shiihs

I'd check the manual for the "factory reset" procedure before throwing it in the bin  

3 hours ago, Alundy said:

Hi All 

I am not smart enough yet to use this tool:):)  but I can surely see the benefit and am blown away by the charity and generosity shown here.   Just incredible.  and even over Christmas!!  wow

 

Thank you all.   I am better of on this forum than watching the news, thats for sure!!

If you ever do try it, be sure to ask for help if you get stuck!

in the mean time, not for the faint of heart, there's a new version with 

• multifile checkboxes: if you leave display name empty, it reuses the old one; if you leave new filename empty it reuses the old one
• multifile 4 variation rhythm splitter: no special intelligence is present for handling .ac7 files with less than 4 variations (and I have to confess I haven't tested what happens when you try it anyway).

Have fun! 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12NKv9eiYcpqb3p6yBYsBYkpam8t-M7DB/view?usp=sharing

21 minutes ago, vbdx66 said:

Another thing comes to mind: one can imagine that ReStyle could possibly be further developped to allow some “mixing” of rhythms, for instance to use the intro and ending of a given style with the variations from another style, or to use an intro in place of an ending, etc. (I have already managed to do such things manually with the onboard style controller).

Everything you mention is already possible, except for combining things from different .AC7 files. That would be a lot of effort for what I feel is not a very common use case. 

21 minutes ago, Mclandy said:

I do realize it predates the unlocking feature.  But what I'm seeing is that if I don't put anything in the Desired Display Name field, nothing happens on that file. 

You are right, I made an error there. I'll take a look to see how easy it is to add the checkboxes you propose.

@Mclandy Actually, upon inspection of the source code, I suspect if you leave the new name empty the old name will automatically be reused. So it should unlock everything and keep the existing name if you don't specify a new name.

2 hours ago, Mclandy said:

@shiihs,  my opinion, I'd say only the split function has some value from a bulk perspective.  Plus it should be fairly straightforward to implement.  Everything else is going to be subjective, and vary by rhythm, and your utility already provides the ability to put together exactly what you want.

 

Quick question - I've tried looking through this long thread, so sorry if I missed it.  In the multi-file editing tab, is there a way to specify that you want to process a file, but keep the same display name and/or file name, without having to retype it?  Like maybe by entering a special character, like "=" or "*", to imply to just use the existing name?

At the moment no provisions are made: the bulk editing predates the unlocking implementation so back then it made more sense to just skip the rhythms without new name. I could easily add something like that though.

1 minute ago, Mclandy said:

And having just looked in more detail at Chandler's notes above, it appears to back up what I was saying.  You can see where Casio had 4 variations and picked 2 for the lower keyboards, and it's often V1+V3 or V1+V4 or V2+V4.

@Mclandy true, but his notes also contain combinations of certain variations with other fills. So whatever we come up will either

• have to be very general (but I'm not sure in that case bulk editing will bring a lot of advantage, unless you create a list of all desired combinations beforehand, like Chandler did (but perhaps no one else but him does ))
• or, if this feature is mostly used for exploration purposes then a default split 1+2, 3+4 should be sufficient.

2 minutes ago, vbdx66 said:

 

@shiihs Thank you for all the work you are putting into your software. I don’t completely understand the bulk processsing of rhythm files in ReStyle but as I see it, it would be very convenient to be able to take all the files in one folder, for instance the “Jazz” folder from Chandler’s CT-X3000 rhythm archive, and have them processed at once to get two files, one with V1F1 V2F2 and the other with V3F3 and V4F4 for every 4-variations, 4-fills rhythm found in the folder.

@vbdx66 in that case I could e.g. think about adding a quick "rhythm split" button in the multiple files tab, which turns every rhythm into 2 rhythms: I1+V1+V2+F1+F2+E1 and I2+V3+V4+F3+F4+E2. For rhythms that are missing some of the higher variations/intros/endings, some fallback to the lower variations can be implemented, or an error can be shown. If the only intention is to make invisible elements visible for exploration purposes this approach is probably sufficient, but it doesn't guarantee that the variations are conveniently grouped. If they are not grouped well, you would still need to remap the original rhythm via the single files tab. Does that make sense?

