BuleriaChk
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DR-880 Instrument Definition
Has anyone made an Instrument Definition for the DR-880?
post edited by BuleriaChk - 2008/03/24 01:06:38
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John
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2008/03/24 01:02:13
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Goto the Boss site and see if they have one.
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Desperate Dan
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2008/03/24 04:57:35
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Has anyone made an Instrument Definition for the DR-880? Roland don't even have a Patch List, What do you want to control from Midi? Is it just the different Patches? If so I Could make you a basic .ins definition file. It is quite a complex Beast to do a complete Instrument defintion, that's why I ask what you need to switch with midi to save me time and aggravation. PM me with response or reply here and I will try and help you.
post edited by Desperate Dan - 2008/03/24 05:50:22
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Skyline_UK
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2008/03/24 06:47:03
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Here's a .TXT file of the entries I have in my Cakewalk definitions: DR880 Notes: 1. This lists only the kits in the Preset bank. After many fruitless attempts, and contact with Boss, I couldn't find a way to tell the DR880 from within Sonar to switch to the User bank so kits can be selected there. Let me know if you find a way! 2. If you're going to paste this in to your INS file, remember from Sonar 6 onwards it lives in Documents and Settings/You/Application Data/Cakewalk/Sonar 7 Producer Edition. John
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BuleriaChk
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2008/03/25 19:24:54
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That's my impression, also. I know that you can trigger notes assigned to pads for a drum kit, but there is no documentation as to which instruments are assigned to the pads. One can step through each drum kit, and write the note names and numbers, but that is a real PITA. I'm going to wait for the Akai XR20 or the Alesis SR18 for my next drum machine. (The DR-880 doesn't have A/B pattern/fill capability either. There are a number of other gotchas that are dealbreakers for me that I have to relearn everytime I consider the 880. What sense does it make to import MIDI files if you can't specify the drumkits/note numbers in your develpment tool to hear them play... I guess one can create his own drumkit voice by voice, but I would prefer to start with a default kit and then modify it. (Of course I can create a default kit, but it is still a PITA.....) But Zoom creates machines with no MIDI output at all....... sheesh! Chuck ORIGINAL: Skyline_UK
Here's a .TXT file of the entries I have in my Cakewalk definitions:
DR880
Notes:
1. This lists only the kits in the Preset bank. After many fruitless attempts, and contact with Boss, I couldn't find a way to tell the DR880 from within Sonar to switch to the User bank so kits can be selected there. Let me know if you find a way!
2. If you're going to paste this in to your INS file, remember from Sonar 6 onwards it lives in Documents and Settings/You/Application Data/Cakewalk/Sonar 7 Producer Edition.
John
post edited by BuleriaChk - 2008/03/25 19:43:13
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KenKerrick
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2009/07/02 22:11:57
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I have to admit I'm amazed at the lack of good documents for the DR-880 given that it is Rolands flagship drum machine. So, here is my instrument definition that I made for this device. Cut and paste the following text into a blank .ins file and import away. ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ; Cakewalk Instrument Definition File ; Boss DR-880 Dr.Rhythm ; ken.kerrick@gmail.com ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .Patch Names [Boss DR-880 Preset Kits] 0=Studio 1 1=Studio 2 2=Studio 3 3=Studio 4 4=Studio 5 5=Studio 6 6=Studio 7 7=Comp Studio 8=Total Comp 9=Room 1 10=Room 2 11=Room 3 12=Room 4 13=Room 5 14=Room 6 15=Room 7 16=Natural 1 17=Natural 2 18=Natural 3 19=Rock 1 20=Rock 2 21=Rock 3 22=Rock 4 23=Rock 5 24=Rock 6 25=Rock 7 26=Rock 8 27=Rock 9 28=Rock 10 29=Rock 11 30=Light Rock 31=Long HH 32=Funk Rock 1 33=Funk Rock 2 34=Power 1 35=Power 2 36=Power 3 37=Power 4 38=Maple Hard 39=Ambient 40=Gated 41=Dry 42=Pop 1 43=Pop 2 44=Pop 3 45=Pop 4 46=Pop 5 47=Pop 6 48=Pop 7 49=Pop 8 50=Half R&B 51=Fusion 1 52=Fusion 2 53=Fusion 3 54=Fusion 4 55=Fusion 5 56=Fusion 6 57=Funk 1 58=Funk 2 59=Funk 3 60=Soul 1 61=Soul 2 62=Reggae 63=Ballad 64=Rockabilly 65=Country 1 66=Country 2 67=Slow Light 68=Unplugged 1 69=Unplugged 2 70=Unplugged 3 71=Vintage 1 72=Vintage 2 73=Vintage 3 74=Jazz 1 75=Jazz 2 76=Jazz 3 77=Brush 1 78=Brush 2 79=R&B 1 80=R&B 2 81=R&B 3 82=R&B 4 83=R&B 5 84=HipHop 1 85=HipHop 2 86=HipHop 3 87=HipHop 4 88=HipHop 5 89=House 1 90=House 2 91=Techno 1 92=Techno 2 93=Techno 2 94=BreakBeats 1 95=BreakBeats 2 96=BreakBeats 3 97=Electro 98=Voice Drum 99=India [Boss DR-880 User Kits] 0=Studio 1 1=Studio 2 2=Studio 3 3=Studio 4 4=Studio 5 5=Studio 6 6=Studio 7 7=Comp Studio 8=Total Comp 9=Room 1 10=Room 2 11=Room 3 12=Room 4 13=Room 5 14=Room 6 15=Room 7 16=Natural 1 17=Natural 2 18=Natural 3 19=Rock 1 20=Rock 2 21=Rock 3 22=Rock 4 23=Rock 5 24=Rock 6 25=Rock 7 26=Rock 8 27=Rock 9 28=Rock 10 29=Rock 11 30=Light Rock 31=Long HH 32=Funk Rock 1 33=Funk Rock 2 34=Power 1 35=Power 2 36=Power 3 37=Power 4 38=Maple Hard 39=Ambient 40=Gated 41=Dry 42=Pop 1 43=Pop 2 44=Pop 3 45=Pop 4 46=Pop 5 47=Pop 6 48=Pop 7 49=Pop 8 50=Half R&B 51=Fusion 1 52=Fusion 2 53=Fusion 3 54=Fusion 4 55=Fusion 5 56=Fusion 6 57=Funk 1 58=Funk 2 59=Funk 3 60=Soul 1 61=Soul 2 62=Reggae 63=Ballad 64=Rockabilly 65=Country 1 66=Country 2 67=Slow Light 68=Unplugged 1 69=Unplugged 2 70=Unplugged 3 71=Vintage 1 72=Vintage 2 73=Vintage 3 74=Jazz 1 75=Jazz 2 76=Jazz 3 77=Brush 1 78=Brush 2 79=R&B 1 80=R&B 2 81=R&B 3 82=R&B 4 83=R&B 5 84=HipHop 1 85=HipHop 2 86=HipHop 3 87=HipHop 4 88=HipHop 5 89=House 1 90=House 2 91=Techno 1 92=Techno 2 93=Techno 2 94=BreakBeats 1 95=BreakBeats 2 96=BreakBeats 3 97=Electro 98=Voice Drum 99=India ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .Note Names ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .Controller Names [Boss DR-880 Controllers] 7=7-Volume ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .RPN Names ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .NRPN Names ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .Instrument Definitions [Boss DR-880 Dr.Rhythm] Control=Boss DR-880 Controllers Patch[0]=Boss DR-880 Preset Kits Patch[1]=Boss DR-880 User Kits
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Chris of Arabia
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2009/07/31 15:27:49
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I must be mad, but I've started to pull the data set for this together in Access & Excel - should anything ever come of this, I will let you know... 
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Chris of Arabia
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2009/08/02 17:01:30
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Slightly quicker than expected, but not the end by any matter of means, I've compiled all of the DR-880 Preset Data into a .xls file for anyone to make use of should it serve a purpose. There's still a lot of work required before it resembles a fully populated .ins file for the DR-880, but it does at least form the basis of something. Any feedback would be appreciated, especially if there are errors that need to be be sorted out. The file can be found across at my blog here at - Roland Boss DR-880 Preset Data List
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Chris of Arabia
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2009/08/13 08:42:02
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Progress from here on in is somewhat slower, as I'm now mapping out the instrument sounds that are used within each of the 100 kits. This involves going through each kit one at a time, tapping the 3 banks of 20 pads, writing down the instrument number, then entering this data into the spreadsheet. Five kits down so far, which probably amounts to about 2 hours work. Only 95 to go.... 
