MKS-80 Patch Manager & MPG-80 Emulator?

[Joe-Trojan]

Hi,

I bought a MKS-80 recently and am hoping to team it up with a software controller for it or an emulator of the MPG-80. There is something similar I use for the MKS-50, that is, a PG-300 emulator which also loads up SysEx patches into the MKS-50 via midi reliably and very quicky, and has full control over the synth engine. It is a standalone application.





So, what are people using for the MKS-80? I'm after something with the same functionality as the above PG-300 program, but hopefully also as a VST or something able to be implemented with Cubase 5.

thanks!

[subsonix]

Cubase SX Device Panels - C.Y.KONG.com thumbsup

This guy has made some great Cubase panels for all sorts of devices. I wish Steinborg would get him onboard to help them finish off the device panel implemention as it's more useful than most of the half arsed stuff they keep adding. That company makes no sense to me these days, lol.

(it tried resizing this but it kept defaulting to this size, sorry dudes!)

[RobJB06]

There was a guy on Ebay US selling MKS80 sound banks (plus an editor) did anyone buy those banks? Any decent sounds in them?

[Xero]

i have an mpg-80 for my mks-80rev4, but i've been looking for a patch librarian/patch manager deal anyway, i don't relatively need to tweak w/it, but it'd be nice to be able to customize/move around some patches so my favorites are easier to get to...Only catch is, I use linux, so I'm looking for one that works natively (good luck w/that) or in wine. I managed to run pc-jx8p in dosbox for my JX-8p but no such luck for the mks-80.

I just bought an m-64c which will hopefully be here soon so I can load on all the stock patches. Apparently, at least from the way the manual makes it sound, they were supposed to come with a m-64c when new, with a 2nd set of patches preloaded onto it. All those original patches u can get here The Roland MKS-80 Page of Patches

tho some of the links are broke, just remove main.html from the url and they're just sitting in the parent directory there.

[kreeper_6]

Midi Quest

[Joe-Trojan]

Originally Posted by subsonix

Cubase SX Device Panels - C.Y.KONG.com thumbsup

This guy has made some great Cubase panels for all sorts of devices. I wish Steinborg would get him onboard to help them finish off the device panel implemention as it's more useful than most of the half arsed stuff they keep adding. That company makes no sense to me these days, lol.

(it tried resizing this but it kept defaulting to this size, sorry dudes!)

That I tried but can not use, it does not import to C5. There is also a PG-300 provided on that site, it imports but C5 ends up acting very very strange. Maybe others have had better experience?

[Joe-Trojan]

Originally Posted by kreeper_6

Midi Quest

How quick does it upload a patch to the MKS-80?

Some screenshots of it in action would be great if you could, cheers.

Anyone using Unisyn?

so far it seems either:

Midi Quest, Unisyn, or I make my own midi instrument panel in Cubase 5.

[murphff]

I use sounddiver. Old but good. Here's a free editor, which also works well.

MPC-80 Patch Editor for the Roland MKS-80

[Xero]

so I tried that free editor and it works under linux in wine, too bad it doesn't support importing from pre-existing sysex or SMF midi dump files or managing patches, only tones, but still, better than nothing! I can always import the midi dump into the mks-80 manually and then pull it out with the program...

[Don Solaris]

Originally Posted by murphff

I use sounddiver. Old but good. Here's a free editor, which also works well.

MPC-80 Patch Editor for the Roland MKS-80

As far as i remember some functions in that program don't work. Can't remember which cause i moved to Doepfer Drehbank as a MKS-80 editor.

Went with a bike into another state, best ride of my life so far. Basically it will do everything MPG does and cost me 300 bucks. Not to mention it has 3 banks. So the second one is used as a Waldorf Pulse editor. Third (default bank) is used for DAW control. 64 knobs of fun. Works fantastic!!!

[ignatius]

Originally Posted by kreeper_6

Midi Quest

some of their editors are pretty good and some are a load of crap and seem half finished.

i think you can download a demo of it though to check out what you want and see how it works.

i think someone made a logic environment for it but can't recall where it was.. maybe on swiftkick? len sassos site perhaps?

motu's unisyn works pretty well w/it but mac only and who knows when/if it will ever be updated when a new mac OS comes out. right now it works fine though.

[kreeper_6]

As far as I know Midi Quest is the only librarian that creates VSTi's so you can automate and control within a DAW.

[golden beers]

Originally Posted by Joe-Trojan

That I tried but can not use, it does not import to C5. There is also a PG-300 provided on that site, it imports but C5 ends up acting very very strange. Maybe others have had better experience?

take off midi thru.?

