Eventide Pitchfactor – Midi Preset Changes

[Pizzamonster]

Hello everyone, first time that I have posted here. 

 

I bought and registered a Pitchfactor earlier this week and I am asking if someone can please instruct me and/or tell me what I am doing wrong. I have worked with midi before but I am at a dead end trying to figure this out.

 

What I want seems simple enough and I have read over all 148 pages of this forum and the owners pdf before I am posting.

 

I simply want to control 4 presets via the Pitchfactor from my Midi board.

 

My rig is as follows…

Digidesign Eleven Rack

TC Electronic G Major 2

Eventide Pitchfactor

Voodoo Lab GCX

Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro

 

As far as my Midi connections go, I go out of the GCP and into the 11 Rack (which is set to THRU), then into the PF (which I am using in my FX LOOP in my 11 Rack. Simple?

 

I have narrowed my banks to just 5 so I only have 10 effects at the most and right now I only have room for 4 on my GCP since my 11 Rack does most of my effects. I have the 1st three presets set to my harmony leads, all with a different scale and/or key signature. 1:1 diatonic, 1:2 different diatonic and 2:1 and another diatonic. You get the picture? So I will be able to choose which harmony best suits the song.

 

Here is how I tried to program from watching countless youube videos and reading….

1st I went into SYSTEM>BYP TYP>RELAY

then MIDI>RCV CH>2

then RCV CTL>ACT C6

then RCV MAP>6 1:2

then RCV XMT>ON

then PGM XMT>ON

then OUTPUT ….I’ve tried XMT, THRU and THRU+C 

Then I exit SYSTEM and while in BANK mode I try my GCP switch six and it will work great turning the preset on and off….The problem is hen I go to another preset to send Midi. It will work but my previous setting is gone and unrespobsive to pedal 6 on my GCP.

 

My GCP is set up to send Midi as follows…

(1-8) Switches….I will just list the PF Switches

SWITCH 1>CH2>CTL001

SWITCH 5>CH2>CTL005

SWITCH 6>CH2>CTL006

SWITCH 7>CH2>CTL007

Each switch gives you the option of NORMAL, XMIT W/PRSET or MOMENTARY

I’ve tried them all with no success.

 

Is it possible that my PF is defective? I have Version 5.2.0 dev

Please, can someone get specic with me and explain what I am doing wrong…I wonder if I am notcompleting something….somethingright under my nose.

 

Any and all help would be appreciated

Best,

Chris

 

 

 

[gkellum]

Pizzamonster wrote:

Then I exit SYSTEM and while in BANK mode I try my GCP switch six and it will work great turning the preset on and off….The problem is hen I go to another preset to send Midi. It will work but my previous setting is gone and unrespobsive to pedal 6 on my GCP.

I'm not sure I understand.  You go to 'another preset to send MIDI' on what?  You're switching to another preset on the GCP?  Unfortunately, no one at Eventide knows the GCP very well.  Voodoo Labs makes great stuff, and I'm sure it's a great product. But it would be important to know what a preset even is on the GCP…

What would probably be the best thing to do with this sort of problem is to connect the MIDI cable that was going into the PitchFactor to a computer and look at what's being sent into the PitchFactor.  You can use MIDI Monitor on Mac and MIDI Ox on Windows to do this.  Usually, these sorts of problems are pretty easy to figure out once you can actually see what MIDI messages are or are not being sent.

[Pizzamonster]

Thanks for the quick reply. I downloaded Midi-OX and connected my PF to the USB port on my PC…..that just confuses me…lol It leaves me with more questions than answers…Don’t I need a different connection?

Anyway….

I’m sorry for not explaining myself better. I’m wanting to know, from the pitchfactor’s point of view, a detailed, step by step, midi assignment procedure. I’m not sure if I am changing things to much, not changing things enough or off-setting things?

What I should have said instead of “ I go to another preset to send Midi” is I try another switch (let’s call it switch 7) on my GCP (after I assign midi from the PF to it) and it will communicate to the PF. Now switch 7 works fine but switch 6 no longer communicates with the PF

It almost seems like the PF only allows me to receive only ONE MIDI change. Is this something that could happen? Or am I not finalizing a step in programming a MIDI change?

 

 

I have been going crazy trying to figure this out…..Can anyone give me some help that uses a VL-GCP?

Chris

 

 

[gkellum]

Pizzamonster wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply. I downloaded Midi-OX and connected my PF to the USB port on my PC…..that just confuses me…lol It leaves me with more questions than answers…Don't I need a different connection?

