Logic not recognizing ext. Patch lists !HLP!

[crazycarl]

Im helping to troubleshoot some problems involved with my schools decision to convert our midi lab from DP5 to Logic 8. We are essentially the first school out of 3 to so and if all goes smoothly over 150 some licenses will be bought. Pretty big deal, but there are some flaws which might jeopardize the whole project and DP5 might stay afterall.

One thing that is really really pissing everyone off, particulary the man in charge, is Logics inability to recognize ext sound modules .midnam patch banks. Every station uses a motif ES rack and some old Roland module, I forget whin one, and In DP5 you connect the module and bam! theres all 15 banks with all patch names in the menu. Automatic.

Apparently with Logic (we have talked to so-called support) it does not do so, What we were told is to by hand enter in all, what, 1000 some patch names manually. A process which can take a couple weeks,(time is scarce). SUCH a simple and obvious feature a DAW must perform in my opinion and those of the faculty running AZ's schools.

So if anyone knows a shortcut, knows if there is a way to get logic to read the patch lists, than please do tell, because this is sort of a deal-breaker for Maricopa schools, not kidding, its a miniscule problem, but in the eyes of the faculty it goes to show incompetance, and first impressions mean everything. If any Mac rep is reading this (HA!), Fix this sh#t! Its gonna cost you 150 licenses!

[gsilbers]

Logic Pro Help :: Logic Pro Forums

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[grantlandau]

it sucks they would dump the whole platform transition based on the user friendly appearance of a patch list - just go make a logic template and save the day!!. I did a computer music course in DP in college, which was a joke, and I hated DP despite its little user friendly features. The midi editing was so clunky, bah.. not going forward with it just because of patch lists? thats frustrating

[dannygold]

Last I heard Logic can't read .MIDNAM files (ironic since apple created the format). Your best bet is to search the web for someone who has created an environment with your synth's patchlists in it, or create your own environment with patchlists (best case scenario a lot of cutting/pasting, worst case scenario a lot of typing).

To whoever said this is not a big deal... if you use external hardware synths, patchlists are a HUGE deal... if you can't pull up patchlists in your sequencer, that's bad. What are you supposed to do, memorize the correct patch and bank changes for each patch? Dial up the patch on the synth each time? If you do that there's no a recall sequence to sequence... and that's a REALLY big nightmare in a school with many users. At best you could do a sysex dump on the synth's state into the sequence, but that's NOT something a student should have to do, unless it's a a very advanced class. Do I care how great Logic's MIDI editing is if I can't get the track I'm editing to play the right sound? Nope.

Yeah, i know, use software synths, but apparently these guys have hardware synths too... and for a student there SHOULD be hardware synths in the picture... it's hard to teach MIDI properly with soft synths. Ideas like channels, MIDI in/out/thru ports, etc are nearly impossible to teach with a USB controller and soft synths in Logic.

[dannygold]

BTW, DP reads MIDNAM files and comes with a bunch. Pro Tools read them but doesn't come with any. Not sure what Cubase does... ask a European?

[grantlandau]

Originally Posted by dannygold

To whoever said this is not a big deal... if you use external hardware synths, patchlists are a HUGE deal... if you can't pull up patchlists in your sequencer, that's bad. What are you supposed to do, memorize the correct patch and bank changes for each patch? Dial up the patch on the synth each time? If you do that there's no a recall sequence to sequence... and that's a REALLY big nightmare in a school with many users. At best you could do a sysex dump on the synth's state into the sequence, but that's NOT something a student should have to do, unless it's a a very advanced class. Do I care how great Logic's MIDI editing is if I can't get the track I'm editing to play the right sound? Nope.

.

i'm just trolling DP. you're right on all the above. Choosing between DP's MIDI editor and the wrong sound?? I'll just take the wrong sound

[crazycarl]

Originally Posted by dannygold

Last I heard Logic can't read .MIDNAM files (ironic since apple created the format). Your best bet is to search the web for someone who has created an environment with your synth's patchlists in it, or create your own environment with patchlists (best case scenario a lot of cutting/pasting, worst case scenario a lot of typing

Yeah, I was hoping someone here would have some sort of enviroment already created or something like a 3rd party app to help logic recognize the .midnam files, looking bleak though. And yeah we can do the cut/paste route but are quikly realizing its a struggle. I lied when I said we only have two modules/ station, half the stations have MS2000's and a V-synth GT floats around the entire room, so actually FOUR sets of patch names need to be macgyvered, were still working on the first module and its been a couple weeks! Bummer is all to be said.

[teknosmoker]

Originally Posted by Drone

To be honest, I don't think much has been accomplished since the acquisition of E-magic. As much as I love the ease of use and work flow in some area's, I don't think they've addressed the many issues other platforms provide as standard. I love my Logic but if the next release doesn't come up with some significant changes, I may jump ship.

Boy do I miss the Emagic days! I switched from DP to Logic 4.x many years ago.

I'm now running Logic Pro 7.2.3 on a Mac Pro Dual 2.66 with 3 GB RAM (bought Logic 8 upgrade, but too many bugs/problems for my tatse) and while I can get around on it quickly, it's still not as snappy and solid as the OS 9 version was.

[gsilbers]

how about using midiquest (or is it soundquest?)

well, its a 3rd party app that has all the names of all the synths and their patches.
i think they came out with a plugin version.

[dannygold]

Originally Posted by Drone

Yeah I'm also using 7.2.3 on a mac book pro. Strangely I prefer doing a lot of the ground work in garage band & then uploading to logic.

Nothing strange about that... Garage Band is easier and therefore (potentially) easier to create in. I think you'd really like Logic 8 though... much more garage band like if you use their templates.