ok, you were just missing one last piece of information: once you've loaded a fxb into Cygnus, you can change presets as follows:
- click on the Cygnus window bar so that it gets keyboard focus.
- Using the left/right keyboard arrow keys to change preset.
Zen - 1.6 public beta
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3388 posts since 29 May, 2001 from New York, NY
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- KVRist
- 255 posts since 10 Apr, 2003
ah thanks for that extra bit of info..
I just did that for 3 banks... PITA! 128 presets per bank times 3 so for each one, use the arrow keys and wait for it to load and then again and again....
one would dream of a more automatic way
but don't know the issues involved ... I'm not a programmer obviously...
Now couple things:
first very repeatable crash in reaper v4... load zen, run a vsti, unload zen and then try to reload zen... result is reaper exits with no warning, no crash log... happens every time. XP, 32 bit reaper V4 alpha 55
next... let me say I really appreciate the concept of Zen and see how it could be super helpful dealing with the landscape of a zillion presets...
at the same time a couple things are not as happy for me in 'real world' use.
1- I can't get the plugin list to sort in simple alphabetical order... I'm guessing this has something to do with how the dll's give their names to Zen... but it's really nuts looking something that starts with a C and finding it located after something else that start with a P... arrrgh!
2- the presets: Ok so now I have some 200+ presets for Cynus for example, but in Zen I can only see, what 16 or so at one time... ummmmm ouch...
So trying to think of a dll that does it mo'betta... OK maybe Sytrus... when I don't use Zen and call up the Sytrus pre's page... it shows me all of them at once, sorted by headings... much faster to see what is there and pick them.
I realize Zen has and is aimed at sort by category etc, but at the same time, even so, the view of what presets exist is very limited IMO...
...again don't know what could be done about it yet I wanted to mention this.
3- dll names ... clearly not a pure Zen prob. but... Cygnus is a good example... it has two versions of it's dll: Cygnus.dll and also, Cygnus-SF.dll the later will load soundfonts the former will not... both have diff gui's... In a normal host I can see and load either as a distinct dll.. but in Zen, with plain Cygnus.dll already in the plugin list, trying to drop the Cygnus-SF.dll in as well, Zen tells me it's already loaded... [not exactly true, you see?]
...again, I do know Zen is beta and can't expect it to be totally stable and perfect yet, but that is why I'm yakkin'
thanks Tick for all you do
I just did that for 3 banks... PITA! 128 presets per bank times 3 so for each one, use the arrow keys and wait for it to load and then again and again....
one would dream of a more automatic way
but don't know the issues involved ... I'm not a programmer obviously... Now couple things:
first very repeatable crash in reaper v4... load zen, run a vsti, unload zen and then try to reload zen... result is reaper exits with no warning, no crash log... happens every time. XP, 32 bit reaper V4 alpha 55
next... let me say I really appreciate the concept of Zen and see how it could be super helpful dealing with the landscape of a zillion presets...
at the same time a couple things are not as happy for me in 'real world' use.
1- I can't get the plugin list to sort in simple alphabetical order... I'm guessing this has something to do with how the dll's give their names to Zen... but it's really nuts looking something that starts with a C and finding it located after something else that start with a P... arrrgh!
2- the presets: Ok so now I have some 200+ presets for Cynus for example, but in Zen I can only see, what 16 or so at one time... ummmmm ouch...
So trying to think of a dll that does it mo'betta... OK maybe Sytrus... when I don't use Zen and call up the Sytrus pre's page... it shows me all of them at once, sorted by headings... much faster to see what is there and pick them.
I realize Zen has and is aimed at sort by category etc, but at the same time, even so, the view of what presets exist is very limited IMO...
...again don't know what could be done about it yet I wanted to mention this.
3- dll names ... clearly not a pure Zen prob. but... Cygnus is a good example... it has two versions of it's dll: Cygnus.dll and also, Cygnus-SF.dll the later will load soundfonts the former will not... both have diff gui's... In a normal host I can see and load either as a distinct dll.. but in Zen, with plain Cygnus.dll already in the plugin list, trying to drop the Cygnus-SF.dll in as well, Zen tells me it's already loaded... [not exactly true, you see?]
