Hello there
I have just uploaded a video showing me being able to control the Roland FA - 08 synth engine, with my BCR 2000 midi controller. This uses a bcr2000 template editor which creates the sysex.
I have edited my bcr2000 so it powers off usb (plugged into the roland). Then two midi cables between the roland and bcr2000.
Here is the link. I will send people the template when i have nearly finished it or even a tutorial.
http://youtu.be/eye6TH_NQD0?list=UUgXPw ... W1b0n0FfHA
Cheers
External Midi Control of FA's synth engine
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graspieper
- Posts: 43
- Joined: 22:43, 14 July 2014
Re: External Midi Control of FA's synth engine
Please let us know if you can control the drawbars, that would be nice!
Re: External Midi Control of FA's synth engine
Which messages sends the BCR-2000? I have a free progamable ICON iController and want to simulate Drawbars with it. Buit I don´t know, which parameter I should program (Controller? SysEx?)
Nearly the same question:
viewtopic.php?f=55&t=49185
Candy
Nearly the same question:
viewtopic.php?f=55&t=49185
Candy
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BigBANGtheory
- Posts: 36
- Joined: 10:11, 5 December 2014
Re: External Midi Control of FA's synth engine
Thanks for the video, I for one would be very interested to see how you configured the BCR template editor to transmit the SysEx commands for the Roland FA 06/08. I am trying to decode the SysEx myself atm but am royally puzzled at how a portion of the bytes are derived.
Re: External Midi Control of FA's synth engine
me too. did anyone ever create a template to control more than the given CCs?
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Skijumptoes
- Posts: 681
- Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010
Re: External Midi Control of FA's synth engine
I'm interested in this also, i've not tried working on it yet but i was thinking this week i may give it a go - will post back!
Re: External Midi Control of FA's synth engine
I've always found Roland's SysEx command explanation to be a bit difficult to figure out, but I did pretty well figuring out how the "organization" (or lack thereof) in the manual is laid out.
I was able to send SysEx commands to turn the MFX on and off (for part 1) and with that information could do tons of other commands if I wanted.
I'm just entering a SysEx command into the software for a Roland A-800 Pro controller and using it to send those messages.
I also toyed with adjusting some MFX parameters.
On Roland's site there is a "template" of sorts for the Drawbars:
https://www.rolandus.com/support/knowle ... /210293723
"Here are the messages for all 9 Harmonic Bar settings. Remember, these will only affect the SuperNatural Tonewheel Organ Tone on Part 1. You would need different address values to access Parts 2-16.
16’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
5 1/3’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
8’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
4’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
2 2/3’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
2’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
1 3/5’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
1 1/3’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
1’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
XX=0-8
ZZ= Checksum"
My problem is I'm not mathematically inclined enough to do the Checksum. The A-800 software actually does it for you! I can drop that into a midi monitor and see the values.
FWIW, from the Parameter Address Map, if this helps anyone:
First box on p. 13 "system" refers to the parameters in the *System box immediately below.
"Temporary Tone Studio Set" refers to the *Studio Set section (duh, I know some are saying, but the organization is not readily obvious as you'll see in a moment).
"Temporary Tone Part 1" refers (of course) to the box immediately below (so see, those two boxes are kind of out of order).
In the *System box, System Master, EQ, , EFX, TFX, and Controller all point to sections on page 14 (I made labels like 14.1, 14.2 for the first and 2nd, etc. boxes on page 14).
BUT, the "System Common" (the first thing in the *System box) refers to the RH Column on p.13 (aptly names *System Common).
So when I wanted to turn the MFX off for Part 1, I had to use "Temporary Tone Part 1" whose address starts:
19 00 00 00
So the way this works is, if I want a PCM Synth tone that's in the box below *Studio Set* aptly named *PCM Synth Tone.
The "offset address" for a PCM Synth Tone's MFX is:
00 30 00
So what you do is "add" your Start and Offset addresses like so:
19 00 00 00
.. 00 30 00
and end up with:
19 00 30 00
Now the PCM Synth tone box MFX line refers to p. 24 where you find the MFX switch towards the bottom of the page.
It's offset address is:
00 33, so again you get:
19 00 00 00
.. 00 30 00
.. .. 00 33
so the address thus far is:
19 00 30 33
And that's it.
Now you just have to send a value of 0 "MFX off" or 1 "MFX on".
The addresses to turn the MFX on and off for each type of tone are:
SN-A:
19 02 00 1F
SN-S:
19 01 00 26 (actually I misread a column initially and not sure if this is the final correct number I got)
PCM Synth:
19 00 30 33
To set the MFX Type to "Thru", here are the commands for the same sound generators in order:
19 02 02 00 (value of 00)
19 01 02 00 (ditto)
19 00 02 00 (ditto)
In these last three you can see a bit of consistency:
19 = PART 1 (or really, I suppose it's 19 00 see below)
00, 01, 02 = PCM, SN-S and SN-A respectively
02 00 = MFX Type (Thru being one type)
In the MFX on/of situation though they're not as consistent because the PCM has a "30" where the others have 00 - probably because there are greater or fewer adjustable paramaters.
