Mastermind GT22 & Bogner Red and Blue Pedals Remote Switching

Hi,

I picked a GT22 and having fits trying to get the RJM Effects Gizmo to remotely switch the drive/boost off and on. My Setup is as follows:

RJM Effects Gizmo V1: Midi Channel 2: Loops 9 -12 set momentary:
GCX Switcher Midi Ch 16
Mini Amp Gizmo Midi Ch 3
Y-Not Midi Ch 4

Everything other than the remote switching is working. Effects Gizmo Loops 1-8 turn off and on correctly I'm able to control the GCX without any problem, The Mini Amp Gizmo and Y-Not work correctly with both PC and CC commands. The strange thing is that on the Effects Gizmo i can manually press loops 9-12 and the pedals will remotely switch without a problem. If I assign them to a IA, Macro Preset the lights on the Effects Gizmo will turn on but will not remotely switch the pedals. This all worked when i add my MFC-101 connected to it so its got to be something I'm not programming correctly.
 
I'm not sure, if you send me your settings I can look them over. Some guesses: Make sure that only one CC message is being sent per preset change - this is a really common problem. Look for buttons that have "Send on Preset Change" turned on that shouldn't. Make sure that you're using CC Toggle actions and not CC Momentary.

Just to confirm - you used this same Effect Gizmo with an MFC101 and the Ecstasy pedals and it was fine? If so, we can rule out issues with the Gizmo. If that's true, did you use them in the same way? For example did you control it with CC messages on both the GT and the MFC? Didi you control them both with PCs? Or did you try CCs on one and PCs on the other?
 
I had the MFC setup to send a CC change to switch the pedals and it worked fine and yes it was the same unit. Just for clarity, when should "send on preset change"be used. I'll dump the settings tomorrow and send them over.
 
The idea with Send on Preset Change is to be able to program a button to control something, then program that button to turn on or off automatically on each preset. So, for example, you can have a button controlling one of your pedals. You can program that button to turn on in preset 1 and turn off in preset 2, and it will automatically change states and set its MIDI message when you change presets. This is advantageous compared to other methods (like preset action), because the button always reflects the state of your MIDI device - it will never get out of sync (unless you press the bypass button on the pedal itself)
 
Here is midi dump of the preset with booth the drive and the boost on fir the Bogner pedal. 88 and 89 are the remote switching for the Bogner Blue Pedal to be on

TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT
107585 MID -- 177 80 0 2 --- Control Change
107587 MID -- 177 81 0 2 --- Control Change
107588 MID -- 177 82 0 2 --- Control Change
107589 MID -- 177 83 0 2 --- Control Change
107591 MID -- 177 84 0 2 --- CC: Portamento Ctrl
107593 MID -- 177 85 0 2 --- Control Change
107595 MID -- 177 86 0 2 --- Control Change
107597 MID -- 177 87 0 2 --- Control Change
107599 MID -- 177 88 127 2 --- Control Change
107601 MID -- 177 89 127 2 --- Control Change
107603 MID -- 177 90 0 2 --- Control Change
107605 MID -- 177 91 0 2 --- CC: Reverb Depth
107607 MID -- 191 81 0 16 --- Control Change
107609 MID -- 191 82 127 16 --- Control Change
107611 MID -- 191 84 127 16 --- CC: Portamento Ctrl
107612 MID -- 191 85 127 16 --- Control Change
107614 MID -- 191 86 0 16 --- Control Change
107616 MID -- 191 87 0 16 --- Control Change
107617 MID -- 178 0 0 3 --- CC: Bank MSB
107618 MID -- 194 4 --- 3 --- PC: Electric Piano 1
107619 MID -- 179 0 0 4 --- CC: Bank MSB
107621 MID -- 195 4 --- 4 --- PC: Electric Piano 1
 
That looks correct. If you switch to another preset, do you get the same thing except that CCs 88 and 89 have 0 values instead of 127?

Can you hear the Effect Gizmo relays double click when you select a preset on the GT? Compare the sound you get when selecting on GT vs. pressing the Effect Gizmo's front panel button. Do you get two clicks in both cases?
 
I cannot hear the relays click when changing presets or when turning loops 9-12 on with the IA switch. I can hear them when i seIect the buttons on the front of the Effects Gizmo.I did remove the insert cable from the bogner pedals and the Effects GIzmo on loops 9-12 and the switching function is acting as it should. Could the Effects Gizmo be bad? All the midi looks correct as far as on and off commands. At a loss with this one for sure.

also prior to unplugging the insert cable to the Bogner pedals the switching was all over the place. The effects gizmo would randomly turn on all 9-12 loops or 11 and 12 when changing to a preset that didn’t have them assigned to be on.
 
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It definitely sounds like the Effect Gizmo could be at fault. What are you using to power it?
 
Don’t believe it is. Everything has it own power supply.

Effects Gizmo > GCX > Mini Amp Gizmo > Y-Not.

this is how I have the midi connected. Using all 5 pin standard midi cables.
 
So, are you saying that the last 4 loops do does weird things when the insert cable is plugged in? Does it do this all the time?
 
It quit doing the random switching on loops 9-12 when I unplugged the insert cables going to the loops and to the Bogner pedals. Loops 1-8 seem to work fine.
 
It does, but i still cant hear the relays open or close when switching from the Mastermind. If i select the button on the front of the Effects Gizmo i can hear the relays and it will switch the pedal correctly. I've checked the cables with a multi meter and they all test fine and i verified that i didn't have any bad connections or anything that could cause an intermittent grounding problem.

Is there something i can check on the inside of the unit? I.E. Ribbon cable, known solder joints that would cause the issues, component that could need replaced? I've repaired amps for several years wouldn't be against fixing it myself.
 
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To be honest, I can't see how the insert cable problem could happen. It should be physically impossible for things plugged into those jacks to affect the behavior of the Effect Gizmo - they're electrically isolated to 1000 volts or more using relays.

Putting that issue aside for a moment, the only thing I can think of is maybe a firmware bug if the Effect Gizmo is old enough. I don't remember what bugs there were, only that I had to do a few firmware releases and they were all over 10 years ago. None of them were significant enough that I ever released firmware updates to the general public, but I would not be surprised if at least one of the bugs related to MIDI & momentary switching.

To do a firmware update, you need a Windows PC and a MIDI interface or USB-MIDI cable. If you have this, I can send you the program you need.
 
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