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Matrix 1000 presets as syx for Matrix 6

Matrix 1000 presets as syx for Matrix 6

2013-04-02 by rayo722

Hello, is it possible to load the M1000's 800 presets patches on a M6 or M6R? Have anybody those 800 presets as syx files? I just find M1000's 0-199 ram patches. Thanks to all.

Re: [oberheim] Matrix 1000 presets as syx for Matrix 6

2013-04-02 by Les Lambert

It certainly is possible, and the patches are freely available to download.
There are two sets, M1K old and M1k new, but the exact difference is now obscure.

However the first 200 is Oberheim's idea of the best of the 800.
So a Factory standard M1K has 800 different sounds.
Other sets on offer have the patches categorised by instrument type.
For some applications this can be useful.

It has been noted some years ago (here?) that there aren't really that many different sounds available from any of these relatively simple synths, nice though they are.

200 patches is actually a very large quantity, and with some editor for minor tweaking, you can be getting on with making the music.
The more sophisticated patch librarians offered randomisation , mingle and blend to create new patches from existing ones too.
I did spend some time trying to create even better OBX and OB8 style sounds, but I'm not sure I really got a worthwhile result.
Whole banks of Oberbrass might sound nice together if you had 8 Matrix 1000's but I didn't. 3 was as far as I got.
I still own a Yamaha TX816 that offered this concept for FM synthesis, but I can't claim to have got a good result.

My OBX only had 64 patches and that wasn't a real issue.

Matrix 6 and 1000 though:
The major issue I found was the naming difference between the two devices.
All of the M1K patches as sysex are named by location.
The M6 version have a DOS name (8 alphanumeric characters no extension)
If you load M6 into M1K you lose the names.

A patch librarian is the best way to explore this if you really care.

For example a SoundDiver entry of a Matrix 1K patch reads like this

Name Instrument type Location Date & Time
BNK9: 02 Matrix-6, Matrix-6R - 02 07/12/2001 13:18:46

A Matrix 6 reading looks like this

AGRESORN Matrix-6, Matrix-6R - ; 03 28/01/2004 21:55:56

In the original documentation names were given for the M1K factory patches.
They're all caps, and use some non-PC friendly characters like *%{}$^+#@?| which give problems cataloging them if you try that.
Galaxy and later SoundDiver allowed me to import them for the M6, and type them all in for the M1K.
Then I could export the list into Excel, where I could search, though not audition, like you can with a patch librarian with an instrument attached.

Some years later, while I was amongst a synth friendly studio complex, I shared my Matrix and supplied a printed form with all the patch names on and a comments field to try to get the patches auditioned and described, but even that is too much work it seems.

As there doesn't seem to be any way of getting paid for the time it takes to produce usable versions this information, less of this type of work will be undertaken in future.
Certainly in my case.

Modern synths and FX units have avoided some of these early pitfalls and in any case seem to have a shorter user-frenzy lifespan, so maybe less people are concerned about preserving their unique attributes.

Good luck with your quest, but enjoy the 200.
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--- On Tue, 2/4/13, rayo722 wrote:

From: rayo722 <;rayo722@...>
Subject: [oberheim] Matrix 1000 presets as syx for Matrix 6
To: oberheim@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, 2 April, 2013, 4:03

Hello, is it possible to load the M1000's 800 presets patches on a M6 or M6R? Have anybody those 800 presets as syx files? I just find M1000's 0-199 ram patches. Thanks to all.,_._,___

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