...again, I do know Zen is beta and can't expect it to be totally stable and perfect yet, but that is why I'm yakkin'
thanks Tick for all you do
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3388 posts since 29 May, 2001 from New York, NY
Here is my plugins list, as you can see it is sorted alphabetically. Just make sure the "autosort tags" option (in the settings) is off, since otherwise, it will sort tags by the number of matches.
Importing presets is a pain (although, if you used autoimport, it shouldn't take so long - just browse through all of them) but unfortunately this is the only way for it to work with all plugins. You see, many plugins actually don't expose anything to the host - even when they appear to have a bank of presets, they only claim to have 1 preset and do everything their own way. This means, the process could possibly be automated, but it wouldn't work for all plugins anyway.
The good news is, once someone has done the importing, he can upload the presets (provided he's got a designer key) so that nobody else has to go through this again.
Also... alternatively, you could use minihost to export all the presets as fxp's. Then drop the fxp's in the presets list. Done. It doesn't work with all plugins, but when it does, it can be a fast way too.
Now, about the number of displayed presets - you can actually change the number of presets shown in the results list. This is done by editing the zen.properties file, which is in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Big Tick\Zen. Just change the value of presetDatabase.itemsPerPage
Multiple dll thing - well, in the vst standard, a preset is associated to a plugin through the FXID. From what you describe, it seems that the 2 Cygnus dll's share the same FXID, however they can't load the same presets (since the ones using soundfonts can only be loaded by one of them). I don't really have a solution, apart from telling Zen to always use the soundfont version for all Cygnus presets. You can do this by clearing the stored dll (ctrl-click the plugin in the settings) and selecting a preset (it will prompt again for the dll you want to use).
Finally... thank you for this crash report. I'll try this out. I have a new beta almost ready anyway.
'Tick
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- KVRist
- 255 posts since 10 Apr, 2003
thanks again for hanging with me as I trudge through all this... your suggestions are surely a big help....
I feel for ya on what it must be like to traverse the quagmire of vsti vagaries.... what a shame most of these things never became standardized and required.
so I guess my next thought would be now that I have gotten those presets into Zen, what I'd need to do to save someone else the hassle? a key of some manner?
I'm pretty sure the developer of Cygnus don't care since it was done [all the presets] by Tim Conrary [sp?] and he sadly passed away a year or so ago. [we miss your preset work Tim!]
I feel for ya on what it must be like to traverse the quagmire of vsti vagaries.... what a shame most of these things never became standardized and required.
so I guess my next thought would be now that I have gotten those presets into Zen, what I'd need to do to save someone else the hassle? a key of some manner?
I'm pretty sure the developer of Cygnus don't care since it was done [all the presets] by Tim Conrary [sp?] and he sadly passed away a year or so ago. [we miss your preset work Tim!]
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3388 posts since 29 May, 2001 from New York, NY
Yes. Just use this link to request a key. And of course, you agree not to use it to upload copyrighted presets...max wrote:thanks again for hanging with me as I trudge through all this... your suggestions are surely a big help....
I feel for ya on what it must be like to traverse the quagmire of vsti vagaries.... what a shame most of these things never became standardized and required.
so I guess my next thought would be now that I have gotten those presets into Zen, what I'd need to do to save someone else the hassle? a key of some manner?
I'm pretty sure the developer of Cygnus don't care since it was done [all the presets] by Tim Conrary [sp?] and he sadly passed away a year or so ago. [we miss your preset work Tim!]
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- KVRist
- 255 posts since 10 Apr, 2003
Ok got the alphabetical isssue cleared up here...
next, for EVE just put in 275 pre's.... and none of them have much of a tag... just a name and a little more.... so wondering about having to tag them one by one ... or is there yet some manner of 'massive' tag editor?
also ouch cakewalk Dimension Zen won't take it... likely another of those "some vsti's" issues eh?
