# Instrument file reference

**URL:** <https://forum.electra.one/t/instrument-file-reference/505>\
**Category:** Developers\
**Created:** [April 10, 2021, 10:40am UTC](https://forum.electra.one/t/instrument-file-reference/505 "2021-04-10T10:40:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![andersskibsted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@andersskibsted](https://forum.electra.one/u/andersskibsted)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 10:40am UTC](https://forum.electra.one/t/instrument-file-reference/505/1 "2021-04-10T10:40:26Z")

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Is there a reference on how to write the instrumentfiles anywhere? I’ve been looking, but can’t seem to find anything but the sysex parsing tutorial (which has some good info), but I still don’t understand all of the categories.

Thanks  
Anders

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**Author:** ![thetechnobear](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.electra.one/thetechnobear/32/134_2.png) [@thetechnobear](https://forum.electra.one/u/thetechnobear)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://forum.electra.one/t/instrument-file-reference/505/2 "2021-04-10T15:53:35Z")

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I dont think so…

the preset definition is here  
[https://docs.electra.one/developers/presetformat.html#preset-json-format](https://docs.electra.one/developers/presetformat.html#preset-json-format)

the instrument definition is very similar… basically with sections missing  
I looked at the eif for toraiz to figure it out, then I created a (primitive) preset to instrument converter  
[https://forum.electra.one/t/preset-to-instrument-python-script](https://forum.electra.one/t/preset-to-instrument-python-script)

the converter cant be 100% as there is not a 1-1 mapping, but I found it useful for giving me 90% of what I needed, and from there i edited it by hand.

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**Author:** ![andersskibsted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@andersskibsted](https://forum.electra.one/u/andersskibsted)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2021, 6:48pm UTC](https://forum.electra.one/t/instrument-file-reference/505/3 "2021-04-10T18:48:36Z")

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Thanks, this sounds like a good way to learn it.  
I’ll take a look at it.