Why do I need Unisyn OS X version?

[midiw]

First of all Unisyn is somewhat expensive and so why do I need Unisyn OS X version?

I've got Unisyn version 1.5.2 somewhere.

At the time I bought it never could figure out how to really take advantage of the features of using it with DP that MOTU hyped.

So then what am I missing by not having Unisyn in my OS X studio?

[midiw]

I guess I don't need to buy UNISYN since the users here at this forum don't

praise its benefits.

[dixiechicken]

If you're running Mac OS-X you'll need it.
1.5.x will not work with Tiger or Panther or Jaguar.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

[slippedout]

Purchase it only if your devices are on MOTU's list. Unisyn will only work with devices that it has a profile for. It is not possible to create your own Unisyn Profiles.

[RCory]

Unisyn has saved my butt a few times. Especially since it saves its' last settings when it's re-launched!

[dixiechicken]

Slippedout!

Thats not strictly true.

Patch files for Unisyn supported gear are plain text-files. with the
suffix *.midnam.
These text-documents adhere to the xml-syntax.

You can use any text-editor to create such a document.
( I admit thats not perhaps the easiest thing to do - quite a bit of work too)
( especially for the Emu-systems Proteus 2000 with 1500+ sounds and gobs of patches)

Check this below for an example:
Proteus 2000.midnam:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE MIDINameDocument PUBLIC "-//MIDI Manufacturers Association//DTD MIDINameDocument 0.7//EN" "http://www.sonosphere.com/dtds/MIDINameDocument.dtd">

<MIDINameDocument>
<Author>Mark of the Unicorn - Feb 2004</Author>
<MasterDeviceNames>
<Manufacturer>E-mu Systems</Manufacturer>
<Model>Proteus 1000</Model>
<Model>Proteus 2000</Model>
<CustomDeviceMode Name="Mode 1" >
<ChannelNameSetAssignments>
<ChannelNameSetAssign Channel="1" NameSet="Presets" />
.........
<ChannelNameSetAssign Channel="16" NameSet="Presets" />
</ChannelNameSetAssignments>
</CustomDeviceMode>
<ChannelNameSet Name="Presets" >
<AvailableForChannels>
<AvailableChannel Channel="1" Available="true" />
..............
<AvailableChannel Channel="16" Available="true" />
</AvailableForChannels>
<PatchBank Name="User Bank 0" >
<MIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="0" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="0" />
</MIDICommands>
<PatchNameList>
<Patch Number="000" Name="Preset 000" ProgramChange="0" />
<Patch Number="001" Name="Preset 001" ProgramChange="1" />
..............................
<Patch Number="126" Name="Preset 126" ProgramChange="126" />
<Patch Number="127" Name="Preset 127" ProgramChange="127" />
</PatchNameList>
</PatchBank>
<PatchBank Name="User Bank 1" >
<MIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="0" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="1" />
</MIDICommands>
<PatchNameList>
<Patch Number="000" Name="Preset 000" ProgramChange="0" />
<Patch Number="001" Name="Preset 001" ProgramChange="1" />
...........................................
<Patch Number="126" Name="Preset 126" ProgramChange="126" />
<Patch Number="127" Name="Preset 127" ProgramChange="127" />
</PatchNameList>
</PatchBank>
<PatchBank Name="User Bank 2" >
<MIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="0" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="2" />
</MIDICommands>
<PatchNameList>
<Patch Number="000" Name="Preset 000" ProgramChange="0" />
<Patch Number="001" Name="Preset 001" ProgramChange="1" />
............................................
<Patch Number="126" Name="Preset 126" ProgramChange="126" />
<Patch Number="127" Name="Preset 127" ProgramChange="127" />
</PatchNameList>
</PatchBank>
<PatchBank Name="User Bank 3" >
<MIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="0" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="3" />
</MIDICommands>
<PatchNameList>
<Patch Number="000" Name="Preset 000" ProgramChange="0" />
<Patch Number="001" Name="Preset 001" ProgramChange="1" />
..................................
<Patch Number="126" Name="Preset 126" ProgramChange="126" />
<Patch Number="127" Name="Preset 127" ProgramChange="127" />
</PatchNameList>
</PatchBank>
......................
<PatchBank Name="Composer Bank 2" >
<MIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="4" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="2" />
</MIDICommands>
<PatchNameList>
<Patch Number="000" Name="MetalBeats" ProgramChange="0" />
<Patch Number="001" Name="MovingBells" ProgramChange="1" />
...............................
<Patch Number="126" Name="Skrach Dis" ProgramChange="126" />
<Patch Number="127" Name="Vinyl Set" ProgramChange="127" />
</PatchNameList>
</PatchBank>
..................................

