Korg Forums

Hi everybody,

After reading about the many problems faced by forum members in loading Sets I have decided to take up the challenge of creating a PC ( Apologies to all you Mac users) based program to automate this process.

To begin with I have come up with the following list of what I think will be needed in this software, please feel free to reply to this thread and add your own wishlist and every effort will be made to incorporate as many user suggestions as possible.

(1) use the full backup from the keyboard to import into a database on the computer the current contents of the Users Sound Bank
(2) Open the set file and import any new sounds into the database
(3) Allow user to add these sounds to their existing sound bank in an unused slot
(4) Import styles and check for any that require the new sound mentioned in (2)
(5) Remap the relevant tracks in the style in (4) from the original user bank to the one the sound has been moved to.

this is only a brief and incomplete list ---- I welcome anybody to add to it!!!

When this is complete it will be made freely available to anyone on the forum who wants it.


Again this will be for YOU to use, so any suggestions, thoughts, wishes and any other comments for what YOU think it should do are warmly welcomed.


I don't have a timeline for how soon this will be ready yet .


Regards



Mick

Hi Mick, when the job is done I think we all owe you! I already mentioned it on another topic, it's going to take lots of trouble and effort away. Recently I'm having this issue around (4) and (5) and seems that you're taking care of it, that's great and can't wait for the utility to be published!

I think I'll leave the suggestions/idea's to the experts, since you already are taking care of what's troubling me! All I can bring in at the moment is that I hope the program will be easy of use, yet with alot of options.

Good luck with the utility!

Regards,
Devon

Mick, this is really great of you to do this, thank you. However, for the money we paid to Korg for this keyboard, I don't know why they didn't do this. My cheap Casio keyboard came with a software program that allows me to do the things you are planning.

Mick, this is a great idea and very kind of you to offer your time and resources.

One suggestion I have would be to implement the utility in phases. The first phase could be a .SET reader which could open these .SET files on the PC and show you what's inside. You could then cut and paste into Excel or export to a csv file. Half the battle is understanding what is contained in each .SET file. Once I know where everything is pointing, I don't mind pushing a few buttons to move it around.

The second phase could then introduce some of the swapping and mapping you propose. A phased approach would probably result in more feedback and interest as people begin to understand what's really under the hood of this amazing piece of technology.

I'd be more than glad to do any testing if that would help.

-Pete

PlainPete wrote:Mick, this is a great idea and very kind of you to offer your time and resources.

One suggestion I have would be to implement the utility in phases. The first phase could be a .SET reader which could open these .SET files on the PC and show you what's inside. You could then cut and paste into Excel or export to a csv file. Half the battle is understanding what is contained in each .SET file. Once I know where everything is pointing, I don't mind pushing a few buttons to move it around.

The second phase could then introduce some of the swapping and mapping you propose. A phased approach would probably result in more feedback and interest as people begin to understand what's really under the hood of this amazing piece of technology.

I'd be more than glad to do any testing if that would help.

-Pete

Hi Pete,

Maybe you and other willing users can help Mick reverse engineer the file formats by using a hex and ascii file viewer? We need to find exactly where in a .STY file the patch information for each track of every CV within each variation and fill and ending etc is stored.

Best regards,
Rob

Rob,

Funny you should bring that up. I assumed that the file formats were available somehow and it was simply a matter of coding the input formats then everything else would flow downhill from that. It's an intriguing idea about hex viewing these things. I'd think whoever had that info would keep a pretty tight lid on it.

Though I suppose you could start with a known configuration on the PA1X, save a .SET file, then change just 1 thing, and resave the .SET file then use a HEX compare to see what changed. It'd be tedious but it might work. Variable length strings are always a problem though because it's a little harder to find the delimiters. Just thinking out loud.

-Pete

Pete,

We've asked Mr K to supply the relevant header files, and are hopeful that these will be forthcoming perhaps under NDA. As you say, developers have the "Not Invented Here" syndrome and are very protective about things like this. However these reactions do not help the products in the marketplace and do not help the user community who pay the developers' wages.

Best regards,
Rob

Hi everyone


Thanks for the support and suggestions.

Pete- I will follow your suggestion about doing it in phases and thanks for the offer of testing

I will post updates here as the project is progressing

Regards
Mick

Hello Mick,

I'd be glad to be of any help in delevering data, testing or whatever help you might need.
Just let me know what you need, my email address is in my profile.
Thanks for taking up the challenge to try to make a program like this.

Regards, Admar.

Hi Admar

Thanks for the offer of help I may need it

I will get back to you on it when the time comes

Regards

Mick

Mick,

Thank you for the generous offer to develop this software.
I offer my help in anyway you wish, Beta testing, providing comments, bouncing ideas with, Helping with the manual, etc.

My e-mail address is available on my profile.

Sincerely,

Thanks Kauser

Will get back to you when have sonething ready for testing


Regards

Mick

Great work guys... would love to help on the programming side...

but just one question...

What programming language are you thinking of using to achieve this?

Im a VB user so.. if you require any help.. im here..

HI some1uk03

Im using VB thanks a lot for the offer will email you

Regards

Mick

HI, THIS IS GREAT NEWS!
WE HEAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FROM KORG!
GOD LUCK!