MIDI Send Order + MIDI Loop Questions

PianoMan

Well-Known Member
Two questions that I hope will resolve some issues I've experienced lately.

1) How does the PBC determine the order of CC signals to be sent out? I've realized that my Empress Echosystem really needs some signals to be sent out in a specific order and I need to make sure I can do that consistently. IE: If programming on switch 2 gets sent out before programming on switch 4, then I need to account for that when designing my switch layout.

2) I have a full MIDI loop set up on my board as follows: PBC Out> Morningstar MC6 > HX Stomp > Strymon BigSky > PBC In. I want to be able to trigger a MIDI waveform on my MC6 using a button on my HX Stomp. I assume this means I need to mess with my MIDI Forward settings, but everything I've tried results in either nothing happening, or an infinite loop that requires me to shut down pedals to stop it. Is there a way for me to set this up in a way that works, or do I just need to rewire my MIDI signal chain so that the HX Stomp is before the MC6?
 
It's a bit complicated, but the abridged answer is that you probably want to turn on Direct Send PC/CC for the device if you need to insure that the messages come out in the order you want. With that turned off, the Mastermind tries to do some filtering - removing duplicate messages, for example, and that will reorder the messages. With Direct Send turned on (Devices tab) it just sends the messages as listed in the action list, without trying to be clever.

For the second question, you pretty much need an infinite loop in order to get the messages out of the HX and back around to the MC6. You might be able to use a MIDI filter or event processor to prevent most messages from coming back around the loop, but I'm not 100% sure (or even 50% sure) that would work. It depends on what messages you're using. Changing the order of devices in the MIDI chain would be more reliable.
 
Going back to the first question...is there a way to essentially do direct send for just CCs? I don't want to resend the PC everytime I change a preset, as that cancels any ongoing delay trails (this is for my Empress Echosystem), but I do need it to send CCs everytime, even if they're redundant.
 
Yes, Direct Send CC/PC on, Send Redundant PCs off.

Direct Send only affects the messages sent in a single button press - it will effectively remove duplicate messages, potentially changing the order of the messages being sent.

Send Redundant PCs has a wider scope - if turned off, it will prevent the same PC from being sent more than once in a row to a device, no matter what's generating the PC. You could keep trying to send the same PC over and over and it will only send it the first time (until you have it send a different PC number).
 
I also know that some devices nick the output when sent redundant PCs. Like an H9 for example.
 
Back
Top