Preset conversion between OG/MKII and XL(+) Units #3
Description
As continued from #1
It would be nice if like Fractal-Bot and Axe-Edit presets were upgraded (or even downgraded) between the unit types.
To do this requires some reverse engineering of the Axe-FX II sysex format. In my brief look at some presets converted through FracTool this is non-trivial as even blocks in the same data packet region are adjusted, likely for the increased X/Y blocks etc. With the amount of information I'd have to work out to do this I should be able to convert both ways.
HOWEVER: This will likely step on people's toes and might even be too much reverse-engineering (maybe enough to warrant some form of cease and desist which I would very much like to avoid). At the moment there's two options to convert presets, the first being the official Fractal-Bot/Axe-Edit (but that is only one way conversion and requires you have a device connected to send to).
The other is FracTool which has many conversion options, but it's clear this is a commercial avenue for the developer and he seems to be in a good relationship with Fractal. To quote, "The use of this software is free for personal use. Any commercial preset seller must first ask an express authorization for selling the converted presets, even if modified after conversion.", and the startup message implies that such authorisation will only be given after donation. Should my tool be able to convert it'll possibly cause upset as it will be fully open and able to be used under a free software license. There might be attempts to have this taken down. Do I want to do a lot of reverse engineering work just to have it under threat of take down? I don't even own an XL/XL+. I will leave this up as I ponder it's feasibility.
At the moment, my recommended solution is to run FracTool in Wine to convert your presets. While Wine's MIDI stack is a bit iffy, general processing and file saving is pretty good. I'm unhappy that there is an aspect that I have to rely on Wine for though.