Re: oberheim echoplex used with midi foot switch

[James Reynolds <tritone@dsp.com>]

ed drake just sent me an email describing how the current software for the
digital music corp ground control (version 2.3 or 2.4) does not filter
redundant program change messages, and allows sending of continuous control
values 0 or 127, but still doesn't allow you to "hold" and "release" a 
button.  

the part about not filtering redundant messages is good news for someone
like me, who uses a max patch to convert a single program change message
into a midi note with a set duration.  for normal people, it seems to me
that the ground control would still not be useful for directly controlling
the echoplex.  each "button press" received by the echoplex must begin with
an "on" (note velocity or continuous controller value > 0) and end with an
"off" (velocity or controller value = 0).   even if you had set the GC to
send continuous controller values, you would have to use a pair of buttons
for each echoplex function.  you would have to hit the pair quickly in
sequence if you didn't want the echoplex to interpret it as a "long" button
press (eg, if the two record messages are sent too far apart you erase your
carefully crafted loop... unless you set RecordMode to "sus").  

kim's "echoplex footpedal tutorial" explains all this much more eloquently.
check it out:  
http://www.annihilist.com/loop/tools/echoplex/echopedals.html

james