MMGT-22 controlling PBC

JeffMarshMusic

Well-Known Member
Hi Ron,

I now have a compact Schmidt Array which is driven by a PBC. I scaled down from my MMGT-22 to a Helix & Mini Effect Gizmo, then again to my new PBC. My MMGT-22 has been in the closet for a couple years as I designed it for a heavy rack, 2 amps and no roadies. What I really miss on the PBC are the detailed led displays of what I'm pressing next. Even the Helix has a programmable display for each switch, and I'm now using colored labels for the PBC which are not programmable (LOL) In an effort to have my cake and eat it too, I'd like to control the PBC with my MMGT for special occasions, leaving the PBC board as is ready to go. I wanted to see if you or anyone else have suggestions of what to keep in mind, or anything I might be overlooking.

I would have the MMGT on it's own board with a couple expression pedals, and a volume pedal and control the PBC array that would be off stage. I'm sure the expression pedals will translate via midi, but will need to address the volume pedal since the main PBC board already has one. I don't know if the MMGT should just send program changes with the presets already created on the PBC, or if I should have a whole new world of presets created on the MMGT. The editors are different, so there are probably things that have not yet come to mind. I don't believe the MMGT editor can select the audio features (serial/parallel) but that probably doesn't matter once I set that up on the "MastermindEditor." Would it work to think of the PBC as an Effects Gizmo, then program the MMGT to open/close loops on the PBC? If so, do I need to set the PBC to any specific setting, for example "song" or "preset"? Perhaps I would just need an empty preset and avoid sending any PC changes at all to the PBC.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts or if I might be missing something. My closet is no place for an MMGT-22.

Thanks!!!

Jeff
 
You can program the GT to control the PBC as it would an Effect Gizmo, so no problem there. There is actually a Mastermind PBC device setting in the GT you can use to get its list of CCs.

There is an undocumented feature that you can use to control the PBC's expression pedal inputs remotely. This is used in remote mode, so that an expression pedal change on one GT or PBC will be passed to the other devices. Set your GT's expression pedal to send on channel 16, CC124. That will act as if the GT is controlling the PBC's expression pedal. There will be some additional latency due to the multiple MIDI transmissions and conversions, but it should work.
 
Awesome! I'm glad I asked. I didn't know about remote mode. If the latency is an issue I can always run a trs cable over to the PBC. But all I really need is delay mix.

Thanks again,
jm
 
Hi Ron,

In the MastermindEditor I'm able to choose "Remote" as well as "Expander" (I only see "Remote" available from the PBC itself). I believe I do not need the select "Expander" in the editor since I'm not using 2 PBCs, right? I believe I will need to select "Merge" as I will want midi data to go through the PBC onto the other midi devices. You also mentioned channel 16, CC124 for the expression pedal. Can I leave the PBC on midi channel 1? (not that it matters. I assume channel 16, CC124 is a special condition for incoming expression pedal data.)

Thanks for the clarification. This should be cool. : )
 
Only turn on remote mode. From looking at the code, you may not even need to turn on remote mode at all. I'd consider that a bug, so maybe leave remote mode on since I'll probably fix it to require remote mode at a later date.

Yes, leave it set to channel 1, the channel 16 expression pedal CC is a special thing that ignores all other settings.
 
Hi Ron,

This seems to work pretty well. I don't believe I need to worry about CC124 on Ch.16. Since I have created devices in the MMGT-22, I have my Timeline existing as a device on midi ch.2. The expression pedal on my MMGT-22 board sends cc14 (MIX) to the Timeline (same as the PCB does). Please let me know if I'm missing something, but it seems that the Timeline on Ch2 doesn't care if it's receiving CC14 from the PBC or from the MMGT-22. And since I'm not using both boards at the same time (PBC with all the pedals will be off stage) I don't think "Remote" mode is a concern. When I'm driving my setup from the MMGT-22, the PBC is functioning as an Effects Gizmo.

Please let me know if this sounds right.

Thanks again for all your help,
Jeff
 
That's true, if you turn on MIDI Merge, the PBC will just pass anything coming in its MIDI input to its output, so the expression pedal commands will be forwarded.
 
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