Rhodes Chroma Polaris

Hello--

I've looked for the answer to my question on previous posts, but I couldn't find it. If this is a redundant question, please just redirect me to the correct message.

My question:

I have 12 sounds stored on my Polaris, (A1 - A 12). How do I save these sounds on my computer? I have sysex librarian, a program on my MAC that can record sysex data. How do I get the Polaris to transfer its sound data? I have read the manual many times and tried many things and nothing seems to quite work. I know it can easily be done.

Second,

once I have saved the sounds on my computer, how do I restore the sounds if they are deleted? How do you set up the Polaris so that it loads sounds? I know this can easily be done also, but cannot figure it out even with the manual's help.

Thank you so much!!!

> From: thomas wilk
>
> I have 12 sounds stored on my Polaris, (A1 - A 12). How do I
> save these sounds on my computer? I have sysex librarian, a
> program on my MAC that can record sysex data. How do I get the
> Polaris to transfer its sound data? I have read the manual many
> times and tried many things and nothing seems to quite work. I
> know it can easily be done.
>
> Second,
>
> once I have saved the sounds on my computer, how do I restore the
> sounds if they are deleted? How do you set up the Polaris so
> that it loads sounds? I know this can easily be done also, but
> cannot figure it out even with the manual's help.

The only panel-accessible function for sending a program out of the Polaris
is LOWER FUNCTION, CASSETTE, 12, which transmits the current program in the
Main Workspace in such a manner that if it is received by another Polaris,
or recorded and played back into the same Polaris later, loads that program
into the Main Workspace again, from whence it can be manually saved
somewhere. This is mentioned on p94 of the Owner's Manual.

There are other more versatile Sysex messages for reading and writing stored
programs directly, but they all require the generation of one or more Sysex
commands by the computer, and can't be manually invoked by the control
panel. These are all documented in the MIDI Implementation manual.

--

Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
Paul mailto:pderocco@...

There is a Chroma (not polaris) available nearby asking $750 US
dollars. What is the going rate for a good working Chroma?

--- In chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com, "Paul D. DeRocco" <pderocco@...> wrote:

>
> > From: thomas wilk
> >
> > I have 12 sounds stored on my Polaris, (A1 - A 12). How do I
> > save these sounds on my computer? I have sysex librarian, a
> > program on my MAC that can record sysex data. How do I get the
> > Polaris to transfer its sound data? I have read the manual many
> > times and tried many things and nothing seems to quite work. I
> > know it can easily be done.
> >
> > Second,
> >
> > once I have saved the sounds on my computer, how do I restore the
> > sounds if they are deleted? How do you set up the Polaris so
> > that it loads sounds? I know this can easily be done also, but
> > cannot figure it out even with the manual's help.
>
> The only panel-accessible function for sending a program out of the Polaris
> is LOWER FUNCTION, CASSETTE, 12, which transmits the current program in the
> Main Workspace in such a manner that if it is received by another Polaris,
> or recorded and played back into the same Polaris later, loads that program
> into the Main Workspace again, from whence it can be manually saved
> somewhere. This is mentioned on p94 of the Owner's Manual.
>
> There are other more versatile Sysex messages for reading and writing stored
> programs directly, but they all require the generation of one or more Sysex
> commands by the computer, and can't be manually invoked by the control
> panel. These are all documented in the MIDI Implementation manual.
>
> --
>
> Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
> Paul mailto:pderocco@...
>

Hi Paul--

Thank you so much for your response it was very helpul. It has helped me solve one half of my problem.

This is what is happening:

I have a M-Audio interface between my Mac Laptop and my Polaris. The interface is connected to the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT and goes to my laptop via USB.

I am running SysEx Librarian and I have it set up to record messsages.

I select the program on the Polaris that I have manually created and then I hit LF, Cass., 12, and it sends program information to SysEx Librarian, which records the single program.

Ok, so that much is great!

Now, I have not been able to find a way to send the program back to the Polaris. For instance, if I make a program on A1, record it in SysEx, and then delete A1 on the Polaris, I cannot get the A1 that I have saved in SysEx back onto my Polaris.

However, I have downloaded the patches from the Polaris site, (polprog1.syx, polprog2.syx, and deangelis.syx) and had SysEx send them to my Polaris and these files program all the program banks on my Polaris.

I do not understand why I cannot receive SysEx files that were programs originally created on my Polaris, sent to SysEx, and then sent back to the Polaris.

I have read through all the related sections on MIDI, computer interfacing, data streams, and the different toggle functions, but I am baffled.

