Editing MIDI (section)

=====Editors and librarians=====
Users can program their equipment through the path editor as a computer interface. These became essential with the appearance of complex synthesizers such as the [[Yamaha FS1R]],<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Johnson |first=Derek |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar99/articles/yamahafs1r.htm |title=Yamaha FS1R Editor Software |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111225133744/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar99/articles/yamahafs1r.htm |archive-date=25 December 2011 |magazine=Sound on Sound |date=March 1999}}</ref> which contained several thousand programmable parameters, but had an interface that consisted of fifteen tiny buttons, four knobs and a small LCD.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Johnson |first1=Derek |first2=Debbie |last2=Poyser |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec98/articles/yamfs1r.549.htm |title=Yamaha FS1R |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070415184804/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec98/articles/yamfs1r.549.htm |archive-date=15 April 2007 |magazine=Sound on Sound |date=December 1998}}</ref> Digital instruments typically discourage users from experimentation, due to their lack of the feedback and direct control that switches and knobs would provide,<ref name="Gibbs" />{{rp|393|date=November 2012}} but patch editors give owners of hardware instruments and effects devices the same editing functionality that is available to users of software synthesizers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.squest.com/Products/MidiQuest11/index.html |title=Sound Quest MIDI Quest 11 Universal Editor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306223334/http://www.squest.com/Products/MidiQuest11/index.html |archive-date=6 March 2014 |website=squest.com}}</ref> Some editors are designed for a specific instrument or effects device, while other, ''universal'' editors support a variety of equipment, and ideally can control the parameters of every device in a setup through the use of System Exclusive messages.<ref name="Huber 1991"/>{{rp|129|date=November 2012}} System Exclusive messages use the MIDI protocol to send information about the synthesizer's parameters.

Patch librarians have the specialized function of organizing the sounds in a collection of equipment and exchanging entire banks of sounds between an instrument and a computer. In this way the device's limited patch storage is augmented by a computer's much greater disk capacity.<ref name="Huber 1991"/>{{rp|133|date=November 2012}} Once transferred to the computer, custom patches can be shared with other owners of the same instrument.<ref name="Cakewalk">{{cite web |url=http://www.cakewalk.com/support/kb/reader.aspx/2007013074 |title=Desktop Music Handbook&nbsp;– MIDI |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814222211/http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/reader.aspx/2007013074 |archive-date=14 August 2012 |website=cakewalk.com |publisher=Cakewalk, Inc. |date=26 November 2010}}</ref> Universal editor/librarians that combine the two functions were once common, and included Opcode Systems' Galaxy, [[Emagic|eMagic]]'s SoundDiver, and MOTU's Unisyn. Although these older programs have been largely abandoned with the trend toward computer-based synthesis using virtual instruments, several editor/librarians remain available, including Coffeeshopped Patch Base,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://coffeeshopped.com/patch-base | title=Patch Base | access-date=7 September 2022 | archive-date=7 September 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907055311/https://coffeeshopped.com/patch-base | url-status=live }}</ref> Sound Quest's Midi Quest, and several editors from Sound Tower. [[Native Instruments]]' Kore was an effort to bring the editor/librarian concept into the age of software instruments,<ref>{{cite web |first=Simon |last=Price |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul06/articles/nikore.htm |title=Native Instruments Kore |publisher=Sound on Sound |date=July 2006 |website=Soundonsound.com |access-date=27 November 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602131027/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul06/articles/nikore.htm |archive-date=2 June 2013}}</ref> but was abandoned in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/native-instruments-discontinues-kore-457945|title=Native Instruments discontinues Kore|author1=Ben Rogerson|date=7 June 2011|website=MusicRadar|access-date=7 September 2022|archive-date=7 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907055313/https://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/native-instruments-discontinues-kore-457945|url-status=live}}</ref>