Compatibility of the 404 with a Rolls Footswitch

[suguemeseco]

Me and my band just purchased the Roland 404 for sampling and looping purposes. We figured we'd also purchase a footswitch to trigger loops and samples whilst playing the guitars. We went out and purchased a Rolls Mp128, and after alot of stuggle we still cannot understand how to put the samples and loops from the 404 onto the mp128.

Mostly the problem im having is sending midi notes. In the manual it says certain banks will be sent to the footswitches via Midi notes being sent. My problem is i have no idea how to send midi notes. Is there something im completely missing here?

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

Make sure both you 404 and footswitch are set to send and receive midi notes on channel 1.

[suguemeseco]

yeah were cool on that...

we actually heard that the rolls dosent work with the 404 because the rolls dosent send out midi messages... but the behringer fcr1010 does. So we went and picked up a used one. We tried a simple plug in and it didnt work so were gonna research it further.

[mbillings]

I used to have an FCB1010 to SP 404 setup.

You need to program each pedal on the Behringer to send MIDI note on messages to the SP 404. The SP 404 manual has the note number messages that trigger each pad.

I also got a Uno OS chip for the Behringer which allows me to send the note on messages at full velocity to make sure the samples are at full volume.

[suguemeseco]

i know this kind of stuff has been talked about alot on these forums. But it dosent seem to be bringing me the answers i need.

I got as far as making the board and my 404 to be on the same midi channel, and in the manuals they say i need to send midi notes to each pedal. But how does one accomplish this? Do i need a program or can i do it with the equipment i have? I would imagine that if you had a program it would be a hell of alot easier to input b4-a#3 into it. That makes the most sense, but i have been all over the internet and it seems i can't get a straight answer.

Dont get me wrong, this board has been the most informative and i've had the most success getting answers from you guys, and believe me it is much appreciated.

By the way, what is a good program for it?

[mbillings]

I didn't use software at all to do this. You need to be sending messages from your foot controller TO your SP 404. You have to look up in the Behringer FCB 1010 how to send Note On messages from each pedal. I know how to program it with the Uno Firmware chip (bought separately) but not with the original Behringer FCB OS. In the SP 404 manual, it tells you what Note On message each pad responds to. So let's say Bank A Pad 1 responds to note 37, you need the Behringer Bank 0, Footpedal 1 to send Note On 37 to the SP 404. This will trigger the pad.

[suguemeseco]

I didn't use software at all to do this. You need to be sending messages from your foot controller TO your SP 404. You have to look up in the Behringer FCB 1010 how to send Note On messages from each pedal. I know how to program it with the Uno Firmware chip (bought separately) but not with the original Behringer FCB OS. In the SP 404 manual, it tells you what Note On message each pad responds to. So let's say Bank A Pad 1 responds to note 37, you need the Behringer Bank 0, Footpedal 1 to send Note On 37 to the SP 404. This will trigger the pad.

awesome man. thanks for your help. Im gonna give it a shot tonight. If theres any more posts in this thread it means i failed. lol. Thanks again.

[mbillings]

For sure. It is kind of difficult to explain what you need to do and I had a lot of trouble initially finding help on the Internet when I was trying to do the same thing. But I've done it so I can vouch for it working. Just let me know if you have any questions.

[stampler]

I'm not sure if I should start a new thread with this question, but it's kind of related, so I'll try it here.

I'm looking at getting a SP-404SX and a Behringer FCB1010 for triggering loops onstage. I'm a guitarist and want to be able to control pre-recorded backing tracks (mostly sequenced drums, some other sounds).

I just have a couple of concerns, and I've looked online to try to find some answers, but can't seem to find anything definitive, so I'm hoping someone here can help me out.

I have it set up so that each song will have 4 or 5 different drum patterns as the song progresses. I know I should be able to easily load these 4 or 5 wav loops into different pads, set them to loop indefinitely, etc. My question is, how easy is it to switch between the loops? Since these loops are very rhythmic, I need the transitions to be exactly on time.

Can I, with one step on the foot controller, mute one loop and begin another? Will it stay synched to the tempo (in other words, if I press the footswitch just a little too early, will it switch immediately to the next loop, causing a jump in the sound? Or will it play the last millisecond of the new loop, keeping them synched, or even better, wait until the end of the current loop before switching?

I'm probably not very good at explaining this, but I just mean, for instance, in Ableton, you can click to play the next clip, and the software will wait until the end of the current loop before beginning the next clip. Does the 404 do this as well?

I really want to avoid using Ableton on stage for something this simple, and anyway, I used to own a 303 and loved it, so I would love an excuse to buy the 404SX. Mainly, I just want to make sure the transitions can be seamless and easy to control.

Secondly, and less importantly, I'm wondering if I can mute two or more loops at the same time, and play two or more loops at the same time. Let's say for instance, in a single bank, I have drum loops on pads 1-6, and ambient sounds on pads 7-12. Can I press a pedal on the Behringer that will play pads 1 and 7 simultaneously, and then press another pedal that will mute 1 and 7 AND start 2 and 8? That sounds like a lot of information to send in one switch, but admittedly, I don't know too much about the capabilities of MIDI. Seems like it should be possible.

I'd really appreciate any help from people who know more about this than I do!

Thanks.

[mbillings]

Nah, I don't think you can do either of those things. You would need the Behringer to be able to have One pedal send TWO note on messages and I think it can only send two CC messages (which the 404 doesn't read). Also syncing it is impossible.

You may want to look into a sampler that you can move from pattern to pattern by sending a program change from the foot pedal. That way you could sequence the drum loops into different patterns and just hit the foot pedal to cue up and switch to the next pattern. Maybe an SP 505 does this and I'm pretty sure the MPC 1000 does this.

[suguemeseco]

got it working. Thanks so much for your help man... actually once i got some peace and quite and dedicated myself it really wasnt that difficult. The 1010 has an AWESOME manual.

EVERYONE PURCHASE A BERHINGER 1010 IF YOU NEED A FOOTSWITCH FOR THE 404!!!!

[mbillings]

Glad it worked out. Even though I sold my 404, I kept the FCB1010 for whatever SP I get next.