---

Can anyone enlighten me on how:

1) I can create sounds on the Polaris and save them in SysEx Librarian
2) And how can I transmit them back to the Polaris?

This is important to me because on two occasions my Polaris has erased its entire memory and I have lost all of my sounds, (this is a separate problem!) My batteries are charged and nothing else seems to be wrong, but I can't afford to spend time making sounds just for them to be automatically deleted. I need to know how I can save them on another device.

Thank you.

Thomas Wilk

Hi,

If you have the cash, you should get Midiquest 10 XL. Works great with my polaris. It even has a front panel emulator, which is great because the buttons on the left half of my polaris don't work.

Frank

--- On Wed, 7/29/09, thomas wilk <Reginald@...> wrote:

From: thomas wilk <Reginald@...>
Subject: [chromapolaris] saving Polaris programs on a computer, and exporting them back
To: chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2009, 12:16 PM

--- In chromapolaris@ yahoogroups. com, "Paul D. DeRocco" <pderocco@.. .> wrote:
>
> > From: thomas wilk
> >
> > I have 12 sounds stored on my Polaris, (A1 - A 12). How do I
> > save these sounds on my computer? I have sysex librarian, a
> > program on my MAC that can record sysex data. How do I get the
> > Polaris to transfer its sound data? I have read the manual many
> > times and tried many things and nothing seems to quite work. I
> > know it can easily be done.
> >
> > Second,
> >
> > once I have saved the sounds on my computer, how do I restore the
> > sounds if they are deleted? How do you set up the Polaris so
> > that it loads sounds? I know this can easily be done also, but
> > cannot figure it out even with the manual's help.
>
> The only panel-accessible function for sending a program out of the Polaris
> is LOWER FUNCTION, CASSETTE, 12, which transmits the current program in the
> Main Workspace in such a manner that if it is received by another Polaris,
> or recorded and played back into the same Polaris later, loads that program
> into the Main Workspace again, from whence it can be manually saved
> somewhere. This is mentioned on p94 of the Owner's Manual.
>
> There are other more versatile Sysex messages for reading and writing stored
> programs directly, but they all require the generation of one or more Sysex
> commands by the computer, and can't be manually invoked by the control
> panel. These are all documented in the MIDI Implementation manual.
>
> --
>
> Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
> Paul mailto:pderocco@ ...
>

Hi Paul--

Thank you so much for your response it was very helpul. It has helped me solve one half of my problem.

This is what is happening:

I have a M-Audio interface between my Mac Laptop and my Polaris. The interface is connected to the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT and goes to my laptop via USB.

I am running SysEx Librarian and I have it set up to record messsages.

I select the program on the Polaris that I have manually created and then I hit LF, Cass., 12, and it sends program information to SysEx Librarian, which records the single program.

Ok, so that much is great!

Now, I have not been able to find a way to send the program back to the Polaris. For instance, if I make a program on A1, record it in SysEx, and then delete A1 on the Polaris, I cannot get the A1 that I have saved in SysEx back onto my Polaris.

However, I have downloaded the patches from the Polaris site, (polprog1.syx, polprog2.syx, and deangelis.syx) and had SysEx send them to my Polaris and these files program all the program banks on my Polaris.

I do not understand why I cannot receive SysEx files that were programs originally created on my Polaris, sent to SysEx, and then sent back to the Polaris.

I have read through all the related sections on MIDI, computer interfacing, data streams, and the different toggle functions, but I am baffled.

---

Can anyone enlighten me on how:

1) I can create sounds on the Polaris and save them in SysEx Librarian
2) And how can I transmit them back to the Polaris?

This is important to me because on two occasions my Polaris has erased its entire memory and I have lost all of my sounds, (this is a separate problem!) My batteries are charged and nothing else seems to be wrong, but I can't afford to spend time making sounds just for them to be automatically deleted. I need to know how I can save them on another device.

Thank you.

Thomas Wilk

great; thank you for the tip; I'll check out that program.

Thomas

On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 1:21 PM, Frank Aitken <mfaitkenjr@...> wrote:

Hi,

If you have the cash, you should get Midiquest 10 XL. Works great with my polaris. It even has a front panel emulator, which is great because the buttons on the left half of my polaris don't work.

