BomeBox as a the brains of a midi loop switcher

[jon-3820]

Hi, I’m looking at using the BomeBox as the heart of my guitar rig to control the analogue loop switchers.

The controller device would be an AKAI APC mini Mk 2 or similar.

The switchers are the DOREMiDi MIDI Effects Switcher (MES-8). 3 of them so far.

I need not only to turn one or more loop switches on, but also turn the balance of the loops off because the state of the switchers is not known by the controller. So multiple (24) MIDI events must be sent for each button push on the controller.

What is the best way to approach this?

Is the Perform function the best way, or do I have multiple outgoing actions for the same incoming action as described in the Bome MIDI Translator Pro USER MANUAL software manual on pages 104-105?

The latter method could result in very large project files, with 64 buttons / midi events each activating 24 outgoing (switch) events.

What’s the best way to approach this?

Thank you, Jon

[SteveC (Steve)]

Hi and welcome to the Bome community!

First of all, in order to use your BomeBox for translation, you will need to purchase Bome MIDI Translator Pro if you haven’t already. Then you develop your project on your computer and upload it to your BomeBox for execution. Projects created with the trial version of Bome MIDI Translator Pro will not work on your BomeBox.

Now for me, I’m a fan of using perform. That way I can easily separate the incoming MIDI trigger from the outgoing MIDI message making the project more flexible if I want to change controllers.

Even though your MES-8 does not send status back, since the MIDI you send it will be the only way to control it, you should be able to use a global variable to bitmap the current state of all of your loops. For 3 units times 8 loops that means a single global variable could use 24 bits of the 32 bits available to track the state of each loop.

Now if you just want to bypass all loops prior to enabling and disabling another one you could always send a series of raw MIDI messages in one translator, or use a timer to send them with an incoming trigger such as Perform “clearall”.

For using perform to turn on and off a loop I would suggest using something like this:

Perform “Loop”, oo,pp, qq
Where 'oo is the MES-8 unit (which can be mapped to a MIDI channel number), pp is the loop number of that unit, and qq is either 1 for on or 0 for off.

You could set up rules in the perform action to determine from there what MIDI message to send. For instance if you want to send to unit 0 the first looper and turn it on your output might be something like b0 00 01 (CC 0 on midi channel 1 value 1).

You could also use another translator to send MIDI feedback to your APC-MINI MK2 using the same perform action and in rules update the bitmap.

If you don’t use a bitmap then you simply put Perform “clearall” in the rules and the set a slight delay with the loop that you want to turn on as MIDI in the outgoing message. That way, every time you send a Perform “clearall”, you know all of the loops are in bypass ( a known state).

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

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Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz

[jon-3820]

Steve, Thanks for the comprehensive answer. That’s most useful. Time to dive in headfirst. I’ll try using ‘perform’ first and see if there are any performance issues.

Regards, Jon

Regards, Jon

[jon-3820]

Steve, I just setup the BomeBox. I’m connecting with WIFI on its own network. I can log into it. However, Bome Midi translator Pro isn’t logging any incoming information from the Akai APC mini Mk2 I have connected via USB. The light on the front of the BomeBox indicates activity when I press a button. For the record, I have a project defined and it’s active, all midi inputs are active. The event monitor shows nothing either. I have a translator defined and active, looking for a note on. It’s listing the devices.

It’s probably something simple. Can you enlighten me?

Thanks Jon

[SteveC (Steve)]

Hi Jon,

On your computer open Bome Network and then click on your BomeBox . Mine is called ‘FOH’. Don’t click on the globe. Click on the BomeBox name.

You should then see something similar to this:

Check the switches for the ports that you want to remotely access as shown below:

Then the port names will show up similar to this.

You should then be able to access the ports remotely. This is called Remoted Direct MIDI.

[jon-3820]

Hi Steve, Thanks for your help. I didn’t realise separate software was needed to initiate the device when connect on WIFI.

Ive got the device inputting only. Ive set up a simple translator to convert ‘note on’ to CC. However, the input is passing straight through unconverted.

Ive added a log message, and this is also not executing. What are your thoughts?

Regards, Jon

[SteveC (Steve)]

Hi,
First of all in your log, it show that you are using note 38 hex which is really 56 decimal. MIDI IN and MIDI out always shows the data as hexadecimal.

If you check both MIDI IN and Incoming and see MIDI IN data but no incoming message (which is easier to read) then it means the translator did not trigger.

In capture MIDI unselect raw capture and you will see it in a more human readable format. You click on the gear icon and the click to uncheck raw capture as shown in the picture below.

