHO) Use the Librarian for changing the whole USER BANK.

Once you have a USER BANK basically set up then you can start using the Librarian. What you do is open it up and click on READ ALL at the top of the window in Patch mode. (WARNING, THIS WILL TAKE A WHILE) Then you will do: File/Export SMF/All Data
Save this indicating in the name that it is Patch data because even thought it says All Data it is only all the data in that mode.
Then switch the mode to System and repeat the process for the System data.
Then switch the mode to GK Settings and repeat.
Then Favorite Settings and save making sure you indicate in the name what kind of data it is.

Once you have done this you are now ready to create a file that contains all of this data. (This is what is so weird about this program. It has two levels that work separate from each other.)

Go to File/Duplicate. This will make a file in the other section of the Librarian. This file you can save and open but it does not load into the Main Librarian window so this is what is a little weird. Go to File/Save As and name it maybe with a date so you can keep track of updates and maybe have more than one file for backup.

Anyway now we have two windows with the same data. The Main window and the one you created with the duplicate command we will call the file window. Both windows can read and write to the VG-99. The Main window can do ALL or Selected but the file window can only do patches one at a time and can't write system, GK, etc.

Pretty straight forward until you go to use the Librarian again. The next time you open the Librarian it will open the Main window with nothing in it. You can open your file and use it to rearrange patches one at a time but if you want to read or write a bunch at once you need them in the Main window. So you have three choices.

1. You can read the entire memory of the VG-99 again. (Don't do this it takes too long unless the VG has totally different patches from the ones you saved.

2. You can copy and paste them from the file window or...

(Here is a good place to put a note about copy and paste. There is an added feature that can give you grief if you don't pay attention to how it works. Under Edit you have Cut, Copy, Insert, Replace, Delete, Exchange. If you do the regular CONTROL V or Command V key stroke for paste you will insert the patch and move all the following patches down a number so you normally would want to replace and the key shortcut is CONTROL R on PC or COMMAND R on the Mac.)

3. You can go to File/Import SMF/All Data

What I do is import the All data file we created in the Main window with the File/Export SMF/All Data. This saves me from having to read the whole VG-99 memory each time I use the Librarian or copying and pasting from the File window.

When ever I am editing patches in the Editor I always have the librarian open and make changes to my working banks as I go remembering to export the Main window in the Librarian anytime I make changes and saving the file window when changes are made there.

At this point you may ask yourself why use the Librarian at all. Well, I would not except for that in my case I do need to replace the entire memory of the VG depending on what group or performer I am playing with. Some groups do the same songs but in different keys so I have transposed patches that allow me to play in the original key even though they perform it in another. Also I usually have an order that I can keep track of where my patches are with the group I am playing with so in my case it is of some use even though it is a major pain.

I hope this information will take some of the mystery out of these tools for some of you. I know when I first started with them it was trial and error the manuals were not much help.
Brent Flash
Quote from: kneagle on June 01, 2008, 09:02:18 PM
I'm trying to put together a user bank of my own patches, and those I've downloaded from this site.
I've read both of the manuals (Librarian and Editor) several times. The Librarian docs imply that you can import a MIDI file from your HD, but it doesn't work - as others have noted.
Is there no way to bring in patches from the HD, or do we have to first load them into the VG-99 one at a time, and then transfer them to the librarian.
Thanks for a great user group!!
Ken

kneagle

Dude!!!!

I sure hope you know how to type REALLY fast - cuz it'd take me forever to lay all that down. I didn't even have time to READ it all in one sitting.

Anyway - thanks a huge bunch for taking the time. It cleared things up for me for sure; and I would imagine others will get a lot of benefit from it as well.

Weird - for such an elegant and well thought out piece of hardware, the software seems to be stone-age. I remember back in the day, 3rd party developers would often come along and fill in the gaps left by manufacturers. We can only hope someone will step up for the VG.

Thanks again,
Ken

Brent Flash

#3
Quote from: kneagle on June 02, 2008, 10:05:46 PM
Dude!!!!
I sure hope you know how to type REALLY fast - cuz it'd take me forever to lay all that down. I didn't even have time to READ it all in one sitting.

