Doepfer Drehbank Sysex Files
One side of my current Sequencer/Controller setup
As you can see in the image, I own three Doepfer Drehbanks. In order for them to be nice MIDI citizens, they need to operate on different channels, but since the editing software is ancient, this can be a real hassle. I recently was in contact with a fellow multiple Drehbank owner who had this problem and I put together Sysex files for him to address this problem. I am not sure how many people this is useful to, but I thought I’d share. There are 16 files, one for each channel from 1-16. All of the send CC#0-CC#127, the only difference is the MIDI channel.
Instructions:
- Download and unzip the Sysex files
- Download SysEx Librarian (Mac), MIDI-OX (PC) or use your favorite Sysex transmitter.
- Plug the Drehbank you want to modify into your MIDI interface (MIDI out on the interface to MIDI in on the Drehbank.
- Play the Sysex file corresponding to the MIDI channel you want the Drehbank to use. This sets the channel and control values temporarily. The setting will disappear if you turn the Drehbank off, unless you also perform the next step.
- Play the DB_STORE.SYX file. This permanently stores the new settings in your Drehbank’s EPROM.
Let me know if this was useful to you.
Heya… just saw your blog post on the DrehBank syx files…thanks for sharing those.. May I ask a dumb question? I’m going to use the DrehBank 100% only for the MachineDrum…so I still need an editor… are you aware of any OSX editors out there?
Also, may I ask, what in the world are you controlling over there with that gorgeous set up?
-shag
No editor for OS X that I’m aware of and I’ve looked around pretty extensively. I’m just controlling Ableton Live.
Midi Quest XL is one Mac OS X app that I believe can edit drehbank settings.
On a side note – I apologize for being off topic, but I have to ask how you’ve gotten ableton live to recognize the drehbank.
I just recently picked one up used, and am having a hell of a time getting it all set up. I’ve got the unit plugged into a midi interface, and it’s midi in & out signals are recognized fine by midi monitor in midiquest, and is recognized by ableton as sending out a midi signal. But that’s where it ends.
OS X’s Audio Midi Setup won’t recognize it, and it doesn’t show up on Ableton’s MIDI controller list. I found a version of EMagic’s UNITOR driver and installed that hoping it would do the trick, but no luck.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I searched all over Google and am coming up short…
I was never able to get MidiQuest XL to work, but YMMV. I think you are overcomplicating the Drehbank set-up. As you’re saying, Ableton recognizes the MIDI signal. That’s really all there iss too it. Ableton shouldn’t see the Drehbank itself, it should see the MIDI interface and the data coming through it. What happens if you try to assign a knob to an Ableton paramater (Command-M, highlight something, turn knob)?
I was hoping that it would be as easy as that – plugging the drehbank into the midi interface, and midi-mapping it in Ableton. What happens though is that when I’m in midi-mapping mode (cmnd-m) and click on a parameter and turn a knob, nothing shows up- no idenitifier of which knob is doing the turning. I also have a novation remote SL unit, and that one works fine with ableton, and have tested midimapping both midi units together. Current result is that one works and one doesn’t. It can’t be a Midi connection issue either, because the drehbank is currently the only unit connected through midi cables, and the novation is hooked up solely using usb.
Was you experience with hooking up the drehbanks as easy as just plugging it in and midimapping on ableton? (If this is true, I wonder if it has something to do with firmware, b/c the used drehbank that I purchased is one of the older dark grey ones…)
One other aspect that I forgot to mention is that in the Midi preferences window of Ableton, I’m not getting any option to choose the drehbank as a control surface, and so impossible to declare it’s appropriate MIDI I/O. Is this also something that you’re bypassing completely with your set-up?
So, the problem’s been solved. Because I bought the Drehbank used, I think there was come settings in there that were making it somehow unrecognizable to Ableton. (Maybe it was used on a PC rather than a Mac?) Anyway, what I did was take the “EMPTY.syx” file and transmitted that to the Drehbank which essentially killed it temporarily, meaning it didn’t send any midi signal whatsoever, and then I transmitted the “INITIAL.syx” file and now the whole thing recognized in Ableton as sending General Midi CC signals.
Anyway, thanks for your input on this matter, I definitely appreciate it. Also, if I get anything working with Midi Quest, I’ll let you know.
(btw- nice setup!
Hi,
I’m new to this site, I just bought a used Drehbank, and I’m trying to set it up to control ableton live.
When I bought it I did not receive the CD or anything apart from the drehbank itself and the power cable.
I have read through the answers above a couple of times and searched online for the Emagic SoundDiver for OSX but had no joy.
I am running ableton live 8 on OSX and have a firewire/midi audio interface.
I have tried using midi map mode and ableton is not recognizing any signals from the drehbank.
Given the drehbank is second hand maybe I need to flush out the old settings… not sure how to do that.
Also I guess I need some sort of driver/editor to get ableton to recognize the drehbank
Any ideas?
Appreciate your help
you can contact me at: pantherish@hotmail.com