[ignatius]

Originally Posted by kreeper_6

As far as I know Midi Quest is the only librarian that creates VSTi's so you can automate and control within a DAW.

theoretically you can use them in your host as a VSTi editor type plug in but you have to cough up for the XL version and it's not cheap and honestly i've read some horrible things about the plug in implementation.

btw- i use midiquest 10 (not the XL version) and some of it works pretty well but some of it just fails.

[kreeper_6]

Originally Posted by ignatius

i've read some horrible things about the plug in implementation.

Like what?

[Joe-Trojan]

kreeper_6, are you using Midi Quest? On a MKS-80? feedback would be great!

golden beers, it's working fine now, I thought I already double checked that, I much have been


murphff, got it up and running, it will get me going for a while, thanks!


Is there a way to get the midi device panel in Cubase to spit out it's current settings as SysEx strings to a synth upon loadup? Loading up a preset from disk does not update the synth, need to go and move all the sliders to update the synth to sound like what it shows on the screen. Or the other way around, ie, loading up a patch from the memory of the synth will update all the sliders on the midi device panel? How can this be done

[Joe-Trojan]

ok, in regards to recalling and sending hardware settings, in Cubase 5 at least, there is a standard called "Studio Connections". It seems it is possible to implement software called "Studio Manager" to allow direct communication of patch data to and from C5 and whatever hardware you set it up for. It looks even more in depth than programming Midi Devices. However it is still unclear if this can sync with a midi device panel set up for the same hardware device?

or

maybe someone could offer a suggestion on a better section in this forum to ask about this sort of thing, as my question is now a bit more Cubase software midi related?

[subsonix]

Originally Posted by Joe-Trojan

That I tried but can not use, it does not import to C5. There is also a PG-300 provided on that site, it imports but C5 ends up acting very very strange. Maybe others have had better experience?

works ok here

[Joe-Trojan]

Originally Posted by subsonix

works ok here

Do you have the MPG-80 running fine on Cubase 5? I got the PG-300 working ok.

[subsonix]

yes

[Joe-Trojan]

Originally Posted by subsonix

yes

Good to hear, when I import the xml for the MPG-80 I can not use the drop down menu to select a midi output, it is just dead:


or

The PG-300 works fine, select a midi output and away we go:




So, any tricks to get it going or did you move it from an earlier version of Cubase? If you could share the xml you are currently using that would be

[ignatius]

Originally Posted by kreeper_6

Like what?

that it doesn't work! or works w/all kinds of hiccups and latency. didn't sound worth the extra cash to me so i stayed w/the regular version...

i've read those things on various forums.. some of it here i think? but can't recall. it was some time ago.

in their defense they are trying to do a hell of a lot and it's a comprehensive list of gear they are trying to support and i'm sure it's no fun to program.

[kreeper_6]

Originally Posted by ignatius

that it doesn't work! or works w/all kinds of hiccups and latency. didn't sound worth the extra cash to me so i stayed w/the regular version...

i've read those things on various forums.. some of it here i think? but can't recall. it was some time ago.

in their defense they are trying to do a hell of a lot and it's a comprehensive list of gear they are trying to support and i'm sure it's no fun to program.

Hmm, never knew, I've been using it without a hitch for years. I'd like to see a modern update.

[Joe-Trojan]

Originally Posted by golden beers

take off midi thru.?

Actually midi through was always off. The problem is the midi device panel makes the mks-50 freeze if you change patch via the midi device panel, after saving, closing, then opening the same project, or if you bring up the midi device panel using the "edit instrument" button on cubase. very . Changing patch manually on the MKS-50 brings it back to life.

[RobJB06]

Whats the going price for a Rev5 MKS80 and MPG80 combo these days?
I ask as ive been trying to sell mine for a while.
I was asking £2000 originally, dropped price to £1850, then £1750 now £1650.
Quite frankly i think £1650 is a fair price and i dont intend to drop the price any further.. ill just wait till it sells. I dont think people have much money these days.. Unless its a collector piece like EMS, CS80 etc.
But just out of interest i thought id ask what other sluts think.
I think its up there with the Chroma and Xpander sonically and they sell for about £1500-£2000.
A lot of people seem to be asking about £1000 for MKS80's on Ebay US.
I paid almost 1000 euros JUST for the programmer on ebay last year- which looking back was far to much, but others were selling at around that sort of price too.
Pissed off as i could do with selling it asap. No fire sale, i can (and will) wait for the right price, but could do with it gone all the same.. (big box in my lounge!)

