Importing, creating, and dumping Sysx banks

There are several ways to get a sysx bank into SONAR:

You can import (load) an external .syx file.

You can edit an empty bank to create a new bank from scratch.

You can dump a bank into SONAR from the synthesizer itself.

To import a Sysx bank into a project

1.	In the Sysx view, select an empty bank to import the new bank into (unless you want to add to or overwrite an existing bank).

2.	Click the Sysx view File menu and choose Open.

The Open dialog box appears.

3.	If necessary, navigate to the folder that contains your .syx files, select the one you want to import, and click Open.

The file appears as a new bank in the row you selected in the Sysx view. If you want SONAR to send this bank every time you open this project, make sure the bank is selected (highlighted), then click the Sysx view Settings menu and choose Auto Send on/off. A checkmark appears in the Auto column next to all auto-send-enabled banks.

To create a Sysx bank

1.	In the Sysx view, select an empty bank, then click the Edit menu and choose Edit Data (or double-click the empty bank).

The Edit System Exclusive Bytes dialog box appears.

2.	Type your message(s). Each message you add to the window must begin with F0 and end with F7 (that’s F zero and F seven). See your instrument’s manual for the messages you can create.

3.	When you finish typing the message(s), click OK to close the dialog box.

After you close the editing window, your new bank appears in the Sysx view. Use the buttons in the toolbar to name it, give it an output number, and mark it for auto-sending, if you want. Save your project when you’re finished.

To dump a Sysx bank into SONAR

1.	Go to Edit > Preferences > MIDI - Playback and Recording and make sure the System Exclusive check box is selected. If it isn’t, SONAR won’t receive System Exclusive messages.

2.	In the Sysx view, select an empty bank to dump the new bank into (unless you want to add to or overwrite an existing bank).

3.	Click the Sysx view File menu and choose Receive.

The Receive System Exclusive dialog box appears, which contains a list of Dump Request Macros (DRMs). Each DRM has a name that describes the synthesizer the DRM controls and the type of data that the DRM asks the synthesizer to send.

4.	Do one of the following:

If the name of your instrument and the kind of data you want to store in SONAR appears in the list, select your choice and click OK.

If your instrument and the type of data you want to record are not in the list, select You start dump on instrument, click OK, and press whatever button on your synthesizer that starts a Sysx bank dump. The You start dump on instrument option is not really a Dump Request Macro. It tells SONAR that you will initiate a dump (or multiple dumps) from the front panel of the synthesizer.

5.	The DRM may prompt you for additional information, which you should supply.

Patch number: DRMs that are written to request an individual patch or configuration give you this prompt, so you can specify the one you want to have dumped.

Channel/unit number: Most synthesizers have a Sysx channel or unit number. This covers the situation in which you own two of the exact same synthesizer, and want to do Sysx with each independently. Your synthesizer manual should describe the factory-set number.

When your instrument starts sending the bank, the Sysx Receive window counts the bytes as SONAR receives them. If the count stays at zero for more than a couple of seconds, something is wrong. The synthesizer may not be hooked up to the MIDI interface in both directions, or you may have answered a DRM prompt incorrectly. Click Cancel. If any data were received, you will see the number of bytes in the bank list.

6.	Once the bytes received count stops increasing, you can click Done to tell SONAR to stop receiving. However, if your synthesizer also displays a message when the instrument is finished sending a bank, wait until that message says the transmission is finished before you click Done.

The currently selected bank now holds the received Sysx data. At this point, you may want to give the bank a descriptive name by selecting it and clicking Edit > Name.

 

See also:

Editing Sysx banks

Sysx view menu

 

Note: The SONAR librarian may not support synthesizers that require handshaking dump protocols. Some of these synthesizers have a backup protocol where they will do a normal dump if they don’t get a handshake. Others do not.