FCB1010 midi to USB

[nowtime]

Excited about getting the floor board. Found out it is not USB and excitement is dwindling. Do you think a midi to USB cable would "just work" ?

[Tone Deft]

why?

it's a cool board but really really weird to program. it also has a strange way some of the parameters don't change from one preset to the next.

it's cool but be prepared for some 'wtf' time with it.




I'll take overused catch phrases for a dollar...


edit oh, your question. don't see why not.

[nowtime]

I will use it for some very basic purposes:

Looper record
Looper play
kik mute
snare mute
snare delay send
snare reverb send

and maybe use the expression for playing with reverb/delay adjustments

while playing djembe!

thanks for the WTF warning.

[nowtime]

Now the trick is to find a midi to USB cable that's 9' and doesn't cost $40!

[XPM]

something like this?

http://www.thomann.de/gb/swissonic_midiusb_1x1.htm



p.s. you might have to use another cable to extend it, but it seems cheap enough.

[mojofunk]

You will enjoy it. But, yes - it will initially boggle. The default values it ships programmed with will be frustrating and inappropriate. Grab one of the free user made editor programs, pick a midi channel and assign each button on every bank to a single unique midi note, and it will work for anything you wish within Live! Good luck finding a bag for it though . . .

[CR78]

Go with THIS.

[mikemc]

+1 to what mojofunk said, set it up to send notes on a less used midi channel and you'll be happy.

I use mine with an M-Audio MIDIsport Uno and it works fine.

[mojofunk]

I want to do this to mine:

[mbenigni]

Bear in mind that, even once you've addressed the MIDI to USB conversion (easy enough), you still have to provide power to the FCB. That's what ultimately turned me off on it - that and the fact that it weighs a metric ton. None of this is bad if it's part of a set and forget installation, but if you're going to gig it, or even move it from room to room occasionally, this will begin to grate.

A proper bus-powered USB pedal used to be like a holy grail to me, and I went so far as building a couple myself. But now there are several cheap, effective options on the market. The Line 6 mentioned above is great, and they make an even smaller, cheaper one (FBV mkII) if you just need a couple of switches for looping, and maybe a pedal for fading. These are both REALLY easy to program using the same USB connection and software Line 6 provides (And the smaller one features silent switches similar to those on the FCB, which is sometimes pretty critical.)

Much better scene now than, say, two years ago. If you already own the FCB cool, but otherwise I'd go another route. Hell, even though you do own the FCB, the upsell vs. the cost of the MIDI adaptor would be pretty minimal, especially if you managed to sell (or otherwise repurpose) the FCB.

[mbenigni]

This is mostly unrelated and got longer than I intended. Don't read unless you feel like indulging me.

Funny FCB-related story: Something like 7 years ago, I used to use one as a floorboard controlling a POD and a couple of other MIDI rack devices. One night I made the BIG mistake of changing my setup just a couple of hours before a show. Inspired by the likes of the Steve Vai Bad Monkey wah-wah pedal, I thought it'd be cool if I set up the FCB expression pedal to engage the POD's wah whenever the pedal moved, with a nearby switch to turn it off again. That way I'd have wah pretty much "on-demand". This all worked out great at home, and through a brief rehearsal.

Well, that night I set up on what turned out to be this ridiculously large stage, which had been hastily constructed out of plywood. Once the drummer started going, the stage began to sort of oscillate :O such that the expression pedal was in motion - albeit to a tiny extent - constantly! The wah engaged with the pedal forward and my tone went all to hell - and I had no idea what was going on!

At intermission I figured it out. Now bear in mind that I'd been programming the FCB for months and thought I knew my way around it pretty well. But under all the stress - band and audience staring at me - I simply could not reverse the changes I'd made prior to the show. I finally gave up and (no joke) wrapped duct tape around the expression pedal in hopes of holding it in place. It didn't really work and I think limped through the rest of the set sounding like a tin can full of hornets. It was right around then that my opinion of the FCB soured. It's a fairly complex beast with a user interface that doesn't suit the complexity.

Moral of the story: set and forget the FCB, and make any necessary config changes at the destination device(s).

(Sorry for rambling.)

[nowtime]

That FBV Shortboard MkII looks sweet. I Like the USB !! I wonder how programmable each of those pedals are. Will look into it when I get more google-net time.

[xuoham]

I want to do this to mine:

Funny, looks a bit like mine:


Cut and almost completely emptied FCB (lightweight) with an a-pac($43.00) inside.
Makes it a usb joystick, recognized by Plogue Bidule (75$), or other midi capable software. Bus powered. I got rid of the two exp pedals but you can use them as well.
If you have an old controller and use its switches and pedals, it's a nice way to go. Cheap, but takes a bit of time.
I wasn't using my FCB since a long time, too heavy, too big, didn(t need the two exp. pedals, and now i have a lightweight, sturdy,
self fixable usb controller, for like 60 bucks. But anyway, there's a real niche to take : usb foor controller. Surprising how little there are

[mojofunk]

Wow! Very nice.

[mbenigni]

I had a similar project to xuoham's a few years back:

http://www.decrementia.com/Content.asp? ... rboard%202

... but actually I like his feature set better. I absolutely needed the expression pedals, but the knobs/switch banks on his are very cool.