This section provides an overview on how to use CherryPicker to manage your patchlists.
The 'Troubleshooting' section deals with some of the most common problems that prevent patchlists from working properly in sequencers.
CherryPicker requires OS X 10.3 or higher
ProTools Users: ProTools handles a subset of midnam patch structures. Set the 'Save Format' option to 'ProTools' in the Main Window, and in the 'Save' dialogs. By default this is set to 'Digital Performer'.
Cubase Users: Set the 'Save Format' option to 'Cubase' in the Main Window, and in the 'Save' dialogs. By default this is set to 'Digital Performer'.
The first thing that CherryPicker does when it is launched is build a database of all the manufacturers and models it finds in manufacturer device files (middevs). By default, CherryPicker scans all files and folders it finds inside: /Library/Audio/MIDI Devices. (This is the same path used by Apple's AudioMIDI Setup application).
If CherryPicker finds both MOTU and Digidesign middevs in the MIDI Devices folder, it will put up an alert asking you to select which set you want to use for any new entries or changes you make.
CherryPicker uses this information to make sure that every patch file you open (midnam) has a corresponding entry in a middev file. Most sequencers will not recognize patch files unless a middev file contains an entry for the model, and the model has been hooked up with Apple's AudioMIDI Setup app. CherryPicker will automatically create middev files and model entries if they are missing.
When you start CherryPicker for the first time, it will also check whether there is a more recent version available on the web site. You can disable this feature at any time in the Preferences.
Once it has finished opening, CherryPicker waits for you to either 'Open' an existing patchfile in Midnam, Cubase, OMS, or FreeMIDI format, or choose 'New' from the File menu if you are going to create a new patchfile. If CherryPicker cannot find a matching middev entry (it is case-sensitive), it will put up a dialog, and create a new entry for you.
You are now ready to start creating or editing your patchfiles. Check out the topics to see how CherryPicker's features can help you to customize and organize your patchlists.
CherryPicker can check its website to see if there is a more recent update than the version you are using if you check the box.
CherryPicker will create a new 'Manufacturer Folder' for manufacturers that you add if you check the box. (This is usually the way to go).
Set shortcuts to your patchfile folders (the folders that contain all the sub-folders for different manufacturers). These path shortcuts appear in the Save dialog.
If you cannot find an existing patch file in one of the formats that CherryPicker understands (midnam/OMS/FreeMIDI/Cubase), you can always create a new patch file from scratch.
1. Select "New" from the File menu. Cherry Picker will start the New Device Setup Assistant, which will assist you in creating a new patch file for your device.
2. Fill in the Manufacturer and Model just like you do in AudioMIDI Setup. You cannot leave these blank. During startup, CherryPicker scans all the middev files in your /Library/Audio/MIDI Devices folder, and makes a database of all the manufacturers and models it finds. It will auto-complete as you type into these fields if it finds a close match.
3. Click Next. If you entered a new model, CherryPicker will add an entry for it inside the manufacturer's middev file. If you entered a new manufacturer name as well, CherryPicker will create a new middev file for the manufacturer, add an entry for the new model, and put the file in the appropriate location (which you can set in the Preferences Window). If you are in Digital Performer mode, CherryPicker will also create a folder for a new middev file.
4. Describe how your synth uses channels. You will be asked if all patch banks play on all channels or not. If, for example, your device plays drums on channel 10, but GM sounds on other channels, answer No. finally, press "Go.
5. Add patch banks by clicking the '+' button inside the Banks tab. This will open up a new Patchlist Window. Either drag and drop patches into the patchfile (see Importing), or click on the '+' button to add patches manually. Check the section on Editing.
Editing patch files in CherryPicker is pretty straightforward.
Use the tabs in the main window to enter the bank, notes, controller, or device editors.
Clicking on the small button in the left hand column of the bank and note lists will open up the patch editor window and the notes editor window respectively for the selected bank or note list.
Fields: In nearly every case, just double-click on the value you want to change, and type in the new value. Holding the mouse over a field will usually open up a help box.
Multiple Bank Edits: You can change the Channel Assignments or the Bank Selects for multiple banks at the same time. First select the banks you want to change using shift-click or command-click. Then, click in the column header for either the ChannelSet, or the bank selects columns. A sheet will drop down allowing you to enter the new values, and CherryPicker will update all the banks you selected.
