This came up in another thread, but I wasn't sure if it could work well with a 404 (or anything else with midi sounds).

OK, the FCB1010 has 10 footswitches and you can program them to send a midi note on message - fixed velocity only. (you can use one of the expression pedals to operate the 404 overall midi volume )

At first, I could only get one switch/note to work. It seems this controller is only intended to send note-ons from a switch for gear that reads tap tempo by measuring the rate of incoming midi notes, not playing a synth or sampler as if from a keyboard.

Fortunately, I found a way to get all 10 switches sending different midi notes. By using the free FCB1010editor Windows PC program, I could program each switch with it's own midi note.

http://www.mtnsys.com/faq-fcb/PCEditorBeta.htm
The above is a newer version than the one I used.

Process is a bit old-school. You need to get the 1010 into config mode (as per manual) then send it's Sysex data into the PC editor (setting that to recieve sysex first).

In the editor, pick your preset and uncheck each switches control change setting. Then, for each switch, check the Midi Note Value setting and enter the midi note number. I used 24 (C1) thru to 33.

Set the 1010 to recieve Sysex, and send the new "patch" from the editor with its Transmit sysex button. Resrart the 1010 and it's done.

It might be possible to do this all on the 1010 itself, but I couldn't see how!

A possible side benefit is that the 1010 footswitches are exclusive - only one will operate at a time - may benefit those who want to ensure the previous 404 pad cuts before the next one can sound.

Have to experiment more, but my 404 wasn't to hand so I tested by playing into a softsynth on my pc.

Cheers
Jim

Yo that sounds interesting. Thanx for sharing. This pretty new for me...
but there are some questions left:
Is there a way to sart REC with the footcontroller?
If a sample is applied with GATE/LOOP or REVERSE, does the FCmachine recognize that, also? What about the patter sequencer. Can I switch between patterns by foot, too?
For what kinda work do you use the footcontroller with your sp?

nice work Jim
there's been lots of queries about foot controllers, glad we've got some answers now




doesn't this just mean that two MIDI notes can't occur simultaneously? for example, if the foot controller triggered Pad A1 which has a 10 second sample, triggering pad A2 immediately afterwards isn't going to cut the audio from playing, because the sound has already been triggered and the MIDI event is over
maybe i am misunderstanding?



____

Wax - there's no MIDI reference for starting REC, so no controller can remotely enable record
also, you can't switch patterns via MIDI with the 404
if the pad has Gate/Rev etc it will play as it would from the 404....MIDI simply tells that pad to be triggered, not how it will sound

MIDI - MUTE - GROUP or whut?

You're probably right Drewzle, proper exclusive note triggering has to be done in the sample player.

I'll try it with a 404 later. Yesterday, I did plug the 1010 into an SR16 drum machine, and that worked nicely. (Have my fingers crossed, last time out I managed to plug a power supply for a Samson mini mixer (which uses a 5pin din plug - duh!) into my 404s midi in)

I don't know if I'll use the 1010 foot pedals much myself, my feet are too big! Plus I prefer boots which make my feet even wider.

AFAIK, the 404 pattern sequencer responds to Start/stop/continue midi commands, but not Rec. Anyway, the 1010 cannot send transport commands.

AFAIK (again!) What the 1010 switches can do is...

Send PC (program change) - to change patches on synths, digital FX etc on any channel. 404 does not respond?

Send CC (continuous controllers) on any channel (some gear uses CC messages as switches, eg , 0= off 127=on). 404 does not respond?

Send midi notes - all the notes in a preset have to be on the same midi channel, but that can be different from the other message types in the preset.

2 of the foot switches can emulate ordinary foot switches, and they each control by little relays a 1/4" jack socket to connect with footswitch sockets on other gear - eg, start/stop of a drum machine.

Hacks...
The 1010 has some alternative firmware (operating system) available. It cannot be programmed in from a pc, instead you have to seperately program a new rom chip to put in the 1010. So it's possible you could have an FCB1010 made to do exactly what you want.

Jim

Oh crap!
Seems the midi in on my 404 is fried. That's what you get for sticking a 30volt power supply in it!
I think I can fix it, probably just the optocoupler chip in the input blown because everything else works ok.
And I just bought a Korg PadKontrol for it too!

Rats!

Jim

that's terrible man
sounds like you know what's caused it though, i'd be clueless
hope you get it back running
you're gonna love running the padKontrol into it!!

Fixed it! Roland have put a 100ohm resistor in line with the midi input before the optocoupler and it had kindly blown like a fuse, protecting everything else. A new resistor and midi works again.

But, no point programming the pedals with a note lower than 47 (B2), so I'll have to reprogram the FCB1010.

cheers
Jim

I'm with Drew
I really got no plan what the hell you're doin with your 404...
all those programming and reanimation. Very impressive.
Cool to have some technical knowledge in here, might be helpful some day.

Ok, I got the 1010 playing the 404 pads A1 - A10 starting with midi note 47 (46 toggles the Ext Source switch) - see 404 manual for all the note assignments. Don't forget the card banks G-J needs notes sent on the next midi channel up from the 404's set channel (default is 1, so send notes on 2 for the last 4 banks). A problem with this is that the 1010 midi channel for the note messages is global for all presets, so you must decide to set it up for the first six sample banks (same channel as the 404), or the last 4 (404 channel +1) - you can't do both.
That said, if you set the 404 to channel 2, then the 1010 also set on 2 will work A-F, then change the 404 to 1 and the 1010 will now work banks G-J - it's quicker to change the 404 channel than the 1010.

I was struggling to understand the 1010, the mistake I made was in thinking of its 10 switches as if they were pads or keys. In fact, the switches only select "presets" within "banks". The 1010s up/down switches change bank and each time you hit a footswitch, its "preset" is active - this sends out any midi controls and a single note on message and tells the 2 expression pedals what midi control to use for that preset. When you release the footswitch, a note off is sent. So, when playing notes out as I programmed it, you are changing presets, not just sending a midi note out.

In effect, the 1010 plays much like the 404 pads - fixed velocity, pad settings for loop and gate behave the same as with the pads. The big difference is that the 1010 is monophonic, a held switch stops any other working until the held one is released.

If you play and release a switch for a 404 pad that is loop on/gate off, it will loop until you play it again - and you can play another switch while it is looping. If the pad gate is on, it will sound only as long as the switch is held.

The 1010s 2 expression pedals are no use at all with a 404. The only midi volume control in a 404 is by the velocity part of a note-on message (which is fixed on the 1010) - midi volume controllers are not supported. The 404 FX have no midi control either. What you can do, is have the pedals on a different midi channel to that used for notes. So if the 404 is last in a midi chain, a midi synth or fx unit in the middle can have things like volume and filter controlled from the 1010 pedals.

Problems aside, the FCB1010 is a lot cheaper than a dedicated midi bass pedalboard such as used by organists, and it can play more pads than the 1 or 2 pedal inputs provided on some pad controllers.

If you can get a proper midi bass pedal, it ought to be the ideal - with polyphonic, velocity sensitive pedals meant to played by feet, at least 13 notes to cover a 404 bank and an octave up/down shift to reach all the 404 banks

Jim