Behringer FCB 1010 with HX Stomp

[hdoran]

I'm considering the HX stomp as a backup to my live gear (or to use on very small stages). For background, my current rig is a Hughes and Kettner Grandmeister 40 Deluxe and I use the Behringer FCB 1010 as a MIDI foot controller to switch presets and trigger various CC# for effects.

 

Before buying the HX stomp I'm trying to learn if anyone else is using this combination (or an ensemble similar to it) and if you might be able to share your experiences. Here is an example of how I would want to use the two in combination. On the Stomp, I would like to build a preset that might include the following:

 

1) A three channel amp (clean, light gain, heavier crunch)

2) A wah pedal

3) Various modulation effects (e.g., chorus and phaser)

4) Boost for solos

 

Now, what I would hope to be able to do with the FCB 1010 is really two things:

 

1) First, send a PC message to activate this preset (this is easy I think)

2) Now, send CC# commands associated with various foot switches (FS) to activate the various effects

 

For example, I would want one FS to trigger the clean tone, another FS to trigger the light gain. Then, have an FS that activates the chorus pedal and use the built in expression pedals so that a CC# message of 0-127 creates the wah effect.

 

In other words, I would build a preset on the Stomp that looks like a pedal board and configure my 1010 to be the pedal board that gives me all the flexibility of activating any of those tones at any time.

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Kilrahi]

I don't own a Behringer FCB 1010, however, the key thing to remember with any MIDI controller is if it sends the right midi commands to do what you want to on the device you're trying to control.

 

Some midi controllers are only useful for selecting presets. Others allow you to do that, and to turn effects on and off, which is what you want to do.

 

I glanced through the Behringer manual . . . and like all ancient midi manuals it felt like I was trying to drive a nail through my forehead.

 

Nevertheless, it clearly mentions both preset change and effects on/off, and you also said you did it.  So my inclination is it will work for you.

[Thark]

Just this week I came across something interesting in this vein. The Yamaha MD-BT01 bluetooth midi plug will allow an Ipad/Iphone to send midi commands wirelessly. I have one on order and am going to try it for changing multiple keyboard presets using my Ipad. Fewer cables and less real estate used up on stage. Fingers crossed that it works.

[Droopy_TX]

This YouTube video walks you through programming pretty much everything on the FCB1010 from the foot switch unit itself. There is a editor app available for it too now. I was looking into using the FCB1010 for controlling a midi-enabled DMX lighting controller, as well some functions on my QSC digital mixer.

 

i haven't bought it, but from my research, it could do pretty much every function I needed. 

[Mturner]

Not exactly what you are asking but I used an FCB1010 with a POD XT Pro for a long time with no issues.
Not sure how the latest FCB1010 software stacks up but I upgraded mine to third party UNO firmware (https://www.fcb1010.uno/ and https://www.fcb1010.eu/) and found that it was much easier for me to get the functionality I needed.
If you run into a dead end with the factory firmware, take a look at UNO.

 

Mark

 

Edited January 31, 2019 by Mturner

[Ed_Saxman]

3 hours ago, Thark said:

Just this week I came across something interesting in this vein. The Yamaha MD-BT01 bluetooth midi plug will allow an Ipad/Iphone to send midi commands wirelessly. I have one on order and am going to try it for changing multiple keyboard presets using my Ipad. Fewer cables and less real estate used up on stage. Fingers crossed that it works.

 

The Yamaha MD-BT01 works for the most part (CCs, PCs, MIDI notes), but it corrupts SYSEX badly.

 

But you dont need SYSEX at all for the entine Helix line, so...

 

 

[Thark]

1 hour ago, Ed_Saxman said:

 

The Yamaha MD-BT01 works for the most part (CCs, PCs, MIDI notes), but it corrupts SYSEX badly.

 

But you dont need SYSEX at all for the entine Helix line, so...

 

 

 

Can you point me to a forum or somewhere that discusses the sysex problem?

 

Cheers.

