Recording External Synth Patches as Sysex

Anyone have much luck with this? I've been trying to record the patch that accompanies the tracks assigned to my Nord Lead 2x and it just doesn't seem to be working.

My process:

1) Begin recording on MPC
2) Initiate individual sysex dump on NordLead
3) Stop recording and confirm that Sysex has been recorded in step edit.
4) When I play the track, or play the individual Sysex event in Step Edit the Nord doesn't seem to react.

Granted I know most of you probably don't use a NordLead but I am curious to see who has made it work on any synth and if there were any tips you could throw at me. Thanks!

I have successfully recorded SysEx dumps into my MPC4000 before. I wasn't trying to do it with a view to using them in a song, but just using it as a backup storage.

I can't remember exactly, but one of the devices I did it with was an old Oberheim DX drum machine from 1985 ... I think I did it with my Sequential Circuits Six-trak synth (1983!)

You always have to be careful with SysEx, as the amount of bytes it's spewing out may overwhelm the MIDI port.

I recommend do it with a direct connection (i.e. single MIDI cable from the output of the sending device, to the MPC4000 IN) - don't go via a MIDI patchbay or router etc.

The NordLead may be just sending too much to cope with... the dump from those early 1980s machines were about 30 seconds long....

The easiest way to troubleshoot something like this is to also send the SysEx to a computer, and use a program like MidiOx http://www.midiox.com/ so you can pull up the SysEx you get into a text editor and see what's actually there...... you can just about inspect the same in the MPC4000 display (Step Edit? ... I forget! It's been a few years since I did this...)

Also check the routing on your MIDI inside the MPC4000 - you want to be sending the contents of the Sequencer track directly out to a hardware port A, B, C or D, not sending it to a Part in the internal sampler.

How's the Sysex working for you? Did you get it up and running? If I'm understanding this correctly, it would be possible to save and load my patches from the 4000?

I was able to get it working. Not sure what I was previously doing wrong, but all I am doing is setting the MPC to record and dumping the single patch and then playing back. I'm thinking I was probably just recording the dump on the wrong midi channel

Recording dumps is a great feature. It works much better than setting program changes, especially considering the patches on the Nord are only indicated by number so it would be really hard to remember which patch is which and what program change to set. Now I can simply have the MPC set all the patch parameters on the Nord when I push play. Highly recommended technique!

Are you using this just for the Nord? Do you have to set the Nord to receive the sysex message?

So far I am using this feature only with my Nord. Most MIDI gear I have used (including the Nord) doesn't need set to any sysex receive mode or anything, just send the sysex on the corresponding midi channel and most devices should respond automatically by default.

I have noticed a few glitches and I'm still not exactly sure what I was previously doing wrong so I will warn that this process may be temperamental. Nonetheless I find this method better than having to mess with program change events.

It would be nice to have the patches for that song stored in sequences. The way I'm working now, I usually just track it and save the patch. It becomes a pain though when I want to recall the patch.

I gotta learn how this is going to work in my setup. I'm sleeping on this feature. Thanks.