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The MIDI editors
3. Make sure the device is set up to receive SysEx mes-
sages (often, receiving SysEx is turned off by default).
4. If necessary, put the device in “Standby to Receive
System Exclusive” mode.
5. Play back the data.
Some advice
• Do not transmit more data than you need. If all you want is a
single program, do not send them all, it will only make it harder
to find the one you want. Usually, you can specify exactly what
you want to send.
• If you want the sequencer to dump the pertinent sounds to
your instrument each time you load a project, put the SysEx
data in a silent “count-in” before the project itself starts.
• If the dump is very short (for instance, a single sound) you can
put it in the middle of the project to re-program a device on the
fly. However, you can achieve the same effect by using Program
Change. This is definitely preferable, since less MIDI data is
sent and recorded. Some devices may be set up to dump the
settings for a sound as soon as you select it on the front panel.
• If you create parts with useful SysEx dumps, you can put these
on a special muted track. When you want to use one of them,
drag it to an empty unmuted track and play it back from there.
• Do not transmit several SysEx dumps to several instruments at
the same time.
• Make a note of the current device ID setting of the instrument.
If you change this, the instrument may refuse to load the dump
later.
Recording System Exclusive
parameter changes
Often you can use SysEx to remotely change individual
settings in a device, e.g. open a filter, select a waveform,
change the decay of the reverb etc. Many devices are also
capable of transmitting changes made on the front panel
as SysEx messages. These can be recorded in Cubase AI,
and thus incorporated into a regular MIDI recording.
Here’s how it works: let’s say you open up a filter while
playing some notes. In that case, you will record both the
notes and the SysEx messages generated when you
opened of the filter. When you play it back, the sound
changes exactly like it did when you recorded it.
1. Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu, se-
lect the MIDI–MIDI Filter page and make sure that SysEx is
recorded, i.e. the SysEx checkbox in the Record section is
deactivated.
2. Make sure the instrument is actually set to transmit
changes of front panel controls as SysEx messages.
3. Record normally.
When you’re done, you can check that the events were recorded pro-
perly in the List Editor.
Editing System Exclusive messages
While SysEx events are shown in the List Editor, their en-
tire content is not (only the beginning of the message is
displayed in the Comment column for the event). Also, you
cannot edit the event (other than moving it) as you can
with other event types in the List Editor.
Instead, you have to use the MIDI SysEx Editor for this.
• To open the MIDI SysEx Editor for an event, click in the
Comments column for the event in the List Editor.
The display shows the entire message on one or several
lines. SysEx messages always begin with F0 and end with
F7 with a number of arbitrary bytes in between. If the mes-
sage contains more bytes than fit on one line, it continues
on the next. The Address indication to the left helps you
find out on which position in the message a certain value
resides.
You can edit all values except for the first (F0) and last one
(F7).