FM9 Sending MIDI PC to Boss Units

[davealloway2001]

Hey, new here and LOVING my FM9 so far. Had it for 2 months, and finally finished my board with it (pics coming soon). Question for those of you using your FM9 with other MIDI gear:

How do you send a Program Change Message to a Boss unit, like a 500 Series unit? I already know you can...

1. Set up "Send PC" in the Setup/MIDI menu. That is working...but I have to have my "Preset 1" located on Present #257 on the FM9 it order to "force" my RC-500 to change to User Memory 1. So I would have to keep the order of Presets between the FM9 and RC-500 exactly the same. Not ideal.
2. Use the Scene MIDI Block to send messages from each scene change. But I don't want to waste an outgoing message slot sending that PC message on each scene change if I can do it when I just load the FM9 preset before the song. Also, I can't find out ANYWHERE online or in the Boss manuals if the RC-500 ignores duplicate MIDI PC messages. Because if not, that means the RC-500 will try to reload the preset every time I flip scenes on the FM9. Not ideal either.

Any ideas?? Thanks!

 

[mistermikev]

in every piece of midi gear there is usually a list 0-127... and a corresponding value 0-127 that corresponds to the message that is fired when changing presets. now, i'm not sure why 257 would be sending your boss to preset 1 (unless you've setup a midi block to explicity do so) so have to wonder what that program is putting out... either way long story long... you should be able to edit your map in the boss such that when the axe fx goes to preset 1 it sends the boss to 53 or some other number.
afa midi messages... a common thing to do is to have each unit in a midi chain set to a different midi channel. so axe fx on midi 1, boss on midi 2... then when you send messages to the boss you just want to send them on midi channel 2. if there is another device downstream from the boss... as long as it is set to midi channel 3 (and assuming thru is on)... messages from axefx sent on midi channel 3 will pass through the boss w/o effect and will be acted upon by downstream midi device.
have not been playing with midi all that much lately as i set my stuff up and haven't touched... so my terminology might be all over the place but the jist should be there. hope that helps.

 

[stdout]

Use the Scene MIDI Block to send messages from each scene change. But I don't want to waste an outgoing message slot sending that PC message on each scene change if I can do it when I just load the FM9 preset before the song. Also, I can't find out ANYWHERE online or in the Boss manuals if the RC-500 ignores duplicate MIDI PC messages. Because if not, that means the RC-500 will try to reload the preset every time I flip scenes on the FM9. Not ideal either.
Any ideas?? Thanks!

I think what you want is analogous to the Helix instant commands which are activated on engaging a preset where you can send whatever PC, CC, … on whatever channel you want but only the once, on entry. The preset PC number is also sent which I don’t think can be suppressed.

I don’t think what you want is available for FAS devices though I stand to be corrected. I would try the MIDI Block and only configure to transmit on the scene that you invoke on entry. Yes, the RC-500 would receive the PC every time you selected that scene but hopefully the code would recognize that the preset was already in memory and treat the command as a NOP and not try to reload the preset. If it does reload the preset that may well not be workable.

In which case, and yes this is a kludge, I would set up the entry scene on the FM9 to be a one off that only got invoked on entry. This would require you selecting the scene you want with a footswitch so it would require 2 foot presses, one to select the preset and another to select your scene. As I said, a kludge.

 

[unix-guy]

I believe that the Scene Midi block will trigger the payload for the default scene of a given preset when the preset is loaded.

So I think you can just set your PC in the default scene for each preset.

I don't use this so I haven't tested it.

 

[stdout]

I believe that the Scene Midi block will trigger the payload for the default scene of a given preset when the preset is loaded.

So I think you can just set your PC in the default scene for each preset.

I don't use this so I haven't tested it.

I suggested that but if it reloads the RC-500 preset it may well not be a workable solution.

 

[davealloway2001]

I think what you want is analogous to the Helix instant commands which are activated on engaging a preset where you can send whatever PC, CC, … on whatever channel you want but only the once, on entry. The preset PC number is also sent which I don’t think can be suppressed.

I don’t think what you want is available for FAS devices though I stand to be corrected. I would try the MIDI Block and only configure to transmit on the scene that you invoke on entry. Yes, the RC-500 would receive the PC every time you selected that scene but hopefully the code would recognize that the preset was already in memory and treat the command as a NOP and not try to reload the preset. If it does reload the preset that may well not be workable.

In which case, and yes this is a kludge, I would set up the entry scene on the FM9 to be a one off that only got invoked on entry. This would require you selecting the scene you want with a footswitch so it would require 2 foot presses, one to select the preset and another to select your scene. As I said, a kludge.

I believe that the Scene Midi block will trigger the payload for the default scene of a given preset when the preset is loaded.

So I think you can just set your PC in the default scene for each preset.

I don't use this so I haven't tested it.

I suggested that but if it reloads the RC-500 preset it may well not be a workable solution.

Yeah I'm testing it out today. I like your kludge idea though in a pinch. Thanks for the help!

 

[Admin M@]

I would say it is the responsibility of the downstream device to implement MIDI Mapping. Maybe Boss can add this in a firmware update if it isn't already present.

 

[unix-guy]

I suggested that but if it reloads the RC-500 preset it may well not be a workable solution.

Just re-read your post... I missed that bit the first time

 

[stdout]

I would say it is the responsibility of the downstream device to implement MIDI Mapping. Maybe Boss can add this in a firmware update if it isn't already present.

Given the rate at which Boss rolls out updates to software we might expect that sometime next century. And it is clearly stated that FAS devices are not MIDI controllers which is a cogent design point. But if you are integrating MIDI controllable pedals into your modeling rig it makes the whole process far more tractable if the modeler has a facility like the Helix Command Center. Just saying.

 

[Nsurround]

Here is a youtube tutorial How To Program MIDI With The Morningstar MC-8 & Boss RC-500 that might be helpful to some. Has a lot of info on setting up the Boss RC-500 to receive midi controls via the ASSIGN property under Memory functions. Have tried to setup FM9 footswitch layout to control some functions of the RC-500 by assigning a Control Switch that outputs a CC number value but so far have not been able to make it work with the RC-500. Any ideas?