Changing Effects Via Midi

[Peetem_2023]

I purchased a Catalyst 100 and love it.  I built a Midi controller and it works perfectly.

 

Each amp bank has only one effect you can assign to it.  Kind of a bummer because some songs that I play I need to be able to change between two different ones.  Rather than change the bank to a new Amp (which has a very slight delay - needs to be fixed as this is one of the slight drawbacks of this amp), I would rather just change the effect type.

 

Is there any way to change the effect by sending that bank using midi CC code/note?

 

Thanks!

 

[rd2rk]

Each "Bank" consists of two "Channels".

In reality, each Bank consists of two Presets.

Each can be whatever you want it to be.

Different amps, different effects, different reverbs, different settings for each.

The MIDI PC#s for each of those Presets are in the manual on page 12 (English).

 

It's also possible to change the effects themselves via MIDI.

For instance, a Preset (Channel) has a Delay saved.

Sending this series of MIDI messages:

 

PC#3                       //Selects Bank 2 Channel A

CC#19 Value 1        //Selects MOD Category

CC#58 Value 2       //Selects Script Mod Phaser

CC#28 Value 127   //Turns Effect ON

 

Note that the new effect will remain on in that Channel between Channel changes but will revert to the SAVED effect if you switch Banks and then return.

IOW - if both Channels have a delay and you change to the phaser on Channel A, Channel B will still have the delay, and Channel A will have the phaser until you switch BANKS. When you return to the modded Bank Channel A will revert to the SAVED effect (delay). If you want to change the effect back without changing Banks, just program a switch to do that*.

 

*EDIT - Loading an effect with MIDI loads it with factory settings. If you switch back to the SAVED effect (which might contain your own customizations) using MIDI without switching Banks, the effect will load with the factory settings. I don't know of any way to replace the factory settings with user settings which, in any case, would still be global. I'm currently waiting to hear back from L6 Support as to whether the factory settings can be altered.

[weathercade]

My workaround for custom effects settings is to use the banks to store a preset including the effects settings I want. I use a Pirate MIDI Bridge4 to load that preset and then change all the other settings (amp, boost, gain, eq) via a stack of cc messages.  The Bridge4 can send 16 cc messages per switch.  I would like to know if we can change defaults though, it would make things simpler.

[rd2rk]

Spoke to Josh at L6 Support. There's no way (currently) to save user defaults in place of the factory defaults.

If I get around to it I'll post this over on Ideascale, along with a request to expose all of the parameters of the effects to MIDI by assigning CC#s.

Changing the factory defaults or storing user preferences might be beyond the capabilities of the Cat, but I can't see that it would be a big deal to expand the CC list.

But what do I know, I have no clue about the code or the memory restrictions of the HW.

FWIW - I've always used my Cat 4cm with Helix/HXS, so not an issue for me, and this might be the only real solution.

[Peetem_2023]

May thanks to everyone for your help.

 

As my MIDI controller uses an Arduino Mega and Teensy, I'll hard-code each button with the specific MIDI CC#'s and sequence.  But, I didn't want to start doing that until I was sure its not a waste of time.  So this has been a big help.

 

Again, many thanks!

[rd2rk]

On 8/25/2023 at 9:50 AM, Peetem_2023 said:

May thanks to everyone for your help.

 

As my MIDI controller uses an Arduino Mega and Teensy, I'll hard-code each button with the specific MIDI CC#'s and sequence.  But, I didn't want to start doing that until I was sure its not a waste of time.  So this has been a big help.

 

Again, many thanks!

 

You may also need to include "WAIT" commands between messages. I tested the effect swaps using MIDI from Helix (or my FCB1010/UNO2 thru Helix) and it works fine in both cases without WAITs. I didn't test the FCB direct.

[Peetem_2023]

On 8/25/2023 at 12:13 PM, rd2rk said:

 

You may also need to include "WAIT" commands between messages. I tested the effect swaps using MIDI from Helix (or my FCB1010/UNO2 thru Helix) and it works fine in both cases without WAITs. I didn't test the FCB direct.

Got it.  

 

Not sure how to send a "wait" command, but I'm sure I can figure it out. ;-)

[rd2rk]

On 8/25/2023 at 11:59 AM, Peetem_2023 said:

Quick question - how did you know that Phaser was value 2?

 

I'm looking for a table that lists the values for each CC (as needed), but can't find anything.

 

Thanks!

 

Pages 11-12 of the Pilot's Guide lists the CC#s, pages 8-9 list the order of the VALUES.

Though the PG numbers them in human-speak by "TYPE" 1-6 (page 11 column 4), the MIDI VALUES are 0-5 (page 11 column 2).

[Peetem_2023]

So got everything working!

 

Really appreciate the guidance.

 

I just wish I could alter the parameters/factory settings on the effects when they are called up.  Kinda a bummer - for example, the Phasor only has a 22% mix on one of the factory settings - I would like to dial it up to 50% (which yes, I can do via MIDI, so probably a bad example - a better example would be Tremolo speed).  Like the   I did find the settings for each factory effect also vary by the type of amp you're using.

 

Anyone, its better than nothing!