Yes, you need a different connection.  I meant that it would be helpful to see the MIDI events going into the PitchFactor.  I think you said that PitchFactor is connected to the output of the Digidesign Eleven Rack.  So that would mean connecting the cable coming out of the Digidesign Eleven Rack so that you can see exactly is coming out of the Eleven Rack and running into the PitchFactor.  I didn't see any problems with how you configured your PitchFactor.  So, I was thinking it was more likely that what is actually coming out of the Eleven Rack is different than what you are expecting.  (Keep in mind that I'm not trying to blame this problem on the Eleven Rack;  that's just the last step of the connection chain…)

Pizzamonster wrote:

Now switch 7 works fine but switch 6 no longer communicates with the PF… It almost seems like the PF only allows me to receive only ONE MIDI change.

You certainly should be able to have different MIDI messages assigned to different switches and be able to have them do different things to the PitchFactor…  People do this all the time…  The GCP is a lot more flexible though than most MIDI controllers.  So, the upfront difficulty of getting it set-up correctly is greater…  

 

You might want to use H9 Control to double check your PitchFactor's MIDI settings…  It sounds like you've been changing its settings in the system settings mode.  You can use H9 Control to do that as well, and it makes everything easier to understand because it's not limited by the small display…

 

You can download H9 Control from our support page.  You'll just need to have your PitchFactor connected to your computer via USB:

 

https://www.eventideaudio.com/support/downloads?field_product_nid=1151&field_language_tid=All&field_platform_tid=All

 

 

 

 

[Pizzamonster]

Thanks again for your advice…

I bypassed my 11 Rack and took Midi out of my GCP into the PF and there was no change in my results. 

I downloaded the H9 Control yesterday and reverted the PF to an earler version and even wrote new presets on the PF  and still, I am limited to just one Midi preset change. i also checked out the H9 Control, while my PF was connected via USB to my computer.Not sure what to change ….everything looked ok.

Can I have an example?

If you were to setup a PF to change 2 seperate presets (to turn on and off ) with any Midi controller (using 2 separate switches)….What would your exact procedure be?

Chris

[Pizzamonster]

Something else that is odd, that I just realized is

Switch #5 (on GCP)  is currently setup to SEND CTL0005 to the PF on 1:1 preset.

If I manually switch to another preset on the PF….let’s say preset 2:1 on the PF…

My switch #5 (on GCP) NOW controls the preset 2:1 on the PF and no longer controls the preset 1:1 on the PF

What could I be doing wrong? It feels like the PF isn’t allowing a second Midi change???

Chris

 

[nickrose]

Mr P. – a couple of things:

First, make sure the USB is disconnected from the PF.

Second, return the PF to factory defaults as described in the UM. This will, among other things, reset the MIDI map.

Third, connect the PF directly to your GC, by DIN5 cables..

If it now doesn't work, you should probably talk to Voodoo Labs, rather than us.

There is a small risk of a hardware problem on the PF, but if this was the case, MIDI would not work at all. It is much more likely that you are sending the PF the wrong stuff – this is beyond our control.

For example, it sounds like you are sending MIDI CC messages – these will not load presets. You need Program Change instead. Again, talk to Mr. Voodoo.

 

[Pizzamonster]

So forgive me if I’m wrong nickrose, so you are telling me that I can’t assign a preset to turn on/off (Active) with a Midi switch then assign another preset to turn on/off (Active) with another Midi switch using two different CC mesages from my GCP to te PF? I can do that very thing with my 11 Rack, and my G Major 2 from my GCP.

I do not want to have my harmonies ON all the time. In a program change that is what will occur. I want to turn on/off a PF preset on top of my clean sound & my distorted sounds that I have engaged from my 11 Rack.

 

Your Advice

I bypassed the 11 Rack and went straight into the PF. Then I took your advice and factory reset the PF (4 times)  and I still have the same problem. Then I reset my GCP (4 tmes) and went over everything…Midi Channel, CC Messages, Program Changes ect. and I know the GCP is working fine. 

Then I hooked up the 11 Rack and the GCX and they responded on different CC messages from my GCP. All instant access switches are set accordingly (1-8) and they send the correct Midi CC’s and Program Changes to activate the Eleven Rack and the GCX.

 

Like stated originally, I have read through this entire forum looking for someone that shares my dilema and by doing so, I have found a handful of GCP users, so I know I’m not alone. Will a GCP user please help me…I just simply need to know if you were to setup a PF to change 2 separate presets (to turn on and off  – Active) with any Midi controller (using 2 separate switches)….What would your exact procedure be?

Chris

[nickrose]

Let's try again. When you say turn a preset on and off, you probably mean to put the unit into bypass or active. Normally you would use a MIDI CC (Continuous Controller)  to do this.

But, as far as I know, a GCP does not support CC, but will only send MIDI Program Change. To support this limitation, we have added "Pseudo-programs" BYP, ACT and TOG as MIDI map options. Look in the manual under "[RCV MAP] – Create a MIDI Program Change Receive Map".

If this doesn't do it for you, you really have to talk to Voodoo – our MIDI interface is pretty normal. We have many GCP users, so hopefully some will chime in.

 

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