That represents a lot of work @Chandler Holloway!  @vbdx66, I guess this also implies that one shared voice reordering for all rhythms in a folder is not super useful also in your use case? I still don't have a good idea how to add such functionality in the tool in a user friendly way.

Chandler's scans perhaps are a good starting point to think about a specialized notation for concisely specifying a remapping (but it has to be general enough to unambiguously deal with all possible remappings that make sense to a user). E.g. there's an additional complication that many older .ac7 files do not have a variation 3, so what should happen if one still asks to use variation 3 in such case? 

In short, if anyone has suggestions on how to specify remapping for bulk changes that is also user friendly, I'm happy to hear about them, but at the moment I don't see a very good solution...

5 minutes ago, Mclandy said:

@shiihs, I took one of the rhythms from the MZ-X archive that @Chandler Holloway posted, and used your tool to move intro/ending 2 down into intro/ending 1.  They sounded somewhat similar, but in fact the intro 1 was 4 bars, and the intro 2 was a shorter 2 bars (not anything wrong with that, I'm just saying they were in fact different).  So apparently that works, and you can take MZ-X rhythms and pick the intro and ending you prefer, for use on these lower models.

Thanks for trying this out @Mclandy. 

I am more confident than ever now that the combined efforts of everyone in this forum thread have led to nailing the basics of understanding the undocumented binary .ac7 file format . There are some remaining parameters in the .ac7 files generated by newer model Casios that I cannot interpret correctly and since I don't own such model I also cannot set up any experiments to further reverse engineer those (but I have enough information to keep those sections as binary blobs and carry them around with the rest of the info that I do understand, so it is possible to modify file contents without corrupting the files).

2 minutes ago, vbdx66 said:

[...]

I would have all 4 variations and fills in two separate files named, let’s say, 12 and 34, for instance the original rhythm « March » would give « March12 » and « March34 » depending on which of the four fills and variations would be « visible » by the CT-X700/800 after rearranging parts.

 

[...]

 

And yet something else: am I right in assuming that this swapping business could also be used to make Intro2 and Ending2 from the MZ-X series « visible » to the CT-X keyboards?

I guess the easiest would be to make the multi file tab reuse the custom ordering specified in the single file tab.

In principle it should be possible to use intro2 and ending2 in the way you imagine, but I cannot test it myself.

There's one possibility that some of these higher-numbered styles would reference instruments that are not known on the lower-end models, so you might manually have to revise some of the mixer settings to correct the instrument mapping...

37 minutes ago, vbdx66 said:

Hi @shiihsactually bulk processing would be esp. helpful for variation swapping since it would basically enable CT-X700/800 users to access all variations of the CT-X5000/3000 rhythm archive with not much processing.

It's not entirely clear to me how you envision something like this to work: do you want to specify one reordering for all rhythms in the list, or a separate reordering per rhythm?

23 minutes ago, Mclandy said:

One thought that came to my mind, especially reading about folks like @Chandler Hollowayworking with a whole library of rhythms, is that that it would be very handy to have a command line version of this program to enable writing batch scripts.  So basically pass in arguments for infile and outfile and maybe an optional rename parameter (for example, "Restyle -i 8beat.ac7 -r New8beat -o 8beatunlocked.ac7"), and it saves the same rhythm, with a new name and unlocked parts.  I don't know that swapping the patterns around makes as much sense in a command line, but for extra points I guess you could consider a parameter something of the form "-s V1=V2;F1=F2" to define the desired transformations, although I would make that secondary to getting out a version that just does the unlocking.  If you have a large number of rhythm files, this would make it a lot less tedious.

 

Edit: You'd probably also need a directory parameter ("-d c:\casiofiles") to specify the folder where the AC7 files reside.  This presumes the output file would go in the same folder.

