VG-99- The trick for making multiple assigns in several patches

Started by sixeight, October 10, 2013, 11:31:40 AM

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sixeight

Lately I had to change the Control Assignments in all my patches for my new FC300. Didn't feel like making the same changes on every patch. There had to be a quicker way.

Found a quick way to make multiple assigns in several patches with the help of a sysex librarian. I did this on my Macbook with the Snoize sysex librarian: http://www.snoize.com/SysExLibrarian/

Here is the trick:
1) Take a patch and make sure all the assignments you want to make are something else than what you want it to be (including latch mode on ctrl buttons)
2) Start the VG99 editor
3) Start the Sysex Librarian and set the destination to VG-99 Control (see enclosed picture)
4) Now press Record Many on the Sysex Librarian
5) Make all the Control Assingments you want to change in the VG99 Editor, but do not press Write
6) When done switch to the sysex librarian and press Done.
7) Now choose any patch on the VG99 and press Play. All the assignments will be made. If you keep the assignment window of the VG99 editor open, you can see the changes being made...
8 ) Press Write on the VG-99 to save and smile.
9) Repeat step 7 and 8 for every patch as needed.


arkieboy

Main rig: Barden Hexacaster and Brian Moore i2.13 controllers
Boss SY1000/Boss GKC-AD/Boss GM-800/Laney LFR112

Other relevant gear: Line 6 Helix LT, Roland GR-33, Axon AX100 MkII
Oberheim Matrix 6R, Supernova IIR, EMu E5000, Apple Mainstage, Apple Logic, MOTU M4

rolandvg99

To V or not to V: That is the question.

My little Soundcloud corner

Radley


aliensporebomb

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

Brak(E)man

swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

vanceg

That is a smart idea - Basically record the assignments only in a SysEx editor and then "Play" them into each patch on the VG-99 and save.

sixeight

Quote from: vanceg on November 29, 2013, 08:35:01 PM
That is a smart idea - Basically record the assignments only in a SysEx editor and then "Play" them into each patch on the VG-99 and save.

I am glad you like it. It's proven to be a real time saver...

ProgMystic

Bravo! Obviously you can save the sysex file and run it anytime you need. Good idea. 8)
Once I thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken.

mooncaine

Brilliant! Thanks, I can't wait to try it. I've got a favorite amp setting that won't save, and I also have bags of patches that have control assigns I would like to copy and paste (in a sense).

umsoser

and for a PC. windows 7 64 bits.  i suposse that sysex is only for mac . in case there is a option for pc i would like to know . thank you
gabi

Elantric

#11
Quotei suposse that sysex is only for mac . in case there is a option for pc i would like to know



SendSX (Windows): Stores & loads SysEx messages as text files. SysEx data can also be manually entered directly into the application.
http://www.bome.com/products/sendsx

Or explore others here:
http://www.synthzone.com/editlib.htm
http://www.mossgrabers.de/Software/ChangeIt/ChangeIt.html




sixeight

It is important you hijack the output port the commands are sent to. Maybe Midi-ox will do it. So far no luck. Maybe by creating a virtual port and routing it to the VG99...

Elantric

#13
Possibly this?

MIDI Yoke
www.midiox.com/

Or

Hubi's Loopback MIDI Driver
http://www.sionsoft.com/hubi.html

But Audio/MIDI routing and monitoring is vastly easier on a Mac

Mark Haydon


adamlee011

If I'm understanding this correctly, you could probably do this with automation in a DAW as well.??? Setting the vg up  as a control surface and playing the automation track through each patch? Maybe?

sixeight

Quote from: adamlee011 on September 11, 2015, 02:59:21 AM
If I'm understanding this correctly, you could probably do this with automation in a DAW as well.??? Setting the vg up  as a control surface and playing the automation track through each patch? Maybe?

The trick is to spy upon a midi out port while you are using the editor. This is something most DAWs will not do.

vanceg

I'm likely going to do this tomorrow.  It's going to be arduous as I have 16 MIDI assignments, all the F1-16 assignments, Control, Volume, Dbeam, and Ribbon controller all assigned.

One of my favorite things about the VG-99 is it's control options.  UNfortunately, I actually run out of MIDI control assigns because I don't use the FC-300.

What I'm thinking I'll do NEXT time (like, next month) is use Bohme MIDI software to send Sysex messages to the VG-99 and just use my Softstep to trigger these Sysex messages.   I will do that for all of the standard controls like:  Basic Effect on/off, Amp On/Off, Freeze on/off, etc.  All the stuff I would otherwise do with a FC-300.  I'm basically thinking of turning a Softstep and a Bhome Box into a FC-300. This way, I can use TWO softsteps at the same time (one for FX on/off and one for the more esoteric controls) to get 20 "buttons" available at any moment... and it weighs about 3.5lb all together... and it fits in a backpack.



