MIDI with voodoo labs control switcher

Are you trying to send MIDI messages when you change presets or when you change scenes? You need to explain exactly what you're trying to do, how it's currently behaving, and what you have configured so far for us to be of any help.
 
afocasnte said:
Let me know your solution for this ???

I can't believe it because this is almost a 2000-dollar piece, with very expensive shipping and you just expect to see there an amp control relay, like the 10-year-old GT 1000 or my new Fender Tone master or many units out there, that SIMPLE. True, expectations are out there, but this is the same thing when you buy a car, and after a while, you realize something you like is missing. It took me more than a month to learn the terrible UI and APP and the controls in this unit, and by the time I was ready to test the amp control, I saw it was missing, and at that time I missed the windows to send it back, now I am stuck. So spent 200 more for a midi controller, which IS WORKING perfectly, but the FM9 of course give more trouble around the 1000 badly explained menus and documentation. So a simple task became more than 4 hours of my day trying to figure out this. And I am sure the problem is coming from fractal. Again, I hope this explain to you why I don't believe it.
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So you give my reply an angry reaction because you didn't do enough research before buying? If something is important to you, then you should make sure it's in the product before spending a lot of money... Or else don't complain about it.

Or because you had a hard time learning how to use the unit?

The documentation, by the way, is excellent. So much better than most companies provide.

afocasnte said:
I see, maybe that can be the case, but I just tested it in some other unit, and working. A weird thing happens now if I manually press the 1 button VDL and change my amp channels, and go to the fractal and change any preset, then it changes back to the clean channel but does not go back to the previous amp channel. This defeats al the purpose of the FM9 for me. I reset 1000 times the VDL, I programmed again, and nothing.
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You haven't explained what you did, so it's hard for us to provide help on how to get it working.
 
unix-guy said:
So you give my reply an angry reaction because you didn't do enough research before buying? If something is important to you, then you should make sure it's in the product before spending a lot of money... Or else don't complain about it.

Or because you had a hard time learning how to use the unit?

The documentation, by the way, is excellent. So much better than most companies provide.


You haven't explained what you did, so it's hard for us to provide help on how to get it working.
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Look I need a solution, not someone pointing out what I did or not. I don't read ALL the damn manual before buying anything, I trust the quality and the brand. It is a big MISTAKE the FM9 does not have a simple relay output to control the amps, and that does not need to be in any manual or documentation or whatever.

If you don't have anything to add or to offer a solution, please stay in your side, its less reading for me. We need solutions not people creating more problems.
 
mr_fender said:
Are you trying to send MIDI messages when you change presets or when you change scenes? You need to explain exactly what you're trying to do, how it's currently behaving, and what you have configured so far for us to be of any help.
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I am using the PC as the Voodoo Labs manual suggests could be a simple solution for that. I added a midi block to my scene in some presets and what I am trying to do is to automatically switch the 2 channels in my Badlander as I switch presets, very simple, sometimes using the dirty channel and other times using the clean. I am using the FM9 as a 4CM for my Badlander. If I press the physical button on the VL, it changes the AMP channel with no issue. So I added in the MIDI block a PC command, channel 1, and value 1 or 2, to switch between channels.
 
I just opened a support ticket to Fractal Support, they will try to help to identify what is wrong, not sure also if can be a issue with my unit, which I bought new from them 1 month ago.
 
afocasnte said:
Look I need a solution, not someone pointing out what I did or not. I don't read ALL the damn manual before buying anything, I trust the quality and the brand. It is a big MISTAKE the FM9 does not have a simple relay output to control the amps, and that does not need to be in any manual or documentation or whatever.

If you don't have anything to add or to offer a solution, please stay in your side, its less reading for me. We need solutions not people creating more problems.
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The FM9 is a very well and intentionally designed piece of equipment. The lack of a relay switcher is by design, not a mistake. The only mistake made here is your assumptions about what it could do.

