bvideo

soundsubs
... It was painful, and new versions of Sonar make you re-do it, so i get to re-learn it every year. ...
 

If you don't want to just overwrite the newly-released master.ins file with your old one, you can import from your old one (or from any other one you find, e.g. at lilchips). The import function lets you choose which instruments you want to import. Not to say relearning it isn't good once in a while ...
 

The system I use (for several things not just ins files) is I have my own directory of ins files. After a new install I simply delete the installed ins file directory and copy my own in. I use a total of seven hardware units inc drum machines, that all have ins files and I have only ever created them once.
 
The whole process takes a few seconds to do. HTH.

I have been struggling with this all week-end.
 
I have a JV1080 ins file that I created.  I took an existing JV1080 ins file that had the standard present banks and then I added all my expansion cards.  When I try to import this into Sonar, Sonar says there are no instruments in the file—but I cannot see any difference between my file and sample files.
 
Also, in Define I think you have to list all the bank numbers and names like this:
10371 = JV-1080 PR-D Patch Names (GM)
10752 = SR-JV80-02 Orchestral 1-128
etc
 
I have tried clicking to add these but after I hit enter they are not there.
 
OK, so here is what I have:
 
1-an ins file I made with everything in it.
2-notes so I know the exact bank numbers for each bank and card in the synth.
 
What I can't get to work:
 
1-Can't get Sonar to like my ins file.
2-I am ridiculously unclear on the steps.  I THINK you import your ins file, the add an instrument, and then add the bank numbers and names under the instruments--but I can't get this to work.
 
I do not want to enter every patch name manually when I have already done some work and written some formulas to create the properly formatted list of patch names,  Surely there is a way to get this into Sonar.
 
PS The Sonar help has enormous detail but the big picture is not clear and I can't find where it describes what headers or formatting are required in the ins file.
 
 

EDIT: THIS IS *ALMOST* RESOLVED.
===============
After posting this was resolved, I discovered one problem.  My expansion card have up to 256 patches, so Roland uses one bank for 1-128 and another bank for 129-256.  For some reason, in my Sonar event list, patch names don't show up if I select one of the banks that has patches 129-256.  Everything looks right in preferences.  I will investigate. Maybe I have some obvious error, but, if so, it is the same error for all 4 expansion cards.  Thoughts are welcome.
===============
I believe this is resolved.  I created an *.ins file, finally got it in the right format, and, once I imported this, everything was automatically OK.
 
The file has to have two sections.  One section is for patches and looks like this:
 
.Patch Names

[JV-1080 PR-A]
0=001:64voicePiano
1=002:Bright Piano
2=003:Classique
3=004:Nice Piano
4=005:Piano Thang
etc.
 
One section is for the Instrument/Bank definitions.  In my case, it looks like this:
 
.Instrument Definitions

[Roland JV-1080:Patch]
Patch[10368]=JV-1080 PR-A
Patch[10369]=JV-1080 PR-B
Patch[10370]=JV-1080 PR-C
Patch[10371]=JV-1080 PR-D/GM
Patch[10752]=JV-1080 XP-A Orch I 1-128
Patch[10753]=JV-1080 XP-A Orch I 129-255
Patch[10754]=JV-1080 XP-B Pop 1-128
Patch[10755]=JV-1080 XP-B Pop 129-145
Patch[10756]=JV-1080 XP-C Orch II 1-128
Patch[10757]=JV-1080 XP-C Orch II 129-256
Patch[10758]=JV-1080 XP-D Bass & Drums 1-128
Patch[10759]=JV-1080 XP-D Bass & Drums 129-204
Patch[10240]=JV-1080 User
Patch

• =1..128
  
  For each one of these banks in the .Instrument section, there is a section in the file with the patch names.  I will be happy to send this ins file to anyone who wants it.  The name of the bank and the name of the patch list must match:
  
  For example, I have a list of patches with this as the header: [JV-1080 PR-A]

 
 
I also have a bank in the instrument section with the same name: Patch[10368]=JV-1080 PR-A
 
Of course, you have to know how to calculate the bank number and the Sonar help actually explains that pretty well.  (This varies by manufacturer.)
 
I found some pdfs online with all the patch names for the JV-1080 and all the possible expansion cards.  I pasted those names into Excel and wrote some formulas to format them correctly before pasting them back into the ins file.
 
Thanks again to everyone for the patience and help.
 
Konrad
 
 
 
 
 

Do you have a place where you could post your current version of the .ins? I'd look at it if you do. I've just somewhat refreshed myself on those files, partly triggered by your original post.
 
Note, if you want to see the general layout for just one instrument, you can export one to a file and then make your own file resemble it in structure. To export, right-click an Instrument name in the Instrument tree and choose Export from the menu to display the Export Instrument Definition dialog box, navigate somewhere and save it to some new file. It gets a .ins extension.

bvideo, Not sure where to post it but I can send it to you (and thanks for the offer).
 
The file works great except for those banks that have patches above 128...and that just gave me an idea!
 
