Oberheim Matrix 1000 Bugs / Requests

[enigmafon]

Thank you for making this program available.
I have tested both the stand-alone and vst versions of your matrix 1000 editor under Windows XP & Ableton 8.20
I think it is painfully obvious that you don’t own a Matrix 1000..

Here are few bugs / requests:

BUGS:
1-There is no way to import sysex dumps into the program, so there is no way to get sounds into it, so it is pretty much useless. The File > save bank / open bank doesn’t work under VST or stand alone. Why is it even there?

2-There is no way to get an snapshot of the current active synth patch into the program, so there is no useful way to tweak any settings in realtime, because you can’t see what they are.
You can see how this can be implemented by seeing the free editor jsynthlib, which supports the Matrix 6 / 1000:

http://www.jsynthlib.org/

or

http://www.ob6000.de

3-The bank button doesn’t work.
4- The Matrix 1000 has 1000 patches, so it is kind of silly trying to scroll through 1000 sounds using + & – buttons, even if the bank button worked, so it would be great to implement a way to numerically dial a patch from the program, just like the interface of the hardware synth.

5-There is no way to use a keyboard in the standalone version of your program.
If i assign a keyboard to the input port of the program, how is the program going to communicate with the synth?
Are you programs capable of receiving data from the hardware synths?

The Matrix 1000 is a stand alone 1u synth. it has no keyboard.
Most editor / librarians need two-way communications with the synth via MIDI-In and Out to the synth.
To make your stand-alone program functional, it needs to have an extra MIDI input for a keyboard to audition sounds.
Also, The virtual keyboard hangs my Steinberg 8×8 MIDEX interface in stand-alone mode, since it doesn’t seem to send note-offs.

REQUESTS:
5-I wish there was a way to turn off the keyboard at the bottom of the VST, since it really takes a lot of DAW space.
most people who use DAWs have a keyboard attached, so the virtual keyboard is kind of useless.

You can see a review of all Windows editor / librarians for the Matrix 1000 here:
http://enigmafon.com/2009/11/28/oberhei … e-editors/

Please take no offence to my comments,
It seems you have taken the MIDI specs and have adapted them blindly to as many synths as possible using the same programming template.
Unfortunately, it takes a lot more than MIDI specs to make a usable editor / librarian.
Your Matrix 1000 editor is barely functional, probably because you don’t have the hardware to do actual testing.
In my opinion, instead of concentrating on looks and fancy skins, you should try to make the editors work,
Quality is more important than quantity, what is the use of having 10000 different synth editors that barely work?

To see how a great editor librarian is implemented, check out:
http://www.d50librarian.co.uk

Thank you.

[atom]

Ctrlr is in no way a librarian/sysex dump program and never was, it will be but in the future.

All midi implementations are based on the manual, yes some blindly but not all (since i have some of that hardware). It’s an editor, you can set parameters, and receive feedback from the device if the same parameter gets changed on the device, and the device is capable of sending information of that fact (not all hardware can). That’s it for now, i don’t do fancy skins all that is done is simple and taken from some ready stuff and it does not take a lot of time to do. Like i wrote many times i can’t/like doing UI stuff. From what feedback i got from other users, the Matrix1000 editor works as expected in terms of implemented parameters.

Yest the program change/bank change buttons don’t work, yet (it’s a bit more complicated then i thought)

well i hope that the editors work, not barely work, if something that was implemented does not work i try to fix that asap.

Also i didn’t post any information or tried market ctrlr anywhere cause i know it lack a lot stuff, this is a work in progress, i hope to attract people with different hardware to give me feedback.
I only implement those synths that have a clear midi implementation that can be done without the hardware but with some help from other people.

If you can help with the already existing features, please do. Hiding the onscreen keyboard was there i just removed it at some point, but i can put that back no problem.

[enigmafon]

Thank you for your reply.
I was kind of confused about what exactly CTRLR is, and since there is no documentation included with the downloads, i assumed it was an editor / librarian, specially when i looked at the menus.
I think the non functional menus just confuse people (they certainly confused me).

I have one more bug to report:
The MIDI options are not saved on the VST version, so everytime i load the M-1000 VST into Ableton i have to re-enter the MIDI port information.

The editor works at a very primitive level, but since there is no way to receive patch data from the synth, it is just useful for tweaking the current active patch, that is about it. I wouldn’t attempt to create a patch from scratch with it.

I think your program could be most useful for automating parameters from a DAW on a hardware synth, instead of twiddling knowbs. Unfortunately, your VST shows no parameters to be automated under Ableton, so it cannot be used in that way yet.

There is not much i can do, but to make suggestions, and my big suggestion would be to look at how jsynth lib implements its library / editors for all its synths. I think you can check out the java code (not sure if it will be of any use, but some midi commands will)

I will make sure to check out newer versions of your program, but i the meanwhile i have to keep on using jsynthlib, as there is nothing better out there (yet)

Thanks.

[atom]

well parameters should be xported to live (all) if theyre not it’s a bug, and i will fix that asap, it might have to do with a recent AU fix i did for parameters.
MIDI settings should be saved with each project if they’re not it’s also a bug and i will fix that too.

[atom]

i just checked in Live on windows, all parameters get exported like they always were.
i also checked parameters save in FLStudio (i don’t own Live so i can’t save there), and the midi settings get saved with every project like it should work.

so if you could be more specific about your problems i’ll be more then glad to fix them. Firdt of all, build version of Ctrlr and OS/Host versions, is it a 32 or 64 bit OS. And the steps to reproduce the problem.

[enigmafon]

I am running Windows XP SP2.
Ableton 8.20
Oberheim – Matrix 1000 – Win32.dll revision 19.

To reproduce the problem, i just open the CTRLR matrix 1000 VST in Ableton, and click on the options icon.. the MIDI options aren’t there.
If i save the session in Ableton, the CTRLR settings are saved.
If i quit without saving the Ableton session, the settings are NOT saved.

so everytime i want to use CTRLR in a new Ableton session i have to reenter the same MIDI settings information OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
The idea is, why not save them permanently?

Most people setup their MIDI hardware connections once and that is it.. nobody likes to be patching MIDI Cables.
It is silly to have to reenter the same info over and over again everytime i want to use the VST.

Thanks

[atom]

It’s intended and i don’t think i’ll ever change that (perhaps add a global save as an option). I need to think in a more general manner, it’s possible to open more than one instance of the same plugin (either for multi timbral purposes or for more then one device), plus on Windows you can’t open midi devices more then once, and i want to avoid opening devices with an error. And theese settings are project based, different projects might need different midi setups and i do that a lot, so that’s how stuff needs to be saved.

so it’s all ok, it’s a feature not a bug.

[jdieks]

"enigmafon":2l0n9log wrote:

I am running Windows XP SP2.
Ableton 8.20
Oberheim – Matrix 1000 – Win32.dll revision 19.

To reproduce the problem, i just open the CTRLR matrix 1000 VST in Ableton, and click on the options icon.. the MIDI options aren’t there.
If i save the session in Ableton, the CTRLR settings are saved.
If i quit without saving the Ableton session, the settings are NOT saved.

so everytime i want to use CTRLR in a new Ableton session i have to reenter the same MIDI settings information OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
The idea is, why not save them permanently?

Most people setup their MIDI hardware connections once and that is it.. nobody likes to be patching MIDI Cables.
It is silly to have to reenter the same info over and over again everytime i want to use the VST.

Thanks[/quote:2l0n9log]

I havn’t used ableton enough to know if this is possible, but in most DAWs you can make templates with all the plugins you need pre-loaded..

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