CD ROM Paradise Collection 4/CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso/music/ws_lib11.zip/LIBRA.DOC

Text File | 1994-05-31 | 17KB | 413 lines

    LIBRA

    Patch manager for the Korg Wavestation
    (c) Teemu Lahteenmaki 31.5.1994

    IBM PC Version 1.1 for DOS



    0.0 Index
        0.1 Changes from version 1.0
        1.0 What is Libra ?
        1.1 Reasons for existence
        1.2 Features
        1.3 Requirements
        1.4 File contents
        1.5 Command line options
        1.6 Changing the colors
        2.0 General idea
        2.1 About the metabank
        2.2 Browser screens
        3.0 Importing sysex bank files
        4.0 Using metabank
        5.0 Saving and sending the export bank
        6.0 Shareware notice
        7.0 Future plans
        8.0 Call for custom patches
        9.0 Contacting the author



    0.1 Changes from version 1.0

     * Minor bug in metabank patch->wave sequence pointers fixed
     * Better (?) MPU support
     * Ability to request and receive banks directly trough MIDI
     * Possibility to rename Metabank items
     + Other minor improvements
     - The older selection files may not work correctly, you must to
       remake your selection files



    1.0 What is Libra ?

    Libra is a performance, patch and wave sequence librarian for
    the Korg Wavestation synthesizer series.

    It is a program for IBM PC compatible computers. It needs a 386
    or higher processor to run. Interface is DOS based.

    It is a shareware program. In order to get good conscience, you
    need to register. However, there is no different registered and
    unregistered versions, just one fully working version.



    1.1 Reasons for existence

    Libra was developed because of the lack of good patch managers
    for Wavestation in PC environment. As any Wavestation owner can
    agree, effective handling of the WS patches with only SysEx transfer
    software is real difficult, if not impossible. This is mostly because
    of the advanced hierarchical structure of the WS banks, which are
    divided into performance, patch and wave sequence levels.

    (Here I use the word 'patch' in two different meanings: as a part
     of the bank structure, and as an abstraction of the performances,
     patches and wave sequences all together)



    1.2 Features

     * Reads SysEx bank files
     * Outputs and reads SysEx banks info files or directly to Wavestation
       trough MPU-401 dumb UART compatible midi card
     * Output bank files can be splitted into pat, per and ws parts, or
       be merged into a single file
     * Patches are stored in one huge 'metabank', equivalent to 20
       conventional RAM banks
     * Metabank includes all 11 Korg factory set banks for Wavestations
     * Several views showing the patch/perf/ws relations, i.e. what uses
       what and what is used by what
     * Text based interface, under DOS
     * Runs in Real 32 mode using GO32 (GnuC/DJGPP) dos extender
     * Uses extended memory
     * Direct screen memory access
     * User editable configuration files



    1.3 Requirements

     * IBM PC compatible computer with at least 386 processor
     * Few megabytes of expanded memory
     * About 2 MB of free disk space for possible swap files.
       Smartdrive or other chaching software highly recommended.
     * MPU-401 dumb UART compatible midi card. In addition to true MPU
       compatible cards, Gravis Ultrasound (GUS) is also supported.
       Support for other cards may follow. Of course, the program can be
       run also without any midi cards.



    1.4 File contents

    Libra uses following files:

    Executables:
        libra.exe    The main executable
        convert.exe  Libra uses this for bank data structure handling
        send.exe     When sending a direct midi sysex, this program is used
        ask.exe      For asking and receiving RAM banks from Wavestation

    Configuration files:
        libra.cfg    Configuration file. If it's not found, default
                     values are used, and new libra.cfg is created
        midicard.cfg Configuration file for send.exe and ask.exe. In order
                     to make it use your midi card, you may have to edit
                     this.

    Data files:
        metabank.dat This is the default metabank file which is loaded
                     during startup. Alternative metabank files can be
                     used also, all using extension .dat .
        *.sel        Examples of metabank selection files



    1.5 Command line options

    libra <-o> <-f filename>
        -o    Override mode. This is for transferring whole banks to
              specific metabank position. This is mostly for importing
              the factory set banks which uses crossreferences to
              other banks. The SR ROM banks were imported with this
              option. Normally you shouldn't need this. And it's buggy.
        -f    Instead of loading 'metabank.dat', read given 'filename'
              as metabank



    1.6 Changing the colors

    If you wish the program to use different colors, you may edit the
    color codes in LIBRA.CFG file. There the colors are listed as
    hexadecimal numbers, first high 4 bits representing the background
    and low 4 bits foreground colors.
    If you just want to use the default monochrome colors, delete or rename
    the LIBRA.CFG file, and new one will be written with default b/w colors.



