Anyone still using the Varios?

[mockba_the_borg]

Hi All,

I have a couple Roland Varios, one does D-50 with the VC-1 and the other does Varios-8 (Jupiter 8?).
However I have long moved to Windows 10 (64 bit) which means no more USB drivers and no more Varios-8 controller software.
However, I have been playing a lot with virtual analog lately, so I am decided to make this Varios-8 thing work on Windows 10, which includes crazy ideas like:

1 - Writing a new controller/editor software with synthmaker and use the regular MIDI ports, so I can create/edit patches.
2 - Reverse engineer the USB driver to actually make Windows 10 see the USB midi port.

So, as I prepare for option #1 (which so far seems to be the easier one, as we have the full midi implementation), I would like to check if anyone is also still using it as instruments, and if anyone has done any type of reverse engineering/research on it, because sometimes people do have some half-done drawer projects to share.

Cheers,
Mockba the Borg.

[vsyn7425]

Hi Mockba, judging by the amount of views your subject has had, I guess there are many people who are still interested in the VariOS but not replying. Both the goals you have are admirable and quite possible. I do remember seeing a website a few years ago where a guy built a new 64 bit USB driver for an XV-5050, based on the 64-bit driver for the Juno-G. Considering the XV-5050 is about the same vintage as the VariOS it should be possible to do the same.

Your goal to build a 64-bit controller for the VariOS should also be possible and not be too difficult as the VariOS is nowhere near as sophisticated as the V-Synth, so hasn't that many parameters to deal with.

Alas I'm still in the dark ages on a 32-bit machine so can't help much, however, I have read somewhere that some 32-bit applications can run on 64-bit machines, is that not the case with the VariOS-8 controller?

[Chris7]

The apps works OK on Windows 10 64 bits, although a little small and they look a little dated.

I've managed to re-purposed the UM-ONE mk2 midi driver to work with the VariOS. It seems like Roland uses the same Midi/USB protocol for both devices. You won't have access to the midi ports on the rear from Windows, as the UM-ONE mk2 device only has a single pair of MIDI in/out.

To install you need the UM-ONE mk2 driver. The download from the Roland site doesn't contain the actual driver, the only way I know to get the driver is to attach a UM-ONE mk2 to your machine and then find the file required (RDWM1115.SYS and Uninstall.exe).
For this to work you will also need to turn off Signed Driver Enforcement. This is detailed here.

To create the driver installation you need to create a folder structure called Driver and set out as follows:
Driver/Files/RDWM1115VariOS.SYS (copy and rename "RDWM1115.SYS" from the UM-ONE mk2 driver)
Driver/Files/RdUninst.dat (See below)
Driver/Uninstall.exe (Directly from the UM-ONE mk2 driver)
Driver/rdif1115VariOS.inf (see below)

Once you have rebooted you should be able to right click the .inf file and install the driver, confirming that you want to install the unsigned driver.

Here is the rdif1115VariOS.inf file I used:

; Installation inf for the UM-ONE (Modified for VariOS)
;
; Copyright (c) 2015 Roland Corporation
;
[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
Class=MEDIA
ClassGUID={4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
Provider=%MfgName%
;CatalogFile=RDID1115.CAT
DriverVer=07/21/2015,1.00.00.0000

;---------------------------------------------------------------;

[DestinationDirs]
Driver.Files.Ext = 10,system32\drivers ; %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers
Driver.Files.Root = 16422,%PROGFOLDER%\%DEVFOLDER%
Driver.Files.Files = 16422,%PROGFOLDER%\%DEVFOLDER%\Files
DefaultDestDir = 10,system32\drivers ; %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers

[SourceDisksNames]
1=%DriverDiskName%,,

[SourceDisksFiles]
Uninstall.exe=1
RDWM1115VariOS.SYS=1,Files
RdUninst.dat=1,Files

;---------------------------------------------------------------;

[Manufacturer]
%MfgName%=Roland,NTamd64.10

[Roland]
;; - Windows 8.1
;; not supported

[Roland.NTamd64.10]
;; Windows10
;;%DriverDeviceDesc%=DriverInstall, USB\VID_0582&PID_012A ; UM-ONE
%DriverDeviceDesc%=DriverInstall, USB\VID_0582&PID_002F ; Varios

;===============================================================;

[DriverInstall.NTamd64]
Include=ks.inf,wdmaudio.inf
Needs=KS.Registration,WDMAUDIO.Registration
CopyFiles=Driver.Files.Ext,Driver.Files.Root,Driver.Files.Files
;CopyFiles=Driver.Files.User,Driver.Files.Ext,Driver.Files.Root,Driver.Files.Files,Driver.Files.Readme,Driver.Files.RHTML
AddReg=DriverAddReg,DriverAddReg.Inst,DriverAddReg.Uninst

