For the editor to work, you'll need to enable transmit and receive. The editor sends out a sysex request for the identity of the synth and can only receive data from the Forte by sending out a dump request over MIDI. There's no way to initiate it from the Forte and have the editor in "listen only mode".

There have certainly been bugs with Soundtower editors in the past, and some still persist. I'd recommend backing up your Forte data as best you can before playing around with the editor.

Puppeteer,

Is there an setting on the forte to toggle send
And receive?
I'm not finding it.
As I said before, midi send and receive are
set and the field is darkened blue
background like it is selected.
There are no other options I'm seeing to adjust.
Am I being daft here or what?

And yes, full back up.
If it all goes up in flames I can initialize and reload
the OS and the database from scratch.
That is one handy feature.

I've kept them all dated so I've got several restore
points so to speak.

Thanks for any further advise.

I really really need to program this beast.
Modifying presets has run its course for me.
I've gotten to the point I have to use an
Eventide H9 and a 5 band parametric to get
things more dialed in. And having to midi map
these per patch and or use out B to buss things and mix
outside the box.

Kind of a pain.
I know the efx in the Forte are killer.

Thanks again,
John

Wow!
Is nobody using the Forte editor?
Is everybody waiting on full VAST to drop?
Is that going to happen soon or do I need to abandone the idea of crafting my own sound and let it be
a preset player like the old pc88?

I've been not thinking about it and getting by with it as is tinkering around the edges.

I know, I know. It's a stage piano. That does a lot of things very well and I love it for what it is.
When I bought it that was all it was going to be.

That carrot of full editing has been out there for awhile now tainting my view of
what this beast can do.
I can't get this editor to talk at all. I'm frustrated and about to go back to two boards again.
Just so I can edit something besides MIDI controls and effects levels..

If I get a pc361 I could edit there and drop it in the Forte but then I've spent a lot of money for an editor.
Any Forte users have a suggestion on a second board that plays well with no overlap?
Nord? Waldorf? Sledge? A Virus would be kick ass but $$$$. Maybe the Snow and a Roland JP boutique.

Now I'm wandering, shopping, and not playing.
I'll figure something out.

John

Hi,

Anybody that wants to test the VAST editing in Forte before it gets released can join the Beta group. Drop me an email to fran ( a t ) ycrdi ( d o t ) com

Thanks,

... the VAST editing in Forte ...

Just only to be sure ...

Does "full VAST editing" already include full editing of FX chains in Forte or will this (editing FX chains) be a later update.
What´s the estimated release time ?

D.C.

Hi,

It will include FX editing.

Release date not public yet. More info around NAMM 2016.

Hi,

It will include FX editing.

Release date not public yet. More info around NAMM 2016.

Thank you !

You really mean (summer) NAMM 2016,-

or winter NAMM 2015 ... ?

D.C.

Hi,

Winter NAMM is in January 2016.

https://www.namm.org/thenammshow/2016

End of January 22-26. 10 weeks.
It will be a big deal for the show.
If they get user sampling in it will be a big red giant killer.
Depending on how that sampling is implemented and the limit of samples,
it could bite into Kronos market share too.

I had a Kronos for awhile as my main gig rig.
Complicated wide open architecture.
They finally just got the font lettering taller than a gnat's ear.
As long as you didn't need to do anything unprepared it was alright.

Can you tell I can't wait?

John

Wow!
Is nobody using the Forte editor?
Is everybody waiting on full VAST to drop?
Is that going to happen soon or do I need to abandone the idea of crafting my own sound and let it

John

I've been using the Sound Tower editor for the Forte (PC Win XP and USB) since I bought the Forte back in may. Wouldn't have bought the Forte if I couldn't have edited the sounds.

The ST editor works well enough, although the published version is a bit flaky, especially around insert effects chains. Kurzweil haven't released an update to support the increased number of zones in a multi either, or Multi librarian. But in time I'm sure they will.

I've been able to a fair bit of sound design on the Forte with it, so I'm very glad it exists. My view is that without it the Forte would be pretty weak. I think the presets that come with it are 'gloss only' and do not stand up to the needs of serious gigging. But with the editor I've but able to turn the Forte into a Nord Stage 2 slayer without any trouble.

I have only used the ST editor with the Forte connected to the PC via USB. I have found that I have to reassign the USB devices within the editor more or less every time I use it. But this may simply be because I also have a Lexicon Omega audio midi interface connected to the PC.

Personally although I think it's great that the Forte will get full VAST and effects chain editing, there will always be a place for the ST editor because the screen layouts give you a much better overview and the controls are grouped in such a way to make it much faster to edit. So when it works the ST editor really does improve work flow.

Happy Days!

You have it working. I'm jealous.
Maybe I need to try it on a Windows machine.
I can't get anything out of it with a Mac.
It's almost like its a demo version.
You can bop around and do
things within the program but even though it pops up
in MIDI setup it won't communicate at all except I can select
a program on the forte and the change is mirrored on the ST programs
initial window that looks like the Forte screen.
That's it. Frustrating as hell.
I know it will work on the instrument so I'll just wait.
I used a Motif for a good bit of time so difficult menu structures I can handle.
It would be pretty difficult to be nuttier than a motif.

John

I used a Motif for a good bit of time so difficult menu structures I can handle.
It would be pretty difficult to be nuttier than a motif.

John

Lololololol Try a DX7? Or possibly my 'least favourite but most worth it' the SCI Prophet 2000. Now they really did have interfaces to die over.

I had a Prophet 2000 rack brought to me
for a "Figure it out for me" kind of the thing.
I Just didn't have the time. But it sounded good.

At least it had some real switch buttons instead of the all those membrane things.
I had an ARP Quadra and those membrane switches were not good.

And yes. The lovely DX. I never could master it but I used one for awhile mated with a Prophet T-8.
I was on the cutting edge of MIDI. The 2 MIDI'd together were pretty fat.
I just bought programs and dabbled in altering to figure out what did what.
It was totally alien to what I was used to.
Something about that rich tone though just grabs your attention.
I still have a TX7. Nothing nails that sound.

John

Just in case anybody is in trying like me to use soundtower.
I have now attempted the PC version and get the same results.
I get the same results as the Mac version.

1) I can play the Forte with the onscreen keyboard in the editor.
I can see notes in the Forte midi tools too.
2) I can see the image in the editor change to match the Forte's screen splash visuals and info.
The program numbers change throughout but because I can't get the data from the Forte
the image and info such as name, layers, etc. are blank.
3) If I try MIDI-receive data and put in a single program the progress bar does the ghost blob left to right thing.
I tried grabbing everything first and let it sit for 30 minutes.
But nothing happens. I let it sit for 5 minutes. It should have been close to instantaneous.

Oh, and I restarted everything in all manner of ways down to a power off between attempts.
I also tried 3 known good USB cables as in trying them with success on the Nord Stage 2.
You never know about cords.

So,
Sysex is being blocked somehow?
I'm not seeing anywhere to block or unblock.
The sysex buffers are default 2048 in and 1024 out.
MIDI in and out are set to Forte and it shows the version when I double click them.
Everything is up to date.

If anyone has a brilliant idea I'll try it but I think this is done.
Maybe it's the Forte itself? I can't see finding one anywhere near me to compare to.

Thanks,

John