MIDI Foot Control Help

losman69 · Post by **losman69** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:40 am

I am attempting to make use of an old Roland GS-30 as an onstage foot controler to start/stop clips and scenes, etc.

I've done all the set ups in the manual and FAQ area and everything seems to check out when i map out the foot switches but nothing is happening when i exit the Midi mapping mode.

Any Suggestions? I'd reall like to try to make use of this unit as i dont really use it for anything anymore.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:45 am

in the options->preferences->midi menu set the foot pedal REMOTE IN to on. Live is seeing midi from it but not treating it as a remote device.

losman69 · Post by **losman69** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 6:11 am

tried that everything is clicked on, no dice

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 7:06 am

check what values the pedal is sending, such as 0/0 for on/off, 0/127 for on/off etc. and check the mode type. Sometimes deleting and re-assigning the setting also works.

once you get it working, unset as many of the midi routing settings that you can, they do take cpu time.

losman69 · Post by **losman69** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 8:02 am

That seems to be whats going on...I need to figure out how to "trick" or reprogram the unit into simply reaging the foot switches as on/off devices. I can get 3 of the 4 pedals to work by switching the unit into "foot pedal" mode but one pedal requires a trigger to activate the effect which i am not using. I'll probably have to scour Roland to see if there is a way to reassign the switch functions.

On another note, I was able to get another unit to work perfectly. I hooked up an older Line 6 POD 2.0 unit with a floor board module and as long as i switch the floor board into pedal effect mode (ons & offs) i can assign any function to most of the switches.

saves me a couple of bucks on a new midi foot controler in the meantime.

Is there a "For Guitarists Only" forum available?

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 8:06 am

losman69 wrote:Is there a "For Guitarists Only" forum available?

no but there are a lot of guitar/bass players here as well as people who do the same hands free sampling with a mic or turntable.

the behringer fcb1010 is a nice pedalboard for cheap, fwiw.

losman69 · Post by **losman69** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:10 am

yeah , ive checked out the other footpedals and know whats out there. I was simply trying to make use of what i had already spent a butload of cash on and wasn't using.

The pod set up will probably work out pretty well for what i need to do. The line 6 floor board has 7 assignable switches and 2 assignable expression pedals.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:45 am

losman69 wrote: The line 6 floor board has 7 assignable switches and 2 assignable expression pedals.

which one is that? the pod xt floor unit? I'm getting a Pod XT soon, I'd get the floor model if the pedals can be used as midi controls.

losman69 · Post by **losman69** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:37 am

i dont think the pod xt will suit your needs as a midi controler if you are planing on running your guitar through it for the guitar audio.

The set up I am using is an old POD 2.0 "kidney bean" unit conected to my laptop with a usb midi cable. Its actually an original POD unit with the upgrade 2.0 chip installed.

Connected to the POD is an original Line 6 Floor Board connected via the original Cat 5 Cable.

Being a rehabilitated former multi-effects processor unit junkie, i now prefer the good old tube amp/pedal effects combination. The PODS are great and they certainly help when that tube amps just gets too heavy to lug around.

The problem i've had when using the pod units in a live setting, is geting the tones to match from home to stage. I too often find myself tweaking my "perfect" presets infront of an audience that doesn't appreciate me waisting their time.

The set up discribed above is intended to be used as a onstage midi control device only to launch Live Clips and scenes onstage. similar to how that Praful dude does it on his video on the ableton site.

I wont be able to run my guitar through this set up because I have to set the floor board to be in the effects on & off mode which will twake my guitar sounds when ever I start or stop a clip in live using the floor board.

I'd say if you have the cash, get the POD of your liking and also get an independent midi foot controler like the Beringer or the Roland. The beringer has two expression pedals, the roland is more expensive and only has one ex ped.

What are you wanting to use the POD for?

If its for recording guitar and vocals, then look into the Toneport UX-1 and UX-2 units. This is what got me into using live in the first place. YOu should be able to conect to live through the POD units provided you can run through the Gearbox program.

