Because a lot of you have been asking for ways to control multiple plugins at once, I present to you: the easiest solution you might have never thought of.
Requirements
-MOD Duo
-MIDI cable (DIN-DIN)
-USB-MIDI controller
Connections
Connect the USB-MIDI controller to the USB-A port on the back of the MOD
Make a loop from the DIN-MIDI out to the DIN-MIDI in with the MIDI cable
Example usage
Let’s say you have one MIDI-CC on your controller, and you want to send it to multiple plugins. All you have to do is get the “MIDI CC Map” plugin and map your current CC (in the case of the example pedalboard, this is 14) to another CC (in the example, this is 44).
Boom, now you can control two parameters at once. Of course this can be extended, just use multiple instances of the “MIDI CC Map” plugin. Because the effect on/off toggle can be controlled by MIDI CC messages (with for example a Softstep or FCB1010) you can also turn on/off multiple effects at once using this approach.
Finally
Don’t forget: you are able to mix and match multiple MIDI-processing plugins to get access to some very creative ways of controlling your plugins. We are looking forward to hearing your new pedalboards!
this is definitely clever, though definitely a workaround.
However it does immediately open up the possibility to modulate any parameter with a midi lfo or envelope follower. We just need one in the store. Perhaps some infamous developer can get on the ball
@jesse applying this logic to a MIDI Footpedal:
If the midi values of the footpedal were from 0 to 1000
could it be possible to map (i.e.) 0 to 250 equals 0 | 251-500=250 | 501-750=500 | 751-1000=750 ?
Background: I’d like to map my pedal to 4 positions, the idea came while playing around with the “shiroverb” where the lowest position would be -octave, then 1, then 1.5 (which is +fifth) and highest position 2 (which is +octave) for the parameter “ratio”.
Could there be a workaround for that?
Thank you!
Firstly, I am assuming you mean an expression pedal capable of outputting MIDI CC messages, correct?
The thing with MIDI CC messages is that they can only be between 0 and 127 for a grand total of 128 steps. This low resolution gets us into some trouble if you are looking for exactly 1 value, and not something close to that value.
For example (Shiroverb):
-The ratio parameter goes from 0.5 to 2, so we have a range of 1.5
-1.5 / 128 steps gives us 0,01171875 (the value change per CC)
-We want to achieve the -oct, unison, +fifth and +oct positions, which CC value represents these positions?
-The easiest are -oct and +oct, since they are on the outer ends of the dial (CC 0 and CC 127 respectively).
-unison pitch is achieved by setting the dial at 1/3 (starting point + 0.5), this should be CC 41.667 which does not exist
-+fifth is achieved by setting the dial at 2/3 (starting point + 1), this should be CC 84.333 which does not exist either
If you are not too picky about the exact value it is probably the easiest to assemble a chain like in the screenshot below, translating the CC into a note, discarding all values that you are not interested in, and transforming it back to a CC.
Hope that helps you out a bit, you can always get creative with different MIDI filters, although it will require some thinking ahead usually. If you find a better solution, be sure to let us know!
Note that v1.2 allows custom ranges for midi cc, so if you limit the range of a parameter you get a little more “precise” values…
We should allow to address pitchbend… resolution is a lot higher for that one.
@jesse would pitchbend be enough for the case you presented here? (shiroverb)
It’s 8192 steps instead of 128.
@jesse wow, thanks. Sorry for my bad description of the problem but you nailed it!
I will try your solution tomorrow but i fear the shimmer only sounds good when you hit exactly -8/1/5/8 (i.e. 0, 41.667, 84.333 and 127). But at least with the range settings two of the intervals are always safe to hit.
@falkTX allowing to adress pitchbend is definitely a nice feature, although adding that feature standalone, I don’t think it would solve this exact case.
-pitchbend is not something most MIDI-controllers have on anything other than the pitchwheel, which automatically gets set to a neutral position if not touched.
-we have no plugins to parse the pitchbend data, so no way to make it jump values like @domlo is looking for.
Still, a worthwhile feature, especially for plugins like the SuperWhammy.
I’m now trying to work out what the workaround-workaround is for someone already using the MIDI in (Midi Merge would be great, but I don’t have a MIDI merge box - so how do a route a MIDI signal already coming into the MIDI in socket to multiple parameters on different effects?