Lists: Banks, Patches, and Notes can be dragged to change the order they will appear in your sequencer popup list. Banks can only be moved within their assigned channel sets. Patches and Notes can be sorted by clicking on the column headers.
Use the '+' and '-' buttons that appear next to lists to add or delete elements. Note that an item must be selected in order to delete it.
Special Fields:
Bank Names - must be unique. CherryPicker will not let you type a name that is already taken
Bank Selects for banks - a sheet will drop down letting you choose how the changes should override any patch level bank selects
Sysex Initialization - MIDI initialization messages may be transmitted when either a mode, or a bank is selected in your sequencer. In practice, few sequencers support this, and in some cases bank level initialization can prevent patch files from functioning properly.
Messages can include Sysex, Controller, or Patch Change. They will be fired in order from left to right.
Controller format:.....(cc vv) cc = controller, vv = value
Patch Change format: [pp] pp = patch number
Sysex format:...........<F0 hex bytes separated by spaces F7>
Use 'id' inside the sysex to refer to the device sysexID
Use 'id+nn' to offset the device sysexID (nn in hex)
Example - The Yamaha TG500 initalization message in CherryPicker looks like:
In the XML that CherryPicker generates, this looks like:
Channels - when assigning channels to a Channel Set, use the following format
Enter the channel numbers separated by commas. You can specify ranges by using: start_channel - end_channel, and can mix these elements together however you wish.
For example: 1-7, 9, 11-16 means: channels 1 through 7 plus channel 9 plus channels 11 through 16.
CherryPicker will automatically read patchfiles in midnam, freeMIDI, Cubase, or OMS formats.
In addition, CherryPicker can import banks from a wide variety of sources. Before importing any banks, make sure you create some empty banks to receive the imports, and set the bank selects correctly. MOTU midnam files often come with these empty banks already set up for expansion card patchlists.
MOTU Expansion Files: MOTU provides many expansion files with patchlists for most expander ROM cards. These files use a slightly different format from standard midnam patch files, and cannot be opened in the same way.
CherryPicker has a built-in Importer to handle these expansion lists, which is accessible from the Banks tab by clicking the button labelled "Import". Make sure that the path to MOTU's folder is set correctly in the Preferences Window before importing.
The CherryPicker Importer will list all the expansion files available for your model. When you select an expansion file, CherryPicker will list all the banks inside it. If it finds a bank with the same name inside the patch file you are editing, CherryPicker will automatically set that bank as the destination for the import. Otherwise, use the popup column to select the banks that you want the expansion banks to use as destinations.
When you have set all the destinations, click the Import button, and CherryPicker will fill the destination banks with those from the expander file.
(Some MOTU expander files (DP 4.5) contain XML errors - make sure you install the corrected versions supplied with CherryPicker).
Patch List Manager Exports:If you have patchlists stored inside a PLM document, use the 'Export' command in PLM's File menu to create a text file with all the banks and patches. Open up the export file in TextEdit or any plain text editor, and locate the banks you want to import.
PLM documents often contain patchlists for several devices, and may not show the Bank Selects to use for each bank. You may have to grab your synth manuals, go through the export, and look at each bank dump in order to decide which synth it belongs to, and what the correct bank select values are.
In CherryPicker, add enough banks with the '+' button to match the number of patch banks that you want to import. This will open up an empty patch list window for each new bank.
Go over to TextEdit, and select all the patches for one bank (don't select the bank name).
If your text editor supports text dragging, just drag the selection out of the editor, and drop it onto the appropriate patch list window in CherryPicker. A sheet will drop down to allow you to set patch numbering options.
Make sure you set the Patch Delimiter popup to 'Quote' - since PLM exports all patch names inside quotes.
If your text editor does not support text dragging (like TextEdit), just Copy the selected patches, and use the 'Paste' command from the 'Edit menu (or cmd 'V') to pop them into the patchlist. If the paste doesn't seem to work, click inside the patch list annd try again.
Repeat as needed for any other banks.
Finally, make sure that the bank selects are set correctly.
GigaStudio Exports: GigaStudio has a command to dump patch names into a text file. CherryPicker will automatically recognize a Giga formatted patch dump if you drag the text file onto a patchlist window. If you drop it, CherryPicker will import the names and patch numbers into the open patchlist.
