Young pensioner (67) Sysex confused (BC3 & MidiSolution)

jjj · Post by **jjj** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 11:21 pm

Today my BC3 Breath Ctr and Midi Solution Breath Controller Bundle arrived (here in Chile).
I was shocked to discover that it has to be programmed and never done a thing like that before! Hoping it's only something new for me...

Here's my setup: Roland D20 Synth connected via MIDI to 1GHz Pentium on XP- Home, with SB-Live! soundcard.
(Next week I'm going to get "Audigy 4 Pro Card External Drive".
I'm using the MIDI setup with Live-Styler (YamahaStyles) accompaniment.
My Breath Controller setup:
I plugged the BC3 into MidiSolution Box,
MIDI Thru from Synth to MIDI In of MidiSolution Box and
MIDI OUT of MidiSolution Box to MIDI IN of Synth

How do I program the MIDI Solutions Breath Controller?
That crazy setup wasn't exactly cheap and there should be at least a program with it, but there isn't! What I have to buy now to program that box??
Can you please send me a brief step-by-step Info on how to program it so, that I can control the dynamics of my Synth.
Thanking you in advance. Best Regards, jjj

florian · Post by **florian** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 12:36 am

Hi jjj,

sorry to hear of such an annoying problem.

Please note, however, that SendSX is a program to send arbitrary sys ex messages, not only a particular one. We usually don't know which sys ex messages are supported by specific devices. You should check out MIDI Solutions' web site, and contact them. They will know how to help you.

Maybe, once you know what to send to program the device, you can use SendSX for sending...

In any case, good luck...

Best regards,
Florian

jjj · Post by **jjj** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 1:04 am

Danke fuer Deine Antwort, Florian; bin Sachse von Delitzsch, now living in Chile! Uebrigens pfeife ich auf alles.

Here you see me blowing up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQpI6RsPo8k

Actually I sent almost the same email to MidiSolutions, because they recommend Send SX for programming their Breath Controller.
I sent it to you as well, because it might be easier than I thought to do with Send SX and you good people know Send SX even better than them.

Here's the page of their short manual for their Breath Controller:

http://www.midisolutions.com/opinstr.htm

florian · Post by **florian** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 12:06 pm

hmmm, if you look at the manual, they have explained quite a bit. They do not explain what MIDI is, but that you can learn elsewhere...

Anyway, check out "page" 19. It shows you two example lines. Just copy/paste them to the left "Outgoing" area of SendSX and hit the Send button. Oh, of course, you need to select the breath controller as MIDI OUT in SendX before.

Hopes that gives you a start!
Florian

jjj · Post by **jjj** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 1:50 pm

Oh, of course, you need to select the breath controller as MIDI OUT in SendX before

Yes... that's the problem, because Breath Controller is not mentioned in the MIDI OUT driver selection... I have no clue of how to address it?

florian · Post by **florian** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 3:42 pm

I've had a look at the MIDI Solutions box and it has standard MIDI IN and OUT plugs. So you need to connect the MIDI Solutions's MIDI OUT to the computer's MIDI IN jack and vice versa. Then select your computer's MIDI interface as MIDI OUT in SendSX. If you don't have MIDI jacks/cables on your computer, check the soundcards you're using if they have MIDI i/o.

Regards,
Florian

jjj · Post by **jjj** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:12 pm

Yes... at first I connected it as suggested in their manual, but the LED didn't light up. I then successfully connected:

Synth OUT > >>>> MidiController IN and

MidiController OUT >>>>> MIDI soundcard.

Yet, programming SysEx with your wonderful Send SX failed, because I don't know how to address the MIDI Solution Breath Controller. Sadly, it isn't an option in in MIDI OUT of Send SX.

My soundcard (SB-Live!) has only the following MIDI OUT options:

MIDI Mapper
Yamaha XG SoftSynth
M$soft Wavetable SoftSynth
Midi Yoke NT 1-8
kx Control CT4620 10k1
kx Uart CT4620 10k1
kx Synth CT4620 10k1
kx Synth2 CT4620 10k1

florian · Post by **florian** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:19 am

guessing... have you tried "kx Uart"? UART usually means a MIDI port that you can plug a MIDI cable into.

Regards,
Florian

jjj · Post by **jjj** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 1:20 am

I tried "kx Uart" again and Send SX reports: 10 bytes sent //1 byte received.

Also, I watched the MIDI Controller LED... no reaction!

Damn, there must be a way of programming that idiot box?

florian · Post by **florian** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:38 pm

hi, how is it progressing? 1 byte received, what have you received in the right box?

And I guess you should follow up with MIDISolutions if you cannot get it to work.

Regards,
Florian

jjj · Post by **jjj** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 8:30 pm

Hi Florian,
Thx for inquiring...
Midi Solutions told me to connect MIDI OUT to MIDI IN and test if Send SX sends the SysEx data. It dumped data... and never stopped!
I was worried it might erase the SB-Live! soundcard's soundbank and so, I stopped it. Albeit I reported the result to MIDI Solutions, they didn't respond and I couldn't get any help. They don't have a programmer for it I wouldn't have a clue how to program the correct parameter with SysEx.
So, I might sell off this complicated Breath Controller at eBay and solder myself a simple stereo attenuator, based on the Morley foot-pedal circuit.
I wasted my money on "MIDI (no) Solutions"!

Besides, since you know a lot about MIDI...
I bought a cheap RollUp Piano with MIDI OUT, which works 6VDC.
I ripped the silicon/vinyl Kbd apart to trace the circuit and contacts. It has the usual 8x8 matrix circuit without visible diodes (i.e. they must be within the chip). I would like to connect an old 120-button accordion bass box onto it. Each button has only one contact.
There I would need to bundle lots of 3 to 4 note chords.
It would be far easier to wire one accordion button per piano key, and write a small MIDI filter program that converted the single notes to chords, assuming one doesn't exist somewhere already. To me, that's "simpler" than messing around with hundreds of wires and diodes, and you can change it any time. I googled for it, but couldn't find anything.
Would you know how, where to find it?

My latest idea/ tick is to "uniformate" the ordinary zebra piano layout!
Because its present irregularity (the sticking out, narrow black keys) is a pain in the proverbial; costing us years of scales and chords practice!!
I want to create a Kbd with very little key (contact) travel. That way the black keys can be almost level with the white ones, making it far easier for my "two left hands" dexterity to maintain the fingering distances. On my Synth Kbd the black keys are about 10mm above the whites, causing my fingers to run against them... while trying to judge the distances in a different scale. I haven't got the problem playing in C-major, because all keys of the scale are white (have no walls!).

florian · Post by **florian** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 10:40 am

Hi jjj,
sorry to hear about the continued problem with MIDISolutions.

My software "Mouse Keyboard" allows you to generate chords (and you can edit chords). But the chords are not musical, i.e. always the same. Try it...

For complete custom chords, you *could* use Bome's Midi Translator: it's sort of a MIDI filter. You can define things like:

INPUT: Note A1
OUTPUT: Note C1+Note E1+Note G1

But beware, currently, MT is quite technical. Currently, it requires entering MIDI commands as hex codes. But by now you're a pro with that, aren't you?

Regards,
Florian

jjj · Post by **jjj** » Tue Nov 25, 2008 4:18 pm

Hi florian,

I searched for and found a solution: MIDIgrid
Someone was so kind to sent me a test program of it and I have to see if I can get the dynamics and latency right, in order to create responsive accordion bass & chords. It looks pretty promising!
Regards, jjj