Roland Boutique JU-06 Data File Format

In my YoshiMusix music blog, I've written two short reviews [one in english, der andere in deutsch] on the new Boutique synth modules by Roland, in particular the JU-06 that I bought. At the moment, I'm also fiddling with the new Web MIDI API by the World Wide Web Consortium, because you have to be up-to-date with stuff like that. So, while poking around and checking this and that, I thought I could check the file format used by the Boutiques, because ... why not? The first thing you do, or rather, the first thing I do is to drag the file into Windows Notepad. That'll give you a broad idea on what's inside a file, because among all the garbage you can read printable characters.

What a surprise I got, when I saw that the data files for the sequencer and voice data are actually ASCII text files! Here's a dump of the first sequencer line, and below of voice 1-1. I think the dumps speak for themselves (lines are separated by CR LF).

Contents of the first sequencer data (BQ_PTN1.PRM):

SCALE(1);
LASTSTEP(15);
SW1(1);
SW2(1);
SW3(1);
SW4(1);
SW5(1);
SW6(1);
SW7(1);
SW8(1);
SW9(1);
SW10(1);
SW11(1);
SW12(1);
SW13(1);
SW14(1);
SW15(1);
SW16(1);
NOTE1(48);
NOTE2(72);
NOTE3(61);
NOTE4(60);
NOTE5(70);
NOTE6(75);
NOTE7(60);
NOTE8(73);
NOTE9(60);
NOTE10(48);
NOTE11(60);
NOTE12(72);
NOTE13(60);
NOTE14(70);
NOTE15(60);
NOTE16(72);
VELOCITY1(70);
VELOCITY2(83);
VELOCITY3(72);
VELOCITY4(64);
VELOCITY5(79);
VELOCITY6(49);
VELOCITY7(51);
VELOCITY8(82);
VELOCITY9(44);
VELOCITY10(38);
VELOCITY11(44);
VELOCITY12(50);
VELOCITY13(71);
VELOCITY14(72);
VELOCITY15(67);
VELOCITY16(67);
GATETIME1(100);
GATETIME2(100);
GATETIME3(100);
GATETIME4(100);
GATETIME5(100);
GATETIME6(100);
GATETIME7(100);
GATETIME8(100);
GATETIME9(100);
GATETIME10(100);
GATETIME11(100);
GATETIME12(100);
GATETIME13(100);
GATETIME14(100);
GATETIME15(100);
GATETIME16(100);
PTN_NAME(PATTERN 01                      );

 And here the voice data of preset 1-1 (JU06_PATCH1.PRM)

LFO RATE        (30);
LFO DELAY TIME  (59);
OSC RANGE       (0);
OSC LFO MOD     (0);
PWM             (253);
PWM SOURCE      (0);
SQR SW          (0);
SAW SW          (1);
SUB LEVEL       (0);
NOISE LEVEL     (0);
HPF             (41);
CUTOFF          (102);
RESONANCE       (17);
ENV POLARITY    (1);
ENV MOD         (100);
FLT LFO MOD     (0);
FLT KEY FOLLOW  (194);
AMP MODE        (1);
AMP LEVEL       (255);
ATTACK          (32);
DECAY           (110);
SUSTAIN         (119);
RELEASE         (60);
CHORUS SW       (1);
DELAY LEVEL     (0);
DELAY TIME      (0);
DELAY FEEDBACK  (0);
PORTA SW        (0);
PORTA TIME      (100);
ASSIGN MODE     (0);
BEND RANGE      (2);
PATCH_NAME(Brass           );

So, if you're unhappy with the vintage analog slider-and-knob-interfaces of the Boutique synths, all you need to edit a patch is Notepad!