I've Written A Patch Editor For the CZs and CT6500

[Emerson J]

 

Woooow! @IanB

 

I can't thank you enough for your amazing work with the VZV CZ Patch Editor. I am not good understanding envelopes or creating sounds, besides, a few buttons of my old CZ-3000 need a lot of strength to select them.

 

Your software just gave me the ability to make new sounds easier and a different perspective of envelopes, plus I downloaded a bunch of .syx files (I didn't know about them until I started to use your software).

 

All works perfect, I was a little bit confused when I scrolled down the first time and the envelopes values changed but now when I scroll down I move the mouse cursor to the right side of the screen.

 

Thank you!

[IanB]

Glad it's going well @Emerson J, it's certainly easier than the onboard editing, that's what I wrote it for

 

I added the ability to change values with the mouse scroll wheel to make editing as quick as possible.

 

Have fun!

[IanB]

I just had a look at the download stats for VZV CZ, and the breakdown of where people are downloading it, and seeing I have downloads from Canada to India, from Finland to Cote d'Ivoire. There's something immensely gratifying at the thought of people all over the world using a bit of software I wrote. And knowing CZs are still in use all over the globe! With international tensions on the rise, it just feels like a pleasing reminder that music is a global community.

[Synthfluencer]

Hi IanB, I just registered to this forum triggered by the urge to say THANK YOU for your VZV CZ editor! This. Thing. Rocks! It instantly doubled my love for my CZ-5000. I spent hours even to bring sysex patch files to the synth without success, not this time! The feature set, usability and response times are truly amazing.

 

So again, thank you for putting your effort into this software, it was worth every minute!

 

Best wishes,

Synthfluencer

[IanB]

@SynthfluencerSo kind of you to take the time to say so, I'm so glad it's useful to you. I was inspired to write it after a lot of fiddling about trying to load sysex's with MIDI-OX, having to manually alter bytes, etc. Time that should be spent on sounds and music, not fiddling with hex codes!

 

It's gratifying that people are using it as (like everything I guess) it turned out to be lots more work than I expected when I started it!

 

Feel free to leave a positive review on the Windows Store 😉

[IanB]

VZV CZ Update!

 

Version 1.1.9

 

Fixed bug which was causing "Get 16" function to write corrupted sysex files (they couldn't be reloaded by the app due to an extra byte in each patch dump).

 

Changed number of Banks in "Synth" tab to 8 (it was 6) to access all patch banks in 32+32 synths e.g. CZ5000

[AFG70]

I am a new VZV user. I use Windows 10 and CZ-101.

I am trying to get a handle simple functions first.

I did a Get Live from Internal 14.

I verified the app data displayed to the synth's displays and it all looks right.

Now, I saved the patch as a syx file or believe I did.

I did a reset in VZV and opened the previously saved syx file.

Nothing appeared to load; the app displays did not change.

I intend to use the app for scratch building patches so this test is fundamental to that objective.

Thanks for your help

 

[IanB]

@AFG70 Hi there

 

When you do a Get Live, the patch settings will show up in the controls. However they are not yet ready to save. In the File tab, you need to save them to a patch in one of the 16 patch slots (in banks 00 and 01). So click the Add dropdown and choose which slot to store them in. (If you make changes after this you also need to click Store on the Control panel to update that patch slot). Now, you can save the sysex file and it will contain that patch. If you didn't do this, you could still save the sysex file but it would have no patches in it!

 

Now any time you load the sysex, the patch(es) you saved into it will appear in the File tab. You can load them into the app's patch controls just by clicking the patch in the Bank in the File tab. If the "Live" switch at the top of the File tab is on, it will also send it to the synth (if not, you'll need to hit Send Live on the Control panel). Or, you can send all the patches in the Banks by clicking "Send All".

 

Hope this helps.

[AFG70]

Thanks.

That all makes sense. I don't think I would have intuited that procedure, though.

I going to screen shot your response and add it to my collection so far for reference.

Could be one way of building a Help file.

 

[IanB]

Yes, I really should write a user manual...

[AFG70]

Re: Manual -  ToolTips could serve as a preliminary Help. Just have to key some text into a ToolTipText property.

 

I believe I have every thing functioning like I need thanks to your feedback.

Speaking of which, this Editor app is excellent. It's straightforward but effective; well featured but lean. Data entry is smooth unlike other editors I've tried.

As a side note, I tried to write my own editor in  VB6 but 2 things put me off:

1. Coding the UI. I've coded mainframe COBOL which is infamous for being verbose but VB6 is on a par in my opinion

2. Nailing the translation process from parameters to MIDI Sysex data bytes. I have a "Guidebook To MIDI" which Casio supplied to me but not everything in it matched up with Sysex dumps from the CZ-101. . 

Bottom line is I know the daunting task you undertook and I say it's 100% successful.

Kudos.

 

[IanB]

@AFG70thanks, feel free to leave a review on the Store

 

I considered tooltips but it probably does need a manual. I really should.

 

Regarding the coding; the UI was quite easy. In UWP apps, it's coded using a XML type code called XAML with a visual editor which is verbose but straightforward to use. I used VB.net which is different to VB6. It's gradually dying on the vine as most people now use C# but I actually prefer it being a bit more wordy; I prefer structures with stated starts and ends (e.g. SUB... End SUB) rather than curly braces which I find less readable e.g. SUB{} Just personal taste.

