I am trying to make a preset for Korg Volca FM2. There is no parameter control over sysex as far as I know. (I know there is a non official OS for Volca FM that can do it but I do not know if there are something similar for FM2.) The whole sysex dump (all parameters) must be sent from Electra when I edit a parameter. Can Electra handle that? If so, how do I do that? Maybe there is a preset that I can learn from?
The Volca FM uses CC for control right?
The whole sysex block needs to be parse to be able to see the current patch.
So you load some patch on the volca, after that you request that patch from the e.one and populate your template.
See sysex parsing.
Ohhh I see the FM2 only supports few parameters by cc.
It would be possible but you will need to code this in Lua.
I would be interested in this as well for the Sy22.
Basically you will have to have your whole patch in an array and send it out after an update.
Or use the parameter map to construct the whole sysex.
I think…
But you need to reverse engineer ho the patch is constructed as well.
Personally, if a synth allows for SysEx program dumps, but does not allow sending/ receiving SysEx parameter changes, albeit in combination with CC or NRPN parameters changes, I back away from trying to control it from a MIDI controller. The user experience would still be lousy: imagine that for every new value on any parameter, the E1 has to reconstruct a full sys ex program string , offer it to the synth, and have the synth upload it in its memory buffer.
Only turning a single 7bit parameter from 0 tot 127 would trigger 127 such program requests…
Theoretically this can work, and you could thing of ways te reduce SysEx traffic, but don’t expect good response times or good user experience.
Of course this is generally speaking. If bandwidth, and processing capacity allows for it, it might not be too bad after all. But still a lot of work to figure it out.
If you have parsed SysEx before and worked with Lua, I’d say go for it.
Yeah it not easy but with Lua and a queue you can control the traffic.
Only send you the sysexdump after controls are silent for an x amount of seconds.
ETC… In the case for a DX7 compatible synth you would probably be better off using dexed to program sounds.
But going this approach sometime allows for control of parameters that are hidden.
The SY22 you can control the 2OP fm parameters fully with an editor that has this approach, however the SY22 allows sysex control of many other parameters.
So you could only send the full dump in case of some of those parameter…
Complex…but if you want go for it
with mkII, there are no limits on sysex sizes. But as @NewIgnis mentioned, the effort might not lead to desirable results. If you want to program a patch on E1 and manually send it to the synth (say by pressing a button in the preset) it will work fine. If you want to use it for real-time value changes, e.g., a filter sweep, I would recommend testing how the synth handles the patch dump uploads… Such “parameter changes” might not be as smooth as you would expect. But it depends on the synth…
Speaking of sysex & Volca FM2 it happens that for some odd omission the Volca FM2 is permanently emitting some clock sysex messages. I’ve talked to people at Korg and asked them if there was any way to stop it. At least when the internal sequencer is not playing, they simply said something like “no, that’s the way it is”
So I asked if it could be addressed in the next firmware update and they said it would be a great idea. Unfortunately new firmware has been released since and that sysex emission is still there, and it messes with my E1 behaviour…
So if at some point E1 could allow for filtering per MIDI data types would be great !
If you happen to have a MIDI router like the MIO range, you can prevent the Volca from sending SysEx data onto other devices.
It is actually not an odd omission. Most devices that have a metronome or any other timing will send a clock message, it is in the MIDI specs for synchronizing devices. If there is anything related to bpm on a synth you can expect that clock be sent. I have even seen it even in electronic pianos from all brands. Is it annoying to see it using you precious port bandwidth all the time? Yes! Want to see it less often? lower your bpm device
But being serious, you could get a Yamaha MEP4 and filter sysex messages. they go for less than $100 bucks, and are the midi swiss army knife of my studio.
Want a cooler solution? Make the Electra do NOT forward the messages, and you plan your routing inside the electra using lua.
Is there a preset I can look at to get started? Should I use virtual controllers or how does that bit work? I had to somehow collect all the values ​​from all the controllers and send them out as a sysex dump.