[Ed_Saxman]

 

47 minutes ago, Thark said:

 

Can you point me to a forum or somewhere that discusses the sysex problem?

 

Cheers.

 

There is no need for that at all, sir, you can take my word.

 

However, if there is no reason for you to take my word for it, nobody cares! you will see the reality for yourself.

[Thark]

Thanks Ed. I do take your word that you have personally had this problem. However, I'm trying to find out whether or not it is a general problem with the MD-BT01. A casual google search hasn't revealed anything like this ... most complaints appear to be with bluetooth connection troubles. I find no mention of sysex problems on the web (well, there was one on Stack Overflow but it turned out to be the software sending the sysex data, not the MT-BT01).

 

Cheers

 

 

 

[arkieboy]

IIRC the base - as shipped, I modded mine over a decade ago - FCB is simply programme change + two expression pedals.  If you want programme change and stomps, then that comes with the UNO firmware https://www.fcb1010.eu.  The UNO upgrade pretty much redefines the hardware.  I UNO chipped my FCB - its not difficult - and the unit and firmware has served me well for a long, long time controlling a JMP1/GMajor rig across countless UK dates and two European tours, and a much more demanding Axon AX100mkII based rig for a few dates in the UK.  I stopped using it three or four years ago when I was loaned a FC300 to go with my VG99, and I now have a Helix LT so it lives in my attic along with the FC300.

 

You don't say if you've chipped your FCB.

 

IDK if you can persuade the Stomp and a UNO chipped FCB to play nicely with each other, but I suspect you're not going to get what you want from a vanilla FCB, so I would start looking at what control signals change stomps/snapshots - if they're mapped to incoming CC signals, I suspect the FCB can send them.

[Ed_Saxman]

11 minutes ago, Thark said:

Thanks Ed. I do take your word that you have personally had this problem. However, I'm trying to find out whether or not it is a general problem with the MD-BT01. A casual google search hasn't revealed anything like this ... most complaints appear to be with bluetooth connection troubles. I find no mention of sysex problems on the web (well, there was one on Stack Overflow but it turned out to be the software sending the sysex data, not the MT-BT01).

 

Cheers

 

 

 

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=21567.msg158357#msg158357

[hdoran]

Hi All

 

I'm the OP and decided to buy the HX Stomp and pair it with the FCB 1010 (no UNO Chip). I'm an adept MIDI user and can report a few updates for others who might want to use this ensemble. First, I bought the Stomp as a backup to my gigging amp or for occasions when my amp won't fit into a small stage.

 

What I intend to do is set my FCB 1010 in front of me as my pedal board and set the Stomp somewhere behind me or even off stage. I'll control the Stomp entirely from the FCB. My setup is:

 

FCB MIDI Out -> Stomp MIDI In -> Stomp 1/4" L/Out to DI -> DI XLR to mixer (BTW, I wish the Stomp had an XLR out so I didn't need the DI)

 

I bought the Stomp and within an hour using the HX Edit software, had a few custom presets built. I configured the Behringer to send PC messages to the Stomp to change between presets and there is one thing to note. The FCB is using 1 to 128 and the Stomp uses 0 to 127. So, the PC message you send from the FCB must always be +1 the PC number appearing on the Stomp. For example, when you see PC message 100 on the Stomp, you must send PC message 101 from the FCB to activate this preset.

 

I only had a little time to mess around with CC changes and will do more today. I had some trouble getting the Wah on the Stomp to react to incoming CC values, but I just need to try a few more things. But, if anyone has notes on that I would appreciate learning from you.

 

I also really like the Block Bypass feature that will allow for me to toggle on/off various things using MIDI. For instance, suppose I have a distortion pedal in Block 2. You can send a toggle command from the FCB to turn this block on and off using the tradition MIDI sector values of 0 - 63 (off) and 64 to 127 (on)

 

[hdoran]

OK, figured out how to make the Wah pedal work with the Behringer FCB 1010 and it's really easy. Sharing this for others to use as needed.

