OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Forum for JUPITER-80
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cello
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by cello »

Synthtron wrote:I believe an official librarian/editor is a no go.
Agreed - it ain't gonna happen
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kimsnarf
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by kimsnarf »

Woah! That is one ugly librarian. It seems like some kind of Windows XP cross platform thing. And the lag is horrible. I guess technically it is a librarian, but they didn't spend any time on quality there. Hopefully it works. :)

But I'm not sure I would expose my Jupiter-80 to that thing (if it had been compatible) ...
Dewdman42
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by Dewdman42 »

the problem is that in order to release a librarian they would probably have to update the firmware in a significant way...it does not currently have the midi support for anyone to do a proper librarian. Its extremely unlikely that Roland is going to make that kind of major change to the firmware at this point. The engineers should have thought the midi implementation through a little better way back when they were designing the thing, but unfortunately they didn't...

Likewise I doubt we're ever going to see proper aftertouch on this beast. The JP-80 has great sound and is really fun to play, no doubt, but the midi implementation on it is very 1990's, wasn't thought out and at this point there is no hope whatever that Roland would put resources on fixing or improving it. enjoy it for what it is...its all you're gonna get. I don't think Roland sees the JP-80 as a significant income earner to be a so called "flagship" like say the Fantom was.

If we can reverse engineer the smart card format we might be able to create our own librarian of sorts that will work, but this is a lot of work...who has time... not me. The saddest thing is that a proper librarian would inspire more sharing of sound sets then what we have seen up to date. Everyone that has one is just kind of in their own little bubble doing whatever they do on it.
cloudswimmer
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by cloudswimmer »

Ok so no librarian for a Mac/PC, but since there is already an editor for the iPad, how about a librarian for the iPad? Would that be doable?
Dewdman42
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by Dewdman42 »

the problem is that the midi implementation on the JP80 does not support it, that we know of. Its not going t happen.
Synthtron
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by Synthtron »

If did not happen the first couple of years, It ain't going to now or in the future.
cloudswimmer
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by cloudswimmer »

Synthtron wrote:If did not happen the first couple of years, It ain't going to now or in the future.
Ohh well......When I think back though to the 80's when I was most active in the music buisness, I'd buy a librarian for a synth and my toaster Mac, mess with it for a week or so, get my favorite set of patches on board, and then never use it again. Eventually I just stopped buying editor librarians altogether. Strange though that it was never made for this synth, lot of strange things about this synth actually, but thats kinda the appeal for me, not another me too workstation synth.
0kk0p3kk4
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by 0kk0p3kk4 »

I was looking the latest status of this librarian stuff, but found it a bit hard to come up with :)

There were mentions on these topics for example
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=46226
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=52433
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=51759

Judging by those, there were these three participants (kimsnarf, Dewdman42, arock) one way or the other contributing to the project. I am not totally sure, what are the current platform versions that are out there. If someone knows, can one tell?

Is this the only one existing atm - https://github.com/kimsand/Jupiter80Librarian for apple product(s) ?
What is the exact manual to use this and what are the exact features of it?

Many thanks for any info on the matter.
Dewdman42
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by Dewdman42 »

There is no librarian
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cello
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by cello »

Just to add - there is no librarian and there will not be a librarian for the Jupiter 80.

There should have been, yes, due to the complexity of sound management.

However, Roland JP has no plans for such a thing, despite considerable feedback requesting it.

There are workarounds (which need careful thinking - see www.jp-80.com for further information on that) but it's far from ideal - but that's the way it is and it is not going to change. Sorry!
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kimsnarf
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by kimsnarf »

It is not possible to create a librarian due to lack of support for this from Roland in the synth firmware. At best a Jupiter file format editor can be created, with uploading/downloading from/to USB performed on the synth. However due to lack of documentation there is considerable effort involved in this. The tool I created can read and present the sounds in a Jupiter file, but not edit or write them. It is Mac-only to focus on the tool, not the platforms.
Dewdman42
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by Dewdman42 »

I can't remember if we decided it would be possible to use midi to send program changes one at a time to run through every registration and then use the existing sysex midi spec to read/save for each one. The midi spec does provide the info needed to EDIT the current patch. That's why Roland has an ipad based editor, and basically anyone could write an EDITOR easily enough that an EDIT the current patch with a mac/pc....though nobody has done it yet that I'm aware of.

However, most people don't really need an editor because the LCD screen on the JP-80 is pretty good enough for most people, nobody is complaining about that. What they are complaining about is no librarian and very difficult to organize patches, keep a library, setup setlists, etc. On that point the midi spec is missing a couple of key commands that normally are needed.

Anyway, I vaguely recall we talked about possibly being able to iterate through every patch on the machine using program change, and for each one, suck out the data with sysex and basically build a bank that way. I can't remember now whether we decided there was some missing midi commands to do that or if we just thought it would be too crude, but anyway, as of now, that bottom line is that the existing firmware has not made it easy by any stretch and at this point its extremely unlikely anyone is ever going to provide a librarian. Not a big enough audience.
marctronixx
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so is it impossible?

Post by marctronixx »

what would it cost to to the R and D on designing a library editor?

i know roland jp wont do it but does the interface of the synth allow one to be able to design it or is it a closed off system that makes it impossible to get into?
Dewdman42
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Re: OFFICIAL Librarian Request Thread

Post by Dewdman42 »

We don't know if its even possible. And the only way it might be possible is by reverse engineering, which is time consuming and difficult work...and in the end, may not work anyway. and even if it did, would help a very small audience.
marctronixx
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thank you.

Post by marctronixx »

appreciate the educated response.
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