Zen is such a good idea, it's just so disturbing to find some of the best vsti's willing to co-operate with it... yet.
next, for EVE just put in 275 pre's.... and none of them have much of a tag... just a name and a little more.... so wondering about having to tag them one by one ... or is there yet some manner of 'massive' tag editor?
also ouch cakewalk Dimension Zen won't take it... likely another of those "some vsti's" issues eh?
Zen is such a good idea, it's just so disturbing to find some of the best vsti's willing to co-operate with it... yet.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3388 posts since 29 May, 2001 from New York, NY
Well, again, tagging is shared so if everyone tags a few presets, it won't be long till they are all tagged. You can select several presets at once using ctrl-click / shift click. When applying a tag, it is set for all the currently selected presets.
Most independent vsti developers are willing to support Zen, even if it means releasing an updated version of their synths. Unfortunately, it is a little bit different with the bigger companies - it's not that they don't care, it's just that it is super hard to get in touch with anyone. Speaking of which... does anyone know how to contact René at Cakewalk ?
Most independent vsti developers are willing to support Zen, even if it means releasing an updated version of their synths. Unfortunately, it is a little bit different with the bigger companies - it's not that they don't care, it's just that it is super hard to get in touch with anyone. Speaking of which... does anyone know how to contact René at Cakewalk ?
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- KVRist
- 255 posts since 10 Apr, 2003
more question about editing tags... the info says I can by dbl clking them... but that just brings up the vsti with that preset loaded... what am I not seeing about how to get to where I can edit info on the tag?
sorry to be so lost
sorry to be so lost
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3388 posts since 29 May, 2001 from New York, NY
Double-clicking a preset brings up the vsti. Double-clicking a tag brings up a little text editor that you can use to change the tag text. Obviously this only works for the tags that you have defined yourself, not for the public tags.max wrote:more question about editing tags... the info says I can by dbl clking them... but that just brings up the vsti with that preset loaded... what am I not seeing about how to get to where I can edit info on the tag?
sorry to be so lost
The fact that you are lost makes me wonder... I have dedicated a lot of effort to Zen usability. I would hate to think that I have failed, but if I have, I am willing to think things over again.
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- KVRist
- 255 posts since 10 Apr, 2003
still lost, but thanks
like this... in plugins, I have EVE selected
it shows 275 presets
in the tag window or area, it shows Mine (private) 275
but I don't see how to get at any of those 275 individual tags to edit them...
is this because of them already being in the data base... or am I just going about it the wrong way...
gosh, I can still remember 20 or so years back having to phone Cakewalk way too often about pro audio and the early versions of Sonar... they did not realy solve much but it was easy to phone them... way before the WWW... progress, eh?
like this... in plugins, I have EVE selected
it shows 275 presets
in the tag window or area, it shows Mine (private) 275
but I don't see how to get at any of those 275 individual tags to edit them...
is this because of them already being in the data base... or am I just going about it the wrong way...
gosh, I can still remember 20 or so years back having to phone Cakewalk way too often about pro audio and the early versions of Sonar... they did not realy solve much but it was easy to phone them... way before the WWW... progress, eh?
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3388 posts since 29 May, 2001 from New York, NY
it's not 275 tags - it's 275 presets with the "mine (private) tag" - which means, 275 EVE presets that you have imported, but not uploaded.
I'm on the reaper crash right now. I see what's going on, it's quite tricky but I'm going to fix it.
I'm on the reaper crash right now. I see what's going on, it's quite tricky but I'm going to fix it.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3388 posts since 29 May, 2001 from New York, NY
Sure, just edit the file skin.properties in C:\Documents and Settings\<yourname>\Application Data\Big Tick\zen\skins\default, and change these lines to your liking:You can replace the color names by their hexadecimal code (e.g #FFFFFF for pure white), or alternatively, modify the names definitions (or add new ones) in the file colors.properties (in the same folder)
Code: Select all
ContextSearchResultBox.foregroundColor: ZenDark
ContextSearchResultBox.foregroundColor.selected: ZenBlue
ContextSearchResultBox.foregroundColor.disabled: ZenMedium2
ContextSearchResultBox.foregroundColor.disabled.noMatches: ZenMedium
ContextSearchResultBox.foregroundColor.negated: ZenBlue