Then you click on the desired incoming message to select it. After selecting it you edit the incoming message as you like (ie any channel any velocity).

In this case I created a note-off translator as well so that if the velocity is 0 the second translator will pass a CC value of 0.

In hexadecimal format if the first number starts with a 9 is a note. If it has a velocity of zero or starts with an 8 then it is a note off.

The second digit of the first number is the MIDI CH where 0=MIDI CH1 and F is MIDI CH 16

The second number is the note number in hex.

The third number is the velocity in hex

90 24 12 - Is note-on note 36 velocity 18
90 24 00 - Is note-off note 36 velocity 0
80 24 12 - Is note-off note 36 velocity 18

For CC if the the first number starts with a B , it is a control change message. Again the second digit of the first number is the midi channel. The second number is the cc# in hex and the third number is the CC value in hex

B0 10 7f - CC on MIDI CH 1 CC#16 value 127

For MIDI message that you want to go straight through that are not “caught” by a translator, add a MIDI path.

Make sure you check ‘swallow’ on any transator that you don’t also want to go through the MIDI thru path.

I set up my aliases follows:

You can learn more about aliases from this tutorial.

I set up my desired device ports at the preset level.

Loop-switcher-example.bmtp (2.0 KB)

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

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Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz

[jon-3820]

Hi Steve,

Ive made great progress with BomeBox and seem to have everything working using translators. I’ve started making the code more efficient and easier to maintain by not having to have specific Midi hex messages for each setup I require. Its a lot of midi to maintain and difficult to read. Ive also noticed that the midi seems to output to fast for the switcher, which doesn’t switch some switches when the BoneBox sends a large chunk of midi. I haven’t addressed this problem yet.

I’ve written this code to overcome the complexity issue, so I just have to change variables (g1-8, h1-8) in the translator header to create a new setup. However , when I pass the variable to the perform function with a midi message-Raw Midi outgoing function, the midi is not transmitted. The variables are set correctly and are valid in the translator. I know this through a LOG rule. Code is as follows:

// g0 to g8 are switch preset variables for channel 10 SW1
// h1 to h8 are switch preset variables for channel 11 SW 2
// lc counter 0-7
// lv passing variable for cc value
// sw 1-8
// mc channel 10 or 11
// zc Button color
// zb Button Number

g0=0
g1=1
g2=0
g3=1
g4=0
g5=1
g6=0
g7=1
g8=0
h1=0
h2=0
h3=0
h4=0
h5=0
h6=0
h7=0
h8=0

Label ‘Begin’
sw=1
lc=0
mc=10
zb=1

Label ‘Loop’
lc=lc+1
Log ‘In Loop. lc is %lc%’

if g1==1 then lv=1
else lv=127
if g1==1 then zc=4
else zc=2
zb=lc+48
Perform ‘Set Switcher All Test’, mc, sw, lv, zb, zc

if g2==1 then lv=1
else lv=127
if g2==1 then zc=4
else zc=2
zb=lc+48
Perform ‘Set Switcher All Test’, mc, sw, lv, zb, zc

if g3==1 then lv=1
else lv=127
if g3==1 then zc=4
else zc=2
zb=lc+48
Perform ‘Set Switcher All Test’, mc, sw, lv, zb, zc
if g4==1 then lv=1
else lv=127
if g4==1 then zc=4
else zc=2
zb=lc+48
Perform ‘Set Switcher All Test’, mc, sw, lv, zb, zc

// Midi Channel, Sw No, cc value (on/Off), Button Number, Button Color

sw=sw+1
Log ‘lc is %lc%’
if lc<=7 then Goto ‘Loop’
else Goto ‘Second Pass’

Label ‘Second Pass’
lc=0
mc=mc+1
sw=1
if mc!=12 then Goto ‘Loop’
else Goto ‘Exit’
Label ‘Exit’

This is the translator called with perform above. The outgoing section doesn’t work. Please advise.

Regards, Jon

[SteveC (Steve)]

I have a few comments.

I suggest you use local variables for calling perform functions instead of global variables. There is less chance of other translators within your project overwriting their values. It is possible that another translator in your project is asyncronusly overwriting one of the global variables you are using. Using local perform parameters is one of the main benefits on using perform.

The local variables are oo,pp,qq,rr,ss,tt,uu,vv,ww and xx (10 of them).

Then looking at what the perform function “Set Switcher All Test” is doing might also help.

Of course if the variables need to be static and shared between translators (other than Perform Call) then they should be global but care must be taken to only write them from a single translator or to ensure concurrent writes to global variables are not being attempted.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Customer Care

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Also available for paid consulting services: bome@sniz.biz