JX-Programmer MKS-70 adaptation

[maura]

Hi superlewing I cant seem to download your panel link would it be possible to send it to me thanks.

[upeter]

Hi,
This is a great panel. Unfortunatelly, for me it is not fully working. When I switch patches on the MKS the screen does not fully update. The only slider that updates is the A/B volume. Should the synth section also update?

[opuswerk]

Hello Upeter,

The synth section should definitely update as well. Your machine is an MSK70 right?

I did some extra work on it, and it’s closer to being complete. I’ll send it to you via PM, so check your inbox.

Cheers,

H.

http://opuswerk.tumblr.com
www.soundcloud.com/opuswerk
www.facebook.com/opuswerk

[upeter]

Thank you so much! This know works much better. I can control Tone A. And all the whole section is getting updated. But I can not control tone B. I have my MKS-70 new. Might it be, that my synth is defect? Or does anyone have an idea what I might be doing wrong?

[opuswerk]

Hello,

No defect here at all.
This means you have an old version of the MKS70 firmware. Most certainly version 1.08. This was unfortunately not solvable until very recently. There really was no way around it. However, thanks to Frederic Vecoven, who re-wrote the entire MKS70 and JX10 OS from scratch to fix such bugs, and add some functionalities, now it’s not an issue anymore!

You should get his ROMs and exchange them with the one you have in your synth. It’s a pretty painless exercise, and comes with great benefits, which include Tone A and B editing. I’m currently running an older beta version of his OS, but will soon upgrade to his latest. Here’s some info about his project: http://www.vecoven.com/superjx/superjx.html
The upgrade is very much worth it. Basically he made it a new synth and a great analog poly at that!
If you want more info, there’s a big thread on the Gearslutz forum too.

Best regards,

H.

http://opuswerk.tumblr.com
www.soundcloud.com/opuswerk
www.facebook.com/opuswerk

[upeter]

Ah! Good to know 🙂
I bought the MKS-70 because I read about this modification. But I wanted to wait for the full mod including PWM. Do you think it makes sense to buy the current upgrade or to wait for everything?

[opuswerk]

It depends on your soldering skills i’d say. The PWM mod needs you to do some soldering, while the OS update is a simple ROM swap. So it’s up to you 🙂

On my side, I’m gonna stick with the OS updates for now. Need to get the 3.05 version though, as I’m still on a beta one, close to RC, but still with some little bugs if i remember correctly.

http://opuswerk.tumblr.com
www.soundcloud.com/opuswerk
www.facebook.com/opuswerk

[superlewing]

Opuswerk did you get anywhere with the panel? Just got my MKS fixed up and would love to get her set up properly

[thommy]

I now have MKS70 also. Will fit Vecoven mod soon. Please could I have the file for your panel?

Thx

[opuswerk]

Hello,

I did get a bit further with the panel, including a total re-organisation of the layout. But I still haven’t had the chance to work on the GUI. At the moment the interface is very big, although it’s now much easier to work with.

You can find the current version attached. I’m not sure all the Lua is included, as I’m not quite clear with all the exporting in CTRLR.

It should update all patch and tone parameters on every patch load, update tone and patch name, as well as allow both tone editing if you have Vecoven’s OS. It currently does not work with a JX10, as the starting sysex string is different than the MKS70’s one.

Here’s what it currently looks like:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/f.cl.ly/items/3R2P1w3X172A213Q132q/Image%202015-03-11%20at%207.28.01%20am.png

Attachments:

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http://opuswerk.tumblr.com
www.soundcloud.com/opuswerk
www.facebook.com/opuswerk

[opuswerk]

Any luck using the panel ?

http://opuswerk.tumblr.com
www.soundcloud.com/opuswerk
www.facebook.com/opuswerk

[upeter]

The panel works very well for me. I have only one issue: Some of the parameters can not be automated in ableton live. (abelton does not see them)
Any ideas on why this is?

[superlewing]

Just waiting on a second MIDI cable to test it properly but can’t wait.

The VST parameter issue is caused by some VST indexes to be out of Ableton’s range of 512. Simple to fix but might mess up existing automation if other hosts can see those params.

