Synths that store patches through a cassette interface

[ColorForm2113]

I'm curious how this actually works. I have a cz 5000 with the already mentioned mt out put, and an sci drumtraks with a cassette out. And the battery on the drumtraks is on its way out so until I get it replaced the tape option seems to be good or audacity would probably be easier

[krushing]

I'm curious how this actually works. I have a cz 5000 with the already mentioned mt out put, and an sci drumtraks with a cassette out. And the battery on the drumtraks is on its way out so until I get it replaced the tape option seems to be good or audacity would probably be easier

Using MidiQuest is quite a bit easier, at least in CZ5K's case. And actually seeing the damn envelopes moves the whole editing process towards something resembling "fun".

[madtheory]

Each to his own. Always found the cz easy to edit. Used midiquest mainly as a librarian, and it doesn't edit a cz-1 anyway. To record audio data a visual is great, as with audacity.

[gs]

I used to use a recording walkman to store the patch banks from my DW8000 back in the day. Worked okay.

But, when the 90s arrived and suddenly there was tons of windows-based MIDI freeware available over the net (first Usenet, then the Web), and I got my free DW8000 editor/bank organizer, then I said goodbye to tape interface forever.

[tim_m]

Actually I'd like to experiment by looking at the audio output from one of these synths - say the CS40M with only 20 memory locations - and see if I can identify the individual programs and their carrier separator. Then, reorganise them by cutting and pasting individual program audio segments into a different order in Adobe Audition and then retransmit back to the CS40M. I can’t see a reason why it shouldn't work. Perhaps it'd be a way to build up a library of named sounds within Adobe Audition and then add together whatever combinations I want to transmit to the synth depending on the project / requirement.


Kevin

I've also wondered about this quite a bit. I was hoping to find a way to decode the 'modem noise' (I believe it's called Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) into raw data, and code a simple librarian for my tape-backup synths, so I can re-arrange the patches on the computer, and then have the librarian generate a new sound file to play back to the synth. I never found the right google search terms to find something that decodes the audio back into data. Maybe an open-source modem program would yield some clues? At this point, I don't know if I have the time to chase this down these days.

Another synth that stores patches via cassette is the Akai AX-80, although it's much more touchy than my Juno-60 in terms of loading patches.

[LesDeuxLoveOrchestra]

the sad thing about the prophet midi dump is that it does not include the last f7 bit and so is invisible to most computer midi set ups these days. in mac for example, you could grab your programs up until around system 8.6. but when system 9 and os x came in the dump was not recognized without the final bit.

i have been hoping for a work around for years.

until then i keep those cassettes.

[madtheory]

I've also wondered about this quite a bit. I was hoping to find a way to decode the 'modem noise' (I believe it's called Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) into raw data, and code a simple librarian for my tape-backup synths

You mean something like this?

ti have been hoping for a work around for years.

That's not an OS issue, it's the app taking in the sysex. Maybe the guy who makes sysex librarian can make a tweak for the P5. Alternatively, you can use the Mac audio input as a cassette recorder.

[tim_m]

I've also wondered about this quite a bit. I was hoping to find a way to decode the 'modem noise' (I believe it's called Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) into raw data, and code a simple librarian for my tape-backup synths

You mean something like this?

Wow. That's much fancier than what I imagined. I was just thinking of being able to do simple patch sorting/rearranging. Thanks for the link.

[Desecrated]

It works for me to plug my poly800 straight into the computer. And the other way around.

[LesDeuxLoveOrchestra]

That's not an OS issue, it's the app taking in the sysex. Maybe the guy who makes sysex librarian can make a tweak for the P5. Alternatively, you can use the Mac audio input as a cassette recorder.

the idea of having an audio/sysex converter would be to be able to use my prophet cassette programs in pro-53's sysex. it used to work in earlier mac os )(<8.6>). now no go. by the way the sounds are surprisingly close.

[madtheory]

pro-53'

Ah! You implied that you were still working with an actual P5.

[LesDeuxLoveOrchestra]

i still use both the p5 and the pro-53 (as a plug in protools). i bought my p5 from guitar center hollywood in the early 80's. i still live in hollywood, and the p5 is still used on almost all projects. such a damn great machine. anyway, the pro-53 is of course not the same, but is is fun to use, and one thing which is nice is to pull up the patches sent from the actual p5 on the pro-53 and see the knob positions, etc, that i used back in the day (before the day!) i sure could use that audio to sysex converter, though. it would be cool to bring all the programs into a librarian and remove the damn duplicates!

another thing that hasn't been mentioned about the tape-based backups is the ability to 'slate' your tapes.

for instance on my cassettes there are messages to myself from the past to the future, ie, "hello from may 1986, weather's nice, here's the best of the prophet patches."


best wishes