TC-Helicon VoiceOne Sysex User Manual

TC-IVL Ventures Inc.

TC-Helicon VoiceOne MIDI System Exclusive Control

Note: All numerical values will appear in HEXADECIMAL notation unless otherwise indicated:

0xF0 = F0h = F0 – The latter value is the expression of the hex numeral used.

Decimal equivalents will appear in brackets after their hex counterparts:

0xF0 = F0h = F0 = (240)
0x64 = 64h = 64 = (100)

General message format:

F0 MIDI System exclusive message start
00 3 byte manufactors ID for TC-Helicon
01 ...
38 ...
<Device ID> System exclusive device ID (user parameter)
4B VoiceOne model ID
<Message ID> VoiceOne message type identifier (see table below)
<Data> Data – depends on message type (see format description.

below)
…
…
F7 MIDI System exclusive message terminator

Preset numbers

Preset numbers are represented in the SysEx messages as 2 bytes (14 bit value). The first byte
is the 7 most significant bits and the second is the 7 least significant bits. The preset numbers are
mapped as follows:
01 (1) to 64 (100) Factory bank
64 (101) to 96 (150) User bank

Preset number zero is the currently edited preset.

Examples:

Factory preset number 67(decimal) would be translated into bytes 00 (MSB) and 43 (LSB – 67 in
decimal).
User preset number 48 (decimal) would be translated into number 148 (decimal) = 1x128+20 and
would thus be represented as bytes 01 (MSB) and 14 (LSB – 20 in decimal)

Message data format

The format of the data used/needed in the different SysEx messages depends on the type of
message. Below are descriptions for each message type explaining data formatting.

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SysEx message type Identifier

VoiceOne Request Preset 45
VoiceOne Request Parameter 47
VoiceOne Request Shift Map 51
VoiceOne Preset Data 20
VoiceOne Parameter Data 22
VoiceOne Shift Map Data 31

VoiceOne Data Request messages

Preset Request - 45:

<Data> is 2 bytes representing the number of the preset requested. See above for description of
preset number representation. The data transmitted by VoiceOne upon receiving this message
will be formatted as a Preset Data message (see below for complete description)

Parameter Request -

<Data> is 2 bytes. The first byte defines the group to which the parameter belongs and the
second byte identifies the parameter within the group. See below for a complete listing of
parameters and grouping. The data transmitted by VoiceOne upon receiving this message will be
formatted as a Param Data message (see below for complete description)

Shift Map Request -

<Data> is 1 byte. The value of this byte is ignored. The data transmitted by VoiceOne upon
receiving this message will be formatted as a Shift Map Data message (see below for complete
description)

47:

51:

VoiceOne Data messages

Preset Data - 20:

<Data> is 344 bytes organized as follows (in sequence):

2 bytes Preset number (see above)
20 bytes Preset name (as ASCII characters)
12 bytes Custom correction scale (in chromatic scale degrees)
1 byte Number of notes in custom scale
16 bytes (cs) Shift map (4x3 8-bit bytes packed – see below for description)
4 bytes (cs) Accidental attributes of custom scale (see below for description)
288 bytes (cs)9 24-bit values for each of the 8 FX groups (packed data – see below)
1 byte Checksum of the data marked cs (see below for description)

Packed data: The idea of packing the data is to take a 24-bit value (the normal width of

parameters in Voice One) and represent it in 4 bytes of 7 bits each. The
first three bytes hold (in sequence) bits 0-6, 7-13 and 14-20 of the 24-bit
value. The fourth byte hold bits 21-23 of the 24-bit value as LSB’s with
zeros in the remaining bits.

Shift map: The shift map is represented internally as 12 8-bit bytes (see VoiceOne

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manual for detailed description). For the purpose of storing and dumping,
the 12 bytes are packed into 4 24-bit values each holding 3 bytes. When
dumped/received these 24-bit values are packed according to the above
mentioned scheme.

Accidental attributes: These 4 bytes (representing a 24-bit value packed) define the

display properties of the custom scale. Bits 0-11 (of the 24-bit
value) define whether flats or sharps are used for every custom
scale note. A bit value of zero selects flat and a bit value of one
selects sharp. Bits 18-22 define what scale type the VoiceOne
displays (MAJOR, MINOR, OTHER, CUSTOM or MIDI) when the
custom scale is selected as current scale.

Checksum: The checksum is 1 byte holding the 7 least significant bits of the sum of

all bytes contributing to the checksum. In this case the contributing data
is the data sections marked by cs in the table above.

Example: The byte values 1,2,3,…,126 would result in the following
checksum. 1+2+3+…,+126 = 8001. To get the 7 least significant bits
divide by 128 and then multiply the remainder by 128. In this example
it would be 65.

Parameter data - 22:

<Data> is 4 bytes. The first two bytes identify the parameter as described above under
Parameter Request. The last two bytes determine the value of the parameter represented as a
14 bit 2’s complement signed value. If a value exceeds the limits of the parameter the value will
be limited. If the parameter changed belongs to the System Parameter Group (see below) and
the parameter was changed by the message, the message ‘Kernel Par Changed’ will flash on the
text line of VoiceOne.

Examples:
The value 169 (decimal) = 1x128 + 41 would be represented as bytes 01 (MSB) and 29 (LSB)
The value –43 ~ 16384-43 (decimal) = 16341 = 127*128+85 would be bytes 7F (MSB) and 55
(LSB)

Example – Turn the Resonance Bypass Off (light in the Resonance key illuminates).

F0 00 01 38 00 4B 22 07 08 00 00 F7
F0 = SysEx start.
00 = Byte 1 of 3 byte manufacturer’s ID for TC-Helicon.
01 = Byte 2 of 3 byte manufacturer’s ID for TC-Helicon.
38 = Byte 3 of 3 byte manufacturer’s ID for TC-Helicon.
00 = Sysex Device ID (defaolt value of 0).
4B = VoiceOne model ID.
22 = VoiceOne Message Type Identifier (Parameter Data Identifier)
07 = Parameter Group ID.
08 = Parameter Name ID.
00 = Parameter Data MSB (Most significant bit).
00 = Parameter Data LSB (Least signicant bit). Value, 0 decimal.
F7 = SysEx message end.
Sending this stream of bits will turn the Resonance effect on. This defeats the Resonance
bypass. The light on the Resonance key will turn on.

Shift Map Data -

31:

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