esqbank - ESQ-1/SQ-80 program/bank MIDI transmit/convert tool for MacOS X
(c) 2012 Noora Halme


This little command line tool can be used to transmit programs and complete
banks via MIDI to an Ensoniq ESQ-1 or SQ-80 synthesizer. It reads bank dump
files in the format used by SQ80toolkit by Rainer Buchty. It can also be
used to list the contents of a bank dump and convert programs and banks into
raw SysEx format (ie. *.syx) used by SysEx Librarian.

The latest binary and source code is available on Google Code:

    http://code.google.com/p/esqbank/

Do also take a look at Rainer Buchty's website for soundbanks, manuals
and lots of other useful information:

  http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/


                                     *  *  *


Usage: esqbank [-lorvqh] [-m destination] [-c channel] [-p program] <bankfile>

Options:
	-l		List the programs in the bank only
	-o		Output sysex to stdout instead of sending via MIDI
	-r		Read input file as raw sysex data
	-m destination	MIDI destination index (see list below)
	-c channel	MIDI channel number (1 to 16)
	-p program	Send a single program from the bank (number 1 to 40)
	-v		Increase verbosity
	-q		Quiet mode - print only errors
	-h		Display this help message and list destinations

When you run the program without command line arguments or with the '-h'
option, you're also presented with a list of MIDI destinations that might
look something like this:

Destinations:
	1: UM-2G 1
	2: UM-2G 2
        3: Waldorf Blofeld out

These are the MIDI output ports available on your computer. You can use the
number in front of them to select which you want to use by specifying the
'-m' option on the command line. You can also specify the MIDI channel
number using the '-c' option.

If you have raw sysex files (*.syx) and want to transmit those via MIDI, you
can use the '-r' option to tell that the bankfile is, in fact, a sysex dump.
Note that in this case '-p' option has no effect, as the whole sysex file is
always transmitted.

Before transmitting, make sure your ESQ-1/SQ-80 is listening to sysex data
by pressing 'MIDI' and then enabling "KEYS+CT+PC+SS+SX" ('SX' is the
important one here). Then leave the synthesizer on a program select page
to await the transfer. Once the transfer is complete, you should see the
program names change on the display.


                                     *  *  *


Here's some examples on how to use esqbank.


    esqbank -m 1 -c 2 banks/esq-001

Sends all 40 programs in the bank dump 'banks/esq-001' to an ESQ-1/SQ-80
connected to MIDI destination 1 using MIDI channel 2.


    esqbank -m 1 -c 2 -p 1 banks/esq-001

Sends program 1 in the bank dump 'banks/esq-001' to an ESQ-1/SQ-80 connected
to MIDI destination 1 using MIDI channel 2.


    esqbank -l banks/esq-001

Lists all the program names and their ESQ-1/SQ-80 compatibility from the
bank dump.


    esqbank -o banks/esq-001 > sysex/esq-001.syx

Converts all 40 programs in the bank dump into raw SysEx data and saves it
to the file 'sysex/esq-001.syx'.


    esqbank -r -m 1 -c 2 sysex/esq-001.syx

Transmits the raw sysex dump from 'sysex/esq-001.syx' to MIDI destination 1
using MIDI channel 2.

If you have a lot of SQ80toolkit banks which you'd like to use in, for
example, SysEx Librarian, you can use esqbank to batch convert the bank dumps
into raw sysex data. Here's an example bash script what would convert all the
bank dumps in directory 'banks' into .syx files in 'sysex'.

    for I in banks/*;
    do
      BANK=`echo $I | cut -d/ -f2`
      esqbank -o banks/$BANK > sysex/$BANK.syx
    done


                                     *  *  *


esqbank uses the MIT license so you are free to modify it as you please. I
am also open to any contributions you may have. Drop me an email of you have
diff patches or would like to request additional features. Below is the full
license text:

Copyright (C) 2012 Noora Halme

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to
deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the
rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS
IN THE SOFTWARE.