Cakewalk Files: CherryPicker will automatically recognize a Cakewalk formatted patch bank dump if you drag the text file onto a patchlist window. If you drop it, CherryPicker will import the names and patch numbers into the open patchlist.
Text Files with sequentially numbered patches: You can drop any text file that contains a list of patchnames onto an open patch list window. CherryPicker will number the patches sequentially.
When dropping or pasting patch names onto patch list windows, a sheet will drop down that allows you to set patch numbering options, and also choose the patch name delimiter. Make sure you set the delimiter popup to match the source. The choices are: Quotes, Commas, Tabs, or End-Of-Lines.
If your text editor supports text dragging, you can also just drag a selection out of the editor, and drop it onto the appropriate patch list window in CherryPicker.
If your text editor does not support text dragging (like TextEdit), just Copy the selected patches, and use the 'Paste' command from the 'Edit menu (or cmd 'V') to pop them into the patchlist. If the paste doesn't seem to work, click inside the patch list annd try again.
Text Files with randomly numbered patches: Layout a text file with one patch name on each line. The format must be: patch_number=patch_name. For example: 12=Soaring Choir. Select the patch lines from the text document, and drag them over to a patch list window.
Other Patchlists: Since you can have multiple patch files open at the same time in CherryPicker, you can drag any number of banks or patches or notelists from one patch file into another. This is mostly useful for importing GM banks, especially if you have the bank broken out into sound categories (see custom banks).
This is also handy if you want to split a multi-mode patch file into separate patch files for each mode. See the section on Modes for reasons why you might want to do this.
CherryPicker contains a simple patchlist exporter in case you want to copy and paste banks into programs like Logic.
Open any bank patchlist window, and you will see a button labelled "Copy..." in the top left corner. Click this to bring up the Copy/Export sheet.
Check the fields you want to export (Logic just uses the Name field), and drag them around in the bar under "Field Order" to put them into the order you want.
If you select the "Text Edit Export" option, CherryPicker will launch TextEdit and pass it the patchlist to open in a window.
CherryPicker automatically puts the export onto the ClipBoard when you push the "OK" button, so all you have to do is click on the Logic bank and select "Paste" - or [Cmd 'V'].
CherryPicker can convert any banks you select into a Sibelius Sound Set file - where each bank is converted into a Sibelius sound group.
The first step is to create Custom Banks for each sound group category you want to see in Sibelius. Bear in mind that the names of the custom banks will be used as the names for the sound groups.
Once you have moved all the patches you want into the appropriate custom banks, select the banks you want to export using [cmd]+click, and hit the 'Sibelius' button in the Banks Tab. This will bring up the exporter window:
The window lets you fine tune the sound set parameters - though you can also edit these later using the Sibelius editor if you like.
After you hit the 'Export' button, CherryPicker will ask you where to save the file. Just navigate to your Sibelius Sound Set folder.
When you hit "Save" or "Save As...", CherryPicker adds the following controls to the standard Save dialog.
Select the format for saving using the buttons on the left.
Use the Shortcut buttons to jump to the appropriate patch file folder. You can set the paths for these buttons in the Preferences window.
CherryPicker will name the file to be compatible with the format you select for saving - just type a different name into the Filename field if you want to use a non-standard name.
Midnam Filters:
CherryPicker provides preset filters for Digital Performer and ProTools midnam files that are set when you select either one from the 'Format for Saving" options. These filters affect how information is written to the patch file in order to be compatible with these applications.
If you want to tweak the filters to provide compatibility with another app, click the "XML Filters..." button on the main window before you save. This will open the following window:
You can select whatever combination you want - use the "Preview" button on the Main Window to see the midnam file that CherryPicker will generate in order to check that the format is what you are expecting.
Click on the 'Patch Banks' tab in the main window to open the bank editor.
Bank Editing:
Drag and Drop: You can drag and drop multiple banks between patchfiles in CherryPicker - this is sometimes useful if you are writing a patchfile from scratch, and need a GM bank, or are splitting a multi-mode patch file into a set of single-mode files. You can also select a single bank and drag it to a different position within its channel set - this will change the bank order in your sequencer's popup list.
