I'd like to develop a control structure to edit/control my Oberheim Xpander using Pd, so that I can avoid splashing out a whopping $399 for such universal editors as Midiquest or Unisyn.

It seems that sysex is required to control the parameters, and I have come across various files with info about what sysex numbers control what parameters, but nothing about how to actually implement it. I don't really know anything about sysex, so could anyone point me in the right direction for tutorials on this?

Better still, if anyone knows of any freeware editor for Xpander on the mac that would be great. I have tried to use Soundiver but the version I downloaded did not come with a manual and it scares me to use it in case it wipes out all my patches forever!!

Again, not much activity here because of problems in sysex/midi.
What would be nice here for people building external synth editors is a working
raw midi on all platforms and a set of abstractions to dump, store and examine
sys-ex messages. Have you looked through all of extended/grdiflow/etc and still
not found something to do it?

Manufacturers sysex charts, different for each synth but basically assign controllers to
internal parameters that just arent realtime controller messages, and you fill out the
variable field, usually at least two midi bytes (14 bits) or longer variable length
parts.

They're all published so setting up new synths is no worry. I would actually canibalise the
old sound diver data files I reckon. )

Patco did something with the idea of a "universal synth editor" not too long ago...

IIRC the expander is TWO matrix12's in a box, which is a beast of a synth with hundreds of
parameters... so yikes!, best to start with data in a form that is machine readable that you
can inject your variables into.

> it scares me to use it in case it wipes out all my patches forever!!

Do a sysex dump of your setup and restore it once to feel confident about hacking
the Oberheim via sysex.