Retriggering sequencer via pedal - advice welcome

ozone67

Member
Hey helpful people.

I am hoping to be able to run a sequenced filter/gate in time with my drummer running without a DAW.

So I've created the sequenced pattern and assigned it to the filter and volume parameters. It sounds pretty good.

But obviously the issue is how to keep in time with the human drummer.

Specifically HOW TO RETRIGGER THE SEQUENCE RELIABLY ON THE DOWNBEAT. (excuse the capitals: I realise I've taken a while to get to the point).

I have tried assigning Run to a footswitch on my MFC101, but can't get the trigger to work reliably with a down press. There is a delay to the re-start which prevents a decent re-trigger.

I've tried momentary, which works on the release (but therefore takes more brain space to wait until the last moment, step on the pedal and release on the downbeat) and I was hoping the combined on/off option would work. But the result of the latter is an unusably long time between the on and off messages. Is there a way to reduce this parameter?

Any thoughts really appreciated.

Thanks
 
Try a dip-shaped run modifier like start-mid-end at 55-0-55 with 10 ms or so damping. Make the switch a normal 0/127 toggle. Then each press will quickly stop and restart the sequencer. You can try slightly lower damping, but setting it too low gets less reliable (moves too fast and isn't read as being in off zone). If you notice this at 10 ms, raise it a few ms and try again.

The sequencer would always be running so you'd need some way to bypass the sequenced blocks. An engage + restart switch plus a separate restart-only switch could be done, but it would be easier (setup-wise, maybe not in performance) to just have separate engage & restart switches, sync it a bar or 2 before the part, then engage and hopefully be synced well enough for at least the first pass.
 
also don't forget that the run parameter doesn't trigger until the cc value reaches 65, so one way to get quicker triggering is to bring the start value up to about 63 and bump the mid value so it's above 65. i think bakerman's example above would need start and end values above 65, not lower....unless i've misunderstood it
 
i think bakerman's example above would need start and end values above 65, not lower

I meant modifier start/mid/end% at 55-0-55 with a 0/127 CC value toggle. Start/end could actually be like 50.1% for the quickest possible restarting.

BTW this approach to restart an LFO would need start/end above 55% IIRC. LFO run has separate on & off thresholds, 55% & 45%.
 
ah sorry. i was talking about cc value, which goes from 0-127 and you were talking about percentages. didn't know the off value was different to the on value...that's good to know, thanks!
 
Thanks Bakerman.
And of course Simeon for input.

The 55/0/55 and 50.1/0/50.1 entries were difficult to tell apart as so much depends on foot accuracy.
But the solution totally works, and much better than my approach.
I'm bypassing by switching to another preset. Crude but effective.

FWIW I'm not absolutely sure why it does work though.. Maybe you'e got a second to give me a quick run through?

In the meanwhile, Is there a way to assign Tempo up to one IA and Tempo down to another? I'm thinking that chasing my drummer a little with the tempo in single bpm increments will be more accurate than Tap Tempo, which is all over the place.

Thanks again.
 
Each 0-127 or 127-0 toggle makes the dot move across the modifier curve, so it dips into the "off" zone (lower half of graph) then back to "on" where it rests. Set damping to a few hundred ms to see this better on the front panel modifier menu.

Tempo 1BPM inc/dec could be done on general-use IAs with these sysex commands as custom messages. I only have a Mark II to test, but the XL/XL+ messages should also be correct.

Mark I/II
F0 00 01 74 03 02 0D 01 20 00 00 00 00 04 2C F7 = down
F0 00 01 74 03 02 0D 01 20 00 00 00 00 03 2B F7 = up

XL
F0 00 01 74 06 02 0D 01 20 00 00 00 00 04 29 F7 = down
F0 00 01 74 06 02 0D 01 20 00 00 00 00 03 2E F7 = up

XL+
F0 00 01 74 07 02 0D 01 20 00 00 00 00 04 28 F7 = down
F0 00 01 74 07 02 0D 01 20 00 00 00 00 03 2F F7 = up
 
Bakerman, that is very kind of you to help out.
As you'd probably anticipate, I've entered the strings and somehow not made it work.
Is there anything I need to add to the sys-ex command town (I'm using MFC Edit), like for example the Message length?
Apologies. Sys-ex is not my forte at all.
Here's the page from MFC Edit. And thanks again.
Screen Shot 2019-06-03 at 12.32.39.png
 
Message length should be 16. Also make sure this IA's Axe-FX function = none, and set for momentary or auto-off. (Toggle would work with the same custom message for "off" state but the LED would toggle and not really convey anything useful.)
 
Thanks Bakerman.
I'd set Axe Function to off and was using momentary, as you suggest.
I think that I also should set the C1 CC number to off, as it was conflicting with something that's stepping scenes up and down on CC124 (and 123). (BTW, is there a way to identify what these pedal presses, and their associated CCs are doing and prevent it?)
Will try again with message length set.
 
You can look through the Axe I/O: CTRL menu to see what CCs are assigned to things. In general though, it's good to disable any CCs for the IA if you're only using it for a custom message.
 
Yes, thought as much. They were both in there. Is that standard on the Mk2?
Oh, and setting the message length did the trick. It's working now. Thank very much.
Can you set custom messages for external pedals? Don't see where on MFC Edit.
 
They were both in there. Is that standard on the Mk2?

There's a default CC for everything there but they can be adjusted. A system parameter reset will put them back to default.

External pedals/switches can only send CCs, no custom messages.
 
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