 

Step 1) Add a wah to your chain in the preset

Step 2) Turn the wah on/off using a block bypass. This is easy and described in manual and simple to use the toggle functions on the behringer (see behringer manual)

Step 3) Now, it turns out any expression pedal in exp 1 will swell your wah. So, if I plugged in an expression pedal into the stomp directly it would automatically do the wah. However, now you can "trick" your Stomp into thinking it has an expression pedal plugged directly into it. One of the reserved CC# on the stomp is cc#1 which always mimics expression pedal 1 on the stomp.

Step 4) So now on the behringer set up an FS (or use the same FS as you use to turn the wah on/off) to send cc#1 with values 0 - 127.

 

Done, now you have a wah pedal on the behringer using exp 1.

[jodoinandre]

Hdoran, I've been trying to setup my FCB1010 for my HX stomp with no success so far. I use channel 1 on both. It seems just setting the PC1 code to 1 2 3 4.... on footswitches 1 2 3 4... doesn't cut it. The stomp doesn't react at all. Any advise on how to setup my FCB for preset selection on the HX STOMP?

[jodoinandre]

My FCB1010 setup at this point looks like this, only did the first 10 

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[jodoinandre]

How do you ping people around here ? 

 

[HonestOpinion]

4 hours ago, jodoinandre said:

How do you ping people around here ? 

 

 

You can either press the "Quote" link at the bottom of each person's post and then write your question. This will be posted publicly in the topic and also pop up a notification in the recipient's forum menu. Alternatively you can click on the mail icon towards the top right hand corner of the forum menu, enter in the person's forum name, and you can send a private message.

[jodoinandre]

19 hours ago, HonestOpinion said:

 

You can either press the "Quote" link at the bottom of each person's post and then write your question. This will be posted publicly in the topic and also pop up a notification in the recipient's forum menu. Alternatively you can click on the mail icon towards the top right hand corner of the forum menu, enter in the person's forum name, and you can send a private message.

Thank you kindly.

[arkieboy]

What you have described should work.  From the screenshot I assume you have a midi interface to a computer.  Can you verify that the FCB is sending midi control signals using something like midiox (pc) or midi monitor (mac)?  Then can you make your stomp receive signals from a sequencer from your computer?

[invisible_man]

So far, my FCB is working well with HX stomp, but there’s one hitch. Each press of a footswitch sends one of two CCs (either ‘on’ or ‘off’ in sequence). But this seems to reset each time I come back to the switch. 
 

For example: toggle a block ON with switch 1. Then toggle a different block ON with switch 2. Now when I press switch 1, I’ll have to hit it twice to turn it OFF, even though it is currently ON, because it sends the IN command first every time I come back to it. It’s as though the stomps switches always send one value (ON) first, even if that was the most recent command sent by that same stomp switch. Navigating away from any switch means that - when I return to it - it has forgotten its most recent command, and I have to start over.

 

This isn’t the worst thing, but - since the leds give no accurate indication of what’s what - it’s hard to know where you stand before stomping accurately to trigger a block.

 

Thoughts? 

[arampino]

Hi All,

 

Many thanks to @hdoran and many others that put here helpful info. 
It took me a couple of days, but finally I managed to configure the FCB1010 with my HX STOMP with the expression pedals and its wonderfull, kinda of magic ;-)

 

And I have an improvement to use the WAH function:

You can USE the SAME Expression Pedal for managing the WAH and ALSO for Bypassing it.

Yo only need to put the Bypass for EXP1 (for example) set to 0%. and SAVE YOUR PRESET WITH IT BYPASSED. AND IMPORTANT: Exp Fubnction in PRESET MODE (Global Settings)

 

Since this, each time you recall this preset the WAH is off, and at the moment you move the EXP1 the WAH its activated and ready to use. 
To deactivate you only need to let the EXP1 at the minimum position. And no worry about desactivating it accidentally while using it, it has a 300ms latency time for bypassing. For me its enough to use it normally and only deactivates if I put to the minimum and quiet.

Hope it helps to Somebody.
Regards,