Bank Selects: Select a bank, and then double click on either of the bank select fields (S0 = bank select 0, S32 = bank select 32).
This will bring up a sheet (see below) for editing the bank select values. Choose one of the options to determine how the new values will affect individual patches in the bank.
If the synth does not use bank select values, enter a minus character '-', do not leave it blank, or use 'zero' - which is a valid value.
Name: Double click on a name to change it. Bank names MUST be unique, so CherryPicker will not let you enter a name that is already used by another bank.
Channel Set: Select the channel set for ther bank using the popup menu. If you want to change several at the same time, highlight the banks (shift or cmd clicking), and then click on the 'Channel Set' column header.
Bank Actions:
Add/Delete: Use the '+' and '-' buttons to add or delete banks. CherryPicker will delete all banks that are highlighted when you push the '-' button.
Merge: Merge is enabled when more than 1 bank is selected. Merge will create a new bank containing all of the patches in the selected banks, and will delete the originals. This can be useful for consolidating a bunch of small banks (typically drum kit banks) into a single custom bank - if your sequencer supports them.
Sibelius: Enabled when there are banks selected. Opens up the Sibelius Sound Set exporter which converts each selected bank into a Sibelius Sound Group.
Zap Dups: Zap Duplicates will delete any patches in Standard Banks that are also found in Custom Banks. Only the Custom versions will remain. This function is for DP users who experience bank problems in DP's popup menu when using custom banks - DP may keep showing the original bank, even when you selected the patch from a custom bank.
C->S: Converts Custom banks into Standard banks. This function is for ProTools users who want to use a patch file that contains Custom banks. CherryPicker looks at all the patches inside all the custom banks in the file, and creates a list of all the bank selects used by the patches. Then it creates new banks for each of the bank select combinations, and copies all the patches into the appropriate banks. It renames the patches by prepending the name of the Custom bank that contained the patch to the patch name. (So if you had a custom bank named "Synth Leads" with a patch named "Gargle", the new name would be "Synth Leads:Gargle")
Link: The link button lets you assign the same patchlist to several banks. It is unlikely you will ever need this unless your device uses channels as modes.
Import: Use the import button for importing banks from MOTU's midnam expander files. These contain the patchnames for expansion cards.
Find: The find button brings up an empty patchlist window with a search field at the top. Cherrypicker will look in every bank for patches with names that contain whatever you type into the field, and put the results into the patchlist. A button on the Find Window will automatically create a new custom bank containing the found patches.
A Custom Bank is just a collection of patches from different banks in your synth - grouped into a bank which you create and name. Custom Banks don't have any bank selects at the bank level - instead, each patch inside them is tagged with the bank select corresponding to the "Real" bank that it belongs to in your synth.
When your sequencer opens a patch file, it really doesn't care whether the banks in the patch file actually exist on your synth or not. As long as there is enough information for selecting the patch on your synth, it's happy.
If you organize the patches in your synth into 'sound categories' such as 'Basses', 'Synth Leads' etc, then you will see the new banks you create in the instrument's popup patch list inside apps like Cubase, Digital Performer, or Finale. As long as each patch keeps track of the 'real' bank it belongs to (which CherryPicker does), you are free to create as many 'custom banks' as you like inside a patch file.
ProTools does not support custom banks, Digital Performer and Cubase SX do. If the compatibility mode is set to 'ProTools' in the preferences window, CherryPicker will skip any banks that contain patches with different bank selects when you save the file. If you prefer, you can 'reverse' out patches in custom banks and let CherryPicker put them back into "Standard" banks by using the "C->S" button in the bank tab.
Here are the steps to creating a 'Custom Bank':
1. Create a new bank by clicking the '+' button in the Banks tab. Give it any name you want - like 'Synth Leads', but leave the bank selects set to '-'. (Each patch will use its own bank select).
CherryPicker can also create an entire set of custom banks corresponding to the GM or E-mu categories with one button push. Just use the option in the Add Bank dialog.
2. Open patchlists for existing banks and drag the patches you want for your new 'custom bank' into the patchlists you just created.
Check the section on Auditioning to learn how to use CherryPicker's auditioning features to help identify patches for your custom banks.
