STICKY: Basic Zaquencer SysEx Information

[ChristianKeymaster]

This information has been copied from the manual for higher visibility in the forums:

The Zaquencer allows sending and receiving presets and global settings as SysEx Files as of
version 1.03.
WARNING: when receiving flash presets or global settings, existing designated presets or
settings in the BCR flash memory will be overwritten. Please read these instructions
carefully and proceed with caution!
You can either send/receive the SysEx data to a Mac/PC to store it there, or you can directly send it between Zaquencers! It´s the same procedure that´s described below. Note that when you transfer SysEx data between Zaquencers, it´s recommended to hook up a Midi Monitor software to the receiving Zaquencer´s Midi Out A, so that you can read the status codes it sends (in case of erroneous transmissions).
To send/receive SysEx data with a PC/Mac you need a capable Midi Interface with a large
enough hardware buffer for long SysEx messages. It´s highly likely that if your interface was able to transfer the Zaquencer firmware in the first place it´s fit for SysEx Preset transfer as well.

Sending Zaquencer SysEx Data from the BCR
Only physical Midi output A will be used for sending SysEx Messages.
The sequencer has to be stopped, it must not play.
To start a transmisson of presets, one has to enter “Load” menu.
Then, while pressing & holding down push encoder 1 you have the following options:
- press push encoder 6: transmit all 192 presets
(takes around 5 minutes and results in about half a megabyte of data)
- press push encoder 7: transmit currently selected preset page (16 presets)
- press push encoder 8: transmit currently selected preset
To start a transmission of Global settings, one has to enter the “Global” Menu.
Then, while pressing & holding down push encoder 1, press push encoder 8 to transmit all
Global settings (Clock settings, Track settings, Drum Note mappings, Scales etc etc).
Please note that for reliablity reasons all input (buttons + encoders) are disabled while sending SysEx, so if you want to abort a sending operation you have to power off the BCR2000.
To capture and archive the SysEx file, connect the Midi Out of the Zaquencer to a computer via Midi Interface. Then, in your SysEx software (MidiOx, SysEx Librarian etc.) initiate a manual dump. Start the transmission on the Zaquencer. Once the number stops counting up you can store the manual dump into a file.
Some Midi Interfaces are having problems with reliably transmitting SysEx messages. It´s
recommended to use the free additional Zaquencer Preset Manager software to validate the
received preset file (zaquencerpresetmanager.sourceforge.net).
If your preset file should contain errors, please try to recapture it from the Zaquencer, or try a different Midi interface. If you´re in need of support, please write to the forum at https://zaqaudio.com/forums/forum/sysex.

Receiving Zaquencer SysEx Data to the BCR
Receiving Zaquencer data over SysEx is only possible in “Store” Menu.
WARNING: The received presets/settings are stored in flash at once, overwriting any
existing presets/settings at the respective positions!
To initiate a receive, press & hold down push encoder 1 while starting to send a SysEx file to
the Zaquencer. The sequencer has to be stopped, it must not play.
You can cancel a receive in the Zaquencer by pressing the “Exit” button.
Incompletely received presets will not overwrite anything and will be discarded.
If you send an “all presets” file, all presets will be overwritten in flash.
If you send a “preset page” file, the currently selected page will be overwritten.
The currently selected page is the one that is displayed in the LCD with „PA x“, not necessarily the one with the selected preset (blinking button) in it!!
If you send a “single preset” file, the currently selected preset (blinking button) will be overwritten.
If you send a “global settings” file, the global settings will be overwritten.
As a safety check, the Zaquencer will respond with a SysEx error Code
F0 00 21 1F 00 15 01 0X F7 on Midi Out A when an erroneous preset has been received. The
preset in flash will not be overwritten in this case.

The 0X is an error code with the following meaning:
/* 00: unspecified error
* 01: header error
* 02: footer (message length) error
* 03: checksum error
* 04: SysEx block error
* 05: SysEx data plausibility check error
* 06: version nr error */

In addition, there is the possibility of implausible data content (for example when the SysEx file has been tampered with to contain out-of-bounds values, but the checksum has been
recalculated correctly). If this happens, a shorter error code to trace the faulty data position is being transmitted.
There will be no SysEx response from the Zaquencer if everything has gone well.
It´s recommended to use the Zaquencer Preset Manager (zaquencerpresetmanager.sourceforge.net) to validate the preset files before sending them to the Zaquencer. Also when an error has occured, the validation in the Preset Manager can be used to gain more insight where the error has happened (page nr, preset nr, sysex block nr).

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