#studiovision

Before we begin:

1. (If not using OS9 compatible hardware) Get SheepShaver and follow an install guide like this one. I will assume you’ve already set this up. If using original hardware, ignore info about the “This PC” drive, and instead transfer files using whatever methods are available to you.

2. Download Opcode Studio Vision 4.5.1 *the final release before they were acquired and became defunct. (originally from this forum, you may need to register)  Also be sure to download Open Music System 2.3.8 (OMS).

3. Download ResEdit  (this tip courtesy of https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7440800?answerId=29707864022#29707864022)

Please note: The data and resource forks of OS9 files will be damaged when storing them on non-Macintosh file systems. To prevent this, files should be encoded with the MacBinary format (.bin) or Stuffit compression (.sit / .hqx) before transferring off of an OS9 machine. This includes application files as well as project files.

Installing OMS And StudioVision Pro

As soon as you start up SheepShaver and finally boot in to the desktop, make sure you see the “This PC” icon allowing you to copy and paste files between your PC and the emulator. If you don’t see it, google how to set it up within SheepShaver and whatever OS you’re running on your main computer.

Once that’s settled, go to “This PC” and navigate to the folder containing the “.sit” files for both OMS and Studio Vision Pro. Copy both to the desktop and unpack them to a new folder. Now open the OMS folder. Click the Installer and use Easy Install. Let it run, then reboot when prompted.

Upon reboot, follow this chart:

Make sure as many of these files as possible are in the correct location on your drive. This includes files inside the Studio Vision folder. Please note this chart is for Vision DSP, but it still mostly applies for Studio Pro. Just regard anything listed as Vision DSP as Studio, and ignore anything that you don’t have inside either folder. Everything else needs to be moved to the right location since Studio Vision doesn’t have a proper installer.

Now navigate to the Studio Vision Pro folder and open StudioVision PPC

You will likely get an error about a font called Aloisen not being found. Don’t worry about this, it is only necessary for the notation function, not for MIDI work. You may also encounter a popup about ASIO drivers not working, just hit Cancel.

The drivers may be required for playback in the software, but if all you need to do is export as MIDI, you can ignore this.

You should be greeted by a screen like this:

Now, once again navigate to the “This PC” drive and copy over any StudioVision document files you have.

Go into the folder where your project files are located and select View > as List. This will give you more information about the files inside, such as the kind of file it is. Below is a screenshot of the types of files you may encounter.

If it says StudioVision document, you’re all set and don’t need to read the next section. Skip to Exporting as MIDI. If it instead only says “document” read on.

Restoring The Correct File Kind

Now, it’s quite likely that somewhere along the way, the files lost their association metadata, making them impossible to open in Studio Vision without tweaking them first. That’s where ResEdit comes in.

Unpack the “ResEdit_2.1.3.sit.hqx” file to its own folder on the desktop as well

Open it up and navigate to the ResEdit program. Open it and you will be greeted by this splash screen:

Click on the image and it will start the program.

From here, a file navigaiton window should open. Find the Studio Vision documents you want to alter. Open one and you will be greeted a screen like this:

Select OK and ignore the window it opens. Next, go to File > Get Info For [filenamehere] . It should open a window like this

We are only interested in the two blank boxes near the top- Type: and Creator:

Here we are basically restoring the tags that tell Mac OS 9 these files are for a specific program. In our case that is Studio Vision Pro and these are the tags (caps are important here):

Type: MID2   Creator: MIDA

Now, go to File > Save. If you see a text box about not allowing more than 4 characters in the type box, double click the box until it’s highlighted purple. Then hit backspace and type the tag again. Same for the creator box if required. Now save it. We are done with ResEdit.

Exporting As MIDI

From here it’s pretty straight forward. Double click the newly restored file and it should open StudioVision. You may see a popup like this about undefined channels:

That’s completely normal. It’s unlikely you’d still have the same setup from over two decades ago. Just click Cancel. You should now see a screen similar to this:

From here, select File > Export as MIDI File... and Select a folder to export to.

PLEASE NOTE: Exporting to midi only exports the currently selected sequence, not the entire project. If your project has multiple sequences, be sure to export each one individually.