[DriverAddReg]
HKR,,DevLoader,,"*ntkern"
HKR,,AssociatedFilters,,"wdmaud"
HKR,,Driver,,%RDWMFILE%
HKR,,NTMPDriver,,"%RDWMFILE%"

HKR,Drivers,SubClasses,,"midi"

HKR,Drivers\midi\wdmaud.drv,Driver,,wdmaud.drv
HKR,Drivers\midi\wdmaud.drv, Description,,%DriverDeviceDesc%

[DriverAddReg.Uninst]
HKLM, %UNINST%, "DisplayName",,%DEVFOLDER%
HKLM, %UNINST%, "UninstallString",,%16422%\%PROGFOLDER%\%DEVFOLDER%\"Uninstall.exe"
HKLM, %UNINST%, "DisplayIcon",,%16422%\%PROGFOLDER%\%DEVFOLDER%\"Uninstall.exe,2"
HKLM, %UNINST%, "Publisher",,"Roland Corporation"

[DriverAddReg.Inst]
HKCR, %INSTPATH%, "", ,"RdDrv"
HKCR, %INSTPATH%\%DEVRDID%, "", ,%16422%\%PROGFOLDER%\%DEVFOLDER%
HKCR, %INSTPATH%\%DEVRDID%, "version", ,"Ver.1.0.0"
HKCR, %INSTPATH%\%DEVRDID%, "copyright",,"Copyright (C) 2015 Roland Corporation."


[DriverInstall.NTamd64.Services]
AddService = %SRVRDID%, 0x00000002, Driver_Service_Inst

[Driver_Service_Inst]
DisplayName = %DriverDeviceDesc%
ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
StartType = 3 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
ServiceBinary = %10%\system32\Drivers\%RDWMFILE%

;;;
;;
[Driver.Files.Ext]
%RDWMFILE%

[Driver.Files.Root]
Uninstall.exe

[Driver.Files.Files]
RdUninst.dat

[DriverInstall.NTamd64.Interfaces]
AddInterface=%KSCATEGORY_AUDIO%, %KSNAME_Md11%, WDM.Interface.Md11
AddInterface=%KSCATEGORY_RENDER%, %KSNAME_Md11%, WDM.Interface.Md11
AddInterface=%KSCATEGORY_CAPTURE%, %KSNAME_Md11%, WDM.Interface.Md11

[WDM.Interface.Md11]
AddReg=WDM.Interface.Md11.AddReg
[WDM.Interface.Md11.AddReg]
HKR,,CLSID,,%Proxy.CLSID%
HKR,,FriendlyName,,%WDM.Md11.szPname%

;---------------------------------------------------------------;

[Strings]
MfgName="Roland"

DriverDiskName="VariOS UM-ONE Driver Installation disk"
DriverDeviceDesc="VariOS MIDI"

Proxy.CLSID="{17CCA71B-ECD7-11D0-B908-00A0C9223196}"
KSCATEGORY_AUDIO="{6994AD04-93EF-11D0-A3CC-00A0C9223196}"
KSCATEGORY_RENDER="{65E8773E-8F56-11D0-A3B9-00A0C9223196}"
KSCATEGORY_CAPTURE="{65E8773D-8F56-11D0-A3B9-00A0C9223196}"

KSNAME_Md11="Midi1-1"
WDM.Md11.szPname="VariOS"

REG_MSZ = 0x00010000

;--------------------------
RDWMFILE="RDWM1115VariOS.SYS"
;--------------------------


INSTPATH="CLSID\{1C8A6AA7-9A48-4c8c-A990-EEA1B42D1D94}"
DEVRDID="RDID0115VariOS"
SRVRDID="RDID1115VariOS"
UNINST="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\RolandRDID0115VariOS"

PROGFOLDER="Roland"
SCPROGFOLDER="Roland"
DEVFOLDER="VariOS Driver"
;DEVFOLDER="UM-ONE Driver"

The RdUninst.dat

OS Win_10_64
FindDev "VariOS" 002F
StrModel "VariOS"
DelHDev582 002F

DelServ RDID1115VariOS
DelInfDs USB\VID_0582&PID_002F RDIF1115VariOS.INF
DelInfOem USB\VID_0582&PID_002F
DelInfInf USB\VID_0582&PID_002F RDIF1115VariOS.INF
DelFileSys Drivers\RDWM1115VARIOS.SYS
DelUninstReg RolandRDID0115VariOS
DelDDO "USB#VID_0582&PID_002F"
RDelPFD RDID0115VariOS
RDelR RDID0115VariOS
RDelPFRD "VariOS Driver"
RDelRG
Break

