VOX ToneLab Patch Exchange

Sorry for the long installation. I recognized that I am using .Net functions at some point in time, but decided to leave it that way since I was too lazy to search for the "old style" VB functions all the time. Also, when you use "automatic updates", you will have .Net anyhow. Depending on how you keep your system up to date the installation time will vary. On my system, it is just a few seconds.

I created a csv for all the tlp files on my system and found that I have >30.000 patches! Having a closer look, I discovered that there are LOTS of duplicates and "empty" patches. 15.000 empty ones(!), 60 patches called " VH", 160 called " SOLO", 80 called " ZEP" etc. - and most of them use the same models. Finally, I found just 2 "VH" patches that use different models, both coming from the presets I believe. For "ZEP", there are just 8 different combinations of models used, 7 of them use the same pedal/amp/cab which is the one from the TL presets...

Settings of course can differ, but the base is always very similar, and actually in most cases very close to what is suggested by the presets.

Finally, I also found that I have 2 or 3 "corrupted" tlps that break TLP_Quickview (and Soundeditor as well) when you look at a specific patch.

The corrupt tlp files were "HellsBellsAcDc.tlp" and "PGilbert ritm.tlp". The first patches in there are fine, but somewhere at bank 14 or so Soundeditor/QuickView crash. Probably just an illegal entry somewhere, like "Amp 23" and there are only 16. I did not check in detail, I've had enough hex-editing for a while now

Since a 9k TLP file contains 96 patches, it just takes 300 of them for 30.000 patches. Several posted tlp files are 9k, but only the first or first few patches are something special and the rest is empty or "default", so you get LOTS of duplicates. I got my patches from the German Korg Guitar Forum, from your website, "dboys" did sent his collection a while ago, some are from http://support.bluecrystalsoftware.com/patches/ToneLab/, and some came from - I don't remember. I really lost track of where they all came from.

In TLP QuickView, if you open a tlp and then use "Tools/create CSV for directory" from the menu, it will go to the directory where you opened the TLP and create a CSV for ALL tlp files it finds in this directory (348 tlp files in my case). The button "Save as CSV File" just takes the currently opened tlp file, so the CSV will either be one patch or 96 patches.

Regarding .net 2.0 - hmmm... I don't really know. Looked on my other computer and it is not there either, just .net 1.1 is there. Maybe it did get on my system when I downloaded VB Express from MS, not via automatic updates?

Kaal

I don't think you missed something. For me, there are 3 main topics regarding quickview:

1) I had this idea that it should be possible to create the ultimative patch database for the hundreds of tlp files around, where you can search for patches using various search criteria. The same amp model alone already can sound very different as you know, and in addition to playing around with the controls yourself you could just load the tlps using this amp model and listen what other people achieved.
I also missed a way to add comments to patches (sound/artist/song/guitar/pickups/author/usage hints/rating etc.), which I now can easily add to the Excel sheet. Tonelab.net and valvetronix.net categorize patches by style or artist, but there is more to it. You might want to search for Santana-like patches using the boutique amp and singlecoils for example, or see which models other people used to create Black Sabbath patches .
The very first step to do this is that you have to extract the settings from the tlp files to a database - or a spreadsheet. That's what I did. With a spreadsheet, it is easier to export to a database than manually copying the settings from the soundeditor GUI, and easier to search "by model" or "by name" than in Soundeditor or any other patch source on the web I am aware of.
Will I continue in this direction and create the ultimative ToneLab patch database? No. I am already happy with what I can do now. Maybe someone else picks up the idea and can re-use what I did.

2) My curiosity and inquiring mind - I simply wanted to find out whether I could uncover the contents of a tlp file and do some coding by myself. It was kind of a brain, logic, learning and also endurance exercise and I enjoyed it a lot.

3) The "visualization" was actually a side-effect that evolved during programming. I just needed something to check whether I interpret the tlp contents correctly. I compared tlp files side-by-side with Soundeditor when testing TLP QuickView.
During that, I actually recognized that Soundeditor needs some concentration since it shows so many details. I have to admit that I suffer from a color-weakness (as almost 50% of all males do, but only a few are aware of it - does your girlfriend usually find more strawberries than you?), so I sometimes need a second look to see whether for example an amp is activated or not. Also, since the data is a bit spread around in soundeditor, it takes several seconds to understand the gear that is being simulated, and whether playing aids are active or not. TLP QuickView does not show the details, but I can see at the first glance what gear is in a patch, the order of MDR, and whether Exp1/Exp2/Control Switch will do something. Some patches use an effect that creates an unique sound, but the effect is deactivated in the patch and can be activated using the control switch. This is rather hard to recognize in Soundeditor, but visible at the first glance in QuickView. If you forget to try the control switch, you miss this sound. On the other hand, some patches just dont use some of the playing aids. TLP QuickView shows that - if a playing aid is shown in red, try it.

Kaal

Hi everyone. New here.

Kaal, I'd be interested in the VB source code for your viewer. I noticed you offered it in the Readme in the zip archive file. My ultimate goal is to create something similiar for the ToneLab LE. It also might facitate a somewhat automated conversion between the SE and LE.

I'm a pretty lightweight programmer, but I wade in pretty deep sometimes when needed.(And then forget it all because of lack of use.) I have some work projects that I'm going to try and use VBA to help myself out with so I can justify the study time needed.

I just noticed you mentioned in another thread that there is no MIDI implementation docs for the LE, but I'm trying to locate something on that. (I emailed a request to Korg/Vox, etc.) Even if I come up empty handed, I still see value in studying how you are doing it for the SE.

Thanks.

Regards,

Mark

is there not a MAC program that runs windows programs ?

www.selfdistruction.com

Hi Mark,

see your PM.

I looked into the TLLE file format a bit and it looks pretty similar, so it also seems to be a pure "MIDI Dump" collection with some header string. The obvious differences to expect are:

120 patches per "full" file instead of 96
some different effects (with different controls)
Pedal COMP has lost the Attack control on TLLE
global differences (global EQ, more output modes)

I described the differences I found between TLLE and TLSE in http://www.tonelab.net/node/869 a bit, that could help as well on your quest.

With a bit of "CSI attitude" you should be able to find out the missing links - I would try to change the "unknown" settings one by one and look at the resulting changes in the files using a hex editor.

regards
Kaal