RX2 to UNIFY tutorial

Thanks @thsve 

This is useful in helping me piece the process together. The only difference for me is that I don't have Recycle but will use Reason to split the RX2 files. The spreadsheet should also help to make the sfz file more quickly. 

The only thing I would change is that the folders under each library folder should be called "MIDI Files" and "Samples" (capitalized exactly that way). It's OK to use the un-capitalized name "samples" for the folder containing the WAVs (one level below "Samples").

@thsve I have just got this working using Reason, so thanks again for your video and spreadsheet. The conversion of the .rx2 files to .wav in Reason was easy but I couldn't get it to output the MIDI file. Anyway, I finally worked out that if you double click on the wav folder header it opens in Dr OcotoRex and from there you can "copy loop to track" to make the MIDI file. I had to rename the wav output files but used Magic File Renamer which makes it much easier to batch rename. Your spreadsheet worked fine 👍 

@getdunne I used the folder names that you already used in the standard libraries just to be on the safe side.  

@getdunne

Ok, thank you for the input. I will change that.

I’m working on further automating the process mostly because I think it’s fun and that I obviously are too nerdy 🤗, and the fact that I have quite a few RX2-files that would be great to have in UNIFY.

Keep up the good work with UNIFY both you and John!

@thsve

Thank you for the kind words, and THANK YOU for sharing this and putting the video on YouTube. This will help a lot of existing Unify users, and may attract some new ones.

Would you be able to edit the Description text of your video (I think you can do that after posting it. If not, maybe just add a comment.) to explain about the folder names?

@getdunne

You are welcome!

I have put up a new version of the video containing the corrections. Actually there was a small "bug" in the spreadsheet also so a new version is uploaded there also.

New video: https://youtu.be/y_KJhB2M1h0

What is the problem if naming as I did, I didn't experience any obvious problems?

The process is really pure basics, but maybe it will evolve further.  

@thsve

MIDIBox looks for a folder called "MIDI Files". Guru Sampler looks for one called "Samples". Your MIDI file links will probably work even if you use a different folder name. Calling your library's samples folder "samples" instead of "Samples" will work on a Windows PC (where case is not significant in the file system) but not on a Mac (where it is).

@getdunne

The attached picture shows my folders structure. I keep my patches in sub-folders, the only problem is that my presets images (Media folder) are shown only for presets placed in the main folder. Is the sub-folders support possible?

@robert-p

Unify has little support for sub-folders under the Patches folder at the moment, BUT if you put a 96x96 PNG or JPG image (just one) into each of your sub-folders, that image will be displayed for all the patches in that folder.

Out of curiosity, why do you organize your folders this way, when Unify won't show this folder structure?

@getdunne

Thanks for the tip with the image! Its easier for me to work with sub-folders while I'm experimenting with my own patches as I haven't developed any naming scheme yet:)

In my case keeping my patches in separate sub-folders has paid off: I placed the images as @getdunne suggested and now each category has its own picture - I couldn't achieve it if all my patches were in the same folder:) Great feature, thanks!

I attached the screenshot of multiple instances of Unify running on my PC to show you how I utilised a "Patch in Sub-folder Image Support" feature (and to make you all jealous because the Unify looks even more sexy now;)

@thsve I have been using your spreadsheet a lot and it works well. The only issue I had was that the output from Reason named the files in a different way to how your spreadsheet was expecting them from Recycle. Initially I renamed the files using Magic File Renamer which worked but was a hassle.

So I have now modified your spreadsheet to accept the file naming as it comes out of Reason and it has sped up the process a lot. I will probably make a batch file to do the whole process after the Reason editing which should speed things up further. Thanks again for the spreadsheet which certainly saved me a fair bit of time. 

If anyone else who uses Reason wants a copy of the modified spreadsheet are you OK for me to post it here? I only made a minor modification to your version on the output sheet to make the file naming work for Reason output.

Alternatively, I list the changes I made below...

- column Q to starts from 0 instead of 1

- the formula I used in column R is ="["&TEXT(Q2,"0")&"]" 

@zinct

I’m glad that my effort was to any use. I'm just about to further simplify the process. I am removing the spreadsheet and replaces it with a script (Powershell). The process becomes much simpler and faster. Hopefully I'm done later today. Will publish the script and a document with instructions when I'm done, there will be no video this time.

@thsve thanks, that sounds even better. I will wait for your powershell version! 

The new version will not be ready today.

I haven't decided if I want a "flatter" or "deeper" library directory structure in UNIFY. The "deeper" one is done. Probably do both variants.

Watching Skippy's livestream right now 😀.

I'm also watching 😎

Look forward to it when it's ready. 