These are the md5sums of the files I used from the UM-ONE mk2 driver:
9defc92c643caacc8d16e551aae30128 Uninstall.exe
3ac42c82db24a10fa8153a305fc277de RDWM1115VariOS.SYS

[vsyn7425]

Hi Chris7, great work on re-purposing a 64-bit driver to work for the VariOS, must have taken some figuring out. One question I have though is would it be possible to install a driver meant for Windows 7 64-bit in Windows 10, maybe using the compatibility mode? If it is then I think it would be possible to create a driver with all the 3 midi ports the VariOS can use i.e. VariOS In/Out, External and Sync.

[Chris7]

I figured it out from looking at the UM-ONE mk 2 that I bought. I thought it was odd that it had a switch on it to switch between the Roland proprietary driver (PC) and a standard USB port (iPad mode).
Clearly Roland sees some worthwhile advantage of the proprietary protocol for PC use, so I figured if they have spent time creating and implementing this 'enhanced' protocol along with the USB standard protocol they may use the same 'enhanced' protocol across all their products. Luckily, this protocol doesn't seem to have changed much since the VariOS release.
I've had a quick look and it seems that a Roland UM-2G exists, with two sets of MIDI ports (like the VariOS) and crucially has a Windows 10 Driver, however this is only available for automatic download from Microsoft, not directly from the Roland website. This driver may work better with the VariOS if you wish to use the external ports as it has two sets of MIDI ports. With that said, I’m able to set the MIDI in to be my UM-ONE and then play samples via V-Producer with my keyboard. Obviously it would be nice to leave a keyboard connected to the VariOS for when for when V-Produced is closed.
I've had a look at various manufacturer’s websites and they all seem to have separate Windows 10 and Windows 7 release, so I suspect that they are different somehow, no idea how though.
I'm not sure but I think compatibility mode is applicable to executable files only.

[John Detroit]

All -

Similarly, I have a two Roland Varios, where I have the VC-1 card and the other one does Varios-8/303 or straight V-Producer 3 project running on PowerMac G5 running OS X 10.5. All the Roland VarioOS software and MIDI drivers are running as expected in my vintage Mac system. This may be a feasible alternative since some old Macs are built to last and Software downloads and CD-Roms (on eBay) to update OS, etc. are available online inexpensively.

The philosophy I have for using my VariOS are:
1. Use MIDI DIN wherever possible in my studio (Connected to MPC Live 2.)
2. When Computer is required, use the appropriate hardware and OS at the time VariOS software was created/in final form.

Note: If anyone is the latest Akai MPC workstations (MPC X, Live, Live 2, and One) with latest SW recognizes the VarioOS modules via USB (I believe the VariOS modules may be USB class compliant, or Akai did something special for compatability).

Good luck all,
John Detroit

[carusofausto]

Hi guys, to confirm that I've managed to install the UM-ONE mk2 midi driver and let the VariOS work in usb mode but something strange happen with V-producer program, cannot load project sample.
I wish someone is still working for a new programmer software like the one named by Mockba the Borg. Any news about? Varios is a great product, I'm using with vc 1 and vc 2 cards ..according to me it has still lot of potential and a new software programmer could unleash the whole power.

come on! Varios USERS let's do something.


Peace

[vsyn7425]

Hi carusofausto and VariOS users. It's good to see that people are still interested in the VariOS. A while ago I created a program that could partially unleash the power inside the VariOS-8 side of the VariOS. Please find a link to the topic below.

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=57339

The basic idea of "VA Kreator" was to reach the parameters of the VariOS-8 synth not by sysex, because that is very limited and always will be, but actually by manipulating the "patch" file itself. The VariOS-8 engine appears to be identical to the the V-Synth engine (v1.20 I think), so I found that I could load patches from the VariOS-8 into a V-Synth, manipulate them there and then load them back into the VariOS-8. So basically if you have a V-Synth you have a "Modelmaker" for the VariOS-8. I took it one stage further because what about people who didn't own a V-Synth? So I created a program that manipulated the "Patch" file in software, that could reach the parameters the VariOS-8 didn't have normally, but had the engine to play them back. Fascinating eh? Unfortunately the VariOS-8 only has the Virtual Analog engine of the V-Synth so any sounds totally relying on samples would not play back.