    2.0 General idea

    The Libra program handles three banks: Import bank, Metabank and
    Export bank. Import bank is the place where you load the sysex bank
    files. Here you select the patches you want to add to the Metabank.
    Metabank is the librarians main database where all the patches are
    stored. In the metabank you can view and select the patches you want to
    copy to the Export bank.
    Export bank, finally, is the place where you collect all the patches
    you want to store to a sysex bank file, or send directly to Wavestation
    trough supported MIDI card.



    2.1 About the metabank

    At the moment, metabank consists patches from:
      * Korg factory set patches (performances 0..599, patches 0..419
        and wave sequences 0..383)
      * rest of the patches from new-01.zip from louie.udel.edu,
        creator yet unknown

    The default metabank can be divided into two areas: the factory
    set banks and user's custom patches:

                   Performance    Patch          Wave sequence
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    RAM1           0..49          0..34          0..31
    RAM2           50..99         35..69         32..63
    ROM            100..149       70..104        64..95
    CARD (EX)      150..199       105..139       96..127
    RAM3           200..249       140..174       128..159
    ROM4           250..299       175..209       160..191
    ROM5           300..349       210..244       192..223
    ROM6           350..399       245..279       224..255
    ROM7           400..449       280..314       256..287
    ROM8           450..499       315..349       288..319
    ROM9           500..549       350..384       320..351
    ROM10          550..599       385..419       352..383
    User patches   600..          420..          384..

    Then some word about the metabank pointers.. The banks were imported
    so, that the references to ROM bank were left untouched. They were not
    mapped to point equivalent metabank ROM area. This way, there is no
    need to export the ROM patches used, as every Wavestation has them
    already.

    The card bank of Wavestation EX was placed to the CARD area just for
    practical reasons. This enables patches made on EX using references to
    EX card to be ported to other Wavestation models (partially excluding
    the original Wavestation keyboard).
    Note, that almost all of the EX card patches appear in the ROM4..ROM10
    area also.

    You can add your own patches in the end of the metabank, or you can
    can create your own metabank file and use it instead.



    2.2 Browser screens

    The main body of the program consists of similar looking browser
    screens with which you can view, select and deselect browser items
    (patches). The keys and data displays of these screens are almost
    identical.

    General browser keys (bank specific keys described later):
    cursor keys  Move the selector around
          Enter  Select/Deselect item
              a  Select all items
              n  Deselect all items
           f, /  Find an item with matching character string.
                 The search in not case sensitive
        numbers  To jump to a specific item, just type its number
              i  Info screen. This displays lots of useful info about
                 the patch currently selected
              h  Help screen. Short list of the keys
            Esc  Back up to upper level

    The bottom of all the browser screens looks something like this:

    ┌─Item────────┬─Increase───────────┬─Selection──────────┬─Keys───┐
    │    Uses: .  │ Perf: ./.  WS: ./. │ Perf: ./.  WS: ./. │        │
    │ Used by: .  │  Pat: ./. WSS: ./. │  Pat: ./. WSS: ./. │        │

    ('Perf' = performances, 'Pat' = patches, 'WS' = wave sequences
    and 'WSS' = wave sequence steps)

    First section from left shows the basic relations of the patch.
    The 'Increase' section shows how the amount of selected bank items
    would increase if the patch would be selected.
    The 'Selection' shows the amount of bank items currently selected.
    The right sides of the values usually present the expected maximum
    value.



    3.0 Importing sysex bank files

    By selecting the 'Load import' item in the main menu, you will be
    prompted a file browser where all .syx files of the current directory
    are listed. Now you select the wanted sysex file, or back up by
    pressing 'Esc' (Esc is widely used in the program).
    The sysex bank files can be a single performance-, patch- or wave
    sequence bank dumps, or a combination of these files merged together.
    However, Libra will not accept single performance or patch dumps,
    nor 'all data' dumps. So to import a single patch from WS to Libra,
    you need to send the whole bank as sysex dumb from WS.

    When you have loaded the sysex banks into the import bank, you
    can now select the patches from the 'Import bank' browser lists
    to be added to the metabank.

    Special keys for Import bank browsers:
        c  Toggle card mapping (default=OFF). Usually the references
           to the CARD bank are left untouched, but the card mapping is on,
           all the import banks references to 'CARD' bank are mapped
           to use the corresponding metabank patches. By default, the
           metabank's CARD slot contained the Wavestation EX's card bank.
           The card mapping was planned to make possible to transfer
           patches made with EX using EX CARD to other Wavestation models.

