Video Tutorial: Setting Up The Midi Mate With The Axe FX

Back to my question - and yes you can call me midi-challenged. Regardless of the specific expression pedal...can anyone help on how to hook it up with the midi-mate and Axe Fx? The midi-mate has one expression pedal 1/4". I think I have the correct stereo cord connector, but I cannot seem to make it work. What/how do I program on the Midi-mate to read the expression pedal what to program in the Axe Fx I/O to read it?

Thanks or any help!
-richard
 
You have to assign a pedal CC# on the Midimate for each preset you want it to be useable on. Press 2nd button, then edit function select until you reach Controller assignment, hit the Bank/Adjust buttons to see/adjust the Pedal CC#. You can use the "edit preset select" buttons to do this quickly for multiple presets. The simplest way is probably to use the same CC# for all presets and set that CC# as one of the Externals (1-8) in the big list on the Axe. When you want the pedal to control something, that External is the modifier you'd select.
 
I'm trying to set up my old Midi Mate. I watched the video tutorial and he sets the buttons 5-9 to be controllers. I can't find buttons 1-0 on my older Midi Mate. I did find SW0-9. Is this an older way of labeling the buttons? I set the SW5-9 to send controllers 5-9, but the buttons 5-9 still send patch changes. Any one run into this?
Thanks.
 
make sure you press access till its on controller mode. i dont know if youre not doing that, but thats what i did for a while before i figured it out :D
 
Bakerman said:
You have to assign a pedal CC# on the Midimate for each preset you want it to be useable on. Press 2nd button, then edit function select until you reach Controller assignment, hit the Bank/Adjust buttons to see/adjust the Pedal CC#. You can use the "edit preset select" buttons to do this quickly for multiple presets. The simplest way is probably to use the same CC# for all presets and set that CC# as one of the Externals (1-8) in the big list on the Axe. When you want the pedal to control something, that External is the modifier you'd select.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the attempt, I spent some time yesterday trying this, but I am not "getting it". Can you, or someone explain in really low level for dummies language EXACTLY how to to this? I have watched the video, and have been able to get the midimate to work with the Axe FX, my hangup is the expression pedal - I cannot seem to get it to work plugged into the midimate. And the Axe Fx has expression pedal out as well, so maybe I am conflicting somehow? Anyway, and specific step by step for dummies would be GREATLY appreciated in the I/O menu of the AxeFx and the Press 2nd button on the Midimate.

Thanks
 
The Axe pedal jacks wouldn't be causing any problem here.

First make sure the Midimate is on the preset you want to add pedal function for. Press "2nd", then press either "Edit Function Select" button a few times until "Controller Assignment" scrolls on the display. It will be let you change the Pedal CC # once you press either "Bank/Adjust" button. You can set it to any number--let's say 6 for this example. If you move the attached pedal, it should begin to show the values being sent out, hopefully ranging from 0 to 127. (My Roland pedal doesn't drop below 30 with the Midimate, which has no calibration function, and I only use it with the Axe pedal jack for this reason. It's good to check Midimate/pedal compatibility while it's easily done at this point.) Press 2nd to return to normal operation.

One thing I didn't mention before is the pedal's MIDI channel. When in editing mode, use the "Edit Function Select" buttons until you see "MIDI Channels", wait a few seconds, then continue using those buttons until you see "PEDC". Use the "Bank/Adjust" buttons to set it to match the Axe-FX MIDI channel, which is probably 1 if you haven't changed it in the Axe I/O menu.

Now go into the Axe I/O menu, CTRL page. Set any of the External (1-8) controllers to "6" as mentioned earlier. This is if you want to be free to assign the pedal to any modifiable parameter in an effect. So, if you set External 1 to "6" in the menu, you'd edit a block, hit Enter on the parameter you want to control with the pedal, then set "External 1" as the modifier.
 
Thanks again Bakerman for trying, but I am thick as a brick. Let me lay out exactly what I have done and maybe you - or someone - can fine tune me,


I have a 1/4 in stereo plug into the pedal out of the midimate and the other end into the EXP hole of the Boss FV-500H

I first set the midimate to the patch I want the expression pedal to work with
Hit "access" till CONTROLLER is lit up
hit 2ND
hit EDIT FUNCTION SELECT to CONTROLLER ASSIGNMENT
PEDL to "6" as you suggested
(by the way, my midi channel is set to "1" as per the video tutorial)
In midi channel PEDC I have set to 1

Now to the AXE-FX
I go to I/O
CTRL page
At EXTERNAL 1 - I set to "6"

I put a VOL block on a patch, which I want to use the expression pedal for

I goto EDIT on the VOL block, and select the VOLUME parameter and hit ENTER
For SOURCE I select EXTRN 1
I did nothing with any of the other parameters.... like start, mid, end they are at default.

after this, the expression pedal has no effect on the patch. Can anyone fine tune me?

HELP

thanks
richard
 
ok I am back... I just set up my Axe FX with 6.0 and wired up my expression pedal. Now that I have that done I feel the need for a couple more videos. 1 on hooking up the expression pedal and then another on saving your presets and button status so that you don't have everything on when you don't want it when you change presets. To be quite honest I never can be bothered to save the state as I move my presets around too much. One reason I cannot wait to get an MFC or Liquid Foot.