You can also use the 'Find' button in the Banks tab to bring up a list of all patches in all banks whose names match whatever you type into the 'Find' field. For example, if you enter 'bas' CherryPicker will list all patches whose name contains 'bas' - this will give you most of the basses, but also things like 'bassoon'.
The 'Find' window lets you create a bank automatically containing all the patches in its list. (you can select and delete the ones you don't want with the '-' button)
You can also just select the patches in the Find window, and drag them onto the patchlists of your custom banks.
Digital Performer Users: DP can sometimes get confused when you are using custom banks. This happens when you have selected a patch from a custom bank, and then click on the patch popup to select a different patch from the same collection. DP will often bring up the original source bank for the patch instead of the custom bank you actually selected the patch from.
There are 3 ways to work around this problem (backup the patch file first):
If you have categorized all the patches in your synth, delete the original factory banks
Remove patches from their original banks when adding them to custom banks
Click the 'ZapDups' button in the Banks Tab - this deletes the originals automatically
Click on the buttons in the bank list to open patchlist windows (the buttons are in the left hand column, labelled 'P' for Patchlist). You can keep as many patchlist windows open as you want. Expand the window to show a longer list.
Drag and Drop: You can drag and drop multiple patches between patchlists in CherryPicker - this is useful if you are creating custom banks. You can also drag patches around to change their order within a list.
Bank Selects: Select a patch, and then double click on either of the bank select fields to edit the values (B0 = bank select 0, B32 = bank select 32). Use '-' as the value if no bank selects are used.
To change the bank selects for all the patches, edit the bank selects in the bank list inside the 'Banks Tab'.
Name: Double click on a name and type a new value into the field to change it.
Ascii: The value in this field is sometimes used by sequencers as the patch 'label' in their patch windows. It is usually the number that your synth shows on its front panel display when you select the patch. It is NOT the same as the patch number, and is not used in the MIDI message to select a patch.
Patchlist Actions:
Add/Delete: Use the '+' and '-' buttons to add or delete patches. CherryPicker will delete all patches that are highlighted when you push the '-' button.
Sorting: Click on column headers to sort.
Copy: The 'Copy' button will drop down a sheet that lets you format fields you want copied to the pasteboard - useful if you want to paste the patch names into a program like Logic. There is also an option to create a text file with the same format. (See 'Exporting')
Renumber: The renumber button will drop down a sheet that lets you renumber the MIDI patch numbers and/or the Ascii display tags. If you select multiple patches first, you have the option of just renumbering the selected patches.
Find: Cherrypicker will select patches with names that contain whatever you type into the 'Find' field. If you drag one of them to a new position, the rest will be inserted at the same location. This can help you organize banks which contain patches for several different instruments.
ProTools does not support note lists.
Click on the Note List tab if you want to name individual notes used by one or more patches. Since drum kits sometimes only play on specific channels, make sure that the correct ChannelSet is selected in the popup if you want to hear notes through your synth when you click on them.
Press the '+' button under the Note List column to add a new list - it will also open a new Note List window. You can open up an existing Note List window by clicking on the small button in the left hand column next to the list name.
Each Note List window, or “drum map”, contains a name for each MIDI note in its range. Click in the column headers to sort the list in different ways.
Add notes by specifying the MIDI note number range in the 'From:' 'To:' fields and then push the '+' button. Delete notes by selecting them and pressing the '-' button.
Note Groups define groups of notes which are mutually exclusive - like closed and open hi-hats - you can't play both at the same time. Use the '+' button to add a note group, then drag the notes you want from the Note window into the 'Notes In Group' list.
All Note Lists are available in a popup menu in each Patch List window when a patch is selected. Use this popup to attach a note list to a patch.
Neither Digital Performer (4.5.2) nor ProTools use controller lists.
Click on the Controllers tab if you want to customize MIDI controller names, and your DAW app supports them.
Click on the '+' button to add a controller list. CherryPicker will add a controller list named "Default Control Names", which includes the names of most of the standard controllers.
You can edit the names. The list will be saved in the patch file by Cherry Picker, although your sequencer may not actually read it.
Although many patch file formats allow you to define multiple modes - with each mode linked to its own private collection of channels, banks, and patches - in practice none of the major sequencers support multi-mode patch files. They will read patchfiles containing multiple modes, but provide no way of selecting different modes when you want to assign patches to instruments.
