Options Menu - Studio Preferences

When checked, Auto Load Sets will automatically load a Set for each instrument in the Studio each time the program is started. Using this feature, you can quickly collect the current state of each of your instruments and begin editing.

When checked, each time a new instrument is added to the Instrument List, Midi Quest automatically attempts to determine the MIDI ports and SysEx channel that it uses. If this option is not checked then you must manually configure the settings for the instrument using the Settings dialog.

When enabled, any SysEx bulk dumps received by Midi Quest are automatically opened into an editor if there is one available. This option is ideal for working with older instruments which do not have bulk dump requests. Go to the instrument, trigger a dump, and Midi Quest will open the appropriate editor. For more information see the Studio chapter.

When this option is checked, any newly created Set will automatically have any ROM banks added regardless of the actual components selected for the Set. This will ensure that all ROM resources can be loaded and made available for use in the Set.

This option controls how you set the Custom # for instrument components that use it.

When this option is unchecked and you are working with a driver that makes use of the "Custom #" parameter then to change this value you must enter the Settings dialog and select the appropriate value before performing the SysEx transfer.

For example, when working with a component where the Custom # is used to select the instrument's patch location then to load patch 5 you would have to press the Settings button in the Studio window, set the "Custom #" to 5 and then request the SysEx from the instrument. You would receive patch 5. If you then edited the patch and wanted to store it in location 10, you would have to choose "Settings" from the Edit menu, change the "Custom #" from 5 to 10, close the dialog and then transmit the SysEx. This would store the patch in location 10 on the instrument.

If instead, you choose to check this option then when you request a patch from the instrument, before the request is made, a popup dialog appears asking you to select a patch number. You would enter 5, press OK and patch 5 is loaded. Transmitting the patch works much the same way. When you choose to send the patch back to the instrument, before sending you will be asked to enter the "Custom #" to select where the SysEx is stored.

This results in much more streamlined operation is you are frequently changing the "Custom #" value. If you almost never change the setting of a Custom #, then it is easier to simply leave this option turned off.

Midi Quest has an extensive protection system to attempt to ensure that the SysEx in your instrument is not overwritten by uninitialized SysEx from the software.

In order to do this, every newly created patch and bank is initially marked as being "undefined". The patch or bank can be defined either by you loading SysEx into it from the instrument, copying SysEx from another location, or you specifically defining it so you can start creating a patch from scratch.

The most important aspect of undefined patches is that Midi Quest will not send them to the instrument and as a result, you won't accidentally overwrite your patches.

If you wish, you can check this option. All newly created patches and banks will be marked as "defined" and you will be able to more easily work with patches and banks at the risk of accidental overwrites.

No auto definition of patches and banks:any newly created patch or bank must have SysEx loaded into it.

Auto Define Patches and Banks: any newly created patch or bank is automatically initialized. This SysEx can be sent to the instrument and overwrite existing SysEx in the instrument.

Auto Define Patches: banks are not automatically defined however, single element SysEx types are automatically defined and can immediately be sent to the instrument.

When a new Set is created in Midi Quest, the program can be configured to automatically load SysEx from the instrument instead of initializing it. There are three options to choose from:

New Set Elements - No Auto Load: each element of the Set is initialized based on the selected Auto Definition Option above.

New Set Elements - Auto Load of Temporary elements: with this option, memory for an instrument's banks are left undefined, SysEx for the instrument's edit buffers are automatically loaded from the instrument, and SysEx for an instrument's single memory elements (usually global memory if the instrument supports this) is left undefined.

New Set Elements - Auto Load of Temporary and Single elements: with this option, memory for an instrument's banks are left undefined, SysEx for the instrument's edit buffers are automatically loaded from the instrument, and SysEx for an instrument's single memory elements (usually global memory if the instrument supports this) is automatically loaded.

When Patch Bay control is enabled in the Studio tab, this parameter controls the delay between sending the command to configure the patch bay and the the actual dump request to be sent to the instrument. This parameter allows you to optimize the software to match the response time of your patch bay. If your patch bay configures itself quickly after receiving Patch Change commands, this number could be reduced. If the response time of your patch bay is slow, you may need to increase the delay between sending the patch change to the patch bay and sending the dump request to the patch bay so that it can be routed to the instrument.

This option acts as a Midi Quest window organizer. The option has three states: off, select instrument, and select instrument graphic. Off disables this option. Select instrument enables the option so that when a given MIDI device is selected in the Studio, any windows editors for that device are displayed and any windows not containing SysEx are minimized. Select instrument graphic is very similar but the option is only executed when the instrument graphic is clicked on in the Studio as opposed to selecting the device.

This option is extremely useful when working with a large MIDI setup with many loaded files. To work with the SysEx for any given MIDI device, click on that device in the Studio. Midi Quest will automatically minimize windows not containing SysEx for the selected device and show windows which do. This makes it much easier to work with the intended MIDI device

When Midi Quest Pro creates a VST plug-in for a MIDI device, it has the option of also creating a vstxml file. The vstxml file is only used by later versions of Steinberg's Cubase and Nuendo software to provide additional information about the parameters associated with a VST plug-in. This allows for more comprehensive editing of VST parameters in these sequencers.

If you do not use Cubase or Nuendo as a sequencer, it is recommended that you turn this option off as the file is of no value and can take a noticeable amount of time to create.

In rare instances, MIDI IN ports can be flagged as waiting to receive SysEx when they aren't. In this case Midi Quest displays a message similar to this one

indicating that the port is currently in use. If Midi Quest is actually not requesting SysEx at the time, pressing this button will clear the receive state of all ports allowing SysEx to be requested again.

For some very old MIDI devices, it is also necessary to slow down the MIDI port transmit rate in order for instruments to receive SysEx. An example would be transmitting sequence SysEx to an ESQ-1. In order to successfully transmit the SysEx, Midi Quest permanently slows down the transmit speed of the MIDI port. Pressing the button resets the transmit speed for all MIDI ports to 31250.

Midi Quest Pro
Midi Quest
Midi Quest Essentials	(supports a subset of these parameters)
Midi Quest one	(supports a subset of these parameters)