Transferring presets between Sub37 <-> computer

[WestbankSurfer]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if there was an easy and intuitive way of transferring presets onto my computer and then back to the Sub37 in different locations.
I've tried using the Sysex Librarian, but to be honest, I couldn't really figure it out how it worked.

Besides that, to kind of force myself to make my own sounds instead of fiddling around with the factory presets, I was wondering if I could delete all of these easily.

Thank you for your help!

Kind regards,
WestbankSurfer

[Flareless]

The Sub 37 Editor with its Librarian function is just around the corner and I believe exactly what you're looking for. The final release version is being hammered out now so if you can wait I think you'll be a happy camper.

If you can't wait then you can write to Gil or Amos and request to be on the beta team and obtain a copy earlier.

[mikeh11]

Here's my long-winded take; I hope it stays focused enough; I hope it helps.

I was wondering if there was an easy and intuitive way of transferring presets onto my computer and then back to the Sub37 in different locations.

Sysex Librarian is good for grabbing presets and dumps and sending them back, but there's nothing (yet, that I know of) that will let you move the presets around to different slots. Other than using the Save button on the Sub 37.

I've tried using the Sysex Librarian, but to be honest, I couldn't really figure it out how it worked.

I'll explain it below.

Besides that, to kind of force myself to make my own sounds instead of fiddling around with the factory presets, I was wondering if I could delete all of these easily.

You can overwrite anything you want. The factory presets can be downloaded from the Moog web site. When you reload it, it will overwrite anything else you have, restoring all the factory presets in their original locations. Get the file, extract the contents, read the PDF - it explains this process.

http://www.moogmusic.com/downloads?cate ... duct=92877

Also, when you've got Sysex Librarian running, check out its help page - it appears in your browser. It covers the menus and preferences settings. It's a good reference.

Ok, here's my take on this.

Sysex Librarian isn't hard to use, and I think it is important to get familiar with it. After all, backups are good for you! Saving a preset has three steps:
- "arm" Sysex Librarian = get it ready to listen for incoming messages
- have the Sub37 send the message
- wait for the message to finish, then rename the saved file in Sysex Librarian

If you want to backup just one preset, here are the steps:

In Sysex Librarian:
- select your Sub 37 in the Destination drop-down menu at the top
- press "Record One" - this tells SL to watch for an incoming message

On the Sub37:
- select the preset you want to save
- then go to the MIDI menu > Sysex > Buffer Send
- press the cursor button, to highlight Send
- press the up or down arrow button to send the message

Since a single preset is small, the transmission might be finished by the time you turn around and look back at Sysex Librarian.

You'll see a new entry, called Untitled.syx. Click once on it, it will turn blue. Press the return key to edit the name, and rename it. (If you double-click it, you'll send it back to the Sub 37; not what we want to do right now.)

One important point: we send the Edit Buffer message, not the Current Preset message. This is because the Edit Buffer can then be saved to any slot on the Sub37, whereas the Current Preset will always go back into the slot that it came from. By using Edit Buffer dumps, we can rearrange the presets. (with more work on the Sub37)

Yes, that's a lot of work for one measly preset.

There are two other types of "backup" files that the Sub37 can send: "all presets" and "bulk dump". All Presets is just that -- all 256 preset locations. Bulk Dump contains all the presets, along with the MIDI and Global settings. If you just want to archive all the existing presets on the machine, All Presets is good enough. If you want to backup the current state of the entire machine, then Bulk Dump is what you want. Note that the All Presets dump is what that Factory_Presets_1_1.syx file contains, so, technically, you don't have to do your own all-presets dump. But I would.

So here's the process for a Bulk Dump - backing up the entire state of your machine:

In Sysex Librarian, click Record One.

On the Sub37:
- go to the MIDI menu > SysEx > Bulk Dump
- press the cursor button to highlight the Send on the right side of the LCD
- press the up or down arrow button to send the dump

This dump is big, so it takes awhile - several minutes. Sysex Librarian will show how many bytes it has received. Once again, when it's done, click once on the new "Untitled.syx" entry, and give it a good name. I'm boring so I use names like "S37 Bulk 2016-03-22" or something like that.

At some point, once you've got all your new presets arranged how you want them, use the same procedure to make an All Presets dump, just select All Presets in the MIDI > SysEx menu on the Sub37.

For reference, here are the sizes of the various dumps for the Sub 37.
- 756 = current preset and edit buffer
- 203800 = all presets
- 205400 = bulk dump
- 414 = sequence

Knowing the sizes can be useful when you accumulate lots of syx files and you didn't give them good names right from the start, like me.

So, now you want to move presets back into the Sub37?

Restoring an All Presets or Bulk Dump is easy. Select the file you so aptly named in the Sysex Librarian list, and then click the Play button. If it was a big dump, it will take awhile; if it was a single preset or edit buffer, it's quick.

What if you send an Edit Buffer? Well, on the Sub 37 you have to decide where to store it. The manual covers the process: press the Save button, change the name and category if you want, press Save again, then select the Bank and Preset, and finally press and hold Save. It will take a lot of fiddling to do this with 137 or so presets.

Or, manually, one by one, select a preset in a low numbered bank, and save it in a high numbered bank. That duplicates the preset, so you can then reuse the lower bank for your own presets without losing any factory presets. (Banks 10-16 are "Init Preset". Bank 9, too?). Move Bank 1 to Bank 11, and then have Bank 1 all to yourself.

But maybe just use Banks 10-16 for your own stuff and leave the rest as-is for now?

Enough of my rambling; I hope this helps!