M4L Sysex dump utility

[the_voder]

Anyone know if it would be possible to create a simple M4L MIDI FX patch to record a Sysex patch dump from an external synth, then send it back out to the synth again when required? That way, you could use the synth's own controls to create a patch, then dump it to Live, and save it with your Live set. You could also potentially use Live's native preset system to create a basic patch library.

I'm not talking a fully-fledged editor-librarian tool here- there would be no need to decode the patch format, just record it, then squirt it back out of the relevant
MIDI port when required.

I know Live 8 or earlier filtered out all Sysex data (and everything except note and CCs, for that matter). Not sure if that's still the case with v.9. I do know there was a workaround involving a custom python script that allowed sending of Sysex data in Live 8, so maybe it's possible even if v.9 still doesn't speak Sysex...

Anyone any thoughts on whether this would be feasible, or maybe someone has already done it..

alx

[ikeaboy]

to get sysex out of M4l I'm pretty sure you need to run a max runtime companion device.

[maky355]

Anyone know if it would be possible to create a simple M4L MIDI FX patch to record a Sysex patch dump from an external synth, then send it back out to the synth again when required? That way, you could use the synth's own controls to create a patch, then dump it to Live, and save it with your Live set. You could also potentially use Live's native preset system to create a basic patch library.

I'm not talking a fully-fledged editor-librarian tool here- there would be no need to decode the patch format, just record it, then squirt it back out of the relevant
MIDI port when required.

I know Live 8 or earlier filtered out all Sysex data (and everything except note and CCs, for that matter). Not sure if that's still the case with v.9. I do know there was a workaround involving a custom python script that allowed sending of Sysex data in Live 8, so maybe it's possible even if v.9 still doesn't speak Sysex...

Anyone any thoughts on whether this would be feasible, or maybe someone has already done it..

alx

I am interested for something like this as well. Sadly i don't have experience with M4l to make it.

[maky355]

to get sysex out of M4l I'm pretty sure you need to run a max runtime companion device.

What do you men by "companion device"? Well if you mean for something like hardware MIDI patcher ala Steinberg Midex or Edirol UM 880 (or 550) with which one can send and receive MIDI data, well that one is obvious...Correct me if i am wrong, like i said i am not experienced with M4l coding..

[ikeaboy]

Either am I. I have a m4l device that controls my Juno 106 over Sysex. How it does this is I have to launch another max device outside live that runs on max runtime. Then mX4live communicates to this device which talks to the Juno. So it is possible to get Sysex out of live this way.( I didn't code anything btw) so search max4live .com and I reckon you'll find a device that does what your looking for. Good luck

[sigabort]

it is possible to get full MIDI data out of M4L but you have to code it in Java or C/C++ to access the MIDI ports directly and not go through M4L... I'm going to be working on a general device for this, but realistically, it'll be 2-3 months out in the future...

*edit* device is the wrong word, I meant an external that can be used inside M4L for sending out MIDI direct

[the_voder]

Hi sigabort,

Doing a bit more research, it looks like Leigh Hunt has already written an OSX-only set of Max externals for accessing MIDI ports directly.

http://cycling74.com/forums/topic/lhmid ... t-updates/

I'm a Mac user, so that's fine with me. I guess it should be possible with this to record sysex, and have the recorded data saved with the live set, for later recall (I'm assuming that the entire state of the m4l object is saved with the set- maybe I'm wrong). If that's not the case, I guess a sysex recorder would have to save the recorded data to disk, and a reference to the data file would be saved with the set.

alx