Installation

Installing Instruments using the Internet

note: on Windows, two anti-virus applications are known to interfere with instrument installation regardless of whether they are downloaded from the internet or installed from disk. The software must be disabled for instrument module installation to work. The two applications are: McAfee anti-virus software and Webroot. For Webroot, apparently shutting down the software is insufficient. All Webroot processes must be shut down before installing.

When Midi Quest is first run, it will automatically attempt to connect you to one of Sound Quest's web sites and provide you with a list of instruments available for downloading. Select your instruments and Midi Quest will automatically download and install them. (If the computer is not connected to the internet, advance to the next section - Installing Instruments from Disk)

After you have selected the MIDI ports that Midi Quest will use to communicate with your instruments, Midi Quest will sense that you do not have any instruments installed. In response, it will connect to the internet and display this list of available device modules currently supported by Midi Quest. Select the desired modules and press the OK button to download and install them.

For Midi Quest one only. When this dialog appears, the EditorSQ.v13.????.bin files received from Sound Quest with your purchase email must first be dragged and dropped or copied to the desktop. Once on the computer desktop, drag and drop the file(s) on to the dialog. This will install the instrument specific license(s) for Midi Quest one and display only the specific instrument module(s) to be installed.

For a small number of Mac users, it has been reported that this copy process does occur. If the instrument list doesn't reduce to just the purchased instrument modules, the file can be manually copied to the correct location. Click here for instructions.

Select the instruments you want to install by single clicking on each instrument.

When you have finished selecting instruments, press the Ok button. At this point, Midi Quest will install the instrument module and attempt to determine which MIDI ports it is connected to by requesting SysEx information from the instrument. During the process, the following dialog is displayed.

For this process to work correctly your MIDI system must meet the following criteria.

1. Each instrument must support and respond to dump requests. Response to SysEx messages is how Midi Quest finds a given device.

2. Each instrument must have a duplex MIDI connection. That is, there must be a MIDI cable connecting a computer MIDI interface's MIDI OUT port to the instrument's MIDI IN port and a MIDI cable connecting the instrument's MIDI OUT port to a computer MIDI interface's MIDI IN port.

3. The instrument must be configured to respond to SysEx messages. Some instruments, particularly those made by Korg, are shipped with SysEx disabled and this capability must be enabled manually. Information on doing this is included with each instrument's Fast Tips file.

4. One of the instrument's SysEx dumps must be smaller than 2000 bytes. If this is not the case then Midi Quest does not attempt to automatically find the instrument.

Assuming that Midi Quest can find your instrument in the MIDI environment, it will be added to the studio with the correct MIDI IN port, MIDI OUT port, and SysEx channel (SysEx Ch) settings. If Midi Quest can't find the instrument, it adds the instrument to the list with default settings which you can change later (see Setting Up Your Instruments).

The process described above will be performed for each instrument selected in the list. Once complete, you will have a list that looks something like this:

If you choose not to install all of your instruments initially, don't worry. You can open this instrument installer at any time by choosing Studio/Install Instruments from/... at any time while the Studio window is active.

Installing Instruments from Disk

If Sound Quest has emailed you instrument module files (.sqz files), these can be installed one of two ways. First copy the the file from the email to disk. The instrument module files can then be installed by:

1/ Remove the instrument module from the Studio window
2/ Quit and restart Midi Quest
3/ Drag and drop the instrument module file (.sqz) from disk and drop it on the Studio window

Alternately, for disk installation, Midi Quest will present a dialog listing all of the instruments available to install from the DVD as follows:

Select the instruments you want to install by single clicking on each instrument then press the Open button.

In addition to the method described above, any Sound Quest zip (.sqz) file downloaded from the internet can be installed by simply dragging and dropping it on the Studio window. (This feature is not supported by the Mac Carbon version of Midi Quest on later OS versions.)

After the module is installed, Midi Quest will attempt to automatically configure the module as described in the previous section.

Midi Quest instrument modules (.sqz files) can also be installed by simply dragging and dropping these files onto the Studio window.

Installing Additional Instruments

To install additional instruments at any time, simply by choosing Studio/Install Instruments from/Sound Quests Web Site ... at any time while the Studio window is active. This will display the list of instruments available for download.