Here is my modified process for importing splitted Recycle files into UNIFY. This process replaces the earlier one that was based on a spreadsheet. This is based on Powershell script and should be more streamlined than the one before. The included zip file containes;

- "Manual" in PDF format (RX2 To UNIFY_1.pdf)
- Two different script files:
-- RX2_To_UNIFY_Deep_1.ps1
-- RX2_To_UNIFY_Flat_1.ps1

They do the same job, but creates different file structures. Test both and choose the one that suites your situation best. Both works in UNIFY.

I would appreciate feedback and suggestions.

Thanks @thsve 

I tested RX2_To_Unify_Flat and it worked fine provided I renamed the output WAV files from Reason.

Reason names the exported WAV files without leading zeroes....   filename [0], filename [1], filename [2] etc etc up to filename [9] and then filename [10], filename [11] etc.

Without renaming these your script makes 2 sfz files (one for 0 to 9 and another for 10 onwards etc) and the lokey/hikey designations are wrong. I used Magic File Renamer (I have made a preset for this now) to rename them to be filename [00], [01] etc and your script then worked as expected and I successfully created a Unify patch with the sfz created by your script.

Thanks for your efforts.

All I need now is something to batch convert from .rx2 to .wav + MID. I haven't found anything on Windows that will do this.

@zinct

Ok. The script is based of the way Recycle number the slices (ending with 001 to nnn(number of slices) so it is understandable that it doesn’t work correctly. Glad that you could fix it. I would also like to find a way to batch conversion. Maybe I can use Powershell script to automatically open, export and exit Recycle for all files in a folder or something. I am new to scripting so everything takes longer than neccessry, but thanks to Mr. Google I get there😇.

I have actually further developed the script to automaticly copy the structure to the UNIFY library, but since I don’t want to be responsible for trashing others UNIFY library due to my bad programming I will not publish it🤗.

I have som more ideas that I will continue with. This is unfortunately too fun.

Sorry, missed that you mentioned that the lovel/hivel designations are wrong.

In what way, when I run it it looks OK. It looks as in @getdunnes example in the UNIFY manual.

When I run the script I get:

<group> lokey=36 hikey=36 pitch_keycenter=36
<region> lovel = 0 hivel = 127 sample=Samples/Drum_Fill_02 001.wav
<group> lokey=37 hikey=37 pitch_keycenter=37
<region> lovel = 0 hivel = 127 sample=Samples/Drum_Fill_02 002.wav
<group> lokey=38 hikey=38 pitch_keycenter=38
<region> lovel = 0 hivel = 127 sample=Samples/Drum_Fill_02 003.wav
<group> lokey=39 hikey=39 pitch_keycenter=39
<region> lovel = 0 hivel = 127 sample=Samples/Drum_Fill_02 004.wav
<group> lokey=40 hikey=40 pitch_keycenter=40
<region> lovel = 0 hivel = 127 sample=Samples/Drum_Fill_02 005.wav
<group> lokey=41 hikey=41 pitch_keycenter=41
<region> lovel = 0 hivel = 127 sample=Samples/Drum_Fill_02 006.wav
<group> lokey=42 hikey=42 pitch_keycenter=42
<region> lovel = 0 hivel = 127 sample=Samples/Drum_Fill_02 007.wav

Posted by: @thsve

@zinct

Ok. The script is based of the way Recycle number the slices (ending with 001 to nnn(number of slices) so it is understandable that it doesn’t work correctly. Glad that you could fix it. I would also like to find a way to batch conversion. Maybe I can use Powershell script to automatically open, export and exit Recycle for all files in a folder or something. I am new to scripting so everything takes longer than neccessry, but thanks to Mr. Google I get there😇.

I have actually further developed the script to automaticly copy the structure to the UNIFY library, but since I don’t want to be responsible for trashing others UNIFY library due to my bad programming I will not publish it🤗.

I have som more ideas that I will continue with. This is unfortunately too fun.

---

 

You have done a great job so far and looks like you are having fun doing it 😎 I used to dabble with old DOS shell scripts but Powershell looks like a whole new ball game. Would be interested to hear how you get on with automating the REX --> Wav conversion part.

By the way, the output was only wrong when I fed it something it wasn't expecting i.e. the filenames provided by Reason without renaming them. As I said, it then produced two SFZ files with the wrong lokey/hikey designations. It's not something that you need to fix, I just need to rename the files or modify your script to cope with wonky filenames 😀 .

@zinct

I have made some progress with automating conversion of RX-files. It is not pretty, but it does the job simpler and faster than manually 😀 .

