File manager

Grovvyband Live! uses 3 file types: registrations, styles, voices. Each file type, for organizational convenience, is grouped in 2 distinct places: Preset and User hierarchies.

All these files are treated uniformly through the File Manager panel, which allows the user to browse, load and save the files. And also to make some maintenance activity (folder creation, renaming, deletion).

Through the Windows File Explorer the user can easily perform a deeper, and sometimes more convenient, organization and maintenance of the files on disk (explained later).

File Manager panel and related UI widgets.

Click the REG button, the style display or any of the voice displays to toggle (= show/hide) the file manager for the corresponding item (registration, style, voice).
The File Manager panel opens in the centre of the screen, hiding the underlying Mixer, but leaving exposed the most important controls frequently used during a performance.

File Manager structure

To toggle between the preset/user file hierarchies click the PRESET/USER button. The currently shown file hierarchy is labelled at the top.
The current path within the shown file hierarchy is displayed here.
To enter a folder, just click on it. Every folder button shows how many folders and files it contains.
To go up one level, click the PARENT button.
The RELOAD button reads again the file hierarchy from disk and updates the display. This is useful if you have performed some editing within Windows File Explorer and want Groovyband Live! to sync. Or if you have renamed some files and want to update the listing order accordingly.
If more than one page of content is present, you can navigate through them using this widget. Besides clicking the left and right arrows you can also swipe, drag or turn the mouse wheel on the page display.
The DISMISS button will close the File Manager and show the underlying Mixer.
The AUTO X (auto close) button will automatically close the File Manager when you select a file (registration, style, voice). This will save one button press (the DISMISS button) if you know exactly what to load and do not need the File Manager to stay open for another load.
The AUTO X button is sticky: it will remember the last choice until you change it.
You can store the currently shown folder in any of the PATH buttons by right clicking / long pressing it. When a path (other than the root) is stored, the button turns bright yellow. Click the PATH button to instantly jump to the stored location. The stored location is shown in the address field [2] when you hover the button with the mouse. Every file category (registration, style, voice, in both preset and user groups) has its own independent path locations.

File management basics

The three file types (registration, style, voice) in the two groups (preset, user) are saved into file hierarchies rooted within the program installation folder. The program installation folder is the one chosen by the user; if the default was accepted, it is something similar to “C:\Groovyband Live!\Groovyband Live! MODX-MONTAGE 21.05.03 Licensed”

If you do not remeber where the program was installed, one quick way is to inspect the shortcut on your Desktop! Right-click it and select "properties" from the menu that will appear.

Within that folder you find the subfolders:

PRST REG
PRST STY
PRST VCE
USER REG
USER STY
USER VCE

Each one being the root of the respective file hierarchy (which can be easily inferred from the names). The user interface, when requested to load or save a file, looks within those root folders and present you the file hierarchy it founds there. Groovyband Live! cannot load or save files located elsewhere.

File management with Windows File Explorer

Within those folders you can delete, create and rename subfolders; delete, rename and copy files, as you see fit. You can also copy/move files between the corresponding preset and user hierarchies, and shape also the preset hierarchies as you like. Within Groovyband Live! all files are shown in alphabetical order. The file extensions are stripped (not shown) and all the characters up and including the first hash (#) are stripped as well, both in file and folder names. They are stripped from display, but they do count for the alphabetical sorting!

This allows you to force any apparent ordering you like, not only the alphabetical one (which is always used internally).

For example, if you name a file “010#MyName.sty”, it will show as “MyName”. Then by naming two files “020#Alpha.sty” and “010#Omega.sty” you can obtain a listing where “Omega” comes before “Alfa”. When saving or renaming a file within Groovyband Live!, the extension (.reg, .sty, .vce) must not be added, since it will be added automatically. It must be kept when doing file maintenance in Windows File Explorer though, otherwise the file will not be recognized nor shown in Groovyband Live!.

Working with the File Explorer is the most powerful and fastest way of doing changes (as well as making great damage!). It is most suited for architectural changes to your file organization and/or transformations in bulk.