 

The UI just evolved based on what I wanted to be able to do and some suggestions here about improvements (e.g. initially it did not automatically update the synth, there was no Autosend Live option). It was very important to me to be ergonomic. It was also a part of my "design brief" for it to function on tablets well as I originally envisaged using one local to the keyboard so it all works with touch input, I bought a cheap Windows tablet for the purpose but ended up using it on a PC myself and I don't think that is much used by anyone else as Windows tablets are pretty thin on the ground compared to IOS and Android. Still, it's there for anyone with a Surface tablet etc...

 

The "definitive" Casio CZ sysex document I got from the interwebs is... wrong! The formulas are mixed up and any app based on them will receive and send wrong values. That was the big head scratcher,  not least because of the inevitable assumption that my code was buggy, whereas it was actually Garbage In Garbage Out.  I think realising that was the one point where I nearly abandoned the project. I pushed ahead because there simply wasn't anything anyone else had written that could talk to my CT6500, which so far as I'm aware I am the first person in modern times to figure out how to repatch it (it is a preset keyboard with the CZ Phase Distortion engine, but the Live Patch can be edited... it's just Casio never bothered to tell anybody how!)

 

Must admit I am quite proud of my work on this, it's just very pleasing to me that other people use it and leave positive comments instead of "total garbage, avoid" type stuff!

[AFG70]

I had an app Crash today. I have the Windows Crash information. Do you want this material and if so what destination should it be sent to?

 

At the time the Crash happened I was building a patch and doing the DCW2, setting the Sust and End steps. I left clicked the mouse, perhaps in an open area, and that was the end of things.

 

 

[IanB]

@AFG70that sounds pretty random. Just for now, let's put it down to random coincidence. If it keeps happening, I'll look further

 

You can always contact me directly at support@veezeevee.net 

 

[Jokeyman123]

I recently purchased an older Asus tablet with Windows 10 and the Windowsapp store, just so I could get and check out your app, even though i do not have a CT6500 or any of my old CZ's. I used to covet the CT6500 when it was new, never could afford one-I'm still thinking about it, although the online prices seem high right now with the new inflationary pricing sellers seem to be pushing for, for all kinds of equipment. And yes music is a truly universal language.

[IanB]

VZV CZ Update! (bugfix again, sigh)

 

Version 1.1.10

 

Fixed bug which caused a crash when clicking the "End" button when no envelope step is selected.

[IanB]

Another update-

 

V1.1.11

Changed DCO controls to give an "Off/On" setting for 2nd Waveform, as is used on onboard CZ synth parameters

Bugfixes:
Detune fine setting was only covering 1/4 of the range (incorrect bitmask)
Crash if first item in an Envelope was set to "End" and you clicked delete.

 

----------

 

Turns out VZV-CZ was only covering 1/4 of the range of "Detune Fine" and none of us noticed until user Gary emailed me (the Sysex protocol has two extra bits tacked on the end of that value). Luckily doesn't affect any patches saved out of CZ. There's always another bug...

[yoshi001]

After searching for several days for a tool for saving and loading Casio CZ 1000 patches (and lots of disappoinments) I faund this app. And it works! Straight and simply, no ifs and buts. Am using win 10 and an ESI ROM I/O Midi Interface. Big compliment to the programmer! 

[Bay Mud]

@IanB thanks so much for making this editor! I'm slowly figuring out how to load/save banks, but seem to have hit an issue when trying to do a patch dump ("Get 16") using my CZ-101:

 

In the SYNTH tab the user-programmable presets of the CZ-101 start at Bank04 which means they are numbers #33-48 overall, however on the FILE tab the highest I can go is "From Patch: 32", which means when I hit "Get 16" I end up with patches 32-47 instead and then have to manually move them all one at a time to get the user bank organized properly before I save. Am I doing something wrong or should the "From Patch" selector go up to 33?

[IanB]

Hi @Bay MudI'll have a look at this and get back to you. First impressions here is that it's a goof on my part! 1+32 is 33, not 32, oops!

[Bay Mud]

1 hour ago, IanB said:

Hi @Bay MudI'll have a look at this and get back to you. First impressions here is that it's a goof on my part! 1+32 is 33, not 32, oops!

 

Thanks for getting back to me! No rush, just making sure I wasn't missing something (which is prone to happen. Ha).

 

In any case, as others have already said, the VZV CZ app is very helpful, so thanks a ton for taking the time to make it a reality!

[IanB]

@Bay Mud Thanks for pointing it out, it's amazing how one can spend ages writing an app and miss obvious things until somebody points them out. Then you wonder why nobody else has🙂 This appears to be that bad habit of programmers counting from zero, so you go 0, 16, 32, 48 but when you're counting from 1, as with patch numbers here so it's 1, 17, 33, 49...

 

I'll sort this out and post an update to the Microsoft Store over the next few days.

[Bay Mud]

@IanB I totally get it. Had a (very brief) stint as a front-end dev and was always tripped up by certain quirks.

 

Thanks for the quick response!

[IanB]

I've submitted version 1.12 to the Microsoft Store which fixes this bug and it should become available for download shortly once they've validated it. You should get an update popup when you launch the app once the certification is complete🙂

 

This is one of those bugs that has me wondering why nobody ever noticed/reported it before! Thanks for your helpful feedback @Bay Mud😃

[Bay Mud]

Thanks @IanB! Looks good from this end