Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

[TwilightOdyssey]

I have some setup questions involving my JV1080 and FC200.

The way I undserstand it, I can connect everything this way:

Alesis Q49 midi out > FC200 midi in > FC200 midi out/soft thru > JV1080 midi in > JV1080 midi thru > Dave Smith MOPHO midi in

Further, even though both pieces are made by Roland, they seem to use different definitions for the word 'bank'. If I am understanding this correctly, when I am in Patch Mode:User, the program numbers 1-128 correspond to Banks 1-12/Program Change 1-10 on the FC200. There is no further setup required.

When I get the FC200 out of storage this weekend, I will be able to test, but would like to know that my theories are correct before I start smashing my head into the wall.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

That looks correct.

How well everything will play together is a whole 'nother ball o' wax...

Good luck!

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

Ha, I know! The head-smashing is inevitable, I am afraid... going to be playing bass and synths for an upcoming project and want to get all of the kinks workd out NOW.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

Manual cracking time, I'm afraid.

As you already know, the JV and XP family of instruments organise their presets in an 8x8 matrix. The FC MIDI controllers work in tens.

You need to ignore the Bank/Preset numbering schemes and concentrate on the individual preset program numbers that they represent.

The Assign functions of the FC-200 should allow you to edit and store the patch/preset numbers that you desire WHERE you desire. You could, for instance, deliberately only use the 1 to 8 preset selecting pedals. Assign nothing to the 9 and 10.

Unfortunately, unless you operate this rig almost daily, the eight versus ten thing will always introduce a degree of mindf**k to proceedings. Easier by far to obtain a MIDI foot controller device with the same 8x8 matrix as the JV.



If the rig is for studio/recording/sequencing purposes, you could simply write your patch changes into the MIDI sequence data. With hardware sequencers, it used to be common practice to save the initial patch and continuous controller data for each part/track into the beginning of the overall sequence. i.e. In the bars when the count-in would be replaying.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

Thanks, definitley food for thought. I did indeed crack out the manuals and have sorted out copying patches into the basic order I need them, renaming them, doing tweaks so they work for their specific songs, etc. the menus are really stacked deep and it is SUPER annoying that you have to remember to disable the internal memory protect every time you power on the unit. But -- not only is it getting done, but I am reminded how good the 1080 sounds.

This is for rehearsals/gigs, so all I need is to cycle through patches in order: 1, 2, 3, etc. nothing fancy by any stretch. I just NEED to be able to do it with my feet as some songs have mutiple patches, and I will have a bass guitar in my hands as well...

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

Some Roland FC models have sockets to connect with additional latching footswitches. It should be possible to add two of these and then assign them to act as +1 and -1 patch selectors. With your JV Patches organised into the order that they will be required, this would simplify your "tap dancing" no end.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

You are correct, the FC200 has a plethora of connections. Besides the 12 switches and expression pedal, it can take something like 6 more switches and 2 more expression pedals. Seems a bit excessive to use the FC200 just as a pedal hub as the thing is HUGE, but it may be the most expedient way to get the job done.

When I get the FC200 out of storage I will know right away whether I have direct patch access, and that will determine the next step.

Thanks for the tip, though, it's something I hadn't considered.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

Couldn't you also assign bank up and bank down to controls 9 & 10?


Sent from my iPad using a bunch of electrons, copper, and probably some fiber optic cable

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

The FC200 has bank +/- switches already. My question is related to the correspondency between the FC200's bank/programme numbers and the JV1080s programme numbers.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

Ah. What I get for not researching gear. ;-)


Sent from my iPad using a bunch of electrons, copper, and probably some fiber optic cable

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

In the factory default settings, they do not (and cannot possibly) correspond directly.

The least aggravating option is to assign patch selecting numbers into the FC. (This is the data that the back-up battery preserves after powering down.) For onstage use, it would be necessary to consciously "waste" two of the FC's slots per bank. (They still have to have a valid value entered. 0 or 1 would be the easiest option.) In extremis, you could even mask over the 9 and 10 pedals.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

Update: got the FC200 out of storage, and not a moment too soon. Major storm looks like it's about to rip through here ...
After de-funking the unit (it appears to have never received its post-tour delousing after the last round of shows), I attached my 1 Spot to it ... MIDI cable ... atomic batteries to power .... turbines to speed .... Powered up the JV1080.



And it works. FLAWLESSLY. As I had guessed, in any Mode (Performance, Patch, Rhythm) the Programme Number corresponds directly to the FC200's Bank/Programme number when in Program Change mode. So, in Patch:User, if you want Programme 38, just press Bank 3/Switch 8; Programme 83, Bank 8/Switch 3.

What it CANNOT do is give Program Changes beyond 130, however, as the maximum number of banks is 12. This is only an issue if you are scrolling through Programmes on the expansion cards, though, as they go to 256 each. However, I am only using this to access about 20 User Programmes, so this is a non-issue for me (and I wonder if there isn't a workaround in SysEx Mode).

No head smahing required! (Yet)

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

I vaguely recall a MIDI Message instruction that grants access to the higher Bank/Preset number ranges. It will be somewhere in the back pages of the JV manual. It is possible that the FC-200 is unable to transmit this. Luckily, you shall not be requiring it this time.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Long shot: anyone familiar w mid 90s era Roland gear?

Yes, I think it's among the heiroglyphics in the back of the manual for the 1080. Am almost positive it can be done w the FC200 in SysEx mode, but am not sweating it just now. I will figure it out for completion's sake, though!