Question for tech, @DavidPackouz, or anyone else who knows how the MIDI out stream on the BB works. The MIDI manual says this about the BB MIDI Out stream:
Enable:Beat Buddy sends out the MIDI notes that it is currently playing.This can trigger sounds in another device such as your computer or another synthesizer.
What if the MIDI file includes a note that is not part of the drum kit? Does the BB still either “play” the note or at least pass it on through MIDI? I have a Chauvet Obey 40 that changes scenes based on notes-in, and I’d love to automate the show. I can, for the most part, do what I want to do using the other MIDI OUT commands (with a whole lot of programming of my MIDI Solutions Event Processor), but some songs will require something more specific.
So, does BB pass ALL notes, whether it has a corresponding instrument note or not?
Thanks!
Joe
Follow-up: Could I block all notes above a certain range? I can set all of my scenes to notes below the drum range, but I’d have to block notes 36 through 127, and I don’t know if I can do that.
It sends a all of the notes from to 127 irrespective of whether that note is in the kit or not. The BB does not have a filter to block
ranges of notes.
What you are looking for is called a “key range filter.” I could not find a hardware solution for this, but software does exist. You would need to run the BB into DAW that supports the key range filter, and then out from the DAW into your Chauvet, which kinda defeats the purpose. If you were going to that, you could just have a separate track in the DAW for the Chauvet,
I believe you are correct, Phil. But it just so happens I own a MIDI Solutions Event Processor to which I can add an event filter. It’s just not clear whether I am filtering “for” or “against” the notes. That is, I want the EP to pass only notes below #34, so do I filter (against) #34 - #127, or do I filter (for) #0 - #33. That’s not a question for this forum, I suppose, but if you happen to know the answer, I’d appreciate it!
I think it’s against 34 to 127. That should allow only 0 to 33 to pass through.
That’s how I interpreted it as well, and so that’s what I used as the basis to define the filter. My hope is I can add a single note to the cymbal crash at the end of each BB fill to trigger a light change. That should cover about 90% of my situations, and would be a really cost-effective (in terms of time and effort) way to introduce simple lighting controls.
I’m going to try to test this tonight. I’ll let you know how it works out.
After much much weeping and gnashing of teeth, I think I have it sorted. All it took was for me to assume everything in my MIDI chain was doing the absolute dumbest thing possible (for example, the Beat Buddy plays all notes in a file, regardless of channel, but does’t strip channel information from the notes he passes via MIDI – which I should have known from the start), et voila! I have a drummer who knows how to run my lighting rig.
He’s a smart little gaffer (do you see what I did there? 
)
For anyone foolish enough to try this, you need to do three things:
- Assign and stick to a channel for all (and only) lighting notes (assuming you’re using a Chauvet, which plays scenes based on Note-On data)
- Filter all MIDI info (at least, all Note-Ons) on all channels that aren’t part of your lighting scenes. Beat Buddy drum notes start at 34, Chauvet starts at 0, so that wasn’t so hard.
- Filter all Note-Offs on all channels, period.
Now, I have no idea why the Chauvet cared about Note-Offs on other channels, and it may have been an optical illusion, but it didn’t all start to work properly until I eliminated everything from the Chauvet’s input that was not specifically something I wanted it to respond to. At any rate, it worked.
I used a MIDI Solutions Event Processor Plus for all of this. And I can still override the lighting commands with a MIDI pedal.
That was fun. Wonder what I can screw with next…?
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New MIDI issue: The BB does not seem to pass CC102 (Next Part) information on MIDI unless it is in MIDI OUT mode. It SHOULD pass this info when it is in MERGE mode but it appears it does not. Any thoughts on this @BeatBuddy_Support?
What’s a MIDI START command?
I will need to look into this issue. I have forwarded this on to our programmer who will investigate it.
The MIDI Start command tells the slave unit to start playing.
Thanks – let me know what you find out. Meanwhile, what I meant was, is there a CC or PC or some other command associated with START?
Ah, I misunderstood what you were asking. Start command is actually not a CC command. It’s a ‘sys-ex real time’ MIDI command.
Any news on this @BeatBuddy_Support?
Have you tried beating an answer out of them? (In the spirit of BB being something that beats drums…).
Haha nope, we did not try that.
Okay, it’s 11 days and counting, and I REALLY need an answer – and preferably a solution – here, as I am about to pick up a small MIDI pedal, and I need to know what my options are. If CC102 (Next Part) doesn’t work in MERGE Mode it substantially cuts down my options, and actually prevents me from doing what I really need to do – control both my lights and my Beat Buddy – because I won’t be able to place the footswitch before the BB.
If that’s the way it is, that’s fine – not great, but fine. But I’m gonna be really ticked off if you say that’s the way it is and I buy the more expensive pedal (my only option for placement after the BB) and then you fix it (i.e., I could have saved a few bucks on the pedal).
So I NEED (!!) a definitive answer: Will CC102 (Next Part) not working in MIDI MERGE mode be fixed or not?
Thanks!
If it is an issue that can be repaired, yes it will definitely be fixed, 100%. However if what you are really asking about is the timeline of this fix, unfortunately I cannot give an accurate answer regarding that. I am not directly involved in the analysis and fixing of bugs (or any of the programming). The MIDI Merge issue has been passed on to the programmer as mentioned.
I will follow up today to see if there is an update from the programmer. Once I get an update, I will post it here.
I appreciate it. You should also be aware that someone else posted about this very thing over a year ago. I found the post this weekend, but I’ve lost track of it. If I can find it, I’ll tag you.