Volca Sample and Separate MIDI Channels via BSP

[mrs1977]

Hi All, this might be an old topic, but I'm having some trouble triggering the Volca Sample using individual midi channels per pad on the BSP. My set up is as follows: I've a Volca Bass on Seq1 set to midi channel 11, a Volca FM on Seq2 set to midi channel 12, and for the Volca Sample, I'm using midi channels 1-10 on pads 1-10 on the Drum Seq. To do this, I went into global setting and adjusted the pads per the custom setting to have separate midi channels.

The Volca Bass and FM work fine; however, nothing is being triggered when I press the pads, when I switch to the Drum seq. I'm using a dedicated midi thru splitter, not the Belkin splitter. I can trigger the internal seq on the Volca Sample via the play button on the BSP, but pressing the pads does nothing. I'm also using firmware 2.0. Is there something I'm missing? Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

[megamarkd]

Have you remembered to set the Volca Sample to receive MIDI Short Message in it's global settings?  What note numbers have you set the pads to?  I have no idea if particular note numbers are even required for the VSample, knowing that they don't change pitch as a normal sampler would when receiving a different note number, it's worth a shot.  Make sure that MIDI RX ShortMessage is enabled by pressing FUNC when turning on the VSample then ensuring the step 7 light is on, then if you still have no success try setting Seq1 or 2 to a channel being used by the VSample and hitting the pads starting at the lowest note (transpose down 2 octaves) and working your way up until you get a result.  Count the notes as you go up the keys so to know with MIDI note number you are on when it triggers the VSample, then assign that number to the pad set to the corresponding MIDI channel on your drum map.  Repeat for the other channel (but knowing how drum instrument maps tend to work, you might find they all follow on from the first one).
Let us know how you go so it's on here for other in the future to learn from and hopefully not have to go through all this themselves!  Good Luck!

[mrs1977]

The midi short message was the trick! Thank you very much. Now I have to figure out how to clear the patterns on the volcas so I can write new pieces on BSP and not trigger what's already on the volcas. I've done the func+16 to clear all, but when I press place on the BSP it triggers all the sequencers to play something that I have not created.

[megamarkd]

Ah that one is easy, you set the Volca to Internal Sync.  Again go into global settings, and check that step 6 is not lit, if so press the step to turn it off.  When set to Internal Sync it'll ignore all MIDI tempo and transport messages it receives, so the sequencer will remain dormant until you press it's play button.

[mrs1977]

Perfect, thanks so much!

[FuzzTony]

Once you've done that, for extra fun, hook up a cable from BSP clock out to Volca Sample clock in.  This way, you can make a sequence on the BSP, "record" it onto the Volca, and play it back on the Volca while you build a new sequence on the BSP on top, and have it all stay in sync.  Use the "polyrhythm" feature to set different lengths for different parts, and you can actually have 11 different lengths of loops all moving in and out of phase with each other rhythmically to create some incredible, evolving sound!!