The Bohme MIDI Box will also accept my Softstep, Guitar Wing, MIDI Expression, and my HotHand and convert that to 5 pin so that I can ditch the laptop when I need to.



mooncaine

I finally put this tip through some test drives today and it paid off. ;D

I learned that I don't have to preset the patch before I start recording (not that it doesn't help).

Instead, I can change the setting twice, or more, while 'recording' the changes I make in the VG-99 Editor software.

There's still a prob with toggles that I'm not sure about, and some things do have to be set up before I record my settings, such as the guitar type. I can't record a control assign to select the Center pickup if the current guitar model is a 2-pickup guitar.

I played back a suite of control assigns, I played back a custom tuning setup, and I learned that I really do have to wiggle each control (either in software or on the hardware) that I expect to record, or else it'll remain whatever the previous setting was. It won't get recorded. That's actually good news... but it can make setting this up tedious. I did a great suite but realized I've left out changing one knob's setting to 100%. Gotta do the whole thing over if I want to fix that... and that's just the omission I *noticed*.

Is there a way to concatenate two or more of these .syx files on my mac, then use the SysEx Librarian to play back the concatenated file? I wonder if I could play one file across USB from one Mac to another.

vanceg

Yeah, you do have to actually change the value of each and every parameter for this trick to work.  I wish I could get my head around just editing the Sysex files so I could copy/paste from one patch to another... but this trick does work if you are willing and able to lay hands on every parameter you want to change.


Quote from: mooncaine on July 23, 2016, 03:54:38 PM
I finally put this tip through some test drives today and it paid off. ;D

I learned that I don't have to preset the patch before I start recording (not that it doesn't help).

Instead, I can change the setting twice, or more, while 'recording' the changes I make in the VG-99 Editor software.

There's still a prob with toggles that I'm not sure about, and some things do have to be set up before I record my settings, such as the guitar type. I can't record a control assign to select the Center pickup if the current guitar model is a 2-pickup guitar.

I played back a suite of control assigns, I played back a custom tuning setup, and I learned that I really do have to wiggle each control (either in software or on the hardware) that I expect to record, or else it'll remain whatever the previous setting was. It won't get recorded. That's actually good news... but it can make setting this up tedious. I did a great suite but realized I've left out changing one knob's setting to 100%. Gotta do the whole thing over if I want to fix that... and that's just the omission I *noticed*.

Is there a way to concatenate two or more of these .syx files on my mac, then use the SysEx Librarian to play back the concatenated file? I wonder if I could play one file across USB from one Mac to another.

mooncaine

Although I must remember to 'stir' every control twice, to be sure it gets recorded in the SysEx, I was happy to learn:

I can take my time, make mistakes, and redo a setting, without really needing to start over. It'll just take a little longer when I play it back, but not much longer, because the Snoize SysEx librarian has a speed setting in Preferences. I maxed it, and the changes came through quicker with no probs noticed. It doesn't matter to me if the computer changes the control assign 5 times as long as it's doing the work instead of me!

I can make these changes on the VG-99's knobs and in the software editor, which is helpful.

I can watch the VG-99 Editor's screens change as the settings get played back, a nice easy way to confirm it's working.

Love it! I'm off work today and about to try plugging in a bunch of Guitar Wing assigns to some patches.


ztones

Did anyone find a solution to make this work in windows of this century?  Midi yoke only lists windows ME or 2000.  Page last updated in 2008, so I'm a little weary.... I'm running win10 64 bit.  Thanks!


ztones

Quote from: admin on September 10, 2019, 07:15:25 PM
Bome sendsx

:D :o :D
Thank you so much!  Works like a charm!  Finally a way to duplicate the same settings!  Looking forward to future batch editing being easier!!!!!!!  ;D ;D ;D

mooncaine

I still rely on this method, often!

I recently picked up my Virtual Jeff again, and this method lets me plug in a bunch of control assigns, letting the laptop do all the work while I flip to another window or whatever.

I also used this technique recently to lay in a bunch of 'standard cover band' assigns (like making sure that I assign FV on each channel to EXP pedal, and that the FC-300's expression pedals are always set up with volume on the outside, and A/B mix on the inside pedal. A few good baselines to start most newly invented patches from, know what I mean?