The Keyboard Chronicles

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Yamaha

Uploading patches to your DX7 on a Mac with OSX

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Oh the fun day I’ve had. Yesterday I took delivery of an original DX7 (see disclaimers below) and obviously the default 32 factory patches aren’t going to maintain anyone’s interest for long. Hence the fun day.

Over the past six hours I’ve trawled around a bunch of great information spread across a bunch of locations, and have come up with this easy guide to transferring Sysex data to your DX7 from your Max running OSX (Catalina at time of writing).

First, some disclaimers:

  1. The DX7 I own is the original one i.e. a ‘Mk 1’ machine. These instructions won’t work in full on the subsequent models (DX7s, DX7 II, DX7 IIFD etc)
  2. The USB audio interface you use will play a BIG role in how successful this process is. I initially tried on a PreSonus Studio 1824c and it would not work – the DX7 froze every time I connected the MIDI cables up. I then tried the Komplete Audio 6 interface and it worked like a dream.
  3. Check the 5-pin DIN MIDI cables you use – if the below process doesn’t work this could be why if you’ve dredged up a 1987 cable from under the house.
  4. I only did this on a Mac – but most of the info is usable on other operating systems. I hear MIDI Ox is a great app for non-Mac users.

The process:

  1. Connect your DX7 and Mac. You need an audio interface that connects to your Mac and that has MIDI IN and MIDI OUT 5-pin ports.
  2. You need two MIDI cables. Connect one from the MIDI OUT of your interface to the MIDI IN of your DX7. Connect the other from the MIDI IN of your interface to the MIDI OUT of your DX7.
  3. Now you need to get your DX7 ready to accept the SysEx data from your Mac. There’s three steps (this handy video shows you the exact buttons):
    • Press the Function Key then the ‘8’ button. If ‘MIDI Ch=1’ is displayed you don’t need to do anything, otherwise use the ‘Yes’ button or Data Entry slider to change it to 1.
    • Press the ‘8’ button a second time. If the display says SYS INFO AVAIL you don’t need to do anything, otherwise use the ‘Yes’ button or Data Entry slider to change it to SYS INFO AVAIL
    • Now press the green Internal Memory Protect button. If will display MEMORY PROTECT INTERNAL ON as the default. Use the ‘No’ key to change it to MEMORY PROTECT INTERNAL OFF
    • For younger synth users it will seem strange that you don’t save these settings but they are now set up how you need them.
  4. Now you’re ready to transfer SysEx data.
  5. SysEx Librarian is the app you need on your Mac to do this, and here’s where you get it. It’s free!
  6. Install SysEx Librarian
  7. You now need some patch SysEx data to transfer. This is where the wonderful Bobby Blue DX7 page comes in. I downloaded the ‘All The Web Collection’. It’s a standard ZIP file – just unpack it wherever you want.
  8. In SysEx librarian, you can either drag the downloaded SysEx files straight into the window of the app or use the ‘Add to Library’ option under the File menu in the app.
  9. Important: the interface needs to be selected from the destination drop-down as shown in Figure 1 below. ‘Act as a source for other programs’ won’t work for this task.
  10. If you’ve imported more than one file, select the one you want and then click on the Play button.
  11. A dialog will come up showing that the transfer is happening. On your DX7 it will display MEMORY PROTECT MIDI RECEIVED.
  12. If you get an error, in SysEx librarian preferences adjust the transmission speed to be lower. I actually set it at 2% to be super-conservative.
  13. That’s it! Now press the green Internal Memory Select button and then the number button of your choice to see each patch,
Figure 1: Ensure you have your interface selected in the destination menu

I hope that’s of some help to you. If the transfer isn’t working and you’ve checked cables, tried a different interface etc, then you may have an issue with your DX-7. Have a deep search of the internet for that: there’s a thousand and one causes.

Enjoy! I’m off to look at some commercial DX7 sound banks

Detailed rundown of Yamaha CS-80

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A classic beast gets a comprehensive examination

GForce Software, makers of great softsynths such as The Virtual String Machine, have done a brilliant in-depth look at the Yamaha CS-80. Commonly on the must-have list of synth lovers, this video does quite the deep dive into the intricacies of Yamaha’s 1977 flagship synth.

