Unlocked FBV3 / MkII controllers (full color / MIDI)

kquann

Member
While I don't have a Fractal....yet, here's a way to use a Line 6 FBV3 with full color LED and MIDI functionality using an Arduino and Raspberry Pi. You can also use a Shortboard MkII if you'd like. It's fairly straightforward to put together with minimal parts and based off of prior Vlotech / Axeline projects. Those of you with Fractals (I'm assuming most everyone here), maybe you would be interested?

 
You can find it under the additional info on the Youtube page, It's a GitHub page. Sorry but this forum isn't allowing me to post direct links until I have 10 posts!
 
Yes and no. I'm sure the principle of a man-in-the-middle interface between a Helix Control and a Fractal is totally do-able in a manner similar to this project. However, the Helix Control uses a different serial protocol and RJ-45 pinout than that of the FBV series. I know this because I actually had a Helix Control with Helix Rack for a weekend and attempted protocol analysis on it. Using the Max488 serial chip the FBV series uses, I was unable to intercept any discernable packets between the Control and the Rack units at various baud speeds. At the time I was unwilling to open the Control unit up to see what was under the hood so I could try the corresponding chip out. Instead, I returned the units. I haven't tried again. For the life of me I don't know why Line 6 hasn't supported any USB functionality from the Helix Control after 3 years, nor do they really fully support USB on the FBV series. Hell, if they had development tools for these things I would love to work with them.
 
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