Frank

--- On Wed, 7/29/09, thomas wilk <Reginald@...> wrote:

From: thomas wilk <Reginald@...>
Subject: [chromapolaris] saving Polaris programs on a computer, and exporting them back
To: chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2009, 12:16 PM

--- In chromapolaris@ yahoogroups. com, "Paul D. DeRocco" <pderocco@.. .> wrote:
>
> > From: thomas wilk
> >
> > I have 12 sounds stored on my Polaris, (A1 - A 12). How do I
> > save these sounds on my computer? I have sysex librarian, a
> > program on my MAC that can record sysex data. How do I get the
> > Polaris to transfer its sound data? I have read the manual many
> > times and tried many things and nothing seems to quite work. I
> > know it can easily be done.
> >
> > Second,
> >
> > once I have saved the sounds on my computer, how do I restore the
> > sounds if they are deleted? How do you set up the Polaris so
> > that it loads sounds? I know this can easily be done also, but
> > cannot figure it out even with the manual's help.
>
> The only panel-accessible function for sending a program out of the Polaris
> is LOWER FUNCTION, CASSETTE, 12, which transmits the current program in the
> Main Workspace in such a manner that if it is received by another Polaris,
> or recorded and played back into the same Polaris later, loads that program
> into the Main Workspace again, from whence it can be manually saved
> somewhere. This is mentioned on p94 of the Owner's Manual.
>
> There are other more versatile Sysex messages for reading and writing stored
> programs directly, but they all require the generation of one or more Sysex
> commands by the computer, and can't be manually invoked by the control
> panel. These are all documented in the MIDI Implementation manual.
>
> --
>
> Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
> Paul mailto:pderocco@ ...
>

Hi Paul--

Thank you so much for your response it was very helpul. It has helped me solve one half of my problem.

This is what is happening:

I have a M-Audio interface between my Mac Laptop and my Polaris. The interface is connected to the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT and goes to my laptop via USB.

I am running SysEx Librarian and I have it set up to record messsages.

I select the program on the Polaris that I have manually created and then I hit LF, Cass., 12, and it sends program information to SysEx Librarian, which records the single program.

Ok, so that much is great!

Now, I have not been able to find a way to send the program back to the Polaris. For instance, if I make a program on A1, record it in SysEx, and then delete A1 on the Polaris, I cannot get the A1 that I have saved in SysEx back onto my Polaris.

However, I have downloaded the patches from the Polaris site, (polprog1.syx, polprog2.syx, and deangelis.syx) and had SysEx send them to my Polaris and these files program all the program banks on my Polaris.

I do not understand why I cannot receive SysEx files that were programs originally created on my Polaris, sent to SysEx, and then sent back to the Polaris.

I have read through all the related sections on MIDI, computer interfacing, data streams, and the different toggle functions, but I am baffled.

---

Can anyone enlighten me on how:

1) I can create sounds on the Polaris and save them in SysEx Librarian
2) And how can I transmit them back to the Polaris?

This is important to me because on two occasions my Polaris has erased its entire memory and I have lost all of my sounds, (this is a separate problem!) My batteries are charged and nothing else seems to be wrong, but I can't afford to spend time making sounds just for them to be automatically deleted. I need to know how I can save them on another device.

Thank you.

Thomas Wilk

> From: thomas wilk
>
> Thank you so much for your response it was very helpul. It has
> helped me solve one half of my problem.
>
> This is what is happening:
>
> I have a M-Audio interface between my Mac Laptop and my Polaris.
> The interface is connected to the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT and goes
> to my laptop via USB.
>
> I am running SysEx Librarian and I have it set up to record messsages.
>
> I select the program on the Polaris that I have manually created
> and then I hit LF, Cass., 12, and it sends program information to
> SysEx Librarian, which records the single program.
>
> Ok, so that much is great!
>
> Now, I have not been able to find a way to send the program back
> to the Polaris. For instance, if I make a program on A1, record
> it in SysEx, and then delete A1 on the Polaris, I cannot get the
> A1 that I have saved in SysEx back onto my Polaris.
>
> However, I have downloaded the patches from the Polaris site,
> (polprog1.syx, polprog2.syx, and deangelis.syx) and had SysEx
> send them to my Polaris and these files program all the program
> banks on my Polaris.
>
> I do not understand why I cannot receive SysEx files that were
> programs originally created on my Polaris, sent to SysEx, and
> then sent back to the Polaris.
>
> I have read through all the related sections on MIDI, computer
> interfacing, data streams, and the different toggle functions,
> but I am baffled.

Well, I don't have a Polaris up and running to try, but what's supposed to
happen, when you send the Sysex back into the Polaris, is that it gets
loaded into the main workspace controlling the sound. You then have to store
it manually.

If you have a way of viewing the .syx files in hex, and you're technically
inclined, it might be possible to figure out what's going on. I expect the
file containing the standard sounds contain Sysex messages that directly
access the stored programs, while the Sysex that you recorded from the
Polaris uses a different Sysex message which accesses the main workspace.

