Does anyone use Hardware synths?

[monkey man]

hey Monkey,..
thanks for sharing your flow and knowledge,.

best of luck

M

Hey, no worries, Moogster, and thank you; I'm gonna need it!

These spells, whilst always well-intentioned, never seem to amount to much in the way of real-world, practical results. If I added up all the years I've spent editing patches and configuring setups I reckon the time would amount to more than would ever have been required to slap together sounds for songs on the fly, had I actually been making music. Oh well.

[bayswater]

Wonder just how up to date MIDIQuest is? E.g., looking up their list of supported devices, POD XT is not there (POD 2 is). I left a message to ask about it, and whether it needs Rosetta. Note that MIDIQuest is about the same vintage as Unisyn (which was previously X-OR from Dr T on the Atari.)

MidiQuest reports that a) they do not have a POD XT template, but hope to, and b) it does not require Rosetta, and hasn't since V9 (now on V10)

[monkey man]

MIDIQuest is a HUGE monster IMHO.

I looked into it a while back and was overwhelmed by the overall size and complexity of the modules; it just seemed like a big commitment to me.

[dewdman42]

pricey too.

[monkey man]

Indeed, and as I suggested, it did seem like a whole lot of Ferrari when one might only require a tricycle...

[bayswater]

Yes, if all you need is a library of patches, the freeware app and little work on clippings is all you need.

But if you want to edit as well, the cost is understandably high. The developer needs to write, test, and support hundreds of templates, using dozens of proprietary protocols, and have all of the devices available for testing. And then you need to stay up to date. Seems like Novation and Korg alone have a new keyboard every month in SOS.

[bjornln]

MIDIQuest is a HUGE monster IMHO.

Yes it's huge, but it works...


/B

[monkey man]

... a HUGE monster that works then.

I hereby retrospectively adopt this phrase as one specifically tailored for situations such as this one. If someone ever asks what I think of MIDIQuest, I'll say, "It's a HUGE monster that works IMHO."

It's fine tuning bugs like these that make working on MonkeyOS™ so much fun! Thanks man.

[WindSynthSteve]

That's weird. I can run it on my Mac running Snow Leopard. I think you just need Rosetta installed and you're okay.

Hi James,

I'm new on the forum and have been using Unisyn 1.3 for 15 years until recently on a Performa 630 (68k Mac). Now it's gone, and encouraged by your post, I bought Unisyn 2.11 to run on my new Mac Mini with Mac Os 10.6 (with Rosetta).

Now I cannot get my MIDI switcher to work. It's a Roland A-880. With Unisyn 1.3 it wasn't a problem; although I loaded the profile for that device, it does not show up in the "Switcher Setup". And, although the device is listed on the MIDI Studio page in Audio-MIDI-Setup and I connected the synths and the switcher in series, Unisyn does not recognize it.
After trying this and that, I got at least the MKS-80 to run with "Switcher program - ask" in the Device setup (to connect bi-directionally), and the XV-5080 directly via a MOTU micro lite. My R-8m and JD-990 though, although not requiring bidirectional handshake like the MKS 80, refuse to communicate.

Any idea what's going wrong here would be appreciated.


Steve

[James Steele]

Well I knew I was going to end up in hit water when I said Unisyn was working fine on MY setup. I'll keep things like that to myself from now on.

I'm using a MTP/AV and I don't have any experience with switchers and that sort of thing. Never used them. I think I did say in this thread that if you already owned Unisyn it was worth tying. Don't know what it cost to upgrade from 1.3. When you connect directly to a synth, does it not work?

Again I don't use switchers. Your post is my worst fear about posting when something is working for ME.

[WindSynthSteve]

Your post is my worst fear about posting when something is working for ME.

It's been some time that somebody called me 'his worst nightmare' Ok- never mind!!! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have a mostly working UNISYN on my Mini today. I did quite some trial and error the day over, remembering what a guy from the german Unisyn distributor wrote "I don't think the MIDI handshakes will work with Rosetta." Reconnecting again and again, rebooting, the works. In the end, when finally every member of my orchestra responded, it seemed more like voodoo than science. Tuesday's my free day luckily.