The patch list is in this format:
 
[JV-1080 PR-A]
0=001:64voicePiano
1=002:Bright Piano
2=003:Classique
3=004:Nice Piano
4=005:Piano Thang
 
so I have the HIGH patch numbers for the expansion cards like this:
 
[JV-1080 XP-A Orch I 129-255]
128=129:F.Hrn Sect2/
129=130:F.Hrn Sect3
130=131:F.Hm Sect4
131=132:F.Hrn Sect5/
132=133:F.Hrn Sect6
133=134:F.Hrn Sect7
134=135:F.HmSect8
 
I will bet I need to change this to make it like this:
 
[JV-1080 XP-A Orch I 129-255]
0=129:F.Hrn Sect2/
1=130:F.Hrn Sect3
2=131:F.Hm Sect4
3=132:F.Hrn Sect5/
4=133:F.Hrn Sect6
5=134:F.Hrn Sect7
6=135:F.HmSect8
 
I will try that in the morning: easy Excel formula to fix that.
 
Thanks
 

Konrad,
 
Didn't the insmaker utility work on the JV-1080?
Or were you just trying to learn the manual process?
 
John
 

That sounds right, patch numbers end at 127. If you have the right bank numbers for patches 0-127, just add one for the bank number for patches 128-.... The higher numbered patches are the performances, after subtracting 128.
 
Edit:  the bank numbers for the patches are 10752,4,6,8 and for the performances 10753,5,7,9

Wouldn't it be great to get an "Export All Ins Settings" from Sonar? That way we can set it up once and forget it.
Also, this would help in troubleshooting, as we could take a look at users like the OP and help out.

Thanks to everyone.  This issue is resolved. (Note to jatoth: Insmaker says it does not support the JV1080 or the Kurzweil PC2R.  Well, actually, it lists the synths it does support and says it will not work with any others.  Thanks, though.)
 
Here's the drill:
1. Create a ins file.
2. INS file must have a section called .Patch Names and one called .Instrument.
3.  Under .Patch, you list the MIDI program numbers and the patch names (see below).
4. Under .Instrument you list the synth banks (see below).
5. Then, all you have to do is import this into Sonar and then assign the imported instrument to one or more MIDI ports/channels.
6. I ran into trouble in two spots:
    •  It was not clear to me in the sample files I saw that you defined the bank numbers within the INS file.
    •  The JV-1080 expansion card has patches that go up to 255, but an event list can only go up t0o 127, so the INS file has to have a translation like this:
 
[JV-1080 XP-D Bass & Drums 129-204]
0=129:Fat Rock KIT
1=130:Ringer KIT
2=131:DynaPicc.KIT
3=132:Whammer KIT
4=133:BigBalladKIT
5=134:Fat PunchKIT
6=135:Fat Funk KIT
 
I will send the JV1080 file to anyone who wants it.  Of course, it has my particular expansion cards, but it may help you create a file for your synth.
 
Note that I searched online for pdfs with patch names for my synths, pasted those into Excel, and then wrote simple little formulas to put them into the required format as shown below.  If you synth just needs simple numbers with no translation (like "0=Piano" instead of "0=001:Piano") and your banks only go up to 127, you should be able to paste directly into the ins file with no manipulation.
 
For the record, you guys all gave me great advice; unfortunately, there were just little pieces specific to my situation I had to figure out.  Thanks!
 
***Examples of Patch and Instrument Sections***
 
.Patch Names

[JV-1080 PR-A]
0=001:64voicePiano
1=002:Bright Piano
2=003:Classique
3=004:Nice Piano
4=005:Piano Thang
5=006:Power Grand
6=007:House Piano
7=008:E.Grand
8=009:MIDIed Grand
9=010:Piano Blend
10=011:West Coast
11=012:PianoStrings
12=013:Bs/Pno+Brs
etc.
 
.Instrument Definitions

[Roland JV-1080:Patch]
Patch[10368]=JV-1080 PR-A
Patch[10369]=JV-1080 PR-B
Patch[10370]=JV-1080 PR-C
Patch[10371]=JV-1080 PR-D/GM
Patch[10752]=JV-1080 XP-A Orch I 1-128
Patch[10753]=JV-1080 XP-A Orch I 129-255
Patch[10754]=JV-1080 XP-B Pop 1-128
Patch[10755]=JV-1080 XP-B Pop 129-145
Patch[10756]=JV-1080 XP-C Orch II 1-128
Patch[10757]=JV-1080 XP-C Orch II 129-256
Patch[10758]=JV-1080 XP-D Bass & Drums 1-128
Patch[10759]=JV-1080 XP-D Bass & Drums 129-204
Patch[10240]=JV-1080 User
Patch

=1..128
 
Note that I don't know what that last line (Patch

=1..128) is for, but it was in all the samples and doesn't seem to hurt anything.

Well done!
 

konradh
 
 
...
Note that I don't know what that last line (Patch

• =1..128) is for, but it was in all the samples and doesn't seem to hurt anything.

 
...

That should display as Patch[ * ]=1..128 (without the spaces) but the forum code discombobulated it. The asterisk means it's the default patch list when no bank has been specified.