Midi command for selecting a Song

Are you talking about receiving an external MIDI command to select a preset on the FM9? If so - yes this is possible. If you're talking about something else, please let me know. I do the first all the time using Ableton for automated Preset and Scene changes
 
Great question! I am also very interested in this! I want to start sending MIDI program change messages to my FM9 from a program I'd like to use for viewing leadsheets (Stage Traxx 3). I'm a virgin MIDI nube :rolleyes: - totally clueless on how to do this yet. I know, I know, RTFM... I have to dig into this but any light anyone can shine on this will be appreciated! :cool:
 
guitarno said:
Great question! I am also very interested in this! I want to start sending MIDI program change messages to my FM9 from a program I'd like to use for viewing leadsheets (Stage Traxx 3). I'm a virgin MIDI nube :rolleyes: - totally clueless on how to do this yet. I know, I know, RTFM... I have to dig into this but any light anyone can shine on this will be appreciated! :cool:
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That is different than the OP's request...

You might start reading here:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/midi-newbie-detailed-tutorials.186972/post-2315010
 
This really would be very handy. At our new years gig we played fast (apparently 🤦🏻‍♂️). I had to go edit the Setlist from the unit itself, which was a real pain. If I had it hardwired to BandHelper, I could have some selection parameter tied to each song and selecting the song would bring up the chart and switch the FM9 to the song selection. It would make last minute changes much simpler.
 
Yes this would be helpful. My Axe FX 3 is the best guitar related purchase I’ve ever made but it is limited in its midi capabilities, ie; only 6 CS for sending midi commands via FC. I think if you are strictly a guitar player it might be enough but if you sing as well and want just an FC-12 on the floor to control everything, more midi control is required. I’m currently using an RJM MMGT-10 which can handle everything as far as controlling all my devices (Axe FX3, Bandhelper on iPad and Voicelive Rack vocal processor) but it can’t do songs and setlists on the Axe FX. Given that I have Bandhelper I don’t really need the Setlists but being able to set up Sections in each Song on the Fractal would be awesome. Which brings us to this thread if Bandhelper could send a midi command to the Axe FX to select the song it would solve a lot. The whole band uses Bandhelper and we change sets around so they sync up over the air. To use the setlists as they are now I would have to make adjustments before every gig and still need to somehow send midi to the iPad to pull up the song with the lyrics in Bandhelper. It seems highly unlikely that there will ever be a way to access all the Songs and Setlists features via a midi controller but to just be able to choose the song via midi PC would mean I could probably go back to the FC-12 and access Sections. I know the first 8 PC banks are required for the presets in the latest Axe FX 3 but to access songs you only need one more bank.

Sorry to be so detailed but I’m just trying to save the “why don’t you just (insert idea here)” responses. I do appreciate other member’s help, I’ve relied on it many times but if I don’t elaborate on my set up now I’m wasting their time.
 
I suspect the reason this hasn't been done already - because on the surface, it seems like it shouldn't be that hard to implement - is because there's something in the way the setlists/songs are implemented that makes it really tricky without a major rework of the firmware. So I fear that it may not be coming any time soon.

But there's a pretty easy workaround - just use presets as songs, and scenes as sections. Add preset up/down switches to your scenes layout, and it will be functionally identical. It's easy enough to shuffle your presets into the right order in Preset Manager in FM9-Edit. Downside is that you might end up duplicating lots of similar presets and scenes. But there's an upside; we have way more than 132 preset slots to work with, and I've also heard people complain that 4 sets of 32 songs isn't enough.
 
Songs and setlists are a function of the FC part of the system. That’s why there’s no MIDI command. a MIDI command for controlling a MIDI/Sysex command is not too common.

Other MIDI controls may have their own Setlist implementation or as mentioned there are other apps/programs for making setlists.

A setlist is a custom order of PC and CC commands.
 
ShavenYak said:
I suspect the reason this hasn't been done already - because on the surface, it seems like it shouldn't be that hard to implement - is because there's something in the way the setlists/songs are implemented that makes it really tricky without a major rework of the firmware. So I fear that it may not be coming any time soon.

But there's a pretty easy workaround - just use presets as songs, and scenes as sections. Add preset up/down switches to your scenes layout, and it will be functionally identical. It's easy enough to shuffle your presets into the right order in Preset Manager in FM9-Edit. Downside is that you might end up duplicating lots of similar presets and scenes. But there's an upside; we have way more than 132 preset slots to work with, and I've also heard people complain that 4 sets of 32 songs isn't enough.
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I’ll have to give your workaround some thought. Since I am using the MMGT and not an FC (or FM9 foot switches) I can go up and down using the control I have set up on the MMGT. I have been already using a similar idea to this but the sweet part of sections is that I could put a bunch of different solo scenes on a single preset and then for that Song have a section that goes to the solo preset and desired scene for that song and back to the other preset for the rhythm parts. It cuts down on the number of presets you have to do and then if you need to tweak something it’s one scene or preset not 20 or 30 duplicates. But I’ll brainstorm it a bit more.
 
I have messed around with the above idea a bit but i think what’s missing from that workaround is the very thing that makes Songs and Setlists so powerful and that is the ability to have a section be from any preset/scene. I use Bandhelper to make up my setlists and it chooses the preset and scene that I want to use for the song via midi but it means I have to have all the sounds I want for that song in the same preset. I would like to have a preset or two with a bunch of rhythm tones that I will need for the evening and another for solo tones that I need and maybe a few more with more specialized tones or functions. Then from those 5 or 6 presets I could mix and match what I need for the song.
 
Neill00 said:
I’ll have to give your workaround some thought. Since I am using the MMGT and not an FC (or FM9 foot switches) I can go up and down using the control I have set up on the MMGT. I have been already using a similar idea to this but the sweet part of sections is that I could put a bunch of different solo scenes on a single preset and then for that Song have a section that goes to the solo preset and desired scene for that song and back to the other preset for the rhythm parts. It cuts down on the number of presets you have to do and then if you need to tweak something it’s one scene or preset not 20 or 30 duplicates. But I’ll brainstorm it a bit more.
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The MMGT has its own setlist feature right?
 
Sure, but within a given song you can choose the presets you want to use but not preset/scene combinations like you can do with “Sections”. I suppose if I wanted to unpack all the scenes in my presets and treat all the presets as if they had only “scene 1”, I could make it work but that means copying and pasting all the presets I want to use 8 times and having a different default scene in each copy. Not the most elegant, although theoretically it could work.
 
You'd have to select the preset with a PC message and then the scene with a CC message, or you can use PC mapping to map the 128 PC messages to specific combinations of presets and scenes in the MIDI/Remote menu.
 
Each preset in the Mastermind lets you send additional MIDI messages beyond Bank select and PC messages. Add the needed CC# message to select the desired scene, and you can select any scene in any preset that way (up to 768 of them anyway).
 
I’m aware of that and I think having just watched the video Ron did on it, I might have a better idea of what you’re suggesting.

If I want 4 sections per song, reorganize all my presets on the MMGT to start a new song every 4 presets. Each MMGT preset could pull up whatever preset scene I want. I’m going to try to plot that out on a spreadsheet. I don’t think I even need a CC command since there’s a scene selection on the preset page.

Does this sound like what you have in mind or did you have an even better solution.
 
Update**
As Ron demonstrates in his video, if you assign 6 presets per song on the MMGT you can create 128 songs and since each preset can be designed to go to a specific Scene you can create sections. When you go into Song mode on the MMGT the footswitches that control presets become Scene footswitches and bank up/down becomes song up down. So I have found the solution that was out there that others discovered. Thanks for the help and suggestions.
 
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