Controlling Roland Boutique with Sysex HELP !

[wintersunproject]

Ive scoured the net and forums for over a month before posting this plea.
Ive tried everything to make sysex strings work from my Roland A-500 sliders and knobs and I'm getting nowhere.
Ive read on checksumming and even downloaded the summary template to understand whats going on but i fear I'm too thick with this and just have no idea where I'm going wrong with it.
For starters I'm not at all sure how to get the checksum together or if I'm trying to add together the wrong bits.
I tried copying the code from the MIDI TB template but that didn't work either, I'm also not sure whether to select DT0-7bit - DT1-4bit/4bit - DT2-7bit/7bit (MSB/LSB) - DT3-7bit/7bit (LSB/MSB) or DT4-4bit,4bit.4bit/4bit for the sliders on my controller.

It seems a lot of you are really well versed in HEXIDECIMAL on here and know what your doing wit sysex but I've always struggled with this side of it, can anyone help, or has anyone got any code i can paste into my A-PRO Editor for my Roland keyboard, or at least some pointers on where to go because i really need the resolution the big sliders offer my sausage fingers !

ARGHH !

[rparr]

I don't use Sysex or even the Roland A-500 (I have not even heard of Sysex prior to this post).

You might have seen this page before, but if not, does this help: http://www.2writers.com/eddie/tutsysex.htm

Rob

[cloudburst]

Have you read this?
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/328 ... sex-En.jpg

NOTE...the Boutiques only transfer sysex via the DIN MIDI ports - not the USB port.

This forum has a fairly useful thread on the subject...
viewtopic.php?f=59&t=50934

And here are a couple of projects you might want to check out - controlling the boutiques via WebMIDI in a browser. Both implementations work very well.
http://www.breadandbuttersounds.com

CB

[wintersunproject]

Thanks guys, I've read that syses chart and I'm getting there "sort of" I'm still lost with the checksum and how to implement it into the code and get it to work with my A500 controller, I'm finding it tough going.
the web midi thing is really cool, but i would love it as a plugin with assignable CC then it would take all the pain out of this..

[cloudburst]

Try this to set the HPF CutOff Freq to 0 on your JP-08.

F0 41 10 00 00 00 1C 12 03 00 02 00 00 00 FB F7

If anyone thinks I've calculated this wrong - please chime in.

I am not familiar with the Roland A-PRO editor so don't know if it can be used generically or if it only talks (for example) via a Roland A-series device driver via USB to a particular set of Roland A-series synths.

NOTE: as I mentioned before, the Boutiques only talk sysex over the DIN interfaces - not USB. So...
How have you interfaced your Boutique to your Mac?
How is your other keyboard (that A-PRO successfully controls) connected to your Mac?

CB

[wintersunproject]

The problem i have so far is the A-Pro Editor program will not accept the sysex code at all.
so i can't even get past that.

even if you change the data types DT0,DT1,DT2.DT3,DT4 etc..
its absolutely doing my head in.
I don't think the Roland Controller software is helping matters at all,

I have the midi controller hard wired to the JP08
and usb linked to the mac when addressing the sysex assignments..

[cloudburst]

Forget the data types setting. That is totally irrelevant when trying to send the string I gave you.

Please be more clear about what you want the end result to be. Can you explain the role of the software? Is the role of the software editor just to preload your controller keyboard with pre-buit sysex commands that the controller keyboard then issues to the JP-08? Does that mean that the software editor is then no longer needed during operation? Or is the editor expected to send the sysex command to the JP-08. Sorry I am not familiar with the A-PRO setup.

And also, can you be more clear on how you are interfacing to the JP-08. What does hard wired mean exactly?

I'm trying to help you, but you're not making things clear.

CB

[wintersunproject]

The A-500 is being used to control the JP-08 via the hardware MIDI sockets, not via USB.
That bit works ok.

However, when you plug in the usb connector and use the host software on the mac, thats where the problems start.
You literally cannot past in the sysex code into the editor window to send to the A-500.
The idea is to paste the sysex into the window assign it to a controller and save it back down to the A-500, and store it. at this point you can unplug the usb and control the JP-08 with the controller keyboard without any intervention from the host software, completely free of the host computer.
BUT, again.. the host software doesn't seem to want to know, i literally cannot get it to accept the sysex in the first place

[cloudburst]

Okay - thanks. That makes it much clearer buddy.

I hope I haven't made a mistake in calculating the checksum. I think it's okay.

Is it possible that the A-PRO editor only accepts sysex for Roland's family of A-xxx-PRO keyboards?

EDIT: Okay - I've had a look at the user manual for your software. Looks like it can calculate the checksum on the fly. So try the following sysex instead...

F0 41 10 00 00 00 1C SS 12 03 00 02 00 00 00 S1 F7

Let me know how you go.

CB

[wintersunproject]

Im not entirely sure, i can't find a definitive answer on that.
According the manual you should be able to do the lot..

I'll give that a go and i'll be back shortly
thanks for this..

[wintersunproject]

Again it just can't accept a sysex message of that length it seems.
i might have to give up on the A-500

[cloudburst]

Again it just can't accept a sysex message of that length it seems.
i might have to give up on the A-500

I amended the above. Can you try it again. To be clear...

F0 41 10 00 00 00 1C 12 SS 03 00 02 00 00 00 S1 F7

[Youno]

I use the A-800 Pro and tried the following (for the JU-06):

VCF_Freq1.jpg (36.85 KiB) Viewed 3203 times

This work, but it's not the VCF Cutoff I get, it's the Resonance.
By putting 08 00 instead of 08 02, I get a Cutoff response. So I'm pretty confused

VCF_Freq2.jpg (36.9 KiB) Viewed 3203 times

[wintersunproject]

When i enter Youno's code the editor accepts it...
So were now making a little progress :)

Thanks for your input both of you.. so far.

[cloudburst]

Did you also try the one I amended again (with the SS in it) ?
Apologies - the one I PM'd you was edited wrongly. Use this one.
F0 41 10 00 00 00 1C 12 SS 03 00 02 00 00 00 S1 F7

If that doesn't work, then try:
F0 41 10 00 00 00 1C 12 SS 03 00 02 00 DT S1 F7
and set the data type to:
DT4, 0, 255

CB