Anyway - thanks a huge bunch for taking the time. It cleared things up for me for sure; and I would imagine others will get a lot of benefit from it as well.

Weird - for such an elegant and well thought out piece of hardware, the software seems to be stone-age. I remember back in the day, 3rd party developers would often come along and fill in the gaps left by manufacturers. We can only hope someone will step up for the VG.

Thanks again,
Ken
You are very welcome Ken. Yes, I can type pretty fast and I have also had this post in another form for another group. So it did not take as much time out of my day as it might appear by the length.

I am glad to help as I know (from being in the business for a number of years) that some have a hard time figuring this stuff out. Including me. When I first started using these programs the editor was so well thought out and easy. But the librarian was so, shall we say, primitive and unintuitive.

I am discovering little tricks with the VG and its programs all the time just from using it. There are also some things that can surprise you. One example of this is most users find out pretty quick that when you import a patch you have to save it or it will just disappear when you change to another preset. Did you know that if you initialize a patch that change is instantainious? That surprised me. I would have thought you would have to save it but evidently they wanted it to write right to memory.
Again, glad I could help!
Brent Flash

MikeC

Brent

More great advice! Much appreciated.

Just a note of caution on your comment about having Editor and Librarian open at the same time (this may only affect Mac users): I was following your tip on creating a User Bank in the Librarian, when I decided to load the Editor program as well. Half way through reading the VG-99 User data the Librarian threw up an error message saying the VG-99 was offline and the application must be restarted and the VG-99 power cycled. Needless to say, the User Bank was lost - less than 10 minutes work but irritating nonetheless. Looked to me like initiating the Editor started some handshaking with the VG-99 that interrupted the Librarian download (which makes sense of course). Moral: don't Open/Close Editor/Librarian in the middle of a task with the other app!

Mike

Brent Flash

Quote from: MikeC on August 08, 2008, 03:46:11 AM
Brent
More great advice! Much appreciated.

Just a note of caution on your comment about having Editor and Librarian open at the same time (this may only affect Mac users): I was following your tip on creating a User Bank in the Librarian, when I decided to load the Editor program as well. Half way through reading the VG-99 User data the Librarian threw up an error message saying the VG-99 was offline and the application must be restarted and the VG-99 power cycled. Needless to say, the User Bank was lost - less than 10 minutes work but irritating nonetheless. Looked to me like initiating the Editor started some handshaking with the VG-99 that interrupted the Librarian download (which makes sense of course). Moral: don't Open/Close Editor/Librarian in the middle of a task with the other app!
Mike
Good tip Mike! I always open them both up at the same time so I have not discovered that one. As I Edit patches I am also updating my Librarian file so I don't get too far behind. It makes sense that this conflict between the two programs would happen.

Here is another one. The VG software is sometimes a little squirrelly when used with other audio interfaces like Digidesign (ProTools). They will be playing nicely together and then all of a sudden, LOST CONNECTION, or even worse lost connection with no warning. So you are editing away on a patch and then you realize nothing is changing on the VG. Oh, the wonderful world of computers. But you know it usually only takes once to learn you don't want to do something like start up the Editor while you are reading the VG memory with the Librarian, does it? :)

Louanton

Thanks to some of the tips found in these forums, I finally got the editor and librarian software installed on my XP/PC. So first I connected the USB cable from the VG99 to the PC. Then I turned the VG99 on. The PC recognized the USB connection as new hardware found as a VG99. When I opened the editor I immediately got the initial warning for the MIDI settings. However, when I opened the settings window (on the Editor) there was no "Roland VG-99 CONTROL" for "VG-99 Input/Output" option available. What could be the problem?

I'd really appreciate help with this. Thanks!

Elantric

#7
disconnect the vg-99 - you Must install the VG-99 driver - First -

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php/topic,48.0.html

The VG-99 Top things to Know thread has links to all current firmware, VG-99 Librarian, VG-99 Editor.
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=13.0
Throw away the "Roland VG-99 Driver CD-ROM" that came with the VG-99 - all contents are buggy and stale.

These are current versions all VG-99 users should be using. (2013)
* VG-99 Firmware 1.04

* VG-99 Editor / Librarian Version 1.01


Quote(i hope that includes the system.)

