Midi Question

[FireBall]

Ok.. gonna say this up front... I'm just a damn guitar player!! ;D

With that being said.. any of you guys care to give me a tip about midi footswitch controllers?

I have two MidiVerb II units.. (I know.. they are old as the hill) that I use in my little setup. I am considering purchasing another, since they go for a pretty good price on eBay. I use one with Reverb, the other with Delay or Flange/Chorus.

Ok, to the question. These units are simple and only do one effect at a time.. what I was wondering if I could use a universal type midi footcontroller to control 3 of these units? Maybe to either switch the channels on each or just turning the effects on or off. The MidiVerb II has a standard 1/4" jack for "defeat". So I could always go that route to just cut each one on or off, but if I can get more options out of using a midi footcontroller, then I will try that. I read in the manual about storing and patches, but if I don't have the footcontroller to play with while reading, this means nothing to me. Any suggestions...

I realize I could just buy some new unit, but I don't have any money in this rig (well, I've had it for an eternity) and can buy another MidiVerb II for a decent price. The footcontroller is the only thing that could set me back, but I can also use the footcontroller on an additional unit later, so I view this as an investment.

Here is a link to the manual for the MidiVerb II.. --> CLICK <-- The manual doesn't tell me much..

Thanks in advance for the time!
FireBall




(EDITed by sumgai to make the link work (FB, you had an extra carriage return in there. ))

[sumgai]

Fireball,

You know, I believe this is the first time I've gone so far as to tell a person why I'm not getting his "download". Normally I just shine them on, but you're a member here, and a contributor at that, so I'll tell ya.....

Please, DO NOT use a timed download service. 4Shared and all the others like it are after one thing, someone's money. I don't mind people making money, but they really shouldn't try to grab it for providing what is essentially a free service at other portals. To boot, the timer on 4shared's page doesn't work - I'm stuck in Limbo 4ever. (Again, that's also the case for nearly all other "premium" download sites.)

As usual, if I see a problem, I have a solution..... why not use Photobucket? They are not limited to images, ya know. You can post absolutely anything, and once it's there, you can paste the link to that URL into this (or any other) forum, and we'll see it just fine. When we click on it, the document itself will open up (providing one has a PDF reader aboord), just like when we view an image.

I'll be glad to answer your question more fully, once I get that manual. As it is, I'm tempted to say "Yes", what you want can be done, but I'll need to see it in black-and-white to make sure.

As for a foot controller, I'm using a Behringer FCB-1010, and it's what you want, bar none. Don't be fooled by the reputation that company has earned for some of its gear, this thing isn't just built like the proverbial tank - it is the proverbial tank. Costs about $70 or so at most used-gear joints, or perhaps a bit more if it comes with the manual. (Standard IEC power cord, no problem there.) The big thing here for you is, it has two relays that can operate any switched device you might have, such as, oh say, a MidiVerb or two... ;D

But that's only the most obvious way, MIDI is still the winningest way to go. Hang in there, and we'll get you down the road, never fear. But first, that manual..... (please? )


HTH




sumgai

[cynical1]

OK, try this link:

img5.imageshack.us/img5/547/midiverb2manual.pdf

Just because I feel like a nice guy tonight and I'm heading off to Chicago in the morning...

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[sumgai]

Blackguard,

Got it, worked great! Thanks.

Now reading for all I'm worth.......



sumgai

[sumgai]

Fireball,

OK, got it.

From the manual, I now know as much as you do! But my experience with MIDI tells me what's really gonna happen when you start controlling your units from a MIDI controller.

First, there seems to be a dearth of control..... by that I mean that you get to choose which effect (called a program) you can enable, and that's about it. Rather sparse amount of capability, IMO. It should at least give you the ability to control the overall volume, and perhaps the mix (dry/effect), but I don't see that happening, at least not so's you could tell from the manual. The best they seem to provide is the defeat jack, which you already know about.

Personally, once I got comfortable with MIDI, I'd experiement with various controller values ('CC', in MIDI parlance). CC#7 is commonly used for volume, etc. Couldn't hurt, the worst that would happen is no joy in Mudville. And if it does work, then you can simply send CC#7/value 0, and that will effectively kill the effect - no defeat jack needed.

OK, so you've got two options here. If you're gonna control more than one effect at a time (looks like it from here), then you need to set both (or all) units to Mode 1. Mode 2 allows all the programs to be accessed, without all the "storage to patch" mess, but at the same time, any MIDI Program Change ('PC') value will be honored - meaning, if you send a PC for, say, 31 to the first unit, the second unit will also change to program 31. Probably not what you envisioned would be my guess.

So set everything to Mode 1, choose a channel for each unit (a MIDI channel is like a TV channel - it gives exclusive control to whatever device is set to that channel), and set your controlling device accordingly. Now select your programs to store in their respective patches, and you're all set.

As I mentioned earlier, the Behringer FCB-1010 can control two relays that will connect directly to the defeat jack of your current two units. If you add yet another MIDIVerb unit, then you won't be able to control it separately, but you could "double-up", so to speak. There are other foot controller units out there, but they aren't cheap by any means. (One of the banes of MIDI is that everybody who makes anything that has something to do with MIDI seems to feel that all musicians are made of gold. ) Nonetheless, the FCB-1010 will be able to do everything you've asked for so far, and as you surmise, it will be very useful well into the future, should you persue a more MIDI-ful sound.

BTW, you can get a jump start on controlling your units via your computer. If you don't already have one, get a cable that can hook up to your 'puter. Make sure you have MIDI enabled for your operating system (most of them come with something that will do basic MIDI stuff), and with the right software, you should be able to imitate a foot controller, at least for educational purposes. ;D

HTH


sumgai

[FireBall]

Thanks for the info Sumgai.. you helped me a bunch!