Bottom line: Unisyn won't know your switcher, so you have to repatch it yourself if necessary, but by the way nobody uses switchers anymore, or hardware synths etc

Cheers
Steve

[James Steele]

I'm sorry Steve. I just felt really bad that you paid to upgrade Unisyn on my advice and then it didn't work with the switchers. I have a multiport interface (MTP/AV USB) and it works fine with synths that are directly connected. If you can afford to pick up a used MTP AV, I'd consider it. With hardware being less common you can find deals.

I'll share with you another nugget of wisdom I have learned about using Unisyn with modern Macs and MOTU MIDI interfaces:

1. You can use Unisyn reliably (so far) with Snow Leopard/Rosetta and a MOTU MTP/AV (USB of course).

2. What many people don't know is you CAN expand your MIDI ports with the older style MTP2 and MTP/AV interfaces with the old style RS-422 serial connector used prior to USB. There's a port on the back of modern USB MTPs that let you chain these off the back and add 8 more ins and 8 more outs. And you can find these older MTP2s for cheap. I'm using an MTP2 chained off my MTP/AV USB that I paid $20 for through craigslist. HOWEVER....

3. HERE'S THE IMPORTANT CAVEAT TO #2 THAT APPLIES TO UNISYN: I had to learn this the hard way. When you daisy chain a serial style MTP2, etc. from a newer USB MTP connected to your Mac, attach all the synths that you require Unisyn communication with to the FIRST MTP -- the one that has the direct USB connection!! Turns out that the serial interface is fine for normal sequencing and note on and note off and controllers etc., but sysex is completely unreliable through the daisy chained serial interfaces. I tested this myself. None of my MIDI devices would be able to complete bank dumps, etc. when connected to ports on the daisychained MTP, but when connected to ports on the first MTP with the USB connection, they worked beautifully.

Just a pearl to pass on from someone who scored a MTP2 for $20... and is still happy about it. I just make sure to only connect devices to that interface with which I have no need for two-way sysex communication.

[WindSynthSteve]

but sysex is completely unreliable through the daisy chained serial interfaces.

Valuable advice, tx again, James. A crazy thing though- sometimes sysex wouldn't work even on the first USB interface in the chain (my micro lite), I checked the device settings several times, they were ok. Seems that sometimes mysterious and heavy hiccups occurred, so to anybody trying this out, quit and restart UNISYN, reboot your synths and switch on/off the interfaces, this might do wonders. My XV-5080 (who is the 'junior' in my setup) even refused to show any vital signs after some transfers so I had to factory reset him Grrr, I hate MIDI...

At last, the good news: in no time I could import all the old UNISYN 1.x libs (maybe 1000 patches, rhythm sets etc. from the past 15 years). No need for SMF detours here.

Cheers

Steve

[Shooshie]

Just to throw in my 2¢, I still have Unisyn, and it still works in Snow Leopard. I rarely use it or the hardware devices connected to it. Unisyn was a bare-bones product from the beginning, and it never became what one might call "fully featured," though it did its job. Back when I was managing a lot of hardware patches, it was a lifesaver to me. I used it every day, all day long. It was as essential as the synth/sampler devices themselves and functioned as the primary interface for operating all of them.

Where most people had trouble with Unisyn was in the creation of patch lists within DP. I didn't use patch lists in DP, so that didn't bother me, but strangely enough they always seemed to work for me; that is, DP usually had accurate patch lists for the devices present within any given song.

Anyway, it still runs in Snow Leopard. If you have money to burn and just want a librarian, no matter how antiquated it may seem, then Unisyn will do basic chores for your MIDI devices, providing there are profiles available for the instrument(s) you use.

Unisyn itself is not compatible with any device until someone writes a profile for it. The profile tells Unisyn how the synth/MIDI Device works, and provides the SysEx commands for operating on the device externally. Unisyn, then, uses the profile as a translator to Unisyn's macro commands, and as a framework for the programming structure: number of oscillators, LFO's, filters, faders for numerical values, and so forth. But Unisyn can do nothing without the profile.

It's a shame that it's in such a state. It reminds me of the age of Steam Locomotives on the railroads. They were fantastic and beautiful engines, but someone simply came up with a better way, so they just disappeared. Those that remained simply didn't have the support systems anymore to make their usage practical. That pretty much describes Unisyn.

Shooshie

[mhschmieder]

Welcome to another wind synth player.