Save / Load Project question!

[Dinos]

Hello there!

I have the V-Synth for quite some time (I have upgraded to 2.0), but just now I realised that I probably haven't understood something about its data management.

Here's the deal... I downloaded the "Artist Patches" (by Chemical Brothers, Richard Barbieri etc) from the V-Synth official site. Since the original "Internal.prj" project is full, I didn't want to import the new patches. I just wanted to load the downloaded ".prj" file as a separate project. From what I gather this would just load the new patches to the work space, and unload the original ones. Well... this is just not possible, since the new ".prj" file is not visible through the "Load Project" menu... darn this...

In order to override this problem, I wanted to save the Internal.prj as a new project, erase all its patches and import the new ones. To my surprise, the "New Project" button in the "Save Project" menu (top left) is not active... wtf?!

Just to clarify things, I'm not using any external memory units... just the internal one...

Thanks in advance for any help you guys might offer!

Dinos

(I'm missing something vital, aren't I?)

edit: After trying some more approaches I realised this: On both "Save Project" and "Load Project" menus, you can see only the "Internal.prj" file... plus you can't save the active project as a new project (since the "New Project" button is inactive). I even renamed the new bank as "Internal.prj", and the original Internal.prj as something else, and on both menus, the only visible one was the one named "Internal.prj" (which was now the new one). This is insane, isn't it? or am I?!

[Artemiy]

I think it's a bug. I had the same problem many times: tried to copy a project from card to internal flash RAM - it appears in Disk Tools but Load Project only shows the Internal.prj project. Weird... Gotta test it more.

[nawyecky_]

Page 57 of the manual says: "Internal memory can hold only one project". I may be wrong, but I don't think the internal memory can store more than one project (haven't tried, though). If you look at the diagram on that page you'll see that internal memory only holds one project while the memory card holds several projects.

Hope this helps.

[Artemiy]

Hmmm... I though I remember with OS 1.5x you could have more than one project... weirdness...

[Dinos]

This is stupid, isn't it? I can have both projects stored in the internal memory... it can hold both of them... but it can only load the one named Internal.prj. So, what I do for now is rename the alternative one as Internal.prj every time I want to load it (since both projects are visible through the Utilities menu.

So, I guess that the "New Project" button is also disabled, because I don't have a memory card. I guess that you can only save new projects on external media...

What's the purpose of all that?!

www.swoki.com

[Artemiy]

Don't ask me

[Dinos]

well... we should add this problem to a wishlist for future upgrades (if we're to compile such a list... and if we ever gonna get another upgrade)

cheers!

www.swoki.com

[BobTheDog]

Its well worth getting a memory card and adapter, I got 1gb for about ё30, well worth the money.

Cheers

Andy

[Artemiy]

I agree with you Andy: 10 MB internal flash can hardly be used for any serious work. It's good to have it anyways, for cases when you need to swap stuff from/to a VC card, but a card of 256 MB or more is just too cheap not to buy.

[Dinos]

I'm a homeless poor lil' guy who can't afford a memory card... (I actually stole my V-Synth... :p)

yeah... I guess that the time has come... I'll buy one...

www.swoki.com

[illiac]

What do you guys think is the best size of flash card for the V-Synth? With the project organization I think there is no downside to a really big card, right? OTOH the limited internal storage of the V-Synth means that I seem to use a lot less space for the V-Synth than I do on say the Fantom.

On the Fantom I think that lots of smaller cards is better because the thing loads the entire card worth of samples at a time. I create multiple directories (invisible to the Fantom) using the computer, but this isn't very convenient when there's no computer around.

I'm trying to migrate toward Artemio's computerless management of V-Synth and Fantom. I think he cheats and mounts those CF cards under Linux sometimes and goofs around with them.

-illiac

[BobTheDog]

Hi Illiac,

A large card works fine for me, I tend to have lots of small projects on the memory card then they load up quickly into the x-synth.

I have seen no issues with useing a large card so I would go for one.

Cheers

Andy

[Artemiy]

If you look at the Fantom from the V-Synth's view of data management, you have one project on the card. So yes, it makes more sense to have several cards and max card size should be about the size of sample RAM you have. For Fantoms it's better to have multiple 256 or 512 MB cards.

But for the V-Synth there is no such limitation. The limitation that does exists is the RAM, it's 50 MB and thus max project size is 50 MB. However, you indeed can have as many project as the card can hold. I heard people are using 2 GB cards with Fantoms and I think V-Synth should work with this size and even beyond (if it uses FAT32 and not FAT16).

I have a 128 MB card with the V currently, but I plan getting a 512 MB or a 1 GB card soon.

[illiac]

Yup, that's what I think too (concerning card size).

I like the project idea but I find the storage model of the V-Synth confusing. It seems to me that there is an "implicit" project that you are always working from. For example when you save a patch (PATCH WRITE) it gets written to the project you loaded from and not to internal storage. Ditto for samples. But the screens of the V-synth don't seem to indicate what project is the "current" one. Or am I badly confused?

It's not especially hard to use but it's confusing at the same time...

-illiac

[Artemiy]

Yes, you always have to remember which project you are using, it is not displayed anywhere. Pretty bad, but not that a problem for me really, I have good memory and I can remember which project it is

The problem as for me is that if you run out of 512 patches, there is no way to save to some other project. Plus you can't start a clean project.

But there is the file import function which is really cool

After 1.5 years of hacking the V, there seem to be much more + than - about it, I love this black beast