Controlling other MIDI gear with MFC-101

I use to external switches on the MFC, I have Midi CCs setup for these. Turn OFF both the "Midi RX Channel" and the "Midi RxProgramChange" on the MFC. I am connected to the Axe-FX using the ethernet cable.

On the Axe-FX, I am setup w/the default settings, except you need to turn on the "Midi Thru/Out" setting. I have a 5-pin midi cable connected from the Axe-II Midi Out/Thru connector to the Midi In on the Motif ES Rack box. Everything is set to Receive/Transmit on Midi channel 1.

All I can say is this works for controlling external gear from the MFC/Axe.

that is a great idea! never thought about that...
so you have the CAT cable to the Axe fx and a Midi cable to your Motif at the same time? And can you still use Axe Fx mode?
And control the other gear using the external switches? So pressing an external switch giving you 17 IA switches to control your Motif so the say? not sure if I really understand this correctly.
 
No, No. The MFC is connected to the AXE-FX using CAT5. The Motif is connected to the AXE-FX "midi-out/thru" using a Midi Cable. The External Switches are connected only to the MFC.

Also, I'm using a Midi Solutions 2x1 merger to merge my midi controller w/the switching from the MFC/AXE.
 
No, No. The MFC is connected to the AXE-FX using CAT5. The Motif is connected to the AXE-FX "midi-out/thru" using a Midi Cable. The External Switches are connected only to the MFC.
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That was exactly what I was saying. Didn't know that you can use the CAT cable and Midi cable at the same time! Can you still use Axe Fx Mode?
And do you control the other device with the external switches that are connected to the MCF (freeing up the switches on the MCF by pressing on the external switches)? still don't understand how you do this.
 
From the MFC manual:

4.3 Presets and Program Changes
As stated above, presets and banks in PRESET MODE are arranged in strict numerical order. The flexibility to have
footswitches load your choice of sounds, however, is offered in a number of ways:
 By default, each numbered MFC-101 preset sends 16 Program Change commands—one on each MIDI
channel. These can be changed freely using the preset’s Program Change parameters. Preset numbers
0-999 may be specified. Bank select messages (CC#0) are automatic. See p. 42 for details.

this excites me, does it mean i can send PCs to my keyboards connected to AXE via midi cable with the single switch of a MFC patch?
 
SO, with no answer, here's what I've learned:

The Axe does not transmit time code through the Midi Thru/Out. It transmits everything else, just not beat clock or any other time code. Apparently this is because for some reason the Axe screws it up, so it was disabled around Firmware update 6 (or so, and no more info was given.) I can't see why this wasn't addressed as a problem to be sorted out in later upgrades.

I asked Sean Strickland if Axe transmitted Midi power, for powering the necessary splitter and merge boxes to route time code round the Axe to other midi devices. Sean said "No it does not."

SO having bought everything plus a power adaptor, I discover that the Axe DOES transmit midi power - as you'd expect with the midi protocol.

As for the MFC - using ethernet disables midi. You use the one or the other.
 
I spent yesterday running through a similar situation, so I thought I'd share any findings I had. I have a Voiclive Rack and an AXE XL2+ with MFC-101. My goal was to use the MFC to control the Axe scene changes as well as turning effects on and off on the voice live all from the MFC IA switches. I use one XLR faslink cable for everything which is super convenient.

When testing, the axe didn't seem to transmit midi out of its midi Thru port, but it did transmit through its midi Out port instead to the VL. On the TC, I set the incoming midi to channel 2 and C2..both seemed to be important. And like they said above, turn off midi receive on the mfc-101 and turn on midi through on the Axe. Again, even though I set the Axe to midi "through", I had to plug in the midi cable into the midi "out" port, not the through port.

I found it also important to set the IA switch to "none" on the switches to control the VL. They would usually be assigned to the Axe reverb, eq, etc. Then, in midi setup on the MFC, assign the IA to Channel 2. The IA of choice should be in "general use" mode now that it's not controlling the axe any more, its just passing midi data through the axe into the VL.

Its very powerful because I accidentally didn't realize you can send two midi control messages at once from one IA switch. I kept getting multiple switches lighting on the IA when switched on and realized the switch had sent a message to both the mod and reverb button on the VL. If you don't want to activate 2 midi effects at once on the VL, just set both C1 and C2 to the same midi channel.

But I could see this being uber cool for those of you that also want to use the IA for AMP switching or controlling yet another midi device with one IA switch. Pretty Cool!
 
..... I could see this being uber cool for those of you that also want to use the IA for AMP switching or controlling yet another midi device with one IA switch. Pretty Cool!
I use it to control our lighting rig. Patch selection on the MFC chooses the colourway, and Tempo controls the flash/pulse rate. There's an extra button on my board which feeds into the MFC and cycles between still, pulsing, and flashing programmes.
 
I use it to control our lighting rig. Patch selection on the MFC chooses the colourway, and Tempo controls the flash/pulse rate. There's an extra button on my board which feeds into the MFC and cycles between still, pulsing, and flashing programmes.
Pretty sick! Never thought of that!
 
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