Me, I would have made the same thing the same basic number throughout and leave some empty if I had to (note there are plenty of "reserved" numbers in the manual, some of which may have become active with 2.0).
The one thing I don't clearly understand is how to do this for other parts - Part 2 begins:
19 20...
Is Part 3
19 30...
or
19 40..
And those darn hexadecimals come in.
And I'm not sure if I add the 01 or 02 for SN-S and SN-A sounds to the 2nd column (I would assume so).
But once I figured out how the tables were laid out, it greatly helped in creating the SysEx messages at least for Part 1.
It would be awesome if all one had to do was create messages for Part 1, then just add 20 in that 2nd position for part 2 because the rest of the command would be exactly the same.
Essentially though, these SysEx commands can be used to control anything there's a number for. You just have to figure out how to "build" the number for that command.
I was able to send SysEx commands to turn the MFX on and off (for part 1) and with that information could do tons of other commands if I wanted.
I'm just entering a SysEx command into the software for a Roland A-800 Pro controller and using it to send those messages.
I also toyed with adjusting some MFX parameters.
On Roland's site there is a "template" of sorts for the Drawbars:
https://www.rolandus.com/support/knowle ... /210293723
"Here are the messages for all 9 Harmonic Bar settings. Remember, these will only affect the SuperNatural Tonewheel Organ Tone on Part 1. You would need different address values to access Parts 2-16.
16’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
5 1/3’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
8’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
4’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
2 2/3’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
2’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
1 3/5’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
1 1/3’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
1’ Drawbar: F0 41 10 00 00 77 12 19 02 00 22 XX ZZ F7
XX=0-8
ZZ= Checksum"
My problem is I'm not mathematically inclined enough to do the Checksum. The A-800 software actually does it for you! I can drop that into a midi monitor and see the values.
FWIW, from the Parameter Address Map, if this helps anyone:
First box on p. 13 "system" refers to the parameters in the *System box immediately below.
"Temporary Tone Studio Set" refers to the *Studio Set section (duh, I know some are saying, but the organization is not readily obvious as you'll see in a moment).
"Temporary Tone Part 1" refers (of course) to the box immediately below (so see, those two boxes are kind of out of order).
In the *System box, System Master, EQ, , EFX, TFX, and Controller all point to sections on page 14 (I made labels like 14.1, 14.2 for the first and 2nd, etc. boxes on page 14).
BUT, the "System Common" (the first thing in the *System box) refers to the RH Column on p.13 (aptly names *System Common).
So when I wanted to turn the MFX off for Part 1, I had to use "Temporary Tone Part 1" whose address starts:
19 00 00 00
So the way this works is, if I want a PCM Synth tone that's in the box below *Studio Set* aptly named *PCM Synth Tone.
The "offset address" for a PCM Synth Tone's MFX is:
00 30 00
So what you do is "add" your Start and Offset addresses like so:
19 00 00 00
.. 00 30 00
and end up with:
19 00 30 00
Now the PCM Synth tone box MFX line refers to p. 24 where you find the MFX switch towards the bottom of the page.
It's offset address is:
00 33, so again you get:
19 00 00 00
.. 00 30 00
.. .. 00 33
so the address thus far is:
19 00 30 33
And that's it.
Now you just have to send a value of 0 "MFX off" or 1 "MFX on".
The addresses to turn the MFX on and off for each type of tone are:
SN-A:
19 02 00 1F
SN-S:
19 01 00 26 (actually I misread a column initially and not sure if this is the final correct number I got)
PCM Synth:
19 00 30 33
To set the MFX Type to "Thru", here are the commands for the same sound generators in order:
19 02 02 00 (value of 00)
19 01 02 00 (ditto)
19 00 02 00 (ditto)
In these last three you can see a bit of consistency:
19 = PART 1 (or really, I suppose it's 19 00 see below)
00, 01, 02 = PCM, SN-S and SN-A respectively
02 00 = MFX Type (Thru being one type)
In the MFX on/of situation though they're not as consistent because the PCM has a "30" where the others have 00 - probably because there are greater or fewer adjustable paramaters.
Me, I would have made the same thing the same basic number throughout and leave some empty if I had to (note there are plenty of "reserved" numbers in the manual, some of which may have become active with 2.0).
The one thing I don't clearly understand is how to do this for other parts - Part 2 begins:
19 20...
Is Part 3
19 30...
or
19 40..
And those darn hexadecimals come in.
And I'm not sure if I add the 01 or 02 for SN-S and SN-A sounds to the 2nd column (I would assume so).
But once I figured out how the tables were laid out, it greatly helped in creating the SysEx messages at least for Part 1.
It would be awesome if all one had to do was create messages for Part 1, then just add 20 in that 2nd position for part 2 because the rest of the command would be exactly the same.
Essentially though, these SysEx commands can be used to control anything there's a number for. You just have to figure out how to "build" the number for that command.