Why don't GT librarians work with BRs?

[jegtar]

I am not a programmer and don't understand the details but I can't understand why Boss wouldn't allow the BRs (for me the BR-800) to work with the Librarian or similar software.  Trying to dial in tones on the 800 with the menu diving and one dial is a pain.  I end up getting frustrated and just using my pod x3 instead but then my computer ends up eventually dropping the pod driver or something.  I wish I had the ease of use of line 6's gear box with the stability of the 800.

Also,using the Customtone site for the Pod got me thinking... It seems Boss is missing an opportunity for a share site.  It would be cool to go to a page and be able to share guitar tones, prepared drum kits and arrangements.  I made a few kits the other day and getting them trimmed down and in the right format took a lot of time and I would like to share them and download others easier.  Rant off.

[64Guitars]

I am not a programmer and don't understand the details but I can't understand why Boss wouldn't allow the BRs (for me the BR-800) to work with the Librarian or similar software.  Trying to dial in tones on the 800 with the menu diving and one dial is a pain.  I end up getting frustrated and just using my pod x3 instead but then my computer ends up eventually dropping the pod driver or something.  I wish I had the ease of use of line 6's gear box with the stability of the 800.

The USB connection of the BR only allows it to act as a storage device. So software only has access to the files stored on the memory card. It can't alter effects parameters in real time. The effects parameters are stored in files on the memory card, so it's possible to write software that manipulates those parameters. But, because it's not in real time, you won't be able to hear your patch until you save it to the BR and exit out of USB storage mode. That makes it impractical.

Also,using the Customtone site for the Pod got me thinking... It seems Boss is missing an opportunity for a share site.  It would be cool to go to a page and be able to share guitar tones, prepared drum kits and arrangements.  I made a few kits the other day and getting them trimmed down and in the right format took a lot of time and I would like to share them and download others easier.  Rant off.

I think effects sharing is impractical because there are lots of people who want to download effects created by others, but there are few, if any, people who want to create custom effects and upload them. Without the latter, there's nothing for the former to download. Also, the binary format of the effects file is different for each BR. That's why I designed the Micro BR Patch Documenter to allow sharing of patches as text only. That way, the patches can (mostly) be re-created on any BR. The user just has to dial in the same parameters. This also helps to make users more familiar with effects editing. The more people who get comfortable with effects editing, the more people there'll be who are capable of creating good custom patches to share. It would have been trivial for me to include binary patch sharing capabilities, but then patches couldn't be shared between different BRs and users would have no incentive to learn how to edit their own patches so there'd be fewer people creating new patches.

Another problem with effects sharing is that the effects sound different with different guitars. For example, if someone creates a great Robin Trower patch using their Stratocaster, it will sound quite different when someone else downloads that patch and uses it with their Les Paul. For that reason, it's better to learn how to create your own patches with your guitar than to rely on others to create patches for you with a different guitar. Even the preset patches were most likely created with a different guitar than yours. So it's always best to tweak the preset effects to get the best sound with your guitar. Also, the preset patches tend to be flashy and over-the-top, so you might want to tweak them to tone them down a bit. I especially find the delay to be excessive, so I usually turn it off or at least reduce it a bit to get a more usable sound.

Drums are a different matter. It's possible to share drum kits by uploading the DRUMKIT.BR0 file. This file can then be copied into the appropriate song folder to access the custom drum kit in that song. If the drum kit includes custom samples (TONE LOAD), then you have to also upload any SOUNDxxx.BR0 files. Drum arrangements can also be shared by uploading the ARRANGE2.BR0 file. However, this is less practical since an arrangement is pretty specific to a particular song. Perhaps it would be okay for cover songs though. There might be some incompatibilities between various BR models, but I suspect that most BRs that support custom drum kits and arrangements should be able to exchange these files.

[jegtar]

Good answers.  I guess a better rant for me would have been 'why didn't Boss make it so it would...'  I'm using mine as my computers sound card so the USB does do a little more than just act as a storage device.
I know how to create patches so I don't need Boss to give me an incentive to learn. However,if I want to bump up the treble on my amp and turn the drive up on my dirt pedal I have to tap the thing what feel like a billion times.  It would be nice to have a graphical repensetation on my computer screen.
But on the other hand maybe that's what makes the BR-800 so stable compared to Line 6, it doesn't have all the other crap getting in the way.