iRig BlueBoard, iRig Midi and Midi Designer

Question

Hi,

I would like to control my Axe-Fx II (changing the presets) with My iRig BlueBoard via my iPhone (5) and iRig Midi. The Midi Designer sees the BlueBoard and the iRig Midi fine. I can change presets by tapping the screen of the iPhone, but the Blueboard buttons don't work. I've tried the midi learn function, but it does not work. Is this a known issue, or might I be doing something wrong? Do you have any suggestions? The virtual knobs are set as "momentary" subtype, message type as "program change" and relationships as by default. Blueboard is set in program change mode.

Thanks,
Samuli Vaittinen

Comments

Hi Samuli, do the Blueboard buttons trigger the controls in MIDI Designer?

MD does not echo, so you'd need to have supercontrols that the Blueboard controls, which in turn control the MD buttons that send out the command you need.

Glad to help you get this sorted and looking forward to your response.

Thanks!

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Hi,

thanks for the reply. I tired this. I now have four button on my MidiDesigner pedalboard preset : A-D, which correspond to Blueboard and act as super controls to control sub controls btw 5-8, which send program change message to Axe-Fx. As I touch the screen, the buttons A-D do work. They control the sub buttons and change the presets. However, Blueboars does not work the way it should. I've tried to do the midi learn on each button A-D, but only C and D work. They turn the virtual buttons A and B on (as toggle switches). What happens on the Axe is that every button does the same: the presets scroll through preset 1, 3, 4 and 2 and the preset 2 stays on. This is strange. As I said, the button on screen work fine. I quess theres something wrong with the way the MD and BlueBoard interact.

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Let's figure this out.

If you open up More -> Log you can see what the incoming MIDI is. Can you cut and paste the log here? However, hit clear RIGHT before you capture the incoming MIDI.

Thanks!

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Hi,

this is what I get by pressing button A on Blueboard:


Message Out: Length=2: C0 1
Message Out: Length=2: C0 2
Message Out: Length=2: C0 3
Message Out: Length=2: C0 4
Message In: Length=2: C0 0

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When are those Message Out's being generated? In response to the Blueboard button press?

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Yes, immediately after I press the button in the Blueboard.

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Sorry, did we leave this hanging? Did you get this up and running? Those are program change messages, it seems. I'm going to do some tests now to figure out what's possible. Also: can you change the configuration of the Blueboiard?

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I'm almost positive it can send control changes, instead. That would be better.

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Hi, yes we did leave it hanging, but it's ok. And no, I've still not got it working.

You can change the configuration of the Blueboard to either "program change" (in which it is now) or "control change". But I'm trying to change presets on the AXE-FX, so I quess control changes won't do? Or am I wrong? Or should the "super controls" be control changes and "MD" buttons program change controls?

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So sorry about that... just noticed this yesterday, and randomly.

Yes, you need to use control change between the pedalboard and MIDI Designer, or at least it's the most normal thing to do. Then the subcontrols can be program changes. Their MIDI max value is their on value.

Let me know where you get stuck here and we'll pick it back up, and you can always send an email to support [at] mididesigner.com and we'll respond there, too.

Thanks for your patience and continued interest!

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Hi, tried this. It does not work too well either, because the Blueboard can act just as on/off toggle switch in control change mode. Yes, I can make it change the presets in the Axe-fx, but the switch stays on (on both Blueboard and MD) until I push it a second time, and then it goes off. That doesn't work for just changing presets. I quess I'd have to use the program change mode, but I still have the same old problem of it scrolling through the presets and always stopping at the same preset (which, by the way, is no preset #001 (as opposed to #002 last time)). Maybe there's something fundamental that I've done wrong with the programming?

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Give me a week, please. We have a Blueboard on order, and have (perhaps stupidly) promised to make a video in several places ;)

Sorry for the delay. I'll come back here and check it out.

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OK, that'll be great!

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Hi Savaitti, just ripped open the package to the Blueboard and started playing. On one level, it's an impressive piece of gear, but certain decisions (all of which are in the Companion App) are baffling. But anyway...

The Blueboard does not, at this time, have a momentary setting. This makes it a bit hard for us to work with, but anyway...

Regarding your question, you'll note that if you set the Blueboard to Program Change (set the channel to 1) and set up a KNOB to receive from it (a program change knob on channel 1), that'll spin just fine. Now you can have that knob be the supercontrol of any number of buttons (google button groups in midi designer). That's one way to go.

Another way to go is to just use the Blueboard and check it's "thru" option in MIDI Designer. This will send the program changes onward to your Axe-FX.

Does any of this help at all? We're still investigating possibilities, and talking to IK Multimedia to get some changes made (fingers crossed, but it might take a while if it's even possible)...

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Hi,

I've been busy, so I just had the time to try this a minute a go. The "thru" option works like a charm - no need for super control buttons. I quess I just missed the "thru" button in the first place. Thanks a lot!

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Our video on Blueboard and MD: