nord lead 2x librarian?

gBeat

Is thre a nord lead 2x librarian?

I need a librarian like Native instruments Kore. I´m a Visual Basic programmer and i think is easy to do, but ...

Why reinvent the wheel?

Wout Blommers · Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:16 am Post subject:

gBeat

As far as I know there is not a special librarian to the NordLead2(X). There is one to the NL3, Sound Manager, but for the NL2 I use the NordGenerator Editor tool...

That one doesn't do performances, though.

If you want to create one, maybe Cappy2001 can help you...

Wout

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

gBeat · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:02 pm Post subject:

thanks

Wout Blommers · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:30 pm Post subject:

And

msepsis

Wout

LS. · Joined: Aug 06, 2008 Posts: 14 Location: United Kingdom

http://www.rekonaudio.com/

Make sure you check the support pages to make sure it will work in your host. Unfortunately it is not yet tested/ supported in Logic but seems it works in Cubase for both Mac and PC but not the new SX4 versions

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

Wout Blommers · Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 12:39 am Post subject:

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

I did some digging, found the exact differences between the patch, perf, all controllers dump requests from the NL2 and the NL2X (they -are- different) but pretty much gave up having any reason to try and further make sense of midiquest XL's "Instrument creator" when I found Bome's SendSX.

This is all you need:
http://www.bome.com/midi/sendsx/
It's not a NL2x _editor_ but it can be used as a librarian. This is pc only, snoize can be picked up for OSX at
http://www.snoize.com/SysExLibrarian/
which does the same thing. it's down and dirty and can be used for a multitude of applications from a simple midi activity monitor to a variety of more experimental applications.

I just bought a copy of rekon's NL/NL2/2X editor/librarian, but haven't yet received my download link... Apparently it can take a day or two... but I'll come back with an update once I've had a chance to crash it once or twice. I'm anxious to have an editor, and just got annoyed with midiquest's instrument editor. (although midiquest is great for my jp8080 and microwaveXT)

LS. · Joined: Aug 06, 2008 Posts: 14 Location: United Kingdom

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

LS-
I'm still using cubase sx 3 on a PC for the bulk of my midi sequencing... hopefully it will work as it claims it will !

LS. · Joined: Aug 06, 2008 Posts: 14 Location: United Kingdom

yeah good luck with it. I hope it works well and look forward to hearing your update on it. I have heard good things about ReKon but unfortunately they do not yet support my setup and am pretty sure they are missing out on quite a bit of market share as a result....

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

hmmm. so far from my hour or so of putting it to the test, rekon's editor is not quite an editor, not quite a librarian... I'm not sure what it the goal is actually. It only runs as a vst inside your host, and is more a software controller for a hardware synth than a patch librarian or patch editor... This honestly doesn't do anything for me that i can't do with the midi device map and gui i created in cubase a while ago. you can find a multitude of these in xml format online (if you want one for a NL2X, JP-8080 or Waldorf Microwave XT, let me know)... I never found using these too useful as it's essentially an onscreen gui emulation of the real knobs you have right in front of your face.. but can be handy if you must have "local" turned off for whatever reason.

Anyway, getting back to the rekon NL2 editor: In order to use this software, you MUST be in a host. This does not run in any way as a standalone app. Ouch. Additionally, in your host, need to use multiple midi tracks, one set to talk to the editor, one set to talk to the nord. you must use a completely separate KB controller as the input to the editor channel, or you get a feedback loop. What this means is that there is no way to set up two way communication between rekon and the nord in the same project w/o a feedback loop, yet to even have one way communication you need 2 midi tracks at a minimum. I could see this getting a little messy when using 4 midi channels on the nord...

You can set it up (in a separate project) to receive midi dumps from the nord.. In this set up when you tweak your real knobs (on the actual keyboard) the VST knobs react, which is cute... but isn't helping me any. I can record this data into a midi channel w/o having to see a graphic representation of a knob turning. Anyhow... This is the midi set up where you can supposedly send A patch from the Nord to the VST.. but thats it.. one patch. You can save that ONE patch to a file.. however this "editor" isn't intended to work with "dump all" and thus is hardly what I'd consider useful as a nord lead 2x librarian. Unless down and dirty isn't your thing and you'd rather do this manually patch by patch, Bome's SendSX is still a better patch librarian tool for the NL2X hands down. it takes seconds, it aint much to look at if you're into GUIs, but it is free and it gets the job done.

Moreover, so far I haven't been able to get rekon to recognize a single patch dump from the NL2X.. but i can guess the reason: Contrary to what one without both models (or manuals) might assume, dumps from the NL2 and NL2X are not the same.

If what I've described interests you, be sure NOT to order with a gmail address. You wont get the attachment. I ordered this monday night and just got it today (thursday) as the alt address I gave them didn't like their attachment either and finally convinced them to give me a link.

Wout Blommers · Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject:

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

true, there is the tool inside cubase, but it's also nice to have a simple app to do something like restore and load patches into your midi instruments and be able to save all your patches and performances to a file. Sometimes i'm at the gear w/ the computer but not doing anything in Cubase... but yeah exporting from cubase is an option that's been there too.

I guess what it comes down to that the NL2 series is a pretty simple synth to edit. Nobody really should need a computer screen to dig into anything as it's all right there in front of you.. is this nl2 editor vst thing could be an interesting little tool, if it ran standalone and allowed you to edit your patches with an onscreen interface thats a little more than an onscreen replica of the actual interface. If I'm editing an envelope, let me see the envelope and edit it. That's a little more what I was _hoping_ for. It's a cool app, and it might be great for some people to play with and use... i didn't tinker with it too far after finding it didn't live up to my hopes as a librarian, or really an editor that would give me anything the actual synth doesn't.

It's an annoying trend in the approach of many software developers serving musicians these days.. there is SO much focus on emulating the look of real gear that they loose sight of what should be the intent: providing us with a useable interface that takes advantage of the screen. It's not a photoshop contest. I want something that makes the creative process more engaging while getting the job done quickly.

Anyway, it'd be interesting to hear what clavia would say, I might send them an email and enquire on a librarian/editor.. but in the meantime i think once i finish with my current obsession of playing with samplers, I think I'm going to take another dig into midiquest. The instrument editor was a bit convoluted but I'm sure it can't be too difficult to modify the NL2 into an NL2X.. the editor just seems a bit buggy or quirky at best. I do love the workflow of working in midiquest as for many synths, it provides an alternate interface other than knobs and sliders to edit your patches, and keeping track of your patches is dead simple and reliable.

LS. · Joined: Aug 06, 2008 Posts: 14 Location: United Kingdom

Thanks for the very informative run down. I for one will be steering clear after reading your posts.

Nice one

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

lanrosta · Joined: Oct 25, 2009 Posts: 3 Location: USA

Hi folks,
I just joined the list and would like to address any issues or questions with the reKon audio VST Lead 2 Editor. I am the developer of this software, so please feel free to notify me if you have any issues or questions.

@msepsis - You mentioned that the 'single controller' dump feature was not working. Can you please send me a .txt file that has the data stream that your NL2 is sending? You can obtain this by using MIDI-OX on PC, or SNOISE on Mac, and then saving the log .txt file from the dump. I will take a look at it and see what the issue may be. As far as the MIDI echo goes... I am releasing new versions of all editors that have an improved MIDI engine and some additional controls on the panel that will allow you to turn on/off the midi echo, midi send/receive, and midi program change send/receive. This should alleviate the midi echo issue you mentioned.

Also, something to keep in mind... Many VST hosts out there do not support sysex MIDI data from a VSTi. Even if they do, the message format is very small and in no way can handle sysex dumps (only small sysex parameter commands, and not always). For this reason, the reKon editors do not rely on it or transmit or receive sysex data directly from the host. The editor DOES allow you to both save and load .syx file banks and programs. So, you can import/export and manage entire banks, or single patches from these .syx files. So, yes, the editor is (in a sense) a patch manager and librarian. Although, yes, it would be nice to have a grid-based patch management feature, and that is something I have considered implementing in future versions, as well as additional features like random patch creation with variable seeding, etc. I am always open to the suggestions of my customers, but, I cannot always guarantee that these suggestions will be implemented.

I am working on getting demos together for the Lead series editors, but I have a lot of other work on my plate ATM. I am also getting ready to release an editor for the Nord Lead 3, and have just released one for the Moog Little Phatty. So, I've been pretty busy lately with some other stuff.

For the latest information, you can visit the website at www.rekonaudio.com.

Thanks,
lanrosta
reKon audio

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

Wout Blommers · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:08 am Post subject:

lanrosta

lanrosta · Joined: Oct 25, 2009 Posts: 3 Location: USA

@ msepsis: Thanks, once I have the data set I can see what's going on to adddress that issue. That function does work on the VST Lead Editor. I mentioned this earlier, but yes, I intend to add librarian type functionality on a separate panel that will allow the arrangement of patches (more like the Sound Manager grid, except more features for moving stuff around, in-place renaming, etc.) All of this can be imported and exported as sysex or VST presets, you can easily switch between editor and librarian views.

@Wout: Yes, The editors will also be made as standalone editors, so you can use them outside of the host and independently. You can currently already do this for PC by simply using Hermann Seib's free Savihost wrapper at http://www.hermannseib.com/english/savihost.htm. You can wrap any VSTi you like this way for PC. Not so for mac yet , so I'll have to write my own mini-host framework anyways. There is more stuff coming. And I am always looking to improve and update the existing software.

Thanks,
lanrosta

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

msepsis · Joined: Oct 21, 2008 Posts: 15 Location: oakland, ca

Wout Blommers · Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 12:47 pm Post subject:

I see no more differences than what I wrote. Of course is the SysEx concerning the memory locations different, because the NL2X has some more locations. And that is precisely what a Librarian should do, I think. If I want to shuffle the Programs in the memory of the synth the Librarian changes the lines in the message. There has to be just a button which can be set to which version the computer will dump to and where in the memory it has to be stored. So the Librarian must know how to translate yhat SysEx line in order the synth to accept all Programs of all other NordLead versions, with exception of the 3, of course.

But as I think I said it many of times before: I’m not a computer programmer…

Wout