CherryPicker supports multi-mode patch files. It allows you to assign channel sets, banks, and patchlists to each mode. Just remember that its unlikely that your sequencer will handle this information in a way you'd expect.
So what do you do if your synth has multiple modes, and you want to be able to send patch changes to each of the different modes? (eg: Perfomance, Multiset, GM, Preset etc.)
Here are a couple of ways to support multiple modes - but remember to manually switch modes using the front panel controls of your synth unless your sequencer actually transmits them.
Make each mode a different instrument.
This solves all the problems and gives you the most flexibility.
1. Choose "New" and make a new device for each of the modes. Use the model name field to describe the mode - eg: SY77-Multis, SY77-Voices etc.
2. Click on the AudioMIDI Setup icon in the New Device Setup Assistant, and add each new device to the same interface port as the original. (Delete the original device in AMS).
3. When you have all the new 'Mode' instruments ready, open them all up in CherryPicker together with the original 'multi-mode' file.
4. Select all the banks for a specific mode from the original, and just drag and drop them onto the bank list for each of the new 'single-mode' instruments. If there any Note Lists, drag them over too.
5. Remember to save!
Remember to manually switch modes using the front panel controls of your synth unless your sequencer actually transmits them.
Split a single mode's 16 channels between all the modes.
Depending on your multi-timbral requirements and the way your device uses channels for its different modes, you might be able to reserve specific channels within a single 'mode' for patchlist banks that actually belong to separate modes.
1. Create a new 'master' mode. Click on the Device tab and then on the "+" button under the list of modes. Give the new mode any name you like.
2. Notice that CherryPicker automatically creates a channel set for the new mode, and allocates all 16 channels to it. Use the "Active Channels" field to free up channels for the other modes - for example: Type '1-8' to free up channels 9-16.
3. Assign channel sets to the new mode. You cannot add channel sets unless there are unassigned channels.You will need a channel set for each 'real' mode, so decide which channels each mode will use.
4. Move all banks to the new channel sets. Click on the 'Patch Banks' tab to return to the list of banks. Select all banks that belong to a single mode (using shift_click or CMD_click), and then click on the column header that says 'Channel Sets'. Use the popup to find one of the new channel sets you added in step 3 above. Repeat for each mode, assigning the banks for each mode to a different channel set.
5. Delete all the original modes. Finally, go back to the 'Device' tab, select each of the original modes and use the '-' button to delete them - one by one.
You should now have a single mode with channel sets for each of your 'real' modes - and all your banks will now only play on a subset of channels.
Each mode contains 16 MIDI channels that you can group however you like into one or more 'Channel Sets'. Each patch bank plays on a specific channel set.
Use the Channel Set editor in the 'Device' tab to create and edit channel sets.
You cannot add channel sets if all 16 channels in a mode are already assigned. In other words, if the mode already has a channel set that uses 'all channels' (1-16), or if it contains several channel sets that combined use all the 16 channels, then the '+' button will be disabled. Remove channels from a channel set to free them up.
Use the "Audition Ch" field for each channel set to set the MIDI channel for CherryPicker to use when it sends patch changes, Keyboard thru, or plays audition MIDI files.
Use the "Active Channels" field to change channels for a channel set. Use the following format:
Enter the channel numbers separated by commas. You can specify ranges by using a dash: start_channel - end_channel, and can mix these elements together however you wish.
For example: 1-7, 9, 11-16 means: channels 1 through 7 plus channel 9 plus channels 11 through 16.
Use the popup column in the 'Patch Banks' tab to assign channel sets to banks. To change more than one bank at the same time, just select all the banks you want to change, and then click on the 'Channel Set' column name.
CherryPicker uses MIDI to send patch changes to your device, and also to let you play a keyboard or a MIDI file through the device so you can audition the patches when you select them.
Click on the 'MIDI' tab to connect your synth and keyboard by using the popup menus. Your settings for each synth are saved once you set them. There's also a switch to turn MIDI off if you don't want to trigger patch changes when you click on patches.
By default,
CherryPicker sends MIDI on the lowest channel for each channel set. You can override this by clicking on the 'Device' tab, selecting the appropriate channel set, and entering a different channel in the "Audition Channel" field.
