In today’s post, I take a look at the next steps in my quest for a hybrid studio. Yes, while my studio is out of action, I’m using the time to up my tools and for the last few months, I have building a comprehensive, AU, VST based editor for Mac and PC. “But wait Maxie”, I hear you cry, “There are already 5 billion editors out there for the Oberheim so why bother?”. Good question, the reason is that I couldn’t find anything I wanted with the DAW features for Mac that I crave – plus, by this stage – I’m getting pretty insanely good at building editors with lots of tricks up my sleeves and a decent set of reusable code base. One prime example is from my last post, I upgraded the Matrix 1000 chip with the v1.21 firmware and now have super slick NRPN. So – why not add this option to the latest editor? I switch between longer and slower SysEx and super fast NRPN for better automation.
The features that I particularly like when using an editor is to have nice, clear visuals. I like VSTs and make my editors act like VSTs. I’m familiar with this and it’s great for workflow. The other editors just didn’t cut it enough for me personally. There was one editor that I thought was pretty cool but had the VST for PC only. Booooo! I run Mac Silicon and Intel so wanted something native. Joking aside, if you have a PC, definitely grab it – it looks very cool and it’s by someone who actively tests on a PC base whereas I port to PC which from feedback, actually works surprisingly well but I’m not into debugging PC that much though happy to look at things if the coffees make it worthwhile. Next up, my next favourite feature – a heavily integrated librarian.
Double click a file and in. Save root for DAW for fast loading and save state in memory for DAW for quick recall! Nicey nice. My hardware now loads exactly as I left it per project but also, lets go further. This next feature is subtle but powerful:
Librarian direct interface into the editor! Love this feature. I started bringing it in with the Juicy1010 and it really improves workflow. You can load a bank and directly recall from the front GUI. Subtle but speedy.
I’m making good progress. I have a few more minor interface fixes and then I’m at the testing and refinement stage. If it sounds interesting to you, start warming up the coffee.