[schmuck]

Originally Posted by Joe-Trojan

ok, in regards to recalling and sending hardware settings, in Cubase 5 at least, there is a standard called "Studio Connections". It seems it is possible to implement software called "Studio Manager" to allow direct communication of patch data to and from C5 and whatever hardware you set it up for. It looks even more in depth than programming Midi Devices. However it is still unclear if this can sync with a midi device panel set up for the same hardware device?

or

maybe someone could offer a suggestion on a better section in this forum to ask about this sort of thing, as my question is now a bit more Cubase software midi related?

With studio connections I was only able to save and restore a patch bank on the mks 80, not a single patch. But I think that's the synth's fault (with others I can just recall the current patch). Neither can I browse presets in cubase; but if I tweaked something, I can save it with the project (through studio connections) and reload it to the mks80 at a later stage. Actually, you can do that also by just recording the sysex from the mks80 onto a midi track and play it back later (studio connection is just a bit more comfortable and usually works on a mouse click - again not in the case of mks80 you need to trigger the 'dump' on the synth as well).

I always use the same preset (and 'tones') location of the mks for that 'total recall' patch and obviously any other bank updates will be lost through a recall. So I have the 'basic' sounds on the internal banks that I use as starting points and if I have something that I want to keep for later I save it on the cartridge.

The behringer bcr2-whatever-knob-thingy apparantely makes a good controller replacement for the mks 80 (haven't tried that though).

[Joe-Trojan]

ok, I do not know how anybody manges to use the PG-300 xml off the bat, this is what I had to do to work around some problems:

I'll explain, so anyone else planning using this PG-300 panel can get it up and running partially at least is in minutes, not days!

Basics: Set up as a midi instrument after importing the xml file and selecting a midi output, and also set up as an external instrument.

Firstly: I have not tried this, but if you have the unit (MKS-50/Juno1/Juno2) set as midi ch1 everything might work straight off the bat without some of what is described below, but I needed to do the below to be able to use midi channel 5.

In point form:

1: The PG-300 midi panel will fuction to a degree in it's natural state and respond to any midi channel when using the 'Midi Device Panel" button. All knobs/slider work. You can not save patches to the drop down menu. You can save your newly created patch to the device, and recall it using the big drop down list. When doing so all the fader/knob positions on the device panel are lost.

2: The "Edit Instrument" button can also open The PG-300 midi device panel and has the power to send patches to the unit ("Edit Midi Device" button does not). To use sucessfully you need to swap midi ch 1 with whatever you want to use in the big midi channel drop down list. You change it in the "variables" section. in my case I, swapped ch 1 and 5. In doing so, the "midi device panel" button, when opened, will not respond, as it requires midi ch 5 in the list to have "5" as it's midi variable value. If you double up the channels, so midi 1 is also midi 5, it causes issues.

3. Patches can now be stored quite reliably using the drop down menu ONLY IF you save to a different name on the drop down menu, or create a new name. Saving over the current patch does not work. Also, when recalling a patch, the voltage controlled envelope mode slider labelled "VCA EVN MODE (4 positions) updates to the saved position on screen, but the patch SysEx data does not update the MKS-50/Juno/Whatever. Just clicking on the slider on the screen sends the current patch data for that control to the unit. Now it is easy to use your Juno or MKS almost as easily as a plugin.

[Joe-Trojan]

Originally Posted by subsonix

works ok here

So I figured a workaround with the PG-300 device, but the MPG-80 has me stumped, It does not even load. Additionally the exact same problems I am experiencing with both devices were verified by another user today.

[Joe-Trojan]

Originally Posted by schmuck

With studio connections I was only able to save and restore a patch bank on the mks 80, not a single patch. But I think that's the synth's fault (with others I can just recall the current patch). Neither can I browse presets in cubase; but if I tweaked something, I can save it with the project (through studio connections) and reload it to the mks80 at a later stage. Actually, you can do that also by just recording the sysex from the mks80 onto a midi track and play it back later (studio connection is just a bit more comfortable and usually works on a mouse click - again not in the case of mks80 you need to trigger the 'dump' on the synth as well).

I always use the same preset (and 'tones') location of the mks for that 'total recall' patch and obviously any other bank updates will be lost through a recall. So I have the 'basic' sounds on the internal banks that I use as starting points and if I have something that I want to keep for later I save it on the cartridge.

The behringer bcr2-whatever-knob-thingy apparantely makes a good controller replacement for the mks 80 (haven't tried that though).

How did you go programming the studio connections for the MKS-80? How does it compare with programming a midi device panel?

[sleestack]

why are mk-80 now going for 2 k without the programmer? Recession? What recession? Lol. Ridiculous. A few years ago when the economy was goo you could get one for 800.