Bandhelper + Axe-Fx III - send tempo

unix-guy

Master of RTFM
Hi folks,

so I got my lightning to USB B cable (no need for "adapter") and have Bandhelper on my iPhone or iPad sending midi beat clock to the Axe Fx III. It works, BUT watching the tempo screen the tempo seems to "bounce".

I set my devices to send tempo and stop after 4 bars (no need to run it constantly) and with a tempo of 135 on a song, I sometimes get 135 others 133 or 137. I tried shortening the time down to 1 or 2 bars but the results were worse.

What I am wondering is if instead of beat clock I can just send a sysex message with the tempo of the song?

A concrete example of doing this would be great! :)

This is just early testing, my ultimate plan is to setup Bandhelper in a master/slave configuration where the drummer will be the master and the 3 of us using the Axe Fx will be slaves. Minimally, I just want to get all 3 devices to get the same tempo so our time based effects are all in sync.

I'm comfortable with midi, but I don't know if midi beat clock would even work in that scenario?

Input from those with experience is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Kevin
 
Yes, please find a way :)
I tried for about 5 minutes, but gave up.
I already have BandHelper sending tempo to my lighting controller (DMXIS) and adding my AX8 too would be great.

I feel like the answer is staring me in the face at this link when added with some additional text from the same page.
Hopefully this helps get things moving to a solution for this.

SET_TAP_TEMPO
If you want to send a BPM value to the Axe-Fx II/AX8 you can do this via Function 0x02 GET/SET_BLOCK_PARAMETER_VALUE. To do this you will send the parameter to the "CONTROLLERS" Block (ID 141), Parameter ID 32, and the value would be a number between 30 and 250

0x02 Function ID (0x02)
0xdd effect ID bits 6-0
0xdd effect ID bits 13-7
0xdd parameter ID bits 6-0
0xdd parameter ID bits 13-7
0xdd parameter value bits 6-0
0xdd parameter value bits 13-7
0xdd parameter value bits 15-14
0x00 0=query value, 1=set value
0xdd Checksum
0xF7 SysEx End

ID 141 = 10001101 in binary
effect ID bits 6-0 would be 001101 | 0x0D
effect ID bits 13-7 would be 000010 | 0x02

Parameter ID 32 = 100000 in binary
parameter id bits 6-0 would be 0X20
parameter id bits 13-7 would be 0X00
parameter id bits 15-14 would be 0x00

thinking out loud, let's try and get 135 set as the tempo

Parameter value is 135 or 10000111 in binary (000111 for bits 6-0, 000010 for bits 13-7 and 000000 for 15-14)

0x02 0x0D 0x02 0x07 0x02 0x01 0xA5 0xF7
or if we must have 3 values for the parameter id, adding another 0x00
0x02 0x0D 0x02 0x07 0x02 0x01 0x00 0xA5 0xF7


(not sure the checksum is correct as A5. in fact not sure that anything I put above is correct, but hoping to be shown the light)

Do you want to give them a try - I'm hoping this also works on the AxeFX3
I'll have another look tonight when I'm home too.
 
Yes, I saw that link the other day while trying to plan ahead... But was also feeling less than clear on the details. That's why I was hoping midi clock would be a simple answer.

Hopefully someone else will chime in... Otherwise I'll dig in further.
 
Well... Got a reply from Matt that this is out of scope for normal support... But that he would ask one of the Axe-Edit guys to take a look at the thread.
 
I've improved the MIDI beat clock function. It was bouncing around for me as well so I rewrote it to use more accurate time stamping. It's very stable now.

I will also look into adding a MIDI command to set the tempo directly.
 
I've improved the MIDI beat clock function. It was bouncing around for me as well so I rewrote it to use more accurate time stamping. It's very stable now.

I will also look into adding a MIDI command to set the tempo directly.
Awesome. :)

How about for the Axe Fx II?
 
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