Did you notice the "multiple files" tab? It also allows for loading a complete folder of rhythms to enable bulk editing, but at the moment, variation swapping cannot be indicated in that tab. A command line version of the program could be an alternative of course, but perhaps imposes a higher "minimal tech-savvyness" on the users.

21 minutes ago, vbdx66 said:

I was involved in this project a long time ago but coudlnt go on helping because of the quarantine and on top of that my husband, although he had been ill for a long time but was stable, passed away quite unexpectedly.

 

To get back to the main subject of this topic, am I correctly assuming that the new version of ReStyle will enable me to swap all rhythm parts as I want e.g. to have two different versions of a given rhythm so as to have all 4 variations accessible in two different files ?

 

I’d be very grateful if someone could provide a Dummies Guide with simple instructions as how to use the latest version of ReStyle to swap rhythm parts correctly and also rename the files to avoid confusion.

Hi Vinciane, 

First of all, I'm sorry for your loss. This time of year usually is quite hard for those who've lost loved ones.

As for the dummies guide: it would be interesting if you could just try it out, and where you get stuck/confused, let me know. Those are the parts that warrant some improvements/clarifications.

The basic work flow should be straightforward: 

1. make a backup of your rhythms before you start editing them; one never knows
2. load an .AC7 file using the load button
3. type the desired display name in the "desired display name" text field
4. then, if you want to: tweak the desired ordering of variations at the bottom: the top row (grayed out) lists the current ordering, and in the bottom row you can select the desired ordering. E.g if you wanted to copy variation 3 into variation 1, you'd select variation 3 in the bottom row under variation 1 in the top row. Note: you can resize the user interface window using the mouse if you cannot see all the options simultaneously.
5. save the .AC7 file (give it a new name)

During saving, all tracks are automatically unlocked for editing.

28 minutes ago, Chandler Holloway said:

Fantastic news! I will test it myself tomorrow, but thanks to @Mclandyit looks like further experimentation won’t be necessary (unless shiihs would still like me to provide some files). This will save me oh so much time with the archival process moving forward.

 

Big win for Casio users everywhere! I’ll be sure to share this around in the CT-X user groups once I’ve got the X700/CDP-S350 archive all done.

Hello @Chandler Holloway, if it works for you, no other files will be needed - thanks for all the help in the previous years. However, feel free to provide some usability feedback (details in the ui or workflow that could be improved: e.g. since it could be the user's only intention to unlock tracks, would it perhaps make sense to automatically fill in the desired name as the current name when loading a style?). 

20 minutes ago, shiihs said:

 

That's brilliant!! I will update the restyle code asap and make a new windows binary.

Thanks for helping!

 

On 12/26/2020 at 6:56 AM, Chandler Holloway said:

 

 

I’ll @ you once I get the test files uploaded. Looking forward to it!

If I didn't mess up, a brand-new ReStyle should be available from the following link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_SkmluRAnYKe7vxNRuRxtqVWhKWqVcVn/view?usp=sharing

Just now, Mclandy said:

@shiihs, based on the result of the experimentation I described in my earlier post, I was able to figure out how to "remap" the patterns as they are defined in ReStyle to the ones in the above list, so that I could correctly move all the patterns into the desired "slots".  I can confirm that by doing so, I was able to generate a 4-variation rhythm with all the right patterns in the right places, and therefore can also confirm that the above list is the correct order.

That's brilliant!! I will update the restyle code asap and make a new windows binary.

Thanks for helping!

1 hour ago, Chandler Holloway said:

shiihs, has this documentation of the format given you any insight into fixing the VarSwap functionality for the 4-variation boards (specifically with Var2 always ending up blanked out after a swap)? 