<PatchBank Name="Electric Bass" >
<PatchNameList>
<Patch Number="1" Name="bs2:Fing&Harms 2" >
<PatchMIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="4" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="4" />
<ProgramChange Number="35" />
</PatchMIDICommands>
</Patch>
..................................
<Patch Number="45" Name="bs2:VeloFretless" >
<PatchMIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="4" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="5" />
<ProgramChange Number="89" />
</PatchMIDICommands>
</Patch>
</PatchNameList>
</PatchBank>
....................................
<PatchBank Name="Bass Miscellaneous" >
<PatchNameList>
<Patch Number="1" Name="bs5:All Purpose" >
<PatchMIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="4" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="6" />
<ProgramChange Number="96" />
</PatchMIDICommands>
</Patch>

</PatchNameList>
</PatchBank>

..............................
<PatchBank Name="Protozoa Bank 0 (Potpourri)" >
<MIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="5" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="0" />
</MIDICommands>
<PatchNameList/>
</PatchBank>
....................................
<PatchBank Name="X-Lead Bank 0" >
<MIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="7" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="0" />
</MIDICommands>
<PatchNameList/>
</PatchBank>
....................................
<PatchBank Name="Audity Bank 1" >
<MIDICommands>
<ControlChange Control="0" Value="3" />
<ControlChange Control="32" Value="1" />
</MIDICommands>
<PatchNameList/>
</PatchBank>
...........................
</ChannelNameSet>
</MasterDeviceNames>
</MIDINameDocument>
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(the dots indicate the removal of thousand of sounds and patches)

Thats what it looks like - plain ascii-files with the midnam suffix.
Check out a little utility called CherryPicker that some people also find helpful.

Cheers: Dixiechicken

[slippedout]

Dixiechicken

Thank you for that. What I posted was a direct quote from MOTU. They have not been cooperative with any information on the devices I don't have profiles for. I am going to study your post and try to use the format for my devices. I have recently found out about Cherry Picker and I was going to start learning that app to help manage my patch lists.

I guess there is a light at the end of the Unisyn tunnel!

[Jim]

The big joke on us is that the Unisysn manual says that if there are any profiles we want written, just ask for them and MOTU will create them.

I recommend you don't buy Unisyn unless you KNOW that it will work on your devices RIGHT NOW.

IMO, it's shameful that MOTU has us relying on a third-party (Cherry Picker) to get our stuff to work like it did in OS9.

[midiw]

The big joke on us is that the Unisysn manual says that if there are any profiles we want written, just ask for them and MOTU will create them.

I recommend you don't buy Unisyn unless you KNOW that it will work on your devices RIGHT NOW.

IMO, it's shameful that MOTU has us relying on a third-party (Cherry Picker) to get our stuff to work like it did in OS9.

That's why I posted my question.

I spent moneies buying Unisyn in the days of OS 9 and prior and very much to my chagrin discovered that MOTU will NOT ( say that again: will NOT ) create new profiles. MOTU simply tells you to work with the "generic" templates.

MOTU's help with UNISYN is somewhat non existing.

And I will use CherryPicker to create profiles.

[slippedout]

Cherry Picker is great for creating patch lists (as .midnam files) for devices that MOTU or Apple has not provided. Audio MIDI Setup will see the device, and DP will display the patch lists. But how does Unisyn work with these patch lists? From all I have been told and experienced, Unisyn will only work with Device Profiles. Unisyn will help the user to manage patch lists, but ONLY for the devices it has a profile for. How does a .midnam file equal Unisyn Device Profile? Please help me out, because I'm not understanding this.

[topcat2069]

Make sure that the OS of your device is supported.... I have a JD-990 from Roland (which is supported) but the OS rom is older (1.2 or somthing) Unisyn only works with 2.something or other.... at least Unisyn works with most of my other synths Korg DW-8000, Roland D-550, Roland XP-30 (sort of), Obi Matrix 1000 and Alesis rackmount something (SR1 ??)

Dave

[Icarus]

I guess I don't need to buy UNISYN since the users here at this forum don't praise its benefits.

No need to whine. So far as I am concerned Unisyn has no benefits to praise. For the devices I used it really sucks ass.

Unisyn is dead. I thought it died after Version 1 (1.2?) which stayed in its buggy state for, oh, literally years, then came V 2 which changed the whole paradigm around backwards but remained buggy as all hell. I got it for our legacy synths in the studio I teach at but, frankly, it confused and befuddled rather than helped so this semester I scraped it and we won't be going there again! If MOTU ever upgrades Unisyn again I will eat my bra and panties (and I still won't buy it.)

At my own studio I have an old color performa hooked to a MTPAV via (long live) serial with Galaxy+, Sounddiver, and Unisyn 1.5.

[Newsles]

Interesting thread.

I DONT have Unisyn - I thought about it. In fact, when I bought my Mac (2nd hand) I was dismayed to find a cracked version of it on there (which was odd as the previous Mac owner had been a registered Cubase user since the Atari days!). I only realised this when, after installing my (Legitimate!) DP 2.72 and scrolling down the EDIT menu, noticed the Unisyn sub-menu bits previously greyed out, weren't any more!!!

Investigation revealed the culprit, so I ditched it, and in fact, having a properly authorised DP seems to stop a Unisyn crack working (at least it did in this case - well I HAD to try it - came up with a "this is not an authorised version of Unisyn" blah blah blah).

Anyway, back to the point - MOTU still have Unisyn for OS9, but given the above comments I dont think I'll bother, so what other patch editor/librarian software works well with DP then???

[mjc]

Have a look at MIDIQuest: http://www.squest.com/

I tried the Demo version and it seemed OK. The XL version reads and writes XML. I think that means it can read Cherrypicker files and create new profiles. Worth a look anyway.

[miket]

Have a look at MIDIQuest: http://www.squest.com/

I tried the Demo version and it seemed OK. The XL version reads and writes XML. I think that means it can read Cherrypicker files and create new profiles. Worth a look anyway.

I'm sorry to say that I bought MidiQuest 9 for the Macintosh on march 15 2005 but I had a terrible experience with it.
The program should roun both on Mac OS9 and X, but has several and unresolved bugs on both operating systems.
I tried to contact several times SoundQuest explaining all the problems I encountered, but I have NEVER RECEIVED a reply.