Coming here and complaining about that instead of just explaining the issue and asking for help is on you.

I would have offered help had you provided more details, as I already mentioned.

By the way, have you:

  • Connected a known good midi cable from the FM9 midi out jack to the VL midi in jack?
  • Made sure the cable is properly inserted? Some cables are poorly crafted and that will allow you to misalign the DIN connector
  • Tried the Test button in the Scene Midi block?
 
afocasnte said:
can let me know your setup please?
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I use the VDL switcher to control 2 amps (channel on one, channel and boost on the other). I'm doing my own custom midi rather than the midi block due to the nature of my setup but I have used the midi block in the past and it worked fine to the VDL switch.

Again, post your preset - it's standard practice to do so here for any kind of detailed help. (Edit: you'll need to have posted 10 messages in order to post an attachment - go to the Jokes thread and post 2 jokes there (sounds like you may need the diversion :D), then you can come back here and post the preset).
 
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Another note re the VDL Switcher: There are a number of finicky setup things that need to be configured / verified in order for it to work as expected. This includes: Midi Channel, whether PC only / CC Only or both are active, which range of CC #s is active to control the VDL switches, switch behavior (normal / reverse / momentary ...). Reading the manual for the VDL stuff and config'ing to spec is essential since if it's not config'd the way you anticipate, your midi sent from Axfx will not do what you anticipate. Once it's configured right > rock solid with my amp heads (Hughes + Kettner, Blackstar).
 
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sprint said:
Another note re the VDL Switcher: There are a number of finicky setup things that need to be configured / verified in order for it to work as expected. This includes: Midi Channel, whether PC only / CC Only or both are active, which range of CC #s is active to control the VDL switches, switch behavior (normal / reverse / momentary ...). Reading the manual for the VDL stuff and config'ing to spec is essential since if it's not config'd the way you anticipate, your midi sent from Axfx will not do what you anticipate. Once it's configured right > rock solid with my amp heads (Hughes + Kettner, Blackstar).
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Also, probably using PCs for the switcher isn't the best option unless you change Send Midi PC on the FM9 because otherwise the FM9 PCs will be transmitted on preset changes.
 
Yeah if you've got a MIDI block in the preset, Send MIDI PC shouldn't need to be on in the MIDI/Remote menu. The MIDI block will still send the scene MIDI message on preset load since it always loads the default scene as part of changing presets.
 
unix-guy said:
Also, probably using PCs for the switcher isn't the best option unless you change Send Midi PC on the FM9 because otherwise the FM9 PCs will be transmitted on preset changes.
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yes - something to think about for sure - depends on how he wants to do it - the VDL can run on a different midi channel from Axfx to isolate it, and can either react to CCs by individual switch, or to PCs to select desired switch combinations. Its a very flexible piece of gear but needs careful attention to setup for midi. You can take it out of the box, connect it to an amp, and switch the amp's channels with the physical buttons easy peasy as the OP did, but getting it working in a specific way via midi required a bit of manual deep diving and config for me - if yur not into that, you can get frustrated quick. I have the VDL Px8 switcher also for my outboard OD/DS pedals - the VDL stuff is solid and hi-quality, but the midi aspects need some finagling as is often the case with midi aspects of gear.

Check cabling as you mention is a good idea, and ya, starting out with some simple commands via the test button as you also mentioned is key (with midi, I like to get one simple command working just to test connectivity, before moving on to the detailed stuff)
 
If you've got a separate MIDI interface for your computer, you can use a MIDI monitor to see exactly what the FM9 is sending from its MIDI Out port as well.
 
mr_fender said:
Yeah if you've got a MIDI block in the preset, Send MIDI PC shouldn't need to be on in the MIDI/Remote menu. The MIDI block will still send the scene MIDI message on preset load since it always loads the default scene as part of changing presets.
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it makes sense, and that's exactly what I am doing. The manual does not make this very clear. Still does not work, I am talking to the Fractal support but they really don't know how to troubleshoot. I sent all the details with print screens. Not sure if I have a defective unit at this point. I really appreciate your help.
 