Since some synths use a specific Channel Set for drum sounds, there is a popup menu below the Note List table (click on the Note Lists tab to see it) that lets you choose the channel set to hear drum sounds on when you click on a note name in a Note Window.
CherryPicker sends a 'Patch Change" MIDI message to your device whenever you select a patch in a patch window - either by clicking, or using the up/down arrows.
The simplest way to audition the sound of a selected patch is to select a keyboard (click on the Midi tab to set up MIDI connections) - you will then hear the selected patch whenever you play notes on your keyboard.
There are 2 other ways to audition patches in CherryPicker without having to go back to your keyboard every time to play some notes - auditioning from a MIDI file, or from a track playing in your sequencer.
Both these methods make it much easier to scan patches when you are trying to find 'just the right sound' for a part, or when you are putting a custom bank together.
MIDI file auditioning
CherryPicker has a built-in MIDI file player, which can be triggered every time you select a patch in a patch window - either by clicking, or using the up/down arrows. You can also use the Play/Stop button to repeat an already selected patch.
CherryPicker allows you to select individual tracks inside a MIDI file, which makes it simple to group different riffs inside "instrument" files. If you do this, name each track according to its style. Check your sequencer's manual for information on creating MIDI files - CherryPicker plays type 1 and type 0.
Add or delete MIDI files by selecting "Audition Files..." under the File menu (or pressing [Cmd]+'M') and using the "+/-" buttons.
Select the track(s) in the MIDI file you want to hear using the checkboxes in the track list
Open up a patchlist window. You will see the audition controls at the bottom.
Click the "Auto" checkbox to trigger the file everytime you click on a different patch, or use the up/down arrows. Use the "Play/Stop" button to trigger manually.
Use the sliders to adjust the playback to suit the patch you are auditioning. Click on the slider labels to reset them to zero.
(CherryPicker stores copies of the MIDI files in a special format inside: /Library/Application Support/CherryPicker/Audition)
Sequencer track auditioning
If you run your sequencer and CherryPicker simultaneously, CherryPicker will send patch changes while the sequencer is playing.
You might find this an easier way to try diffrent patches than by using the popup bank lists.
Make sure that CherryPicker is set to use the same channel as the track playing in your sequence.
Note that this will be problematic if you have embedded patch changes inside your track. Also, CherryPicker cannot insert a patch change into your sequence automatically. When you find a patch you like, you'll have to navigate to it using your sequencer's popups, or insert it into your track as a series of bank change and patch change messages.
CherryPicker contains an editor for MIDI Device files (middev's) that you can access from the 'Device' tab.
Use the "+" and "-" buttons to add or delete entries.
Use the 'Copy' button to copy all settings, then use the popups to navigate to another entry and hit 'Paste' if you want to clone settings from one model to another.
Clicking 'Save' updates the middev file immediately.
The path that CherryPicker uses when scanning middevs is set in the Preferences window. This is normally /Library/Audio/MIDI Devices.
The editor will not be accessible if any middev file contains duplicate entries. If it does, the button to launch the editor will be titled: "Show Duplicates". If you click it, a window will appear listing the entries and file paths that have duplicates.
If you click on a duplicate entry, CherryPicker will open its file in TextEdit. Use the "Find" command in TextEdit and enter the model name in order to locate the duplicates. Then Choose which one to keep, and delete the other(s).
![(0,0) (32,16) [0] <F0 43 10 29 04 00 00 06 00 00 F7> <F0 43 id+10 29 04 00 00 07 00 02 F7>](gfx/sysex.jpg)
In the XML that CherryPicker generates, this looks like:
Use the "+" and "-" buttons to add or delete entries.
Use the 'Copy' button to copy all settings, then use the popups to navigate to another entry and hit 'Paste' if you want to clone settings from one model to another.
Clicking 'Save' updates the middev file immediately.
The path that CherryPicker uses when scanning middevs is set in the Preferences window. This is normally /Library/Audio/MIDI Devices.
The editor will not be accessible if any middev file contains duplicate entries. If it does, the button to launch the editor will be titled: "Show Duplicates". If you click it, a window will appear listing the entries and file paths that have duplicates.
If you click on a duplicate entry, CherryPicker will open its file in TextEdit. Use the "Find" command in TextEdit and enter the model name in order to locate the duplicates. Then Choose which one to keep, and delete the other(s).