The best solution would probably be to get software tailored to Polaris,
instead of trying to get a generic program to do it for you. I notice that
while the MIDI Quest editor Frank mentioned is rather expensive because it's
universal, they also sell a cheap version called UniQuest for a single
instrument. Unfortunately, it's only available for Windows.

--

Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
Paul mailto:pderocco@...

--- In chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com, Brinkmann Music <adam@...> wrote:

>
> There is a Chroma (not polaris) available nearby asking $750 US
> dollars. What is the going rate for a good working Chroma?
>

i have watched polarises on ebay for 3 years--- the last 8 good working ones have sold between 650 and 820 [one odd ball went for 1111 --so it said.] broken ones sold from 230 to 463

so 750 is unfortunatly not unusual--- they arent 300 anymore.

Quoting wasteking1 <wasteking1@...>:

> i have watched polarises on ebay for 3 years--- the last 8 good working ones
> have sold between 650 and 820 [one odd ball went for 1111 --so it said.]
> broken ones sold from 230 to 463

My list includes Polaris sale prices (I didn't start tracking carefully until
this year):

http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=pricehistory#polaris

> so 750 is unfortunatly not unusual--- they arent 300 anymore.

I believe the original poster was asking about the original Chroma, not the
Polaris. USD$750 is a great price for a Chroma (not Polaris), if the instrument
is working.


Chris

--- In chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com, chris@... wrote:

>
> Quoting wasteking1 <wasteking1@...>:
>
> > i have watched polarises on ebay for 3 years--- the last 8 good working ones
> > have sold between 650 and 820 [one odd ball went for 1111 --so it said.]
> > broken ones sold from 230 to 463
>
> My list includes Polaris sale prices (I didn't start tracking carefully until
> this year):
>
> http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=pricehistory#polaris
>
> > so 750 is unfortunatly not unusual--- they arent 300 anymore.
>
> I believe the original poster was asking about the original Chroma, not the
> Polaris. USD$750 is a great price for a Chroma (not Polaris), if the instrument
> is working.
>
>
> Chris


> you are right--i didnt remember seeing the parenthetical ( not polaris) it was overpowered by the obvious 'chromapolaris group' label... anyhow those are still the prices ive seen

waste king

Would MIDI OX help this situation?

--- On Wed, 7/29/09, Paul D. DeRocco <pderocco@...> wrote:

From: Paul D. DeRocco <pderocco@...>
Subject: RE: [chromapolaris] saving Polaris programs on a computer, and exporting them back
To: chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2009, 10:48 AM

> From: thomas wilk
>
> Thank you so much for your response it was very helpul. It has
> helped me solve one half of my problem.
>
> This is what is happening:
>
> I have a M-Audio interface between my Mac Laptop and my Polaris.
> The interface is connected to the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT and goes
> to my laptop via USB.
>
> I am running SysEx Librarian and I have it set up to record messsages.
>
> I select the program on the Polaris that I have manually created
> and then I hit LF, Cass., 12, and it sends program information to
> SysEx Librarian, which records the single program.
>
> Ok, so that much is great!
>
> Now, I have not been able to find a way to send the program back
> to the Polaris. For instance, if I make a program on A1, record
> it in SysEx, and then delete A1 on the Polaris, I cannot get the
> A1 that I have saved in SysEx back onto my Polaris.
>
> However, I have downloaded the patches from the Polaris site,
> (polprog1.syx, polprog2.syx, and deangelis.syx) and had SysEx
> send them to my Polaris and these files program all the program
> banks on my Polaris.
>
> I do not understand why I cannot receive SysEx files that were
> programs originally created on my Polaris, sent to SysEx, and
> then sent back to the Polaris.
>
> I have read through all the related sections on MIDI, computer
> interfacing, data streams, and the different toggle functions,
> but I am baffled.

Well, I don't have a Polaris up and running to try, but what's supposed to
happen, when you send the Sysex back into the Polaris, is that it gets
loaded into the main workspace controlling the sound. You then have to store
it manually.

If you have a way of viewing the .syx files in hex, and you're technically
inclined, it might be possible to figure out what's going on. I expect the
file containing the standard sounds contain Sysex messages that directly
access the stored programs, while the Sysex that you recorded from the
Polaris uses a different Sysex message which accesses the main workspace.

The best solution would probably be to get software tailored to Polaris,
instead of trying to get a generic program to do it for you. I notice that
while the MIDI Quest editor Frank mentioned is rather expensive because it's
universal, they also sell a cheap version called UniQuest for a single
instrument. Unfortunately, it's only available for Windows.

--

Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
Paul mailto:pderocco@ix. netcom.com