I also plan to update the VST paramater name attribute to something meaningful for push’s 8 character display but that won’t mess with anything else.

[opuswerk]

I also acquired Push recently, but didn’t think of changing the vst indexes and parameters names yet. Would be a great thing to do indeed. I dont believe many people have used the panel in projects yet. So we could change it without much impact.

How do you think we should go about it? Should be easy and fast to fix. I’ve come to realise for such things, it’s much easier to open the panels in a text editor and replace the text directly. Been using Sublime Text to do so and it’s pretty handy.

http://opuswerk.tumblr.com
www.soundcloud.com/opuswerk
www.facebook.com/opuswerk

[superlewing]

When I mangled the panel before I used this temporary method to iterate through the panel and set the vst param indexes sequentially, just assign it to a button a click it:

setVstIndexesSequenctially = function(mod, value)
n = panel:getNumModulators()
for i=0,n-1 do
panel:getModulatorByIndex(i):setPropertyInt(“vstIndex”, i)
end
end

VST parameter names are more intensive. Surprisingly I found differentiating between upper and lower tones in the VST names pointless, firstly because you have to set up the params by nudging them in the vst window making it obvious which is A or B based on where they are in abletons vst sliders. Secondly because after push shortens them, more than 8 characters quickly turns to gibberish.

So ‘DCO1 Tun’ is far more readable than ‘A DCO1 Tune’. Push really opens the MKS up in this way.

I can have a look at the names when I’m back next week, probably after a gigantic coffee.

[opuswerk]

Quite a smart little function here indeed. Could be integrate to the CTRLR core I reckon.

Will see how one could rename all param names in a smart way. As i understand, they should all be a max of 8 chars?

So at the moment, how are the param numbered? and how do they show up in Push? Are they grouped somehow? Would be smart to have DCO1 params next to one another.

I’ve been trying to get some nice thing out of Knobman. Do you know a method of some-sort to change all the sliders to a specific image slider? What I’m hoping to do is to replace and resize all sliders in one go…

http://opuswerk.tumblr.com
www.soundcloud.com/opuswerk
www.facebook.com/opuswerk

[superlewing]

Yeah you only need to run that function once, then save the panel and the vstIndex will be saved. If you wanted to resize all sliders it could be repurposed along the lines of

//get all modulators
//if modulator type is slider
//set height to X

But there’s a lot of trial and error and the documentation is sparse (though I’m massively thankful to atom that this program runs smoothly).

Params show up in Push in the same order you set them in Live. So if there are more than 16 or so it will hide them by default, and you have to enable them one by one as per this page. It takes a while figuring out the grouping but totally worth it for screenless MKS tweaking.

[opuswerk]

I see. Will try and write the routine so that it bundles modulators according to their groups. That should already be of some help to set it up in push.

I’ve worked quite a bit on the layout, and I find what’s currently there to be working pretty well, so would like to keep this grouping in push too.

Will experiment with the sliders too.

Thanks!

http://opuswerk.tumblr.com
www.soundcloud.com/opuswerk
www.facebook.com/opuswerk

[Possemo]

Hi opuswerk and superlewing. Nice that someone is working on a panel for the MKS-70. Maybe you know that Fred Vecoven’s PWM-Mods are about to be shipped to endusers (like me). There are a few other editors around for the MKS-70. With firmware 1.08 some are working quite nicely.

But opuswerks panel will be the easiest to implement the new PWM parameters quickly. If nobody is doing it I will have a try myself. By the way – Fred’s firmware (I think since v.3.0) allows of programming by CC’s instead of Sysex. Both should work, but to me CC looks easier.

First I will have to fit the PWM-Mod. If I manage not to brick my MKS-70 while modding I will have a look into opuswerks panel.

So far thanks for your work!

[superlewing]

Yeah there’s no way I’m taking a soldering iron to those old boards.

Opuswerk’s did you get any further with the vstIndex etc? Really looking forward to setting this up so will have a look tonight if you’ve a more recent version of the panel

[Author]

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