    To transfer the selected Import bank items to the Metabank, just
    select the 'Copy to meta' option in the main menu.



    4.0 Using metabank

    So now you have your patches in the Metabank. Now the idea is to
    select the patches you want to transfer to the export bank.

    Special keys for Metabank browsers:
        s  Save metabank selection. In metabank, it is possible to save
           the current selection of selected items to a file. This way,
           you don't have to keep those custom sysex bank files stored
           somewhere, as you need only to keep the information of the
           selection of patches from what the custom banks were to be
           compiled from.
        r  Rename selected metabank item: performance, patch or
           wave sequence name.
        l  Load metabank selection. This loads a previously saved metabank
           selection. The existing metabank selection will be overwritten.
        t  Toggle metabank scans. Usually, when moving around the metabank
           browsers the program constantly calculates the values for the
           bottom status bar. This may take much CPU power, as the
           calculation requires several scans trough the metabank
           structures. For fast 486, no problem, but slower 386 machines
           may get jammed because of the scans. So, by toggling the scans
           off, the browsing speed should improve a bit.

    And finally to copy the selected metabank items to the export bank,
    just select the 'Copy to export' item from the main menu.
    Note, that the whole export bank will be overwritten.
    Note also, that if you need to change the 'Settings' values,
    you need to do this _before_ you execute the 'Copy to export' command
    (except for the 'File mode' option, which you can set later).



    5.0 Saving and sending the export bank

    Now you have the custom metabank ready, and you can save it to a
    file or send it directly to Wavestation. Before you transfer the
    selected metabank patches to export bank, make sure to set the
    'Settings' options correctly.

    First 'Settings' option is File mode:

        Merged    The performance, patch and wave sequence bank dumps
                  are merged into a single file with size of 65512 bytes.
        Splitted  The perf, pat and ws bank dumps will be stored as
                  individual files, names as: per.syx, pat.syx, ws.syx .
                  If files with that name already existed, they will
                  be overwritten.

    When sending a direct SysEx dumb, Libra calls 'send.exe' program with
    command line: 'send bank.syx -q', '-q' meaning 'Quiet mode'.
    Send.exe reads its configurations from midicard.cfg file, which can be
    configured by the 'Settings' panel, or by editing the ASCII file
    itself with some text editor (send.doc for more info).
    If the send.exe doesn't work for you or your soundcard is not supported,
    feel free to write your own send program using the described command
    line. However, .bat files are not supported.



    6.0 Shareware notice

    It always takes a lot of time and effort to create nice pieces of
    software like this. So, if you like the program and would like to keep
    me motivated to continue doing software for Wavestation, you should
    register. This is done by sending a fair fee you feel right to the
    author. WS Banks are welcome also.

    After doing that, consider your copy of Libra to be registered.
    Personally, I don't like the idea of doing ripped-off shareware
    versions. There is only one fully functional version of Libra, and
    that is what you have. That is, if there's no newer version around..

    And about the copyrights. Libra is shareware, and thus it is to
    be freely copied for everyone. You may not, however, make money
    by selling this program further. And of course, all the registration
    fees are for the Libra executables only. The metabank comes free, as it
    defaults Korg factory set banks for Wavestations and are thus by Korg.
    Not to mention the custom patches included, made by the Wavestation
    users themselves. All the patches are also available as bare SysEx files.



    7.0 Future plans

    Things that may or may not be added to Libra in future versions:
      * Support for Sound Blaster + some other cards
      * Windows version, or Windows editor
      * Support for exporting 2 banks at same time (RAM1 and RAM2)
        A bit unlikely
      * Ability to delete metabank items
      * Porting to Linux and/or OS/2

    Possible bugs will be corrected, if reported.
    However, I have no immediate plans for major improvements, there's
    just too many other projects to finish.



    8.0 Call for custom patches

    It is my ambition to make the Metabank to be the main custom
    Wavestation patch library. So, if you have made yourself some nice
    performances/patches/wave_sequences that you would like to share with
    the Wavestation community, I would gladly add them to the metabank.
    At the time being, the metabank's home will be at FTP site:

        louie.udel.edu: /pub/midi/patches/WAVESTATION

    I'll send a new version of the metabank whenever I receive new
    patches. Surely you can send your own patches to louie by yourself,
    if you like.



    9.0 Contacting the author

    Address:
        Teemu Lahteenmaki
        Huutoniementie 73
        44190 Parantala
        Finland

    Primary phone: [phone] (study place)
        Secondary: [phone] (permanent)

    Internet address:
        [e-mail]