QV V.1.1 - By Pete Lyall (c) 1992 Cheapware 7/31/92 Qv is a tool for manipulating Alesis Quadraverb (QV) patches and banks. Some of the things it can do: o - Download a QV bank (in SYSEX format) to disk. Good for backup of the QV, or sharing banks & patches with other QV users. o - Upload a QV bank (in SYSEX format) to the QV. Good for restoring those banks, or loading banks imported from the outside world. o - Display a full or brief (names only) patch parameter list. This is not only good for analyzing existing patches (ever try to get a good feeling for a patch looking at one parameter at a time?), but is also handy for transporting patches to other QV owners without IBM (or ANY) computers. o - Can split a bankfile or downloaded bank into individually loadable patches. These patches will load into the EDIT BUFFER of the QV so _you_ can audition them and decide where to store them. You could even associate the .SSX extension so that programs like Norton Commander or Windows 3.1 would automatically send them to the QV when selected. o - Works with individual patches (Upload/List) o - Supports MIDI cards (MPU-401 and compatibles), and accepts alternative I/O addresses (default is 330) and IRQ assignments (default is 2/9). Uses interrupt based I/O for reliability (MQ ToolKit). o - Can be told how to manipulate your MIDI patchbay to access the QV for sysex purposes, and will also clean up behind itself and put the patchbay back where you tell it. These are controllable either using environment variables or command line arguments. This whole document really is very short... please read it all, but if you must have a Quick Start... Quick Start: ============ 1. To get a bankfile from your quadraverb: a) Make sure you have MIDI connectivity between your computer and the QV for both input and output. This may require setting up a MIDI PATCHBAY patch, if you use one. b) Make sure that the MIDI SYSEX ENABLE is ON under the MIDI menu on the QV. c) Type: qv -g filename.ext 2. To send a bankfile to the QV: a) As above (you don't NEED MIDI input connectivity). b) As above. c) Type: qv -p filename.ext 3. To get a listing of a bankfile... a) On disk: 1) qv filename.ext b) From the QV: 1) Make sure MIDI/QV set is okay (as in 1 above) 2) qv -g c) To shorten either listing (they're BIG!) to just patchnames: 1) You know... 2) qv -n filename.ext (disk) or 3) qv -gn (QV) 4. To split a QV bank into patches that can be loaded or listed individually: a) qv -s filename.ext (disk) b) qv -gs (from QV) 5. To use a MIDI card with another address or IRQ: a) qv -m 300 -i 5 -p filename.ext b) qv -m280 -gn c) qv -i5 -g (etc.) ** A few interesting notes ** Bank->Patch Splitting --------------------- When a bank is split up, the resulting files are created as individual 155 byte files that can be loaded by themselves. They will load into the QV's edit buffer, so they won't clobber whatever you have stored in your QV. If you like the patch, YOU can store it at the location of your choice. If not, all you need to do is move to a different program or load another patch and it's gone. The QV patches have internal names that are 14 characters long, and use characters that are illegal for DOS files. The QV program tries to make a reasonable approximation of these names, and substitutes the underbar for any illegal characters, and truncates the name to 8 characters, and applies an extension of .SSX. If a file of similar name exists on the disk (say you have 3 patches called 'Hendrix 1', 'Hendrix 2', and 'Hendrix 3' - they'd all be converted to 'Hendrix_.SSX'), QV substitutes the patch number for the last two characters of the filename, so you'd end up with something like 'Hendri05.SSX', 'Hendri09.SSX', and 'Hendri35.SSX'. If copies of THESE names previously existed, they'll be overwritten. MIDI Patchbay Use ================= If you have a MIDI patchbay (I use two here!), it can be convenient to let QV make the cable configurations for you. If you don't have one, don't worry about this section. QV will look for the following environment variables when it starts up: QVPBCHAN QVPBPAT1 QVPBPAT2 You can insert entries into your autoexec.bat file something like this to set them up automatically (or you could type them manually): set QVPBCHAN=12 set QVPBPAT1=20 set QVPBPAT2=2 If QV finds them, it will send a command to your patchbay on channel 12 telling it to switch to program 20 before doing any work. It will also send a finishing program change of 2 (also on channel 12) to clean up when it is done. You can opt to use the command line options to supply or override these values: qv -c12 -b20 -a2 (etc.).... Quick help ========== You can get a reminder message about the QV parameters by typing either: qv -? OR qv Notes from me... (Pete Lyall) ======================================================== Why do I write this stuff for cheap/free? Who knows... This is probably the last such endeavor. It's a LOT of work, and there's little reward other than personal satisfaction. I don't get much feedback, and my main objective for writing this, SAMDISK, MX8, PEQ6, and other tools was to promote sharing of patches, techniques, samples, and the like. From what I have seen, folks aren't even doing that. Damn shame. So surprise and encourage me - upload a bank of your favorite QV patches to Compuserve's MIDI Forum, or the Internet, or wherever. If you're truly thrilled, and want to shoot $5 or $10 my way, it'll be gratefully received. You can reach me for help, suggestions, and problems at: CIS: 76703,4230 Internet: 76703,4230 U.S. Mail: Pete Lyall 6180 Wisteria St. Simi Valley, CA 93063 Enjoy!