A few weeks ago I asked, on the forum, if the KN7000 supported long file names. I got an unequivocal answer that it certainly did and that 16 characters could be used. There were no caveats or exceptions noted by a source that I highly respect. That made a lot of sense in today’s technology and from that, I assumed that you could load files with long file names directly into the KN7000. This is what I have found.

If you are loading from or saving to a floppy you are limited to the antique 6 character name that we all have had to live with for so many years. Nothing has changed in that regard.

If you drag and drop files from a computer to the keyboard with the Song Manager you are also limited to the old 6 character limit for file names.

If you are saving a custom style to the SD card you are limited to 8 characters. I forgot to check this with a floppy but think it is the same.

If you are working with files that are already in the KN7000 SD card, you can rename them with names up to 16 characters. Backup and restore files include support for the 16 character names. I couldn’t find a way to load a new file into the SD card with more than 6 characters with the software provided by Technics for this purpose.

There are ways to get around some of these limitations as Alec has mentioned with an editor, but that process should only be tried by people with technical skills not normally found in most of the forum members.

I felt that these things should be on the forum because some of you may have been inadequately informed, as was I.

Keeping in mind that my mind doesn't work nearly as well as it did back when I was in my 60's and that I have only had the KN7000 for a few days, I hope that Alec or someone with appropriate knowledge will let forum members know if any of the above items are incorrect.

The 7000 supports long file names, for technics, midi and digital audio. Full customs support long file names, individual customs have always been a different menu system which you would have been familiar with if you had owned a 6X00. I don't recall ever reading anywhere that floppy disks or song manager support long file names, so your assumptions in those areas were plainly wrong, Bob.

However I do recall many posts on transferring your existing or backup files to SD which mentioned many of the renaming points. The main problem is having to rename all the files on the 7000. That is no different to the problem you had loading up the hard drives in the past, since you had to do it from floppy. This was solved by spending money on the techmanager program or using the ttx program before transferring. Hopefully a similar renaming system should be perfectly possible on the 7000 because it would help those people with lots of backups.

Thank you Alec,

I think what you said was that the limitations that I expressed in my post above were correct with the exception of full customs.

you're very welcome, Bob, but you also implied you had been misled.

If you ask a question, does the 7000 support long file names the answer is yes, since it does. The 7000 handles long file names to and from SD and SD backup and restore, no different to the way the hard disks operated. If you then make your own assumptions beyond the terms of the original question then those are your assumptions, not mentioned in the original question, for which you are responsible. If you ask whether floppies or the existing software handle long file names then you would receive the appropriate answers.

I think it unfair to try and imply that you were misled because you read more into an answer than what is stated on the page.

An illustration of being misled would be your own quote in the thread below "I am quite certain that the Song Manager cannot be used to drag and drop a KN5000 file from the computer to the KN7000". Since this is in fact perfectly possible, this is a statement that can unequivocally be termed as misleading since at variance with the facts.

When someone tells me that a product supports long file names without also telling me of any limitations, I should assume that the product fully supports long file names. Not just some minimal support in limited areas.

I can't help but remembering someone saying "It depends on what your definition of is is."

The KN7000 is a fantastic keyboard. It does not need to be defended in any way. Information needs to be both factual and complete.

Enough said. The forum members now know the limitations.

nobody is defending the 7000, my suggestions for improvements were in before anyone elses.
We are discussing your feeling of being misled through citing a list of things most of which had nothing to do with your original question.

If asked the question does the 7000 handle long file names you could write another list which actually answers the question.

the 7000 handles:

current panel
panel memory
sequencer
composer
sound memory
performance pads
effect memory
user midi banks
favourites
home page
all custom styles
individual effect memories
individual sound memories
individual songs
composer banks
individual composer memories
pad banks
individual pads
panel memory banks
individual panel memories
folders or directories
files or songs
midi files
midi playlists
midi song medley folder
midi song medly user list
audio files
audio playlists
favourite songs

all with long file names. err... quote "just some minimal support in limited areas".

You did not ask how long file names are created or what happens to them on floppy. If you had actually asked these different questions no doubt you would have recieved an accurate answer.
Enough said.

I am surprised that you are continuing to try to confuse the readers of this forum, Alec. There is no need for it. You are too knowledgeable about computer terminology to say these things. You and I both know that when you talk about long file name support you are saying that the product can internally work with long file names and that files with long file names can be loaded into and saved from that product in the normal expected fashion (which includes storage media such as floppies and hard drives). These are the three key elements of the terminology. Although the architecture is obviously in the KN7000 to do these things, the software available for the keyboard does not presently permit it.

I have seen these type discussions on the forum before, and I am certain you will respond with more defensive verbiage. I do not intend to respond to whatever follows. Enough has been said and the objective of properly informing forum members has been met.

no Bob, I deal in facts, you're dealing in sweeping assumptions.
The main storage media of a 7000 is SD card. This works with long file names as "loaded into and saved from that product in the normal expected fashion". Nothing you have said disproves this, you just jumped to a lot of other conclusions. Your "defensive verbiage" is based on assumptions you made, not on any factual answers given to specific questions.

have been following this thread closely & find it very interesting, so much so I wondered where this subject had arisen before because I had a feeling it had so I did a search on 'long file names' and could not find the question, only this one http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum25/HTML/000882.html where it was not answered.
Is there anybody else that has come across the subject.

hmmm. never thought of that.