Be sure you read the Complete VG-99 Librarian Manual - its in the "Help" drop down menu in the Librarian.

VG-99 Librarian has modes for saving / restoring:
* Patch
* System
* GK Setting
* Favorite Settings


For a full backup of the VG-99, you must perform 4 separate backup operations using the VG-99 Librarian -

1 ) Set VG-99 Librarian Mode to Patch, and Backup VG-99 Patches
2 ) Set VG-99 Librarian Mode to System, and Backup VG-99 System
3 ) Set VG-99 Librarian Mode to GK Setting, and Backup VG-99 GK Settings
4 ) Set VG-99 Librarian Mode to Favorite Settings, and Backup VG-99 Favorite Settings






Rojoyinc

Weird - for such an elegant and well thought out piece of hardware, the software seems to be stone-age. I remember back in the day, 3rd party developers would often come along and fill in the gaps left by manufacturers. We can only hope someone will step up for the VG.

Thanks again,
Ken

Not much chance of that. AT 1300+ these things aren't as wide spread as say a toneport at 50-100.00.  So the user base will be smaller. (and more high quality I might ad ;-)  but would be much harder to justify the time and expense. More likely a programming type who has a VG-99 might do it for himself and then offer it up for a small fee? 

I've run both same time and had no errors or problems (yet) but I'm new... I also have "spun the dial" on the 99 and not crashed the editor.  (just clean living I guess?)  that is now that I have the latest versions installed. (all my problems went away).
I also don't find loading in all the patches from V99 that slow? (as people keep saying here).   

I didn't know that lib and editor's mid file were un-compatible. (doh whats with that). cuz lib is 1.0 and editor is 1.01?
I also (yet) haven't found a reason for all the copying and pasting.  Maybe my backup files aren't done right?

the one thing I'd like is the editor software to be scalable in size. On my high res desktops they're SO SMALL they're hard to read and use.  I hate changing my res just to run one program.
then changing it back.
Ron, GR, MI
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HarmonyMan, VocalistLive4, CuBase, SECURITY SYSTEM ;-)

Elantric

#9
Roland Librarian "How To doc - courtesy of Roland UK

http://www.roland.co.uk/assets/media/pdf/INFOCUS02.pdf

Covers the basics of "How to use the VG-99 Librarian"


