Replacing a Whammy: MIDI question about PF and all of the “Factors”

[guitarlesson]

I am about to suggest a new MIDI feature for all the factor pedals, but it is possible that this functionality already exists and I've overlooked it. If so, please correct me.

If I am to totally remove my Whammy pedal from my rig, I need to achieve one very specific bit of MIDI functionality that the Whammy seems to have that the factor pedals do not. Specifically, I need to access a patch, but have it be bypassed when it is called up. My whammy can do this – albiet in an unsophisticated way, but it does the job. Basically, sending a Program Change 1-17 calls up one of the 17 modes in the pedal, while 18-34 calls them up in bypassed mode. This is nice because sometimes you just want an effect to be ready in standby. I usually assign a useful Whammy patch to all my sounds, though in bypass, because you never know when you might feel inspired to use it. It would be nice to set all my unused factor pedals in this way – bypassed but with a useful effect ready and waiting.

I went through the MIDI mapping capabilities on my factor pedals and saw no way of doing this. While I appreciate the addition of bypass capabilities in the MIDI map a while ago (a feature I and others requested) it would be nice to also add a separate "Bypass Map". It could work like this…

Currently the bypass settings are a part of the RCV MAP. I'm suggesting that Eventide separate Bypass settings into a new MIDI option called BYP MAP. You could then set each patch individually as bypassed or active, while independently mapping the program changes. This way, you don't have to choose between setting a specific patch OR setting it as bypassed in the RCV MAP, but rather you can do both.

[timothyhill]

+1

I think this would be a more elegant solution. For instance, when using the bypass setting in the receive map, unless I'm missing something, there isn't any way to pre-load the next patch without either 2 program changes, a program change and the bypass switch, or an external MIDI controller that can send batches of MIDI commands in one patch. That's not usually a huge problem with the TF, MF, but of some of the algorithms in Space, because of their size and complexity, can take a small amount of time to load. It seems like this can also be an issue in the PF, although it's usually less noticable there. Being able to pre-load the next patch would eliminate this delay, however slight.

I'd still love to see all of them (mostly the MF) transmit their modulators via MIDI CC, too.

[quintessence]

"sometimes you just want an effect to be ready in standby."

Actually, I do this *all the time* with my factors. 

When you set up your patches, have your midi controller send the PC command to change the factor to whatever preset you want and a CC command to bypass it. 

[timothyhill]

That's assuming that we're using a MIDI controller that can transmit both program change and CC data in one batch, with one footwswitch. I alluded to that in my last post, but… I don't always carry an extra MIDI controller with me.

[guitarlesson]

Yeah… I'm pretty sure that's a non-standard bit of functionality. My Midi controller sends one message at a time. If yours does all that, good for you. Since not everyone can do this, the solution would be better implemented in the factor pedals themselves, IMHO.

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