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Patch Conversion Tools

By David Clarke [21030085++] <ac151@ncf.ca>

The utilities available on this page provide conversion between and, collectively, among a number of different Chroma patch storage and retrieval formats: MIDI sysex (both the "standard" created by the Syntech/Chroma Cult MIDI retrofit, and that used by the more rare EES kit); the Galaxy librarian file format; audio, for use with the cassette interface; and textual parameter listings for perusal of parameters or manual entry as a last resort.

So if you have a Galaxy bank, and want a text format parameter listing, you would do the following:

gxy2syx filename (results in Chroma Cult sysex file)
syx2tape filename.syx (results in tape format patch file)
tape2txt filename.snd (results in text listing of patch params)

You'll end up with filename.txt, which should be a text dump of the parameters in the original Galaxy file.

Downloads

Microsoft Windows

The patch tools are available as Windows executables.

Download and decompress the archive.

Mac OS X

The conversion tools have been compiled for Mac OS X by Chris Ryan [21030691]. To use these tools, you should be comfortable using the Unix command line (e.g. the Terminal application found in /Applications/Utilities). Mac OS X is required; the tools will not run on "classic" Mac OS. They have been tested on Mac OS X 10.4.2 but should work on earlier (and later) versions. Note that they have been built for PowerPC Macs; I will look into compiling them for Intel based Macs when I have time (let me know if this is of particular interest to you). I would also like to add a GUI at some point. Note: the .snd file produced by syx2tape may not work; let me know and I will work with David on providing a fix.

Download and open the disk image; read Instructions.rtf for information on where to copy the tools.

Source Code

Commented C language source files:

Documentation

gxy2syx

This software converts Chroma Galaxy banks to Chroma Cult/Syntech sysex format. It will take a Galaxy-formatted 50-program dump and convert it to Chroma Cult sysex file. Of course, since the sysex file doesn't support patch names, any patch name info is lost in the conversion -- but the resulting sysex file should work fine.

syx2tape

This software converts Chroma sysex files to tape (audio SND) format for use with the cassette interface. The program takes one command-line argument: the name of the sysex file to convert. For instance, you'd invoke the program like:

syx2tape fs5.syx

and it would generate a file called fs5.snd. The output file is a 22050Hz, 8-bit, mono, signed raw audio file -- most editors will have no problem opening these files.

The Chroma Cult (Syntech) interface can produce 4 different types of sysex:

  1. Single/Current Patch Dump
  2. Complete (50 Program) Patch Dump
  3. MIDI Parameter Dump
  4. Change Program 0 Dump

As it sits now, syx2tape is 'dumb', it does not check either to confirm that the incoming sysex file is valid or what sort of file it is. As written, the program is designed to work with a complete 50 program dump (#2 above). If #1, #3 or #4 are given as a command-line argument, erroneous data will result.

tape2txt

This software converts 22050 Hz, 8-bit, mono raw audio files into patch dump text (human readable parameter listings). This will be useful for people who don't have the right hardware and/or software to use sysex formats, and who for whatever reason can't use the cassette interface (e.g. it is broken or disconnected).

The program takes up to two command-line arguments: the name of the sysex file to convert, and an "Option" controlling the output. For instance, you'd invoke the program like:

tape2txt fs2.snd or

or

tape2txt fs2.snd {option}

where {option} is one of "VONLY", "DEBUG", "SKIP", or "FULL".

VONLY

Will only decode program values (i.e., no header information and no textual description of the parameters).

DEBUG

Prints out all data, all the time (shows raw tape data--including checksum data--and prints out all program parameter data).

SKIP

Do not stop processing the file when an error (parity or checksum) is encountered.

FULL

Not only show numerical values for programs, but also show text description of them as well. (This is the default value, and it is what is assumed if no {option} is provided.)

The output file, for the command line above, would be:

fs2.txt

While the program was written specifically to read the data from a "SAVE ALL" command, it should work just fine with a "SAVE ONE" command too. If you want to use it in DEBUG mode, then you can also see the data for the PACKET 0, PACKET 1, STOP Packet, etc. commands from the Chroma too.

See posting by David to ChromaTalk in November 2003 for sample output of this utility.

EES Tools (ees2syx and syx2ees)

ees2syx

A program to convert sysex dumps from EES to Chroma Cult sysex format.

syx2ees

A program to convert sysex dumps from the Chroma Cult MIDI format into the format for the EES interface.

See related discussions in ChromaTalk December 2003 threads midi sysex, midi sysex - EES Decode, midi sysex - EES Decode(d), and SYX2EES.