Deleting MIDI phrases in bulk

[comradec]

Is there a way of deleting the Fantom-G's MIDI phrase list en masse?

With the sample list, you can 'mark all' and then delete the lot via the utility menu. However, there doesn't appear to be a 'mark all' option with the phrase list. Unless I've missed something, it looks like you have to delete them phrase by phrase, which could take a very long time, given there are 932.

As I can't rely on any of OS 1.3's built-in phrase content to load successfully from USB memory (as detailed in another thread here), I may as well delete all these phrases. I don't want to lose the studio sets too, which would disappear if I did an 'exit + power' blank slate type boot-up. So I'd like to delete all the phrases. Do I really have to do this individually for all 932 of them?

[lazeeboy]

Use your computer to mount the Fantom and delete everything in your \[project]\SEQ\PHS\ folder if you wanna delete it all. If you want to delete phrases selectively but en mass you could beta-test my tool if you like. Just don't beat the crap out of me if it doesn't work as expected as it's still very much in beta. Try it on a backup of your project first oke?

While you're at it you could also delete all the files in \[Project]\SEQ\RPS; these are the RPS sets.

Good luck

[comradec]

Thanks lazeeboy. Have to say, though, I'm starting to regret buying the Fantom-G. Never had a synth workstation before that couldn't be relied upon to load its own data correctly.

[lazeeboy]

See it as a rough diamond.

Granted, it has it's fair share of shortcomings but some/most of them can be worked around and several haven been addressed in 1.30; perhaps better file management will be a fact in a future version. Until then use my workaround.

[Artemiy]

The G works perfectly if you treat a project like you should: one project is great to work with a single song, plus it's alternative versions/mixes/remixes. Indeed if you continue to write several songs and some phrases will get deleted once in a while, your phrase list will become messy. But I thought about this and, to be frank, I can't come up with anything better, I think Roland did give us pretty good possibilities.

I.e. what could speed things up is detaching sounds from the song data, but then we face a problem of having to load them independently... Or, if you bundle *everything* into a song, it will become very heavy and long to load... Really, the G does a pretty good job the way it was designed.

[comradec]

@Artemiy: I was referring more to the problems I've been having with 1.3's built-in content rather than the basic design or any frustrations about the phrase management system.

I mean, the FG not being able to save and reload its own MIDI phrases from USB media. I don't see how that can be repackaged as anything other than a problem.

Imagine switching on the cheapest of home keyboards and finding the preset drum patterns couldn't be relied upon to load each time. You'd say that was a fault. The FG is supposed to be a professional instrument and costs several times the price of cheap home keyboards.

Anyway, I'm going to experiment over the next few days. See how reliably it saves and reloads original data. If I have any problems with that too, then I shall definitely be making a fuss. Not here, I mean, but with Roland UK.

[Artemiy]

Never experienced this, fortunately... But I am guessing the root of all load/save problems is the "pickiness" of the G regarding USB drives. I do too have problems with loading more than 1500+ samples, but I already reported this. Hope they can look into it.

[comradec]

Not the USB drive issue, unfortunately. That was my first suspect. The problem replicated itself on multiple USB drives. Moreover, Roland UK's engineer replicated it on his own FG and his USB drives too. However, he said the issue was caused by a problem with 1.3 content, not the FG itself. As mentioned in a previous thread, the engineer has written to Roland Japan about the issue. Got to say though that I think it's tenuous to differentiate between the two given that 1.3 is the official operating system.