Trouble playing back Sys Ex Messages

Thanks for all the help guys but the I have now returned the 2500 back to the shop where I bought it for a refund. Luckily they were understanding.

What really made my mind up is that when I contacted Akai regarding the problem, although there were aware of the fault they had no fix for it. Hopefully it will be sorted in the next OS update.

I'll keep using my 2000xl for the time being but my perception of the current Akai product range has changed.

hperkins1 wrote:Not to sound dumb or anything, but what is Sysex messages and how do they differ from regular sequence data?


Thanks!

Exclusive Data is used to give more detail to the sound module which cannot be done by control changes. You can also sometimes, depending on the modul being used, backup memory presets and performance data.

Most midi messages are short, but sysex can be any length. They always start with F0, a manufacturer's code and the model of the equipment. If any device sees the F0, it checks if the next few bytes mark it as for itself. If not, it just reads and ignores everything until an F7. And that's the problem, it can be very very long - tens of thousands of bytes long. Some sysex packets are short, 128 bytes for Roland for example. But the problem is you can have hundreds of those short packets in a row and often a sequencer will pause after an F7 too.

Sysex clogs up the midi stream when playing a sequence. Tiny messages like a knob tweak can be hard work on the sequencer, bulk dumps bring it to its knees.

Cheers,
BF