Check out my band website at www.myspace.com/getmojosoul for some demos of recordings using only the UX-1 and the Live program.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:56 am

I'm updating my electric rig to a brian moore 9.13 for the midi, usb audio, center tapped humbuckers and rmc bridge. axon midi interface and a pod xt, I've saving for a while, now's the time. I have an Edirol UA 101 for recording. iguitars are back ordered for a few months, so I'll order one through a local shop and wait.

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:34 pm

I'm fascinated: this topic is popping up all over the web suddenly. Actually I wonder why it took so long. Options in the way of MIDI floorboards are pretty scarce. The FCB1010 is a great value - lots of switches + cc + programmability for way cheap, but it's a beast. The market right now calls for something lighter, smaller, and USB bus-powered. I'd settle for something with a battery instead of another cable.

losman I am especially interested in your post and here's why: I'm using a Flextone II but bypassing the preamp by way of the FX loop return, just to monitor Ableton Live and Guitar Rig 2. I want to get rid of the RK2 footcontroller (since it's not MIDI and won't talk to Live) and instead use the FB4 that selects channels on the Flextone. I ran a MIDI cable from the MIDI out to my laptop interface's MIDI in, and hoped I could select Live channel record buttons that way. I do register the MIDI activity, but in MIDI learn mode, the results are very unpredictable. It almost looks like the Flextone is dumping Sysex instead of sending program change messages, so Live can't distinguish between the 4 buttons.

As you probably know, the Flextone II is basically a POD 2.0 with a poweramp stapled on, so I'm wondering why your setup would work and mine wouldn't. Any ideas?

Thanks!

(Incidentally I just ordered a Digitech Control 8, which I didn't know existed until this morning - basically a smaller, lighter FCB1010 equivalent. But it appears to be discontinued, so I'll have to see whether vendor actually has it in stock as advertised. I'd still rather use my little FB4 if I could.)

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:42 pm

...as long as i switch the floor board into pedal effect mode (ons & offs) i can assign any function to most of the switches.

I suspect there is a big, fat clue right here. I don't think the FB4 has any such mode.

losman69 · Post by **losman69** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:57 pm

Please forgive me as i am probably the least MIDI savy person on the planet so I consider mysely luck to have stumbled upon it working via the pedal board mode.

From what i can understand, in order for LIVE to recognize comands from a set up like mine the board needs to send a simple on/off signal to LIVE and not merely a program change signal. I was getiing the same thing when I started this thread using the Roland GS-30 and once i figured out how to make it work on the POD set up, doing the same thing with the Roland worked except as described previously.

I think the FB4 just does program changes. If you are getting it to work sporatically, then the program you are using might be using an effect that is sending a midi message once the effect is triggered? I'm thinging that was the initial problem with the Roland as merely assiging a program change to a button didnt realy send anything out through the midi channel. I'm thinging the midi signal needed to be triggered by the synth pick up to actually do anything.

The cool thing about my little POD floor board discoverey is that i can assign the expression pedals to control rotary knob functions such as wet/dry ratios and even tempo changes, etc (down for faster, back for slower). i'm sure this can happen on the "real" midi bards as well. But hey, i didnt even need to program anything, it just worked!

The board also has a pre labled tap tempo which i can assign as the same as to not confuse myself beyond recognition -haha

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 8:14 pm

If you are getting it to work sporatically, then the program you are using might be using an effect that is sending a midi message once the effect is triggered?

That's an interesting theory (by "program" I assume you mean Flextone patch?.) If that were the case, then I could theoretically setup different Flextone patches with unique FX assignments, and get the job done. Unfortunately, Live does seem to respond to the Prog. Change message, but not with enough intelligence to distinguish one footswitch from another. So MIDI learn mode gets totally confused by the first event that occurs, which happens to be a Prog. Change 9x out of 10.

If there's some way to manually assign the values for a Live element to respond to, I might be able to program my way around this.

SubQ · Post by **SubQ** » Mon Dec 11, 2006 8:39 pm

I have a BassPod and a FBV4 Foot Controller. Is there any way to use this board to control midi assignments on Live? The controller connection with the Pod is another than midi. Maybe connecting it to the bass pod, and then using the Pod's midi out to my RME's midi in?
cheers
coelho