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Unlock your FBV3/MkII (all colors, full MIDI)


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This is a project I've been messing around with. It lets you really open up the possibilities of your FBV3 and /or FBV shortboard MkII. It allows for full color functionality of FBV3 as well. It requires some basic know-how with an Arduino at present, though with very little effort on Line 6's part, that may not be necessary in the future. Check it out:

 

 

 

 

https://github.com/kquann/FBV_MIDI

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Found this interesting and wanted to compliment you for your work, despite having no use for it, myself. (I have a MKII that I use with Amplifi 30 & 150.)

 

I have noted the disappointment that others have expressed in the inability of the FBV3 to display colors. Looks like you've gone the extra mile in coming up with a solution, even if it's beyond the capability of many users and requires extra components.

 

Thanks for your effort!

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Thanks for checking it out!

 

Line 6, would you ever issue an update to allow the Sysex messages to pass over USB? That way people wouldn't have to build anything special. I'd imagine you'd sell a whole lot more of these things ;-)

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  • 4 months later...

I have a Shortboard MKII, and really want to use it more with midi than my Amplifi (which I may end up selling since I don't really use it at all).  The software package I've been using lately is Bias FX Pro, and what I'd like to know is with this setup, if I load a patch that say has a drive pedal and a mod pedal active by default, will the lights on the floorboard reflect that?  The FBV 3 is a cool piece of kit, and I'd gladly upgrade to it if that's what it takes, but if I can use what I've got I'd be very happy.  Right now I'm just plugged in to my Mac by USB and have to watch the screen to see what's enabled and not.  Also, don't care about the tuner, since i'm using it with my computer and have an external tuner already.

 

Thanks

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On 1/5/2019 at 6:45 PM, kiddt said:

I have a Shortboard MKII, and really want to use it more with midi than my Amplifi (which I may end up selling since I don't really use it at all).  The software package I've been using lately is Bias FX Pro, and what I'd like to know is with this setup, if I load a patch that say has a drive pedal and a mod pedal active by default, will the lights on the floorboard reflect that?  The FBV 3 is a cool piece of kit, and I'd gladly upgrade to it if that's what it takes, but if I can use what I've got I'd be very happy.  Right now I'm just plugged in to my Mac by USB and have to watch the screen to see what's enabled and not.  Also, don't care about the tuner, since i'm using it with my computer and have an external tuner already.

 

Thanks

 It may take a bit of doing and I have yet to experiment with something like this, but it would be possible, yes. I am not very familiar with Bias FX Pro or the ins and outs of your DAW (assuming you're using it as a plugin), but in the simplest scenario you could set up presets on the FBV that issue MIDI PC messages to switch to particular Bias patches. Those presets can be linked to effect states (ie on/off) for any number of switches/LEDs so they will be on or off by default whenever you change to a different patch. You could then use those switches to turn on or off individual effects within the patch similar to the instant access (IA) feature of most high-end foot controllers by sending MIDI CC messages. For example, switching to preset #1 would have chorus and drive effects on by default, whereas preset #2 would be tremolo and delay on by default. You could turn on/off effects as you want within the patch. Effectively, you could set-up individual pedal-board layouts for each Bias patch you have.

 

It can get a lot more advanced if you want to take advantage of the MIDI-in capabilities of this set-up and allow for the FBV switch states to sync-up with your computer input. For instance, you could use your mouse to click a drive pedal "on" in Bias and then the corresponding LED would light up on your FBV. MIDI automation events executed from your DAW could also sync with the FBV in the same way. It's do-able, but it's another can of worms I haven't opened yet.

 

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  • 4 months later...

This sounds very promising! I'm rather new to Midi, so I still need to research a lot of this before I really understand it. But if I may cut straight to my own interest, is this something that could allow me to use the FBV3 with the HX Stomp? I know enough to know that neither of those device can host, in their original state. But I'm not familiar enough to know why they can't. 

 

I'm going to start testing this configuration. But ANY additional insight for that FBV3/STOMP integration would be like, appreciated man. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 5/24/2019 at 4:26 PM, ezparedes said:

This sounds very promising! I'm rather new to Midi, so I still need to research a lot of this before I really understand it. But if I may cut straight to my own interest, is this something that could allow me to use the FBV3 with the HX Stomp? I know enough to know that neither of those device can host, in their original state. But I'm not familiar enough to know why they can't. 

 

I'm going to start testing this configuration. But ANY additional insight for that FBV3/STOMP integration would be like, appreciated man. 

Yes, you would be able to integrate the FBV with HX Stomp (or any MIDI device for that matter). You'd just need to set up your configuration file to issue the corresponding MIDI CC commands (outlined in HX Stomp manual). Again for this to work you do need to setup some additional hardware, see: https://github.com/kquann/FBV_MIDI/blob/master/Readme.pdf

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  • 1 year later...

Hi,
Has anyone had any luck using the FBV 3 with Midi-Ox on Windows 10 to unlock colors and display? 

 

I have the FBV 3 working great as a MIDI controller - USB to my PC, running various guitar sims. Would love to unlock the colors and LED display as well.
I have also seen success with MACs and SysEx librarian, but wondering if anyone can give some help on Windows with Midi-Ox?

 

Saw this recent article on Sweetwater, which gave me the idea
https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/how-do-i-send-and-receive-sysex-on-pc-or-mac/#SysEx-MIDI-files-on-PC

 

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Unfortunately the FBV controllers are not able to receive SysEx messages via USB like they are through the RJ45 jack. Sure, they will accept SysEx flash memory updates via USB, but that's about it. For example, you can pass a SysEx message to the FBV via RJ45 to turn on an LED, but if you pass that same message over USB, nothing would happen. For some reason Line 6 has greatly restricted the USB functionality of these units. The only thing they can do via USB is send basic MIDI-out messages. They will not respond to incoming MIDI/SysEx messages. It's a shame because a very simple change to the source code would fix this issue if Line 6 ever gets around to it. Same goes for the Helix Control unit. 

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@kquann, Thanks for that.

What if The RJ45 is connected from the FBV3 to a PC's ethernet port, will it be able to somehow send/receive SysEx then? In other words can Windows 10 run the Python script you wrote?

How would that set up? 

 

Thanks for the quick reply

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