hi
I would like to know if there are sysex-message sequences that allow to load a voice/sample/whatever from a mounted drive to the XS.
Example
sysex xxxxx sysex yyyy sysex zzzz “c:\library\ethnic\myprogram” sysex kkkkk sysex jjjjj
Is this possible, even just in theory?
thanks

The editor does that, so yes it is possible…

But there isn’t a simple one-line string/command that does it.

It is possible to send/receive sysex strings, bulk dumps etc, but you need some kind of software in your computer to handle the communication (over midi).

I’m not 100% sure on this point, but I’m guessing the XS ethernet port does not support any sysex commands.
It handles file transfers.

You would also need software that understands (translates) the file you want to send (it could be X0A, X0V etc or other format).

Have you tried or seen the XS Editor, J Melas software or DF’s project?

/M

P5music - 09 February 2010 03:11 AM

hi
I would like to know if there are sysex-message sequences that allow to load a voice/sample/whatever from a mounted drive to the XS.
Example
sysex xxxxx sysex yyyy sysex zzzz “c:\library\ethnic\myprogram” sysex kkkkk sysex jjjjj
Is this possible, even just in theory?
thanks

You cannot use sysex to read files from any disk. What you need is a piece of software that will read the file and then generate sysex commands for the XS. You cannot use sysex to send sample data to the XS. MIDI does provide a mechanism called MIDI sample dump to transfer sample data but it’s slow and cumbersome and believe me you wouldn’t want to do it that way (I’m not sure if the XS reads MIDI sample dumps anyway.)

To use a voice or a performance as an example…

Each voice/performance in the XS is actually nothing more than a set of parameters. Quite a comprehensive set of parameters in fact .. a performance uses about 535 parameters.

These parameters determine the value of all the settings that make up the voice/performance. You can find a list of them in the MIDI Data List Booklet 2 from http://www.yamahasynth.com/downloads/manuals/synthesizers/motif_xs/english/

System Exclusive MIDI commands permit you to read and write these parameters, either individually or in bulk. To write a voice/performance to the XS you need to read the voice file from disk using software and then convert the data into a sysex format which can be then sent to the XS.

The closest thing to what you are describing would be a librarian. John Melas has written software to do something along these lines. My Performance editor will generate sysex data but not from existing files on disk - it’s designed to ‘reach in’ and adjust parameters in the XS memory directly. The Yamaha Editor also has some facilities to read local files and send them to the XS.

I am not sure about the possibility of transferring sample data to the XS over MIDI. MIDI provides a mechanism to do this but I certainly wouldn’t want to do that, it’s a very slow process. I’m not sure if the XS even supports that ancient system of sample transfer or not.

Df.

Thanks.
In a previous post someone said that some panel functions are reachable through sysex and not midi CC.
I undertood that it is possible to controlo some internal functions of XS keyboard further than what midi allows.
So I tought that, for example, I could send some sysex sequence (via any midi port) to set some internal register with the path string
“c:\myvoice”
and then send some other sysex sequence to execute the load command, like I was pressing some buttons on the internal menus.
What do you think about this?

P5music - 09 February 2010 05:56 AM

Thanks.
In a previous post someone said that some panel functions are reachable through sysex and not midi CC.
I undertood that it is possible to controlo some internal functions of XS keyboard further than what midi allows.
So I tought that, for example, I could send some sysex sequence (via any midi port) to set some internal register with the path string
“c:\myvoice”
and then send some other sysex sequence to execute the load command, like I was pressing some buttons on the internal menus.
What do you think about this?

No, sysex really doesn’t work that way at all. Have a look at the Data Booklet I linked to above to get some more idea about what it is.

Df.

but with external editors cannot somemone load a bank/voice/sample from a computer via ethernet into the XS?
if yes, does not it send some sysex messages to achieve this?

Ethernet and MIDI are two different things.
None of the XS software I know of use ethernet to transfer voice/waveform data, and I’m not refering to file transfers.

/M

P5music - 09 February 2010 06:51 AM

but with external editors cannot somemone load a bank/voice/sample from a computer via ethernet into the XS?
if yes, does not it send some sysex messages to achieve this?

