gnrmadman Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 First thing's first, I'm a MIDIot, zero midi experience. I've watched some vids but for the life of me none are helping me successfully control the pedal's tempo with the Helix tap tempo, and maybe it's something specific to do with the Boss SL-2 pedal, although I'm sure it's me. I have the MIDI plug running out the Helix into the pedal. I've set the receive channel per the manual. Nothing. Tried through Native. Still nothing. I need a step-by-step, a video would be great if anyone has both, to walk me through it. Appreciate y'allz help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datacommando Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 On 2/28/2024 at 6:29 AM, gnrmadman said: First thing's first, I'm a MIDIot, zero midi experience. I've watched some vids but for the life of me none are helping me successfully control the pedal's tempo with the Helix tap tempo, and maybe it's something specific to do with the Boss SL-2 pedal, although I'm sure it's me. I have the MIDI plug running out the Helix into the pedal. I've set the receive channel per the manual. Nothing. Tried through Native. Still nothing. I need a step-by-step, a video would be great if anyone has both, to walk me through it. Appreciate y'allz help. Hi, I realise that you are completely new to this, therefore my first question is - are you sure that you have the correct MIDI cable for the BOSS Slicer? IIRC there are 2 types of 5 pin DIN MIDI to TRS MIDI configurations. Anyhow, if you do have the correct cable (Boss BMIDI-5-35) you should be able to simply connect the 5 Pin to the MIDI OUT from the Helix and the TRS into the MIDI IN jack socket on the Boss. Then from the Global Settings on the Helix go to MIDI/Tempo and set MIDI base channel to 1 and then set Send MIDI Clock to MIDI. Next - set your MIDI receive channel on the Slicer, by turning the type knob to "DUAL 4". Now turn the Balance and Attack knobs fully clockwise. Next hold down the pedal switch and turn the power on by inserting a jack plug into the INPUT A (MONO) socket. The check indicator LED should light up red. Now, turn the VARIATION knob to position 1 (this selects MIDI Channel 1). Press the pedal switch and the setting should be saved, the check indicator should blink green. After 3 or 4 seconds the pedal should be good to go. All this stuff is in the Owner's Manuals for both units. Hope this helps/makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 From the SL-2 Manual: Using MIDI clocks to synchronize with an external MIDI device When the SL-2 receives a timing clock (F8H), a start message (FAH), a continue message (FBH) or a stop message (FCH), this device synchronizes its tempo to the external device. You can’t use the following operations to set the tempo of the SL-2 while it is synchronized to MIDI clocks. Tempo settings (tap tempo) using the pedal switch of the SL-2 or a footswitch connected to the SL-2 Tempo settings by receiving control change messages (CC#81) Tempo settings made via MIDI clocks are not stored in this device. MIDI clocks are part of the MIDI system common information (system real-time messages). As such, they don’t have MIDI channel settings. When a start (FAH) message is received, the slice pattern is output from the beginning. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I spent over an hour this AM researching the hell out of this. When MIDI Clock is enabled, Helix is sending F8 (per MIDIOX - the H is just there to differentiate HEX from DECIMAL). As near as I can tell, if you've got the proper MIDI cable and Helix Send MIDI Clock is set to MIDI this should just work. You might want to contact BOSS support if it doesn't. Possible problem - if the SL-2 requires a START (FAh) message, you're screwed because AFAICT, Helix can't do that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datacommando Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 On 2/28/2024 at 6:13 PM, rd2rk said: I spent over an hour this AM researching the hell out of this. When MIDI Clock is enabled, Helix is sending F8 (per MIDIOX - the H is just there to differentiate HEX from DECIMAL). As near as I can tell, if you've got the proper MIDI cable and Helix Send MIDI Clock is set to MIDI this should just work. Hi, I found this, which I think is saying that there really should be no difference between Binary and Hex versions of the MIDI clock messages. “Universal MIDI System Realtime messages (i.e. non-manufacturer-specific) are as follows: Start - binary 11111010 - hexadecimal FA, sometimes written FAH (“H” for heaxadecimal) or 0xfa Stop - binary 11111100 - hexadecimal FC, sometimes written FCH or 0xfc Sync (a.k.a) MIDI Clock: - binary 11111000 - hexadecimal F8, sometimes written F8H or 0xf8” Dunno? Confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 F8 (what Helix sends) = 11111000 = 248 DECIMAL SYNCS the devices FA (Start - what the SL-2 wants to RE-START the pattern) = 11111010 = 250 IOW - (I think) the Helix and SL-2 will be SYNCED, but he won't be able to re-start the pattern from Helix. SYNC and RE-START are different functions. I think that it might be possible to take the SYSEX generated by the MMC commands and translate to MIDI Clock using the BOME MIDI Translator, but that's a pretty expensive solution. EDIT - UNLESS toggling the SL-2 ON/OFF re-starts the pattern. OP - try it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datacommando Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 On 2/29/2024 at 1:40 AM, rd2rk said: F8 (what Helix sends) = 11111000 = 248 DECIMAL SYNCS the devices FA (Start - what the SL-2 wants to RE-START the pattern) = 11111010 = 250 IOW - (I think) the Helix and SL-2 will be SYNCED, but he won't be able to re-start the pattern from Helix. SYNC and RE-START are different functions. I think that it might be possible to take the SYSEX generated by the MMC commands and translate to MIDI Clock using the BOME MIDI Translator, but that's a pretty expensive solution. EDIT - UNLESS toggling the SL-2 ON/OFF re-starts the pattern. OP - try it! I just had another look at the BOSS SL-2 manual re: "Controlling This Unit from an External MIDI Device" Page 10. When a start (FAH) message is received, the slice pattern is output from the beginning. This is the same as the info which you quoted above, therefore I'm guessing that once the MIDI clock takes control of the Slicer, then a SR Msg "Start" = binary 11111010 - hexadecimal FA (or FAH) it should trigger the pattern. We will never know how it responds until the OP can figure out how to get the Helix and BOSS to actually communicate via MIDI. In the end it's just a bunch of ones and zeros! :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmalle Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 On 2/29/2024 at 4:23 PM, datacommando said: In the end it's just a bunch of ones and zeros! :) 01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100010 01100001 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01100100 00100001 00100000 00111011 00101001 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datacommando Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 On 2/29/2024 at 4:13 PM, Schmalle said: 01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100010 01100001 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110010 01100100 00100001 00100000 00111011 00101001 01001000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01100100 01101001 01100100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100111 01110101 01100101 01110011 01110011 00111111 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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