and
----
How to Back Up and Restore VG-99 Memory by XISTH Information (22 2 09)
How to Back Up VG-99 Memory
1. Connect VG-99 to PC. Switch On VG-99. Open VG-99 Librarian. In Librarian,
2. Click 'Patch' mode, click Read 'All'
3. Click 'System' mode, click Read 'All'
4. Click 'GK Setting' mode, click Read 'All'
5. Click 'Favorite Settings' mode, click Read 'All'
6. Click 'Save As'
7. Save file in appropriate folder with an appropriate name (e.g. yy mm dd). File size should
be 769 KB
8. Er, that's it.
How to Restore VG-99 Memory
1. Open ...\My Documents\Roland VG-99 Patches and double click on the file to be restored.
This should then open up in the VG-99 Librarian.
2. There should be two windows open within the VG-99 Librarian: one with the name of the
file you just opened, and another called 'Main'.
3. Click on the window for the file you opened. Check it's in 'Patch' mode. Go to menu bar.
Click 'Edit', 'Select All' and 'Copy'.
4. Click on 'Main' window. Check it's in 'Patch' mode. Go to menu bar. Click 'Edit', 'Select
All' and 'Replace'.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for 'System' mode, 'GK Setting' mode and 'Favorite Settings' mode.
6. In 'Main' window, click 'Patch' mode, click Write 'All'
7. Repeat step 7 for 'System' mode, 'GK Setting' mode and 'Favorite Settings' mode.
8. Viola! It is done!
(Additional suggestions from Brent Flash)
Subject: Using the Editor and Librarian
Here is how it works. The Editor and the Librarian both make .mid files but they are not
interchangeable. If you make it in the Editor it will only open in the Editor. Same with the
Librarian. So, the way I do it is make all my patches in the Editor. File/Export SMF/Patch. I have
each patch saved from the editor in a folder. It is also a good idea to do your system just in case
you accidentally overwrite it with a patch someone else made that includes the system. That way
you can just load it back with File/Import SMF... Once you have a bunch of patches to get started
do File/Import SMF... and WRITE the patches in the positions you want them in with the Editor. I
know the Librarian is what you are suppose to do this with but it is easier this way. (IMHO) Use
the Librarian for changing the whole USER BANK.
Once you have a USER BANK basically set up then you can start using the Librarian. What you
do is open it up and click on READ ALL at the top of the window in Patch mode. (WARNING,
THIS WILL TAKE A WHILE) Then you will do: File/Export SMF/All Data
Save this indicating in the name that it is Patch data because even thought it says All Data it is only
all the data in that mode.
Then switch the mode to System and repeat the process for the System data.
Then switch the mode to GK Settings and repeat.
Then Favorite Settings and save making sure you indicate in the name what kind of data it is.
Once you have done this you are now ready to create a file that contains all of this data. (This is
what is so weird about this program. It has two levels that work separate from each other.)
Go to File/Duplicate. This will make a file in the other section of the Librarian. This file you can
save and open but it does not load into the Main Librarian window so this is what is a little weird.
Go to File/Save As and name it maybe with a date so you can keep track of updates and maybe
have more than one file for backup.
Anyway now we have two windows with the same data. The Main window and the one you
created with the duplicate command we will call the file window. Both windows can read and
write to the VG-99. The Main window can do ALL or Selected but the file window can only do
patches one at a time and can't write system, GK, etc.
Pretty straight forward until you go to use the Librarian again. The next time you open the
Librarian it will open the Main window with nothing in it. You can open your file and use it to
rearrange patches one at a time but if you want to read or write a bunch at once you need them in
the Main window. So you have three choices.
1. You can read the entire memory of the VG-99 again. (Don't do this it takes too long unless the
VG has totally different patches from the ones you saved.
2. You can copy and paste them from the file window or...
(Here is a good place to put a note about copy and paste. There is an added feature that can
give you grief if you don't pay attention to how it works. Under Edit you have Cut, Copy,
Insert, Replace, Delete, Exchange. If you do the regular CONTROL V or Command V key
stroke for paste you will insert the patch and move all the following patches down a number
so you normally would want to replace and the key shortcut is CONTROL R on PC or
COMMAND R on the Mac.)
3. You can go to File/Import SMF/All Data
What I do is import the All data file we created in the Main window with the File/Export SMF/All
Data. This saves me from having to read the whole VG-99 memory each time I use the Librarian
or copying and pasting from the File window.
Whenever I am editing patches in the Editor I always have the librarian open and make changes to
my working banks as I go remembering to export the Main window in the Librarian anytime I
make changes and saving the file window when changes are made there.
At this point you may ask yourself why use the Librarian at all. Well, I would not except for that in
my case I do need to replace the entire memory of the VG depending on what group or performer I
am playing with. Some groups do the same songs but in different keys so I have transposed
patches that allow me to play in the original key even though they perform it in another. Also I
usually have an order that I can keep track of where my patches are with the group I am playing
with so in my case it is of some use even though it is a major pain.
I hope this information will take some of the mystery out of these tools for some of you. I know
when I first started with them it was trial and error the manuals were not much help.
Brent Flash
More info on the Librarian in this Roland "In Focus" Doc:
"Roland's Librarian Software"
http://www.roland.co.uk/assets/media/pdf/INFOCUS02.pdf


rocket

I did a seach and found nothing on sorting patches, so here you go.

It's actually very simple. The Main and "duplicate" windows allow you to sort your patches by clicking on the column title.  Once sorted, select and copy all desired patches to the clipboard.  Then, select a starting point in the Main window and insert the patches.

Of course you can also sort on the "Memo" columns, which means you can apply things like "Set 1, Set 2, etc." and easily rearrange the patches however you'ld like.

Cheers.

Moonpool

I have a problem, as my iMac crashed and burned, taking the Time Machine backup with it.  I was able to get an old iMac from a friend, but the disk drive doesn't appear to be working so I can't load the Editor and Librarian form the disk I have.  And, it appears to have been taken down from the Roland site. When I downloaded the installer, and ran it, there was no program to install.  Can anyone email me the files for the Mac OS or direct me to where I can download it?  Many thnaks in advance.