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Frostysnake
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2009/08/15 08:55:24
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Hi Chris, I appreciate that you have taken the DR880 on in this matter. This is something I am greatly interested in as I myself have NO knowledge of how to write MIDI code. I am quite new to midi as all I have really focused on was audio only. I have looked ALL over the net for ANYTTHING resembling and .ins file for the DR880 to no avail. I would be very interested in trying out what you have when you are done.  Good luck! David
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Chris of Arabia
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2009/08/15 13:45:57
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Well I've got the instrument details written out for the first 40 of the kits (minimum 1 of each type) and so far 12 of them have been entered into an Excel file. Once I've got that done, I'll be looking to find a way of automating them out into a text file that can be used as the basis of an interim .ins. Not sure at the moment whether I'll use Excel for that, or more likely Access. One thing I did discover last night is that the MIDI note numbering bears little if any relationship to the DR-880 pad sequence. That was buried half way through the manual though, not with all the other MIDI related stuff. Nice to hear someone else is interested though - adds a little more incentive to the mix.
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Chris of Arabia
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2009/08/15 13:48:50
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Frostysnake
.This is something I am greatly interested in as I myself have NO knowledge of how to write MIDI code.
I'm guessing mainly... 
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Chris of Arabia
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2009/08/16 15:06:40
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Things have come along a little now. I've mapped out the instruments for 40 of the kits (that's at least one of each type) and the bass tones associated with all 100 of them. It's still in Excel at the moment, but I've now got sufficient data to make it worthwhile trying to create an .ins file for Sonar, so that will be my next trick. If anyone wants a copy of the .xls, it can be found at this post on my blog - More DR-880 data, this time with instruments
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Chris of Arabia
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2009/08/24 16:31:17
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For anyone who is interested in a description of the MIDI implementation of the DR-880, I just came across a slightly obscure comment in the user manual which lead me to this on the Roland website - DR-880 "MIDI Implementation". Whilst possibly a little hardcore for most tastes, it may still prove of interest to some.
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mdbatchelor
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2010/06/02 02:14:57
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Using the spreadsheet from Chris of Arabia, hxpert32, some hacking, and a bit of Java code I whipped up, I have the full set of key names for all the kits for the DR-880. Thanks to Chris for his updated spreadsheet which helped me avoid typing the names of all the instruments! If you're looking for the file, give this one a try. Please let me know if you run into issues - I've tested it with a variety of the kits, but I haven't tried and tested every kit name and instrument to be sure. http://www.sendspace.com/file/u3n3gv - Complete DR-880 Instrument Def For those interested in the process, here's how I approached it: *** Warning - technical content follows *** ** Seriously - If you're not an engineer or hacker, there's nothing to see here. Please move along ** Since the DR-880 has the ability to "back up" it's settings to DR8 files, I reasoned that the UKIT.DR8 file (user kits) would have everything I wanted as long as my device was set to factory defaults (user kits mirror preset kits). So, I did a backup and copied out the DR8 files. Then, I used the DR-880 menus to change the first two kits (USER 001 and USER 002). The changes I made were intended to tell me data lengths and byte positions in the file. I changed only the first two patches (Kick1 and Kick2), and saved in various states (only changing Kick2, Only changing Kick1, changing both, etc). After each change, I'd re-backup and snag the UKIT.DR8 file for comparison purposes (to see what changed). Using Hxpert32 (shareware), I created files out of just the Studio 1 parts so I could easily compare my changes. I used debug (Windows) to get a text representation of the bytes, and created simple text files for comparison. That let me see the bytes that were different between all the files (original, Kick1 changed, kick2 changed, etc). Analysis revealed that there are 888 bytes in each kit. Those 888 bytes have a 12-byte text name (space padded), 4 bytes of termination and padding, and then 12-byte records for each note. The notes start at MIDI 35 and go up to 97. Trial and error showed that at the beginning of each record, the first two bytes are the instrument ID (from 0 to 439), in LSB,MSB form - use (LSB & 0xff) + ( 256 + MSB ) + 1 for the value. If the LSB and MSB are both zero, then it's a gap - a skipped MIDI note. My little JAVA class simply reads in the entire file to a bytearray (not elegant, but it's less than 200k and I have 8gb in 64bit) and parses each kit. Lastly, I worked my Master.ins file manually to get all the DR-880 bits in. I then (after the fact) created the instrument definition file. So, if there are mistakes in the file that I uploaded, it's because that file came after I got everything working in Sonar. The core tough parts are definitely working - if something is broken in the .ins file, it's probably that a piece is just in the wrong place. Like we say in software ... "it works on my box". :-D No warranty, and no whining. If it works for you, fantastic. If you have positive feedback, it's welcomed. If you're a hateful piece of poo that gleefully stamps out all traces of life, hope, and happiness - please keep your comments to yourself. If you correct the .ins file in some way that makes it more portable, I'd love to provide credit and upload a fix for everyone. Send me an e-mail to mborchestrations AT gmail DOT com. Tks again to Chris Marc
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Chris of Arabia
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2010/06/07 12:43:43
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Well I've had a quick look at that Marc and I'm mightily impressed at what you've achieved. I must admit, I got part way through and got somewhat baffled along the way with the structure of the ins files once I got past listing the instruments and note names. It's also fair to say that my Access coding is errmmm... rusty shall we say.