One very interesting part is that they think the order of elements in the ac7 file is different from what I had guessed.
(This has nothing to do with the ordering in the UI, it is about ordering in the file)

They think:

1: "Intro"
2: "Variation 1"
3: "Fill 1"
4: "Variation 2"
5: "Fill 2" 
6: "Ending" 
7: "Intro 2 (unused)" 
8: "Variation 3" 
9: "Variation 4" 
10: "Fill 3" 
11: "Fill 4"
12: "Ending 2 (unused)"

But I guessed:

1: "Intro"
2: "Variation 1"
3: "variation 2"
4: "Fill 1"
5: "Fill 2"
6: "Ending"
7: "Intro 2"
8: "Ending 2"
9: "Variation 3"
10: "Fill 3"  
11: "Fill 4"
12: "Variation 4"

From the earlier experiments, I remember you said "Variation 3 and Fill-In 3 are correctly swapped into the Normal/Fill-In1 slot" So that means I swap slots 9 <-> 2 and slots 10 <-> 4. If they were right about the order of elements it should have resulted in Variation 4 <-> Variation 1 and Fill 3 <-> Variation 2. That doesn't seem to be what you described. So I think their ordering might be wrong as well. 

I think I have the correct order for at least slots 1-6. The other ones I cannot test.

One very interesting observation is that they think Ending 2 is in slot 12, and is always unused (empty) on CT-X. Slot 12 is where I thought variation 4 lives, so if I copy "my" var 4 slot (slot 12) into something else, it would indeed result in a blank part.

Therefore I think we need to set up an experiment on a 4 variation model to establish without doubt what the correct ordering is of the different elements in the file.

The experiment I would like to propose is to take a rhythm, and produce - using they keyboard - 12 variations of it:

Variation 0 = the original rhythm without modifications
Variation 1 = the original rhythm, but only the intro changed (e.g. change/delete some/all notes)
Variation 2 = the original rhythm, but only variation 1 (normal) changed 
Variation 3 = the original rhythm, but only variation 2 changed
etc...

By systematically examining the differences between each of the variations and the original rhythm, it should be easy to establish once and for all the correct ordering of elements in the ac7 file. Only when the ordering is correct has the swapping a chance of working as expected.

Does that sound like something that is "doable" ? 

In the mean time I would also like to draw everyone's attention to a new project I found on github:

https://github.com/michgz/ac7maker

This should be interesting for studying how they understand the internals of the AC7 file format.

I'll have to make a new binary build, as I suspect the last binary doesn't actually include the unlocking code.

I have added the unlocked version in attachment, sorry if this is too late for you.

I haven't actually tested it, but at least the file length changed, so I have some faith it has worked

XmasUnlocked.AC7

8 hours ago, Mclandy said:

I was directed to this thread because I was asking if there was any way to edit the "notes" in a Rhythm pattern/part copied from one of the built-in rhythms on my CT-X5000.  Apparently this is not possible, because all those parts are marked as "Fixed", which I assume is what you mean by a "locked" track.  The suggestion was that if ReStyle unlocks the tracks, that might make them editable (show up as "Recorded" status??).  In any case, I tried it by running ReStyle (the version at the above link) on a User style that I copied from a built-in style (saved it to USB, opened in ReStyle on PC, renamed, saved it with a different file name, then reloaded from USB), and the parts still showed up as "Fixed" (and therefore, uneditable).

 

Do I understand this correctly, or does "unlocked" mean something else? Should ReStyle have made the parts in the saved AC7 file editable?  Could it be that the AC7 format for the CT-X keyboards is different?  Thanks.

Unlocked indeed means "make it editable". The unlocked .ac7 file should have a slightly longer file length (a few bytes) than the locked version - you could check that to see if the tool actually applied the unlocking. The AC7 format should not be fundamentally different for CT-X keyboards.

2 hours ago, Chandler Holloway said:

@shiihsI see, thanks for the update. Any hope of the unlocking feature being added in an update soon?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qZ94jTcJ_joW0SoYwmhOTG0ntApunzqv/view?usp=sharing

If I remember well, the above version should unlock all tracks as they are saved (can't test it at the moment).

@Chandler Holloway There's one thing we (or at least I) haven't really thought about: rhythms made for more advanced instruments will sometimes reference sounds that do not exist on less advanced keyboards. So to be complete, in addition to variation swapping there should also be instrument editing...