And those sounds! Enjoy.

Wednesday Web Roundup

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The best of keyboard content from around the web

  1. If you’re considering buying a Yamaha MODX synth, this thread over at The Keyboard Corner is worth a read.
  2. Ever wondered why Queen emphasised that no synths were played on their albums? Well here’s the answer.
  3. A video for your entertainment:

Dumb title but relatively interesting video. And yes, Nick Rhodes can definitely play.

Yamaha MODX OS Update 2.5

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Yamaha have released their second substantial OS update, with substantial the operative word. We tell you what’s new and how to update your MODX board to version 2.5. All the information for version 2.0 is also provided for reference.

Updating the OS of a keyboard can be daunting at the best of times, and the now released 2.5 update for the MODX is one that will require a modicum of discipline. More on that later, but first here’s what you get with the update:

New features in 2.5;

  • New Performances have been added.
  • The Smart Morph function has been added.
  • New functions have been added to the Pattern Sequencer.
  • The DAW Remote function has been added.
  • Controllability and playability have been improved.

New features in 2.0;

  • New effect types have been added.
  • New Performances have been added.
  • The Pattern Sequencer function has been added.
  • You can now play songs, patterns and audio files from the Live Set display.
  • Super Knob Link has been added to the data that is recorded in the Scene function.
  • Keyboard Control has been added to the data that is recorded in the Scene function.
  • Increased the range of the LFO Speed parameter.
  • You can now connect MIDI equipment via the USB TO DEVICE terminal.
  • The Global Micro Tuning settings have been added.
  • The Audition Loop setting has been added.
  • Improvements have been made to the user interface.
  • The Note capacity (total area in Store) has been increased from 130,000 to 520,000 (for Songs) and 520,000 (for Patterns).

Now onto the update process itself. Essentially you will need to back up everything, initialise everything, install the new update from a MODX-formatted USB thumb drive, then restore your backed-up settings. We’ve read through and not surprisingly the update process is identical whether you’re updating to 2.0 or 2.5 – not that you need to do both.

The details (and never fear, these instructions come in the installer file you download from here):

  1. Press the [UTILITY] button to open the Utility display.
  2. Touch [Settings] tab -> [System] tab at the left side of the display.
  3. The following message appears in the bottom of the display:
  MODX Firmware Version : *.**.*         (c)2018 Yamaha Corporation

The unit’s version is indicated by ” MODX Firmware Version : .. “
Only the numbers up to the two decimal places after the first dot are important in reading the version number, you can ignore the numbers after the second dot.
Ex.) 1.02.0 =1.02 , 1.10.0= 1.10

Updating Procedure

NOTICE:

All User memory (Library data, User data, User sample and so on) will be initialized by this updater.

Please make sure that you save all User data to a USB flash drive before performing this update.

Required Items

  • One USB flash drive of over 1GB capacity formatted on the MODX
  1. After downloading, copy the following uncompressed files to a USB flash drive that has been formatted on the MODX. No other files should be present on the USB flash drive.
    8Q86OS_.PGM
  2. Power off the MODX.
  3. Connect the USB flash drive prepared in step 1 to the [USB TO DEVICE] terminal of the MODX. Power on the MODX while holding down the [Cursor UP] and [UTILITY] buttons until the “YAMAHA” logo appears on screen.
    At this time, please do not press buttons other than [Cursor UP] or [UTILITY] buttons.
  4. The MODX OS updater will begin with the message “Searching for the updater…” and “MODX updater ..“.
    When the message “Finish. Please turn off.” appears, turn off the MODX and remove the USB flash drive. (note WARNING below)
  5. Power on the MODX
  6. Execute the Initialize All function ([UTILITY] > [Settings] > [System]).

WARNING:
DO NOT power off or remove the USB flash drive from the MODX until the “Finish. Please turn off.” message appears. If power is accidently interrupted while running the updater (by disconnecting the AC cord, etc.), the unit may become inoperable. If this happens, run the updater again. If the unit still does not function after doing this, please contact your nearest Yamaha service center.

This completes the update process.

So there you have it. May it all go smoothly for you!