mr_fender said:
If you've got a separate MIDI interface for your computer, you can use a MIDI monitor to see exactly what the FM9 is sending from its MIDI Out port as well.
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I am sorry, I misread something, I am not using the midi interface for my computer, the midi switcher to my amp, that's what I am doing. Using the Voodoo Labs switcher
 
sprint said:
Another note re the VDL Switcher: There are a number of finicky setup things that need to be configured / verified in order for it to work as expected. This includes: Midi Channel, whether PC only / CC Only or both are active, which range of CC #s is active to control the VDL switches, switch behavior (normal / reverse / momentary ...). Reading the manual for the VDL stuff and config'ing to spec is essential since if it's not config'd the way you anticipate, your midi sent from Axfx will not do what you anticipate. Once it's configured right > rock solid with my amp heads (Hughes + Kettner, Blackstar).
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Yes, I did all that, yesterday I spent hours trying to fix this, I read the whole VL manual, I reset the unit, I have setup it up again with everything needed, multiple times. What I want is very simple, a midi block in a scene of my preset, and then switch my Badlander channel 1 to 2 and to 2 to 1 depending on the scene, that's all. I can switch manually from VL my amp, but the Fractal does not do anything when I send with the midi block. I changed cables, created new presets, new blocks, everything I could, and read about it. I am not sure if I have at this point some defective unit. Not sure if I have to change anything in the FM9 Midi menus in the global settings, not very clear in the manual.
 
sprint said:
yes - something to think about for sure - depends on how he wants to do it - the VDL can run on a different midi channel from Axfx to isolate it, and can either react to CCs by individual switch, or to PCs to select desired switch combinations. Its a very flexible piece of gear but needs careful attention to setup for midi. You can take it out of the box, connect it to an amp, and switch the amp's channels with the physical buttons easy peasy as the OP did, but getting it working in a specific way via midi required a bit of manual deep diving and config for me - if yur not into that, you can get frustrated quick. I have the VDL Px8 switcher also for my outboard OD/DS pedals - the VDL stuff is solid and hi-quality, but the midi aspects need some finagling as is often the case with midi aspects of gear.

Check cabling as you mention is a good idea, and ya, starting out with some simple commands via the test button as you also mentioned is key (with midi, I like to get one simple command working just to test connectivity, before moving on to the detailed stuff)
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yes, did all that, for hours. Weird thing, if I switch manually the channel on the VL, lets say button 1 on VL, and keeps on right? The midi block is in the scene, I change to any other scene (even without the midi block), then disable the VL button and back to channel 1 in the amp, but I can't engage it again.
 
Just to clarify. The MIDI block is in the preset, not the scene and will be there across all scenes of that preset. You'll need to put the MIDI block in every preset you wish to control the VDL and define the needed messages per scene.

Also, remember that MIDI messages start with zero and not 1, so the first MIDI Program is accessed with PC#0.
 
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mr_fender said:
Yeah if you've got a MIDI block in the preset, Send MIDI PC shouldn't need to be on in the MIDI/Remote menu. The MIDI block will still send the scene MIDI message on preset load since it always loads the default scene as part of changing presets.
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That's what I thought...
unix-guy said:
The FM9 is a very well and intentionally designed piece of equipment. The lack of a relay switcher is by design, not a mistake. The only mistake made here is your assumptions about what it could do.

Coming here and complaining about that instead of just explaining the issue and asking for help is on you.

I would have offered help had you provided more details, as I already mentioned.

By the way, have you:

  • Connected a known good midi cable from the FM9 midi out jack to the VL midi in jack?
  • Made sure the cable is properly inserted? Some cables are poorly crafted and that will allow you to misalign the DIN connector
  • Tried the Test button in the Scene Midi block?
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Thank you, I will double-check those points again, just in case.
 
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