Zero Hour: help needed with unreleased material. Mezzo

[erikro]

We have a full albums worth of songs recorded around 2002. The instruments are complete but just lacking vocals. The problem is that these tracks were saved using a program called Mezzo (not the notation software or anything with that name of late) by Grey Matter. This is for media archiving and they are long since out of business.
What we need is a version to unlock the archived files so we can convert them to wavs and thereby add vocal tracks.

I have spent countless hours searching for this program: bit torrents, message boards, recording studios etc.
Nothing but a dead end!

So, any help would be immensely appreciated.
Thanks

 

[farren]

No luck on audionews, proaudiotorrents, or ed2k. Have you checked brokenstones? I haven't been on it for ~10 years now, but if you haven't checked there already, I can ask someone who still has an account to check it.

This being niche software (which seems like absolute shit, by the way) with a stupid challenge system, it's entirely possible it was never cracked, in which case there's no way it can be installed today and decompressing within the program isn't possible unless someone has a working (now very antiquated) rig with this garbage still installed on it. Maybe someone out there has come up with a homebrew solution.

Edit: Have you contacted this person?

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=376213

See his post from 2014 in this thread:

http://duc.avid.com/archive/index.php/t-269340.html

"I have a mezzo system setup just for this originally.......it took me a few years to purchase the complete setup etc.....I can do restores for anyone that need the service.

Paul"

What about Jandini/Matt, who posted this in September of this year?:

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?p=2448090

"I can help to restore any Mezzo tape backups. Any tape, any version.
matt.janda.kingston@gmail.com
__________________
Matt"

Gearjunkie777?:

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=226904&page=7

You said you've been allover message boards, but since you fuckers have delayed the new Cynthesis album without a word for so long, I'm going to throw everything I can at you in hopes of a 'new old stock' ZH album.

 

[farren]

I get it that you enjoy keeping me in suspense, Erik, but what's going on with this? Have you contacted all of the people I mentioned? It seems like a lot of people have this particular setup just to serve people like you guys who have inaccessible Mezzo archives.

 

[erikro]

I get it that you enjoy keeping me in suspense, Erik, but what's going on with this? Have you contacted all of the people I mentioned? It seems like a lot of people have this particular setup just to serve people like you guys who have inaccessible Mezzo archives.

haha, yeah tried all of your suggestions but to no avail. What's crazy is that there are people with hours and hours of material that are in the same dilemma so I didn't think it would be so hard to find a solution.
I'm almost at the point of hiring a Mac programmer to somehow back engineer the software. It would be a damn shame if this stuff never sees the light of day, especially as Troy can no longer can play. Also, this would be a quick turnaround as everything is completed except for the vocals.

 

[farren]

Hmm... Some of the people in those threads only recently acquired Mezzo rigs. It sounds like online activation no longer works but setups that are already registered still work..? If you guys have the funds, is finding your own Mezzo rig a possibility? That sounds easier than finding a programmer talented enough to reverse engineer a solution.

If you go that route, though, you'll want to post wanted ads on some of the freelance programming task sites. A lot of the people out there are just web designer types (i.e. not actual programmers, but people who at best can do some simple scripting). You would need a legit hacker. Don't bother confining your search to specifically Mac people, though. Anyone competent enough to take on this task can easily access OS X (through legit means or not).

Here's one more idea: Maybe reach out to some of the more active studio guys on YouTube, see if they know anyone or have access to a Mezzo setup themselves? You guys aren't some garage act. You have several albums on credible labels. Some of these guys on YouTube are well-connected and would surely be willing to lift a finger to help. Towers is arguably cult classic material and we're talking about the successor here. I'm thinking maybe start by contacting this dude? https://www.youtube.com/user/SpectreSoundStudios/about I have a feeling he knows about Zero Hour, and he may be able to point you to someone else who can help if he can't.

This is just an absurd problem and I won't accept that it can't be remedied.

Jasun said years ago Troy was no longer up to playing the Zero Hour stuff... Is that what you're referring to, or do you mean Troy has completely given up the instrument? That would be really tragic, but I can understand how discouraging it must be to suddenly have your virtuoso-level playing diminished to, well, slightly less amazing virtuoso-level playing. I hope I'm reading too much into what you wrote, but now that you've said it, I'm afraid that explains the delay on the new Cynthesis, which, last we were told, only needed drums and bass tracked...

 

[erikro]

"This is just an absurd problem and I won't accept that it can't be remedied." Right! First of all thanks again for all of your help and concern with this conundrum.

As far as Troy's condition: According to Jasun, Troy can no longer play without much pain. I believe tendentious , repetitive movement took its toll on him physically. He did have some physical therapy but as far as I know that was of little help.

So, this upcoming album will have Ed Platt of Enchant playing bass.

 

[farren]

You're welcome, I really hope you find a solution--it's Troy's legacy. Really sad to hear his situation has deteriorated further. Ed Platt is one of my favorite players. What a stylistic difference, though. The new album will be really interesting. It's my most anticipated release of 2021.