Anyway, back to bed.
 
I volunteer to be your first viewer on our setting up the expression pedal video. I am still stuck.
 
Does the expression pedal have to be assigned to top row numbers (5 - 9) or is there a way to assign it to a number that never gets used and keep it on auto engage? Like assign it on the axe as #10 for instance? That way you don't have to waste a top row control button on an auto engaged effect.
 
OK - you CAN assign #10 to the wah on the Midi Mate board - freeing up the number 9 button for something else. Just be sure the wah bypass is assigned to #10 on the axeFX and then have the wah set to autoengage.

To store preset button assignments for each patch - you have to do it patch by patch - so for patch #1 you want to set it up how you want assignment buttons 5-9 on or off - then - on the MIDI MATE hit the 2ND button (which gets you out of play mode) and hit the STORE button (#4) and you will see the words STORED pop up on the screen - and it puts you automatically back in play mode.

Do that for every patch you need.
 
I was about to show how you can hookup expression pedals, Ernie Ball JR and Rocktron HEX to the Midi Mate, and then my Insert Y Cable blew up on me. Thankfully the service is awesome from the company I bought it from and I just e-mailed them and within 5 minutes I get a reply saying they will ship out a new one. Awesome. Anyway, Seems like we need a couple more instructional videos to help on a few issues. I was hoping to get a decent video camera, but I think it will be the same old Canon Digital Still Camera.
 
Well, I am still your biggest fan, as I am stuck in the water with my Boss FV-500H, I cannot seem to get it to work with the midimate and Axe Fx... and I know it is probably some easy thing I am missing, so video quality is not essential, just basic help is MUCH appreciated. THANKS!
 
When you got to the step of assigning a pedal CC# ("PEDL __") on the Midimate, did you try moving the pedal? The display should change from the CC# to show the pedal value that's being sent out (on my MM version at least). If it doesn't do that there may be some incompatibility with the pedal.
 
Xrocker said:
I'm trying to set up my old Midi Mate. I watched the video tutorial and he sets the buttons 5-9 to be controllers. I can't find buttons 1-0 on my older Midi Mate. I did find SW0-9. Is this an older way of labeling the buttons? I set the SW5-9 to send controllers 5-9, but the buttons 5-9 still send patch changes. Any one run into this?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
I was off working so you probably figured this out. The older midimate lets you send CC's from buttons 1-9. The newer ones only 5-9 so the older ones are actually better for CC stuff. I need to find an old one without jacked up buttons.

You probably fixed the sending as well, but I didn't have any problems with it, just a matter of deciphering the manual's instructions. I went into edit mode, set the CC #'s, then live I just go from instant mode to control mode in order to send the CC. I'm hoping the axefx foot controller has an instant access mode. It's amazing how many controllers don't have that feature.
 
oddb0d said:
For all the newbies that have recently picked up their Axe FX and are using the Midi Mate as a stop gap waiting for the Fractal Foot Controller, here's a 9 minute video on how to get the Midi Mate to work with IA buttons etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_qXIFSN5hM
Click to expand...
Thanks for this video. Really helped me out when connecting my Roland FC-300 to the Axe-Fx Ultra.

After watching the video and getting my CC pedals to work, I then read up on how to get the expression pedals, mainly by reading the 2 wiki entries on "Wah-wah" and "modifiers". Once I realized I had to hook my expression pedal to an external controller, and then I could set that to the modifier menu of a parameter, I was set. It was tricky to figure that out though, especially as perhaps most new people don't know about the modifier menu since it's kinda hidden, so I think your idea of video tutorial on expression pedals would be handy.

I wrote out my steps in getting the expression pedal to work (on my FC-300) in my post here (see 3rd post). I didn't find this thread until after I had already hooked up my expression pedal, but I think I'm doing it the same as advised in this thread.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2288
 
Thanks. Glad it was of help. I finally managed to pull out my broken Insert Y Cable from my Midi Mate. I picked up a stereo 1/4 cable today from my local Music Store. I shall make a video this weekend. I plan on using the Expression Pedal as a Wah pedal this weekend so I have to get it all nailed down and ironed out.
 
My Midimate came in yesterday and this video prepared me for what to expect when I got it, once it came in setting it up was a breeze. Thanks man!

I still need to get an insert cable for my VPjr, as I understand from this thread I do not need to have an IA dedicated to turning the wah on and off? Just set the wah bypass to 10 (assuming PEDL is set to 10) and set it to auto-engage on the AxeFx? I'm guessing that with that setting it turns the wah on once it detects a change, but how would I turn the wah back off?

I'm sure I'll sort this out on my own enventually, but I thought I'd ask because this information might be helpful to people down the road.

EDIT:

Also I almost forgot, is there any way to get the "0" button working to perform patch changes in Controller mode? It would be nice to have that fifth button.
 
oddb0d, I am still your biggest fan, for some reason (probably me) I cannot get my Boss FV500H to work with the Midi mate, but I am still thankful for your video on the midi mate, got that down now, and probably would not have without the step by step with pictures..... letz face it, some of us r slow lurners!

And the video quality of the other one is just fine, you don't need a new camera, unless of course you just need a reason for a new camera, then, by all means go for it.

Thanks again,
-richard
 
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