Let me try an analogy to clarify.

Your printer doesn’t understand Microsoft Word documents, nor does it understand the JPG file format.

In order to print these, a piece of software has to accept these formats as input and translate them into the native format used by your printer, whatever that may be (postscript, some form of Epson byte code, whatever)

You cannot directly connect to your printer and say “print the JPG at c:\pics\me.jpg”, but with the correct software you can say to the software “please print the image at c:\pics\me.jpg”.

By the time the raw data is received by the printer it neither knows, nor cares, where the data came from or what it is. The XS doesn’t care either, and nor should it. The XS has no concept of ‘drive C’ and there is no facility to teach it that - and again, neither should there be.

Sysex is the “native language” of the XS. To do what you describe you need to have software, custom or otherwise, that can act as the translator.

External editors for the XS are restricted by the facilities offered by sysex. SysEx is a very well defined and specific set of parameters that can be changed, it’s not a magic “do anything” language.

The editing screens on the XS itself are a very good approximation of what can be done via sysex. Each parameter can be adjusted remotely using sysex. Here’s a little sample:

Decode: CommonEG::ComAEGDecay 64
Decode: CommonEG::ComAEGSustain 64
Decode: CommonEG::ComAEGRelease 64
Decode: ComFEGAttack 64
Decode: ComFEGDecay 64
Decode: ComFEGRelease 64
Decode: ComFEGDepth 64
Decode: CommonEG::ComCutoff 64
Decode: CommonEG::ComResonance 64
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComEQLowFreq 64
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComEQLowGain 64
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComEQMidFreq 64
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComEQMidGain 64
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComEQMidQ 64
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComEQHiFreq 64
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComEQHiGain 64
Decode: CommonMaster::ComVolume 92
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComPortaTime 64
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComPortaSwitch 1
Decode: CommonMaster::ComRevSend 99
Decode: CommonMaster::ComChoSend 26
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComAssignKnob1 64
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComAssignKnob2 64
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComAssignButton1Mode 1
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComAssignButton2Mode 1
Decode: CommonGeneral::ComRibbonMode 1
Decode: CommonCtrlAsgn::ComRibbonCtrlNo 22
Decode: CommonCtrlAsgn::ComFootSwAssign 88
Decode: CommonCtrlAsgn::ComAssign1CtrlNo 16
Decode: CommonCtrlAsgn::ComAssign2CtrlNo 17
Decode: CommonCtrlAsgn::BCCtrlNo 2
Decode: CommonCtrlAsgn::ComFC1CtrlNo 11
Decode: CommonCtrlAsgn::ComFC2CtrlNo 4
Decode: CommonCtrlAsgn::ComAssignBtn1 86
Decode: CommonCtrlAsgn::ComAssignBtn2 87
Decode: ADSysFX::ComADInsertType 0

(A performance contains several hundred lines like this)

In this case, each parameter comes from the XS as a binary value. The text preceding each value is just a label that I’ve given that value.

I can write these values by passing back to the XS a sysex string containing the internal address to write to (each parameter has an address) and the value to write, but you cannot create new functions.

If it’s not in the data booklet, you can’t do it (although I imagine there are a few undocumented capabilities in addition to those published).

Df.

I just deal with the “load” feature that XS has via ethernet (that I think carries midi too in separate communication packets) or via usb pendrive, that I want to be called by a sysex sequence.

I know that every device has to be fed with appropriate data.
Midi is for notes, CC and sysex, and XS does not load programs and samples by midi ports.

Often sysex messages are a way to send commands to the device that are out of the midi scope and are of particular nature because only the device know what they are aimed to. This is why software sequencer often ask you “do you want to filter sysex messages?”.

So I am almost sure that there are secret sysex sequences for the XS to call the “load” functionality, or they are public but I do not know the inside of the keyboard or have a reference.

P5music - 09 February 2010 07:41 AM

… I do not know the inside of the keyboard or have a reference.

I’ve cited the Data Booklet twice already, the first time with a link. It’s a comprehensive guide to what can be done with sysex on the XS.

Df.