I am somewhat humbled to find that I've been mentioned in the ins itself, though I'm more than pleased the xls turned out to be of value to someone rather more technically adept than I proved to be.
Now that I can see how the file is supposed to come out, I will perhaps go and see if I can get my own code functioning again.
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BuleriaChk
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2010/08/10 17:01:50
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Hi, mdbatchelor
I tried importing your impressive instrument definition list into SP 8.5, and got the message "file does not contain any instrument definitions". Is there something else I have to do?
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mdbatchelor
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2010/09/04 21:13:22
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I tried importing your impressive instrument definition list into SP 8.5, and got the message "file does not contain any instrument definitions". Is there something else I have to do?
I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble. I was able to use the file in Sonar 7.x, but I don't believe I actually imported the file through the UI. I manually pasted the information into the master.ins - sorry - I was hacking around. Can someone out there hack the last bit in there?
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Mamzar
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2016/10/03 17:21:42
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I have painstakingly entered in all of the instrument definitions for the DR-880 PRESET drum kits and basses.
If someone can tell me how to convert that to a file and upload it here, I will do it. Before you pitch a tent, know that there's two very slight problems with these definitions:
Problem 1.
Once I completed this instrument definition list, they worked perfectly for a few days. I would select a drum kit and automatically the note names would change in the piano roll view. For whatever reason, this automation stopped after just a few days. Cakewalk support can't help, they have no idea what they're doing and it takes weeks for any response. We're on our own. Now when I change kits from the drop down menu on the midi drum channel it WILL trigger the DR-880 to change kits. However, I now have to go to the piano roll view and then select "choose these note names" and find the name of the kit and select it in order for everything to be labeled properly in the piano roll view. It's not a huge deal, but an annoyance nonetheless.
Problem 2.
I think this has more to do with the way the DR-880 is programmed and not with the instrument definitions. Let's suppose you have 2 midi tracks, one for bass and one for drums. Bass is midi channel 2 (as the DR-880 only recognizes bass on channel 2) and Drums midi channel 10. When you change the drum kit, the bass automatically changes to that preset Drum/Bass combo. There's no way to tell the DR-880 to use, for instance, Studio Kit 1 and FM Bass (two PRESET sounds/kits that aren't "linked" to each other) and it actually use those sounds simultaneously. This is also a little annoying. In order to use a preset kit and a preset bass sound that aren't tied to each other, I have to record the kit I want and the change to the "drum kit" that contains the bass sound I want and then record the bass.
It's usable, it took me about 3 weeks of programming these definitions into Sonar. They're all correct, though I have made a few tweaks to some of the names. For instance, on a kit there might be two of the same tom sounds and one might be tuned a little higher/lower than the other one. They share the exact same sample name though. In this case I did modify the name to high/low tom 2...or whatever. I made sure adding a hi/low name didn't conflict with the other sample names within that particular kit. If you can live with this, I can help you finally get your instrument names on the piano roll. Just tell me how to get the file from my computer to here and they're yours.
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Mamzar
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RE: DR-880 Instrument Definition
2016/10/04 16:42:35
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I know little to nothing about online file sharing. I tried uploading the Instrument Definitions for the BOSS DR-880 to this free website and copied the link. I think I did it right.
Let me know if this works or doesn't. I'm not experienced in these things.
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Mamzar
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DR-880 Instrument Definition Download Link
2016/10/04 16:47:15
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My links aren't showing up! AHHH!!
post edited by Ben_J_Burch - 2016/10/04 17:10:36
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Mamzar
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Re: DR-880 Instrument Definition Download Link
2016/10/04 16:50:32
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Sorry for leaving so much "spam". I have to make 5 posts for my links to show up.....lame!
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Mamzar
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Re: DR-880 Instrument Definition Download Link
2016/10/04 16:51:14
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Hopefully my links will show up with this 5th post.
Dr-880 Instrument Definition download
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Mamzar
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Re: DR-880 Instrument Definition Download Link
2016/10/04 16:52:19
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eventually I'll be able to post a link
post edited by Ben_J_Burch - 2016/10/05 17:25:03
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Mamzar
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Re: DR-880 Instrument Definition Download Link
2016/10/04 16:53:33
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