… will it hose up the patches?
Here is another question … I have a few other midi devices like a XP3080 Roland module and a DSI Prophet 12. Can I use one of those as a ‘controller’ to back u p my Sub37 patches on the computer? I’m not quite sure how that works. 
I have a cable that is two midi jacks and one USB. So I can plug one into a keyboard, the other into some kind of midi controller and the USB into the computer. Sorry, I just don’t know much about midi.
You can make a Sysex dump containing all patches.
Check the manual for “sysex”
Hi zone47,
As an alpha/beta tester for Moog, I’ve updated my Sub 37 many times. The Presets have always still been there. Just don’t load a file with Presets (Factory or User) until you’ve safely backed up your own Presets. (Don’t worry, there are no Preset files in any of the OS Update downloads.)
SysEx (System Exclusive) files are really just MIDI files that have specific data for a specific MIDI device. That’s what makes them “Exclusive”.
If you have a keyboard that can record MIDI from its MIDI IN jack, and it accepts and plays back SysEx, then you can use it as a way of saving Presets.
But, a more manageable way is to go directly from the Sub 37 to your computer via a USB cable. There are plenty of free SysEx recorder/players for Mac, PC, and Linux. “SysEx Librarian” for Mac and “MidiOx” for PC are examples.
Updating firmware will NOT overwrite patches. However, if you invest a lot of time in designing patches, it is always a good idea to have a backup. The process is fairly simple once you understand it. It is important to understand that the Sub37, like many instruments saves the position where a patch came from so that it can restore it to the same place. You want to be certain when doing a restore that it isn’t overwriting something else you want to keep. The documentation is pretty clear on this issue.
Synths that have sequences can often record SysEx but not all of them can. Since you have to update from a computer anyway, I’d highly suggest using a computer instead. The same program you are using to update the Sub37 should work for this.
Ok, thanks all. I’ll just back up a computer then. I have a Win 8.1 laptop. I’ll download the SysEx program (MidiOx) and see if I can get this to work.
Yeah, you’re right, there is a lot of time invested in making patches and some of them I’d hate to lose. I suppose I better organize the patches to whatever banks I want them in before saving them … since they rewrite back into the same slot.
Thanks again for the info.