Troubleshooting guide

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UniSynth version 1.0

Overview

UniSynth is a stand-alone application managing MIDI hardware devices.

It is developed and distributed by Midimetric® , a one-man startup business located in France.

UniSynth currently supports the following hardware:

– Korg DW-8000 / EX-8000

– Yamaha DX21 / DX27 / DX27S / DX100

It will soon also supports (in alphabetical order):

– Korg DW-6000 ( second quarter 2009 )

– Motu Midi Mixer 7s ( second quarter 2009 )

– Novation DrumStation ( second quarter 2009 )

– Oberheim Matrix 6 / 6R / 1000 ( second quarter 2009 )

– Waldorf µQ / µQ Omega ( third quarter 2009 )

– Yamaha 'A' samplers A3000, A4000, A5000 ( third quarter 2009 )

On the other hand, I won't add support for:

– devices that are sold with a decent editor from the manufacturer (like Clavia),

– devices for which no midi implementation has never been published,

– devices that does not support single-handled parameters (like Korg Poly800 II),

– device that already have a complete hardware interface (like the Supernova II with its 51

knobs and 136 switches !).

For up to date information on supported devices, ideas, request and pricing, please visit the

site www.midimetric.com

History

UniSynth is not the first application to propose MIDI management, there has been some other

products on the market ( MidiQuest, SoundDiver, etc... ) and a lot of one device dedicated

freeware applications.

After trying most of them, i found they where complicated, uninspiring, expensive and

sometime not working at all...

UniSynth is developed to be a modern, affordable and lightweight application, easy to

understand and operate. Not only does it closely dialogs with your MIDI equipment, it also

brings features not available on the equipment.

I hope UniSynth will bring a new shine on your MIDI hardware, making it fun and inspiring.

Summary of content (19 pages)