I found a free program, AutoHotKey, that allows you to script a lot of things e.g. keystrokes and commands. I've created a "simple" script that loops a directory with RX2-files that I choose and for each rx2-file it:
- opens Recycle.exe
- opens the recent file
- sends a number of keystrokes to Recycle to export the file to  the RecycleFiles directory.
- closes Recycle.exe
- moves to next file
- ......

It is just start the script by a "hotkey" and just watch Recycle work by it self as if you have done it manually😎.

@thsve that seems like a good workaround. I will try it on Reason. Thanks

Hi - late to the party here, but this is something I am interested in pursuing.  Sadly I see the YouTube video is gone.  Is there any link to get started with this now?  Would be great if it would work in the Bjoern Sample Mapper, but I guess rex is not compatible with that.  

Thanks

Robert Peveler

I note John has made a lot of patches in the latest RAD waves library with RX2 grooves - do we know how he does it, or is it a trade secret?!

@robertpeveler 

I made this video, https://youtu.be/dhqkWOsVbqk , quite a long time ago. It was made before I was aware of Bjoern’s suite of programs and very early in my AutoHotKey journey. Some of the information is still valid combined with Johns latest tutorials tutorials.

In short Iwould do like this today:

1. Use Recycle (Propellerheads) to slice the REX-file to wavfiles and a midifile. I am not aware of any alternative to this.

2. Use SampleMapper to create a sfzfile with the wav-slices.

3. Create a patch in Unify with MidiBox and GuruSampler using ths sfz and the midifile.

Hope this short summary helps! If not, don’t hesitate to ask.

Many thanks that's really helpful - is there anything specific about where in sample mapper you put the slices?  Do you start on note 001 or does it depend what the MIDI file is looking for?  I have Recycle, so I understand about extracting the slices and the MIDI file, but presumably they need to correspond with each other when creating the sfz?

Best wishes

Robert

I have alerted John to this, and suggested that he consider making a new video to cover the process, updated for the latest methods including Bjorn's tools.

@getdunne - Thanks!

@robertpeveler 

It was as I said a while ago I did this, but I think the midi-file created in Recycle, starts from C1 and upwards so the mapping in SampleMapper should match that.   

Hi again - some progress - I can see that in the particular RX2 that I have split up, the midi file starts at C3 so I mapped the slices that way, and I can play the individual slices from there with Guru sampler starting at that note.  However I still can't get the MIDI file to talk to it from the file player - all I get is a very quiet ticking - most odd!  Is there something in the settings of the MIDI file player that has to be adjusted?  It looks like the RX2 is a 4 bar loop for one thing, so presumably I need to set 1/2 time to sync.  But I don't know if the envelope settings are out of adjustment or something?

Posted by: @robertpeveler

↑

Hi again - some progress - I can see that in the particular RX2 that I have split up, the midi file starts at C3 so I mapped the slices that way, and I can play the individual slices from there with Guru sampler starting at that note.  However I still can't get the MIDI file to talk to it from the file player - all I get is a very quiet ticking - most odd!  Is there something in the settings of the MIDI file player that has to be adjusted?  It looks like the RX2 is a 4 bar loop for one thing, so presumably I need to set 1/2 time to sync.  But I don't know if the envelope settings are out of adjustment or something?

Yes, there are two things you need to do, when using unpitched drum-type samples:

1. In Guru Sampler, change the second pop-up menu at the top left (where it says "Master") from "Pitched" to "Unpitched".
2. In MIDIBox, make sure the "Note->Coarse" checkbox is OFF. If it was on, open the Guru Sampler GUI and make sure the "Coarse" knob (also in the "Master" section) is set to zero. You can do this quickly by double-clicking the knob.

Great thanks - will give that a go.  As always, fantastic and swift support from Shane!

Bjoern's Sample Mapper is perfect for RX2 mapping - when you drag over all of the .wav samples to Sample Mapper, it will pop up the import options window.

Simply Click the dot on the left where it says "Start", leave it at 36 (that = 1st sample will be on C1) but change Step to 1 so it loads the samples in chromatically. Hit "Import" and then "Save As" and give it a name for the RX2 loop the samples came from.

Drum Loop libraries are in the works along with way too many other libraries. Not enough days in a year for all of them. 😀 

I will make a video showing this and then TRY to make a short video condensing everything into 1 min! Wish me luck!

Thanks so much - going now.  I thought that as the MID file showed note 60 for the first slice it should map to that, but that doesn't work; as John says you have to start at note 36 and up.  I did notice that if I used "transpose" in Guru sampler to raise the pitch that seemed to sort of work, but not correctly.  But this does a great job.

Will look forward to the video.