To create a new profile

[christopherjhoh]

Thanks for the enlightening discussion on the lack of a profile-creator for UNISYN. It drives me nuts that I can't use UNISYN for half my synths and that lack of profiles makes integration with Digital Performer such a pain. So I've spent 3+ hours today researching the modules that MOTU does support with recent (or less old) profiles, determining which of them may still be bought new, seeing what firmware updates and/or "issues" have appeared. Why? Because I want to make sure whatever I get next works with Unisyn and Digital Performer.

Seems a golden opportunity for MOTU and synth manufacturers to collaborate and develop profiles for new synths and samplers coming onto the market. The manufacturer would boost sales due to easier editing and integration and MOTU would keep its products more relevant. Although the trend is toward plug-in instruments, a lot of us old timers and new users will still rely on standalone synth to a significant extent.

One other wrinkle people might want to consider. The key missing functionality I suspect is integration of patch lists into Performer. You want your sequences to refer to current patch names and to call up the right patch settings. I gather that's the "Librarian Only" type profile. More of those would be welcome. After all, for editing, you can always go to the synth and tweak the patch and/or boot a stand-alone editor.

So how about Librarians at least for Yamaha Motif Rack ES, Roland XV-2020, Roland Fantom-XR, Kurzweil ME-1, Roland V-Synth XT, or Kurzweil PC2 Rack to name a few of the most popular? Several of these build on precursor synths that MOTU does support, so how hard could it be? :)

Or if there's a savvy programmer out there looking to make money in the shareware field, here's an opportunity for you! MOTU's still a great company with excellent products that have advanced electronic music, but they are failing down in the librarian/sequencer world. chris hoh

[abruzzi]

I did the whole NDA thing a long time ago and got the unisyn profile editor. I still have it, but wasn't ever able to build anything usable. It is very challenging. I don't know if 2.x has made anything easier.

Are 1.x profiles compatible with 2.x? I was considering trying again with my Korg MS2000. I figured that would be a reasonable easy synth--single data type, limited number of parameters. I'd hate to do the work though and not be able to move it to OSX when I wanted to. Really though Unisyn covers most of my synths.

Geof

[Synthdance]

I am going different route. As I am using Unisyn 2.0 on OS9, there is no problem with compatibility of profiles with Atari ST's XoR. I've purchased original copy of XoR 2.0 for Atari ST and the manual states that profiles are interchangeable with OS9 Unisyn.

I've read the manual for EoR (included with XoR) and it seems like an adventureous task, but I love the idea of having my all MIDI editors and librarians within Unisyn, without the use of any external software.

This will certainly take some time, but I AM GOING TO write profiles for my synths/fx not covered in Unisyn 2.0 eventually. If anybody is still using Unisyn on OS9, I will be happy to share new profiles when I create and convert them to Mac.

Keep your fingers crossed

Cheers!

Maciej

[Synthdance]

If anybody is interested, those are the profiles which I need and which I am going to implement:

Alesis DM Pro
Boss SX-700
Digitech Vocalist II
Electrix Warp Factory
Lexicon MPX-500
Novation Super Bass Station
Novation Drumstation
Roland SRV-330
Roland SDE-330
Roland SDX-330
Sony DPS-77
Yamaha AN1x
Yamaha FS1R
Yamaha RM50

It might take time (as I need to learn the whole low level programming language used in EoR), but I am stubborn person

Maciej

[abruzzi]

I am going different route. As I am using Unisyn 2.0 on OS9, there is no problem with compatibility of profiles with Atari ST's XoR. I've purchased original copy of XoR 2.0 for Atari ST and the manual states that profiles are interchangeable with OS9 Unisyn.

I've read the manual for EoR (included with XoR) and it seems like an adventureous task, but I love the idea of having my all MIDI editors and librarians within Unisyn, without the use of any external software.

This will certainly take some time, but I AM GOING TO write profiles for my synths/fx not covered in Unisyn 2.0 eventually. If anybody is still using Unisyn on OS9, I will be happy to share new profiles when I create and convert them to Mac.

I own 1.52 or something like that and am considering another crack at it. At least to build a librarian for my Korg MS2000. It hardly needs an editor (knobs) and I got the most out of Unisyn's librarian functions. I have one machine that will forever be OS9 (hosting an Oasys PCI card) so if my profile was stuck in OS9 forever it wouldn't be a huge loss. Still, I'm eyeing Midiquest, since it claims at least librarian support for all my synths (nobody but Yamaha has attempted an editor for the VL-1)

Has anyone actually used Midiquest? I've heard little to no actual firsthand feedback.

Geof

[Synthdance]

Has anyone actually used Midiquest? I've heard little to no actual firsthand feedback.

I've been checking the demo...

Well, this is going to be entirely from dinosaur's point of view, but Unisyn 2.0 on my OS9 G3 Beige Tower 333 MHz is very fast. Also, the interface is clear and ellegant. MIDI Quest was quite sluggish and its UI looks like candy shop. It has a lot of profiles indeed, however profile editor is included only in XL version which costs 300 USD.

I am working in an old way, I have MIDI setup and computer with MOTU Performer 6 (OS9 machine). This setup is "hibernated" and I am not going to change sequencer just because of librarian/editor software.

Therefore, considering the cost and time needed to make a transition to OS X machine - I decided that I just need to have some profiles, besides that Unisyn is just perfect for me.

I am recording on modern DAW computer in OS X, but I love MIDI and audio works to be separated (on 2 computers). I am weird, I know that

Maciej

[Synthdance]

A small update...

I was investigating E-OR in my free time. It appears that profile maker uses low level assembly-like programming language for creating profiles. The problem is I am not a programmer...

Good news is that my friend from Sweden is a programmer and he can write code in assembly language. I've already send him E-OR documentation and I am awaiting his opinion about the complexity of work to be done.

Will keep you updated.

One person here was willing to have a profile for Korg MS2000. I am into buying MS2000BR, so one of the first profiles would be for that synth (starting from librarian part).

Cheers!

Mac
Alpha Centauri UK