Unreliable MIDI with G-System

Nefarius

Nefarius

New Member
New user here, hi everyone!

I just got an RJM Amp Gizmo to control all switching options on a Mesa Boogie Mark V from a G-System.

My test patches 00-1 to 00-5 are set to different channels with different switching options, so they're easily identifiable. They use the default mapping 00-1 = 1, 00-2 = 2, 00-3 = 3, 00-4 = 4, 00-5 = 5.

Switching between 00-1, 00-3, and 00-5 works perfectly, just as expected.

However 00-2 and 00-4 trigger the desired change only very rarely, between once in 10 to once in 100. All the other times it's just as if no patch change signal is sent. Even numbers are quite obviously bad guys. ;)

Any ideas?

As I'm unsure if it's a potential problem with sending or receiving I've posted the same thing over at TC.

Thanks & Greetings...
Nef
 
That's pretty odd. I recommend using a PC or Mac with a MIDI interface to monitor the MIDI messages, if you are set up to do so. First connect directly to the G-System's MIDI output and look at that, then connect the Amp Gizmo to the G-System again and connect the PC to the Amp Gizmo's MIDI output. That will help determine which one is at fault.

Alternately, if you have another MIDI device, put it in place of the Amp Gizmo and see if it responds any better than the Gizmo does.
 
With 2, 4, etc. not working I guess it's more even than odd. ;)

I just remembered my old trusty Boss GT-8 could send patch changes as well. So I connected it instead of the G-System and everything works just the way it should. So it's definitely not a problem with the Amp Gizmo and it's not the cable either.

So this story will continue at the TC forums.

Thanks & Greetings...
Nef
 
No one seems to have encountered this problem before, no clue on the TC forums either.

By pure try and error I found a solution though. Remapping to odd numbered patches only would obviously have been a workaround. A limiting one though with only half the individual numbers available and possibly an inconvenient and problematic one with additional MIDI gear.

I'm using a Two Notes Torpedo Studio and always planned to eventually add it to my MIDI chain so I could not only switch all of my amp's options but also my speaker and microphone setup in the Torpedo. So I connected the G-System to the Torpedo which immediately understood every program change including the even numbered ones. I then connected the Torpedo's MIDI out/thru to the Amp Gizmo and
suddenly the amp switching was 100% reliable.

So in the end I don't really know if my G-System's even numbered program change signals are a little weak or my Amp Gizmo's MIDI in is a little sensitive to variations in signal strength or a combination of both (all pure speculation). Now that it works I don't really care anymore anyway.

But whatever bug or gremlin haunted my rig before is finally gone. I guess it just needed a French Torpedo to interpret my G-System's Danish MIDI dialect to convince my American Amp Gizmo to do its job and make an Austrian musician happy. :rolleyes: :p :D

Greetings...
Nef
 
Wow, that's interesting. I'm not sure why that would be the case, but it does seem like maybe the G-System's output is a little weak and the Amp Gizmo's input is loading it more than the other devices. I'm happy to hear that you found a solution!
 
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