Re: PK-5 as MIDI controller for loop set up (was MidiMate vs Allaccess)

[Jeff Larson <Jeffrey.Larson@Sun.COM>]

Larry Cooperman wrote:

>
> Do you know anything about the Yamaha MPC-10?  Seems like it will send 
> 100 control changes.  That's a lot but I am suspicious.
> I downloaded the manual at Yamaha.  It seems like it's 3 categories of 
> control messages so probably 10 that are usable for the EDP.  I 
> called, no response yet.
>
Yes, I studied the MFC10.  It does some things better than Behringer
but overall I didn't like it.  I thought it had a very strange
programming model.

There are 10 switches that can be configured two different ways: to
select "program memories" or "function memories".  The memories
are like what most other pedals call a "preset" there are 100 of each.

A program memory can send a single program change command on any
channel including bank select. 

A function memory can send a single note, program, control, song
select, or realtime message on any channel.  The first 50 of
the 100 function memories can send up to 4 events of a single type.

When you configure a switch to send a function memory, the switch is
normally momentary, the max value is sent on press, the min on
release.  You can also configure them as toggle switches, but the
strange thing is that the max value is transmitted CONTINUOUSLY while
the switch is toggled on.  The devices you control don't care, but
this is really irritating if you're recording the MIDI stream in a
sequencer.

The switches can be configured in two modes, "normal" and "mix".  In
normal mode all ten switches send the same kind of memory, you switch
between program and function memories with a dedicated "Function"
switch.  In mix mode, the top row of 5 send function memories, the
bottom row of 5 send program memories. 

To address all 100 memories, you have to use a "10x" switch rather
than the more common bank up/down switches.  For example, to send
program memory 23 you would press 10x + 2 + 3.  This makes jumping
randomly among memories a little easier than scrolling with
bank up/down buttons.  But I prefer to organize the switches as banks
with related functions, switch to those banks and just stay
there without having to keep pressing 10x to get to the other
switches in the bank.

The built-in expression pedal uses a single global channel.

An unusual feature is a jack for wind controllers like the WX7
which saves having to lug around another converter box.

So, unlike the Behringer you can address all 16 MIDI channels, and
have momentary control change buttons on more than one channel.  But a
switch can send at most 4 messages of the same type, and the 10x
bank selection mechanism is annoying.

Jeff