MIDI Start/Stop - how?

[westofben]

Reposting this from General forum.

I currently have a KeyStep and viewing the MF (MicroFreak) as a possible replacement. I have one burning question.

I play bass primarily, so the MF will be played by hands occasionally but other times I will trigger sequences or arps from a KMI 12 Step.

I am controlling all of my MIDI devices from a Boss ES-8. If I have a MicroFreak patch with a sequence, then from the ES-8 I will load that patch. What I would like to do is also send START to the MF from that patch (using a CC?) and  at the next patch on the ES-8 send STOP, so that the sequence runs for that section of a song. What CC messages can I send to trigger this, if possible?

I have tried to do the same with my KeyStep and it simply doesn’t work. This is why I am interested in the MF.

What other options do I have? Will this require a dedicated Start/Stop MIDI footswitch or will I need to reach over to the MF to start and stop?

Thanks!

[westofben]

Surprised at the lack of knowledge responses here...

So I know 100% that the Boss ES-8 cannot send SysEx messages. That leaves two options:

1. MoltenVoltage One Trick Pony - Start Stop
2. MIDI Solutions Footswitch Controller, with an external switch or using a CTRL out from ES-8

Still the question remains - does the MicroFreak respond to standard MIDI Start and Stop messages from external sources?

I only ask because the KeyStep didn’t. At least not all that I tried. I don’t want to fork out $$ and revamp my setup only to find the MF does not respond. I NEED to be able to start/stop a sequence with my foot while my hands are busy playing bass.

I am also not prepared to spend money on either of the options above if it is not possible.

[Micro_Freq]

Hardly surprising as it's not an actual 'technical issue' more of a query really isn't it 

[westofben]

Same result over in the general threads. Technically it could be an issue IF MF doesn’t respond to start stop remotely, no?

In any case, if thread is in wrong forum, a moderator should moderate 

[Micro_Freq]

That's me told! 

[westofben]

That's me told! 

Oh definitely not Apologies for appearing blunt.

[TLW]

The keystep definitely does obey MIDI start/stop commands. So long as you are sending it MIDI clock from whatever you want to sync it to and that sends start/stop along with clock.

MIDI start/stop is usually part of the clock function. There are sequencers that can be started/clocked in other ways but the keystep only obeys the clock.

The microfreak’s MIDI CC functions can be found here, they do not include start/stop.
https://www.arturia.com/faq/microfreak/microfreak-general-questions

If sequencing it externally set local=on. Local=off tends to make microfreaks go haywire.

[westofben]

I figure that now with the KeyStep. I was trying some other software methods with that and finally came to the conclusion Start/Stop is not CC... my mistake.

But, by rights - a general MIDI SysEx message of Start/Stop sent to the MIDI channel of the MicroFreak should still work no?

Still not 100% clear.

I will be using its internal sequences. I would simply like to start or stop the sequence using a foot controlled start/stop. This is looking like I will just buy one, buy a start/stop and if it doesn't work, deal with it.

[Micro_Freq]

That's me told! 

Oh definitely not Apologies for appearing blunt.

No worries, I was only joking, it's annoying when something doesn't work, my first MF didn't much work [including midi] the second one however - after the update has been much more stable, sequencer stop/start from external gear [including keystep in the chain] now all works superbly!

[TLW]

But, by rights - a general MIDI SysEx message of Start/Stop sent to the MIDI channel of the MicroFreak should still work no?

There's no such thing as a "general MIDI SysEx message of Start/Stop". There are universal SysEx commands, but they don't include start/stop and they may or may not work on any particular synth.

The Microfreak's sequencer starts playing as soon as it receives incoming MIDI Clock. The arp does the same unless there are no notes input for it to play, when it will be running but there'll be no audio output until it's fed some notes either from the keyboard or a DAW or other sequencer.

It occurs to me the simplest solution to your problem might be to run the synth into a volume pedal, or anything else that can be used as an audio mute such as a mixer channel, let it run all the time and simply unmute it when you want it to be heard.

[westofben]

I am learning here

So the two solutions I listed above are actually telling any hardware device to START and STOP clock? That's what I thought I was asking but maybe my terminology was incorrect?

I refreshed and so Start/Stop are System Real-Time Messages. In that case, I will either be able to use the external clock from ES-8 or internal clock. It won't matter so much as long as the tempos are the same and I can start and stop remotely.

I am not far off getting an MF so I will just try a method and see what happens.

[westofben]

I decided to buy an MF and received it earlier this week. Updated the firmware and had a play.

Initial out of box testing was with the MF alone and I noticed that most of the sequences will run when a key is pressed - transposed of course. This is a good thing. I was therefore extremely curious to see what happens when I send notes from a KMI 12 Step...

1. Arp runs from external source - YES (we knew that)
2. Sequence runs from external source note triggers - YES YES YES!

Resounding success!

The 12 Step has several modes - normal (notes play while key is pressed), legato (next key turns off previous key), hold (hold notes until cancelled), toggle (note on until key is pressed again). All of these modes work perfectly. So I can put the 12 Step in a patch set to toggle, program one of the keys to play a note that plays the sequence at the correct pitch (no transposing) and walk away while it runs. When I want the sequence to stop, I just toggle the key off. Of course then I can program different keys to transpose if I desire.

So at this stage it looks like I don't need any external hardware Start/Stop to trigger sequences. This is a BIG WIN. Thanks Arturia.

The next question: Is there any way to switch between sequences A/B on the fly other than pressing the button on the unit? Like for example sending a CC? If not, I can always have two presets with identical settings and different A sequences and switch those on the fly. It would be nice to be able to have a footswitch through my ES-8 set to send a certain value to a CC to do this.

Can't have everything, but what I have at this stage is more than enough.