Source Audio Reflex help

simon

simon

Active Member
Hi,

Just wondering if anyone who’s using a Source Audio Reflex with their PBC might be able to help me, as I’m clueless as to how to set it up. I have the Reflex plugged into the PBC via MIDI, and have tried to add the Reflex as a device, but it doesn’t look like it is in the list already, as a couple of other Source Audio products are.

I’m guessing that means I have to set it up as a generic device, but I’m not sure how to do so. Is the PBC meant to read input from the Reflex on a specific MIDI channel and then I configure within the PBC what channel to send the CC info on to (to control, say, a reverb swell on my BIg Sky or a wah on my Mobius)?

Or should I be programming the Reflex to have various presets which send CC on specific channels and the messages go through the PBC and to the other devices without being changed by the PBC (but the PBC controls which preset is active on the Reflex)?

Thanks!
 
There are a few ways to do it, and since I've never personally used one, I'm not sure what would be the preferred way to do it.

The two main ways are:

1). Make the Reflex in charge of its own settings. To do this, turn on MIDI Merge in the PBC settings and plug the MIDI output of the Reflex into the MIDI input of the PBC. The PBC will just pass any MIDI messages from the Reflex to your other MIDI devices. All configuration would be done on the Reflex

2). Use the Reflex as a standard expression pedal. Connect a TRS cable from one of the Reflex's 1/4-inch outputs to the PBC's expression pedal input. Make sure that the DIP switches on the Reflex are set to "Passive TRS (Ring Expression)" as described in the Reflex manual. With this setup, you do your configuration in the PBC's editor.

Expression pedals never get configured in the PBC's Devices page - that's only for devices that receive MIDI messages from the PBC.
 
Thanks Ron! I guess I’ll do it by sending MIDI through, since I don’t currently have appropriately small TRS plugs to make up a cable that will fit on my board. One thing though, wouldn’t I still want to configure the Reflex as a device in the PBC, since I need to send it PC messages to change its presets?

Cheers
 
Hey Simon-

If I'm reading it correctly, you have this backwards. In my setup, I have the PBC as first in the MIDI chain; the Reflex is second. You can set the Reflex to whatever input channel & turn on MIDI merge, and then send PC / CC messages to it from the PBC; then, the Reflex will pass its own CC messages down the chain to whatever. This allows you to change the settings on the Reflex the same way you would for anything else. In your current setup, you would need to control the Reflex separately as it's upstream from the PBC.

Once you've done that, yes, you'd need to add it as a generic PC/CC device in the PBC same as anything else.

-Bryan
 
I agree with Bryan and Ron above...

I'm not familiar with the Reflex at all, but it looks like it is a programmable expression that would be awesome to use on it's own with a pedal that accepts expression input (Strymon Timeline for example). Only issue is, in reality, when paired with the PBC, some of it's functionality is a bit useless (or maybe "redundant" is a better term).

For example, it looks like you can set the Reflex to have 128 different "setups" for various uses...but I can do that with just the PBC and a regular expression pedal thanks to the newest PBC update (4.0). If you do setup inside the Reflex for various things, and then try to pass that through the PBC, of course you also have programming that you will do inside the PBC...so in other words, you're going to be programming 2 different things all the time and it may get pretty confusing.

If you do what Ron said and just use the Reflex as a standard expression pedal and use a standard TRS cable to connect it to the Expression input on the PBC, then you can do all (or most) programming inside the PBC. You can then tell the expression pedal to do different things per preset (for example, control a verb decay on preset 1 or control a delay mix on preset 2, etc.).

It looks like the Reflex is capable of changing the curve or taper on itself (which is pretty cool in some cases), so if you wanted to take advantage of that, I assume you can just send MIDI commands from the PBC to the Reflex to make it change it's taper, etc. Yes, you'll have to set it up as a Generic device. But I believe this means that you will STILL hook up the Reflex with a regular TRS cable and then setup the MIDI commands inside the PBC. Based on how capable the PBC is and how it is the brains behind most boards, I would recommend using it to do all of the controlling, and just let the Reflex receive commands and be told what to do. Once you get the hang of creating presets inside the PBC and then telling the expression pedal to "do x" on this preset and "do y" on a different preset, you'll never want to go back to anything else!!
 
This isn't meant as a dig, but I think you guys are missing the point; the Reflex has a built-in ability to send its own CC messages, so using it as an ordinary expression pedal defeats (almost) the entire purpose of having it. It does what the PBC already does so that the PBC's expression input is free for another controller.

I use two expression controllers in my setup - the Reflex an an EHX 8-Step. The PBC is first, the Reflex is second, then all of my effects and such, then the 8-Step, which is plugged back into the expression input of the PBC and then converted to its own MIDI CC messages and back up the chain. This means that with the PBC translating the 8-Step into MIDI CC messages, I can broadcast both of them on different channels at the same time.

I would just store presets on the Reflex and treat it like any other PC/CC device as far as the PBC is concerned.
 
Ok, then set it up as a generic device in PBC settings. The Reflex manual states that it has a MIDI merge feature, so you should be able to connect the Reflex to the PBC's MIDI output and your other devices to the Reflex's MIDI output. The Reflex will send the messages that it generates as well as pass on any messages coming from the PBC (at least, that's the theory...)
 
More specifically, set the Reflex's MIDI channel to one that's not used by any other device, using the instructions in the Reflex manual. Then set up a new device in PBC settings, with type Generic PC/CC device. The default settings should be ok (except set the MIDI channel correctly). Then, in each PBC preset, you can send a different PC to select a preset on the Reflex. The rest of the setup for each preset will be done on the Reflex itself.
 
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