PAGE 1
UniSynth version 1.0 Overview UniSynth is a stand-alone application managing MIDI hardware devices. It is developed and distributed by Midimetric® , a one-man startup business located in France.
PAGE 2
Requirements UniSynth will run on any .Net 3.5 compatible Windows system. Note : the .Net 3.5 platform is native in later systems, or part or services packs. If you need to update your system, please check on Microsoft site to find an update, a service pack or a stand-alone download-able setup. You will need at least one MIDI port on the computer, either through an internal or external sound card or through a MIDI interface box.
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Getting started Start the application by clicking the UniSynth icon in Windows start menu. The 'main' window of UniSynth will appear on the upper left corner of your screen. You can move it and resize it, this will be saved for next session. The default size is enough for one or two devices though. First you will need to add one device for each piece of hardware you want to manage. Select the menu Devices/Add, this will open the device configuration dialog box.
PAGE 4
Now click the Test button. A request is sent to the selected output port and a response is awaited in the input port. If there is a response and the response type matches the selected model, the text 'OK' is displayed next the button. If the text displayed is 'Failed', check that the device is powered on and check your midi connections. Either there was no response or the response does not match the selected model. If you select the Generic model, an Universal Identity Request message is sent.
PAGE 5
The controllers dialog box opens. Each line of the grid represents one Midi input port. If your system has more than eight input ports, a scroll bar will be displayed on the left side of the table. Each column of the grid represents one type of MIDI message: – note : the 'note on' and 'note off' messages ( MIDI command h80 and h90 ) – poly a.t.
PAGE 6
Main commands The main window features several commands available through the menu. Devices / Add Adds a new device, See the Getting Started chapter above. Devices / Remove Removes the selected device. Devices / Configure Opens the configuration dialog for the selected device, Devices / Display As Switches the device list display between Icons and Report Device / Update Sonars def This command will update the master.ins file from Sonar ( well...
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PAGE 8
The Programs Bank window If the selected device can manage programs, select the menu command Edit / Programs. The Programs Bank window will open: The count of programs depends of the selected device. Here, the Korg DW8000 has a single bank of 64 programs. Note : the DW8000 does not natively handle program names, see the chapter about the Korg DW8000 for more information on this subject. The left part of the window displays three boxes : Bank, Program and Buffer.
PAGE 9
The Save command allows to create a sysex file containing the bank definition currently in the computer memory. The Request command will ask the device to send its definition to the computer. During the MIDI transfers, a progress bar is displayed. Note that program numbers will appear in blue when UniSynth is sure that display is synchronized with the device. Red numbers like above means UniSynth does not know if it really is what the device has in memory.
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Common operations how-to To copy a program from one location to another: – select the program to copy – click on '> Buffer' – select the program to replace – click on '> Prog' To browse through a bank file without changing the device memory: – click on 'Bank' / 'Load' and load the desired file. – Double click on the program to audition To insert a program of an other bank in the current bank (except for the DW8000): – click on 'Bank' / 'Load' and load the desired file.
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The Korg DW/EX 8000 plug-in The Program Bank Window The Korg DW/EX 8000 does not have any memory space to store patch names. They are only known by a number 11,12,...,18,21,22... Static memory was expensive back then! UniSynth provides a convenient way to remember a patch name: it looks up all files stored in the Korg_DW8000\Patches\Singles folder. If it find one file having the same data than a program, it uses the filename as program name. So to give a name to a program, just save it.
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The Graph The graph shows the evolution of sound parameters over time. Simply turn the knobs of the control panel below to view the curves move along. On the bottom of the graph a real time scale in seconds is displayed. The scale will adjust automatically to the audible portion of the sound (i.e. the yellow VCA envelope). The vertical scale is fixed and the meaning depends of the drawn parameter. As a basic rule, upper side is 'louder', 'brighter' or 'higher pitch'.
PAGE 14
The control panel The control panel features two type of items, knobs and buttons. The knobs are the round shiny things, showing the current value in the center. An orange arrow shows also the current value. Instead of using the 'grab' and 'move around' paradigm that i really don't like, there is two ways to operate knobs: – simply click with the left button to turn one step left or the right button to turn one step right. If you keep the mouse button down, the knob will keep turning.
PAGE 15
The delay time and the delay factor is combined in one 'time' knob ranging from 0 to 127. The 'VCF polarity' (0-1) and the 'EG intensity' (0-31) are combined in one 'envelope amount knob ranging from -31 to 31. Same for the Autobend. Also, you may have noticed that some knobs show more values than the corresponding parameter on the DW. For example: the OSC 2 Interval knob has 8 steps where the parameter is supposed to have only 5 allowed values...
PAGE 16
The Yamaha DX 21/27/100 plug-in Foreword All the manufacturers use time length values where low values give short envelopes and higher values give long envelopes. On the opposite, Yamaha uses a notion of rate for its DX range: low values give slow envelopes and high values give fast envelopes. If like me, this notion do not seem natural, you can modify this in the Preferences dialog of the plug-in. In the Main window, select the menu Edit/Preferences to access this setting.
PAGE 17
The Graph The graph shows the evolution of sound parameters over time. Simply turn the knobs of the control panel below to view the curves move along. 1 2 3 4 On the bottom of the graph a real time scale in seconds is displayed. To render the huge time variation of parameters, the scale is exponential ( 1,4,9,16...). The vertical scale is fixed and the meaning depends of the drawn parameter. As a basic rule, upper side is 'louder', 'brighter' or 'higher pitch'.
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The control panel For directions on control panel usage, please see the chapter about the DW-8000 module. Notes pertaining to DX21/27/100 Differences: The snapshot of the control panel shown earlier is for the DX21. The DX27 and DX100 don't have the following controls: – Chorus button – Pedal volume knob – The Pitch Envelope section Operator activation / deactivation: To activate or deactivate an operator, you can click on the colored boxes showing operator numbers.
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Troubleshooting My controller has no effect on the selected device: 1 – Check if the device can produce sounds by itself ? If it does, go to step 3. 2 - Check the volume button of the device and the volume level of your amplification system. And don't forget to check that the audio jack on the back of the device is not plugged in a foot switch plug... that happens ;).