Hi, since you have connected SoftStep2 to your H9 through a MIDI cable, you don’t need to choose the MIDI device in H9 Control, because that’s for something connected to your computer/mobile device rather than H9 itself.
Yes, you do need to change some MIDI settings on H9 (or in H9 Control). First, you need to figure out what MIDI message your SoftStep2’s Key 5 is sending. Let’s say if it’s CC 121, you need to go to Pedal Settings->MIDI Settings->Assign MIDI CC messages to pedal functions->Tap Tempo, and set it to MIDI CC 121.
A long overdue thank you for sending me this extra help. I want to follow up and contribute what I learned setting up my SoftStep 2 and two H9s. Thanks to everyone on the boards for the help getting me going. Once I got it set up I guess I lost a few months just playing around. It’s been really fun and productive. I made a screenshot of the LED management technique I found on the Keith MacMillan website, in case the Original Poster never got around to figuring it out. Thanks again for blazing the trail! You helped me so much, even though it took me what seemed like forever to figure this out. But in the interest of people getting down to it and making their music, here’s how I’ve done it.
My build uses the Keith McMillan MIDI Expander with the SoftStep 2. One H9 [FLWR] is on MIDI Channel 1 and the other H9 is on Channel 2. They are connected by a MIDI cable so 1 can pass messages to 2.
PRESETS FOR THE H9s
Because SoftStep 2 has presets that can be scrolled through using the Navigation Key, I made a preset for each pedal controlling: H9 Preset incrementation/ decrementation, Input & Output Gain, performance key, expression pedal, an active toggle for that individual pedal and an active toggle for both H9s at once. I also made a dual use Tap Tempo Key that, if you press it down and hold for a few seconds, activates the tuner. They are mostly the same preset values for either pedal so I was able to just copy the preset and assign the Output Settings to Channel to 2 for the second H9’s Preset.
PARAMETER CONTROLS
I also made a SoftStep 2 Preset Called KNB1 for the H9’s 1 through 10 “Set Parameter” CC numbers in “Assign MIDI CC messages to pedal functions” section of MIDI Settings in H9 Control. There are ten of these MIDI Controls and ten Keys on the Softstep so that works out pretty cleanly, although in performance they can be annoying because sometimes stepping on the Keys moves the value back to zero when I adjust the parameter. But it works to twist the knobs with my feet to find a sound in practice. As above, I made a clone of this SoftStep Preset and then edited the values for Channel 2 for the second H9’s parameters.
I based the KNB1 layout on the TIMELINE Algorithm, so the Text Hints, by the keys, follow the GUI layout for TIMELINE. I had to do some experimentation to figure out which MIDI CC# to assign to which Key so the physical layout of the SoftStep Keys would match the way the knobs are placed in H9 Control. There are six knobs in the H9 control on top so it’s offset by one, which means that the top right knob is controlled by the bottom left key, which isn’t ideal. Now that I think of it, I should try putting FEEDBACK B on Key 5 all the way to the bottom right and sliding the others over to the left so the left most Key matches the left most bottom Knob. That’s not how it will be in the screenshots though.
In conclusion, I think I’m going to wind up making other presets that directly activate particular algorithms, as the OP did. But hopefully this post is useful to anyone lucky enough to have this particualr combo to play with.