(I can, I think, do this by muting the output of particular CCs from my Softstep while programming the others, but that’s really clumsy, and a tricky one to do every time I want to change a patch (my softstep isn’t connected to a computer, rather to the MIDI expander, because I use it to control multiple devices, so need the signal to be via a normal MIDI cable rather than USB MIDI…
I’m currently using the MIDI in on the MOD Duo just as a power source for the Softstep, except when I use it away from my rack, when I’m using it connected direct to the Softstep…
Will try adding a second CC output to the softstep expression pedal, and setting it up… And report back
I found the info on this page very useful, but I’ve now run into an issue that I can’t figure out…
Essentially I’m trying to use midi notes to be able to turn on/off different pedals when I want to.
I’m using the “hack” of sending the midi out back to the midi in.
I am using the Keith Mcmillin 12-step as my midi controller (only sending notes)
I am using the x42 Note to cc pedal
I’m trying to use this setup to do something like turn on an overdrive pedal while I’m also playing through a sequence of 4 notes played on the 12-step. I have gotten the overdrive pedal to work well using “midi learn” which CC to use to turn it on and have been successful in both making all 4 notes turn into the same CC keep it on (with 4 different note2CC pedals), or by making an out of range note also played on each of the keys (127 as an example).
This works just fine for turning the overdrive pedal on, but doesn’t work well for turning it off. I’ve actually found that, for me, the note2CC takes notes 64 and up and uses that for an on switch, and any midi notes 63 and under and turns that into an off switch. Also, despite the overdrive pedal learning CC 127, it still really uses the 64 and up being turn on, and 63 and down being the turn off switch.
This is ok, if I am just trying to control 1 pedal or toggle switch in this way, but I am actually trying to get 2 pedals to turn off or on at different times.
I am not really good at midi stuff, so I will be first to admit this might be an easy fix. I’ve been learning a lot about it since I got the 12-step and then even more after my DUO. Let me know what I’m missing here…
I know my KMI Kboard is very very configurable and its probably the cheapest KMI device, so I’d really be surprised if you can’t just configure it to send midi CC’s to toggle the effects directly. As long as you aren’t trying to turn on/off 2 fx with 1 button then that will be a much simpler approach that trying to send midi through a filter and back in again.
Otherwise you want to set “Operation Mode” of the note2CC plugin to 2, all keys. This way it sends a different CC for each note. Currently it is like you have 1 knob and it turns the knob to a certain value (CC value) depending on which note you send. In “all keys” mode it instead is like a knobs for each note (different CCs) and turns them to the position of how hard you press the note (called velocity). You’ll probably want to configure your 12 step in this case to always send max velocity for note on and use the “note on” message with velocity of 0 for note off. Sorry I haven’t used the 12 step myself or I might be able to give more specific direction.
Try that and if you’re stuck post again and I’ll see if I can help.
The 12 step is a bit different than most of the other KMI pedals. It doesn’t let you put different CC on each button. If you add a CC to the 12 step, then it is in effect on each pedal. It really functions primarily as a way to play multiple midi notes at once on each of buttons. So that is why I am trying to use the note2CC plugin.
I have had the note2CC plugin set to operation mode 2 (CC-value=key). I thought functions by setting the Active Key (MIDI Note) and the CC Parameter to turn a particular MIDI note into a particular CC parameter. This would then allow me to turn another plugin on if it “MIDI learned” that particular CC number. Is that possible or am I trying something that doesn’t really function the way I’m trying to use it?
It makes the MIDI learn useless. Since a CC that is in use would be learn-able again.
After we get custom CC assignment (specified by user), then we can allow this.
“Since a CC that is in use would be learn-able again” : I believe that it is the case for Guitarix on Linux, isn’t it ? I don’t think that it creates any problem with midi-learn, but I might be wrong.
It could still show in the list, but highlighted or with a different colour, meaning that it is already in use somewhere else.
I don’t understand this phrase, but, in guitarix, you could connect the same midi controller to as many “GUI controllers” you like, with midi learn. You could as well choose the range to use, So, no problem to control multiple plugs in guitarix with the same controller. What isn’t possible is, connect multiple midi controllers to a single GUI controller, the last selection will always replace the previous one.
As far as I understand the discussion here, I thought we were talking of using only one CC, from only one Midi controller, to command several GUI controllers.
For instance, use one expression pedal to control both the Wah parameter of a Wah pluggin and the drive of the distortion pluggin just past it.
Yea, so I get it right,
well, you could indeed do that in guitarix, You could as well switch the direction of the values, to drive the wah from 0 - 127 and drive the distortion from 127 - 0 , for example, or you could split the range 0 - 64 for wah 65- 127 for distortion ( or use this split for on off), or . . ,
