gliderproarc Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 I posted a few weeks ago about my problems with my Novation Remote SL 61 midi controller. As it turns out, my problem is very easy to solve, I just need to update my firm ware on my Remote SL via a .syx update. Trouble is that I need an application that will allow me to perform this update. I have tried using Novation's utility for this but it appears to not get the job done. Here is an exert form my correspondence with a Novation support tech. "You should not even need to use the sysex file and the editor to update the OS on your unit - the installer should do that for you. If the installer is giving you problems when it comes to updating the OS then you can load the sysex OS file into the unit using a free program called MIDI-OX (get it from http://www.midiox.com/)." Now my problem is that the program he suggests here is only for Windows. I, a Mac user, would like to find a comparable program. This issue has put my main usb-midi controller out of commission for more then a week now, forcing me to use only one board on two gigs I normally use two boards on. If anyone knows of any Mac midi utilities that can help me, post um up. Thanks guys! PS: And yes I have already googled "Mac midi utility" and checked out the host of programs at http://www.synthzone.com/utilities.htm GIGO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmp Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I barely know the difference between an iMac and a Big Mac. So I'd try this from the shell using the unix dd command. The midi device your synth is attached to will have an entry in /dev. It might even be called something sensible like /dev/midi00 or something similar with a different numbered device for each midi port you have. Try ... % ls /dev/midi* ... to see if I'm guessing right so far. Then try ... % dd if=whatever.syx of=/dev/midiXX ... and watch the lights on your midi interface. I'd be surprised if this doesn't work. --wmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dp2 Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 You probably should have changed your google search strings; I googled (with "sysex OSX"), and several entries came up: http://www.snoize.com/SysExLibrarian/ http://members.cox.net/sgrace9/sysex/ I got the following URI after following a few Garage Band related leads (which I obtained from the previous search): http://88.208.201.18/answerbase/article.php?id=274 Here's another one that I think will be most relevent for your needs: http://88.208.201.18/answerbase/article.php?id=305 As you can see, there's quite a bit of stuff out there; however, that's not the only way that you could have resolved this issue. You could have also used a virtual machine (like Virtual PC, VMWare, etc) running windows on top of OSX to run MIDI-OX. I hope this helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dp2 Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I guess I might as well add that the virtual machine option would also work for other unix-like environments like Linux, BSD, Solaris, etc. It also looks like Ardour handles certain SysEx messages too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmp Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Forgive me for asking, dp2, but are you kidding? Run VMWare and windoze on a Mac, just to run a piece of crap like MIDI-OX? That's like cracking a walnut with a falling asteroid. Goodness, this is unix. There's no need to buy software just to write some bytes to a device. --wmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dp2 Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 wmp, please note that the VM recommendation wasn't my first choice. Nevertheless, I also realize that there are many users out there who only know how to use Windows or who use Macs and run Virtual PC (or something similar). My primary goal was to help gliderproarc to get up and running first. Since the Novation tech only gave instructions on how to get things up and running in Windows, I thought it would be prudent (and nice) to let everyone here know that it's possible to run MIDI-OX in a Windows VM session on OSX. Besides, there are other VMs that are available legally for free. Who knows? . . . one might even be able run it in WINE running in Linux on top of MOL on OSX. :grin: Furthermore, notice that I followed that up with a plug for Ardour. So, I'm staying true to my free-as-in-freedom roots. Nevertheless, I do tend to take a stance similar to that of Bruce Perens, Linus Torvalds, and Mark Shuttleworth when it comes to using FOSS along with proprietary source apps. Incidently, VMWare can be obtained for free (although not for non-commercial use)--of course, Windows isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmp Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 How any of this could be easier than using dd escapes me. --wmp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gliderproarc Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Thanks for the help guys. The novation tech got back to me with a link to snoize librarian. I am getting very frustrated with this update. Even after downloading this sysex updater, I still can't get my RemoteSL 61 to update! Big bummer. Might have to play another gig with only one board. GIGO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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