Hello

Can someone please tell me how to create my own FXB Z3ta Bank?  I have Programs all set in a folder but I'd like to make them into a bank?

How is this accomplished?

Thank you!

Load them up one by one I'm afraid. Then save as a Bank File (.fxb) or a Midi Bank file (.128).  There are some tools that I think people have used to construct banks from individual presets but I've never tried them.  TobyBear's Mini Host I believe is one of them:

http://www.kvraudio.com/g...?mode=show&id=1015

I just ran across DMB Bank Maker at Patch Arena.  Sounds like it's just what you're looking for.

http://www.patcharena.com...nc=fileinfo&id=725


EDIT: I just tried DBM bank maker and can't get the banks it creates to load in Z3ta.  Perhaps you'll have better luck...........

You can open up 2 z3ta's and copy and paste from one to another.
 
I did this recently and first tagged all the sounds I liked in all A-F banks. Then I copied each patch into Bank A of another opened up z3ta. Finally I saved that A bank as my own patch bank. So I narrowed down 768 patches to just over 100 ones I liked.
 
If you need any more specifics just ask.

Da=man...  sounds easy enough but I'm totally lost.  I get how to copy patches into another folder na dthen load them into Z3TA but am clueless about 'A-F banks'.  I want to get a few sounds I need into a bank so I can program MIDI patch changes from inside Sonar.  If I try to 'Insert Bank/Patch change' everything is blank.  Can't find anything useful in the documentation.  Any suggestions?
 

Well you should realize that you are addressing your question to a 7 year old thread.  That was the classic z3ta+ program that was being discussed.  It has 6 .fxb banks labeled "A-F".
 
The patch management appears to have been changed for the newer Z3TA+2.  It seems to support loading and saving patches in the .fxp format, but I no longer see the loading or saving of .fxb banks.  It does seem to support importing a .fxb bank, so you can still load your z3ta+ patches.  Just no bank changes.
 
Since you plan to use Bank/Patch change messages, you will need to use a synth that supports them.  If you have z3ta+ classic you may want to try that.
 
 

Crap.  I didn't notice the year... just the month on the post.  So Z3tA no longer supports MIDI patch change messages?  Why in God's name would they remove support for that?
 

jtma508
So Z3tA no longer supports MIDI patch change messages?  Why in God's name would they remove support for that?

Bank/patch change was designed to be able to manage patches remotely using the MIDI standard.
 
For example you could use the MIDI change messages from a controller keyboard to a MIDI synth rack module to change patches. 
 
I started using Cakewalk with external hardware synths, and the same advantages applied being able to set the patches in the external synth for a given MIDI project from the DAW sequencer.  Cakewalk supported the bank/patch change to facilitate this use of external hardware.
 
Then along came soft synths.  For a while, they mostly tried to follow the standards that had been in place for external hardware.  MIDI bank/patch being the most common setup.
 
But what I have noticed these days, is that many of the modern soft synth developers are abandoning this legacy standard, and using a proprietary internal patch management and browser system baked into their VST UI.
 
One reason that the new way makes sense is that it does away with the 128 patch limit per bank, which is cool when you have a synth with 5000+ patches.  You need a database approach if you are ever going to find what you need.
 
Another reason is that your VST synth settings are now saved with a DAW project, so that the last state of the patch with all your current tweaks gets saved with a project.  You only need to save a patch now if you want to use it again later in another project.
 
The most optimal way to not have to send live bank/patch changes is to set up a track with a VSTi instance for every sound you are using in a project.  Then just switch tracks to the sound you need.  The advantages to this method would become apparent if you use large sample libraries.  The time it would take to switch patches and load new multisamples could kill a live performance.  The old hardware romplers typically used small compressed sample sets that loaded in an instant from a ROM chip.
 
I hope this helped shed some light on the subject.  Bottom line is that it would appear that there really is no longer a patch management standard for soft synths.