File locking

To increase the reliability of operations, Groovyband Live! puts a lock on every file/folder it has currently open, so that it cannot unexpectedly disappear because some other program is tampering with those files.

If you edit with Windows File Explorer a file hierarchy while a file is open in Groovyband Live!, you might not be able to rename/delete/move that given file and all the folders belonging to the path from the root to the file. The solution is to quit Groovyband Live! so that you have unrestricted access to every file.

Backup

If you plan to customise the preset folders, we advice you to make a backup, just after installation, so that you always have a verbatim copy to source content from, in case you need it.

Your user content (being unique) is even more important than the presets; so do not forget, from time to time, to backup those folders as well!

File management with Groovyband Live! user interface

Although there is no real difference between a User and a Preset file hierarchy (and with the Windows File Explorer you can modify both as you like), within Groovyband Live! you are only allowed to modify the User file hierarchy (being the Preset hierarchy read-only). This will create the illusion, common on hardware machines, of an always available preset bank of “factory” content you cannot damage/delete by mistake, and a user bank you can customise at will.

It is up to you to stick with this convention or not: just ignore the preset banks (you might bulk-copy their content within the user hierarchy) or possibly modify them as you see fit (including copying some user-modified content).

For this reason the DELETE, RENAME, NEW DIR and SAVE buttons will only work when you are in a User file hierarchy.

Making changes through the program UI (optimized for touch screens) is slower than through the File Explorer (if you have a mouse and a keyboard connected). It is therefore most useful for limited changes done on the fly while performing.

To load a file just click on it. (For voices see also next point).
Since a voice will be loaded in the highlighted voice slot (see the the Acmp/Lead Voices panel on the right of the screen), be sure to select the right slot (by clicking on it) before loading a voice.
Clicking on an already selected voice will recall the voice file manager if not yet shown.
When loading a voice you can decide whether to load the insert DSP saved with that voice or not. If the DSP LOAD button is selected, the DSP effect saved with the voice will overwrite the current Insert Dsp effect in the mixer strip. Otherwise only the bare voice will be loaded, keeping the currently set insert effect.
The DSP LOAD button is sticky: it will remember its state until you change it.
When loading a style you can decide whether to load the OTSes and Aux voices saved with that style or not. If the OTS LOAD button is selected, the OTSes and Aux voices saved with the style will overwrite the current OTSes/Aux voices. Otherwise only the bare style will be loaded, keeping the currently set OTSes/Aux voices.
The OTS LOAD button is sticky: it will remember its state until you change it.
When loading a registration you can decide whether to load the style saved with that registration or not. If the STYLE LOAD button is selected, the style saved with the registration will overwrite the current style. Otherwise only the global state associated with the registration will be loaded, keeping the currently set style.
The STYLE LOAD button is sticky: it will remember its state until you change it.
To SAVE a file in the current folder, click this button. If necessary, navigate to a different folder before clicking this button. A dialog box will open, asking you for a name. The correct extension will be automatically added: do NOT add it explicitly.
When saving a voice, remember that the currently highlighted voice shown in the Acmp or Lead Voices panel is saved, so select it before clicking on the SAVE button.
If you want to “reuse” the name of an existing file, you can right click (= highlight) the existing file before pressing the SAVE button: the existing name is preloaded in the dialog box, saving you some typing.
To create a subfolder (NEW DIR) in the current folder, click this button. If necessary, navigate to a different folder before clicking this button. A dialog box will open, asking you for a name.
To delete or rename a file/folder you have first to select it by right clicking on it: it highlights. Only one item at a time can be selected, so a new selection will supersede a previous one.
To RENAME the selected file/folder, click this button. The button is dimmed if no selected file/folder exists. A dialog box will open, asking you for a new name.
To DELETE the selected file/folder, click this button. The button is dimmed if no selected file/folder exists. A dialog box will open, asking you to confirm the deletion.

Table of content

Bindings setup

Yamaha styles