Re: ANYONE KNOW THE MIDI PEDAL SCHEME FOR THE ECHOPLEX?

[Kim Flint <kflint@annihilist.com>]

At 6:02 PM -0500 1/19/98, ENAT21213 wrote:
>Does any one know what the midi pedal scheme is for the echoplex?My jamman
>goes somthing like this,1=tap,2 and 3=bypass,4 and 
>5=replace,6=overdub,7and
>8=mute,9,10and11=fade,12=loop#one,13=loop#two,14=loop#three,15=loop#four,
>16loop#five,17=loop#six,18=loop#seven,19=loop#eight.Is the echoplex midi 
>pedal
>scheme anything like this?

It's not really like that, no. For one thing, it doesn't use program change
messages for executing functions. (we expect to use program change in
future versions for its intended purpose of changing programs...<duck!>...)

The midi control in the echoplex is quite extensive, and it is all
explained on the Looper's Delight website. Go to the echoplex page:

http://www.annihilist.com/loop/tools/echoplex/echoplex.html

and check the link for the "Echoplex Footpedal Tutorial." That has more
info than you are likely to care about, including a whole section on midi
pedals. There is also a FAQ on the echoplex, and the entire manual is also
on the site.


>The pedalboard for the echoplex looks like you have to scroll(tap) to get 
>to a
>prefered loop?Say I have the nine seperate loops filled,Im on loop# two 
>and I
>need to get to loop# nine do I have to scroll(tap) up to the ninth loop?I
>would rather simply press one button per loop to get were I need to be.Im
>using a ADA MC1 midi pedal.

You can switch loops in the Echoplex in a variety of ways. The most basic
way is scrolling, as you've noted, where each tap of the NextLoop button
sends you to the next loop. With this one you have to listen to all of the
ones in between, which might not be desireable. There are several different
options which avoid that.

If you set the SwitchQuant parameter to "Confirm" the echoplex will wait
until you tell it to jump to the loop you want. So as you tap the NextLoop
button the display shows which loop you are setting up to jump to, but you
still hear the current loop. When you are at the one you want, you press
the Undo switch to confirm it, and jump right there. (you can also press
any function switch, so that you can jump to the new loop and immediately
start another function.) This method is very convenient from the standard
echoplex pedal.

If you set the SwitchQuant parameter to "Cycle" the echoplex will wait
until the end of the current cycle (quantizing) before switching loops.
During the wait period before the end of the cycle, each tap of the
NextLoop button increments the loop you are jumping to. So you tap the
button enough times for it to show the loop you want to go to, and as soon
as the cycle ends you jump right there. Again, if you press another
function key, the echoplex will start that function as soon as you switch.
This method is convenient for switching anywhere with the pedal, but also
essential when you have to keep all of your loops playing in steady time.

And last is switching with midi. Unlike the JamMan, the echoplex is more
like a sampler in this respect. It uses Midi Notes or Continuous Controller
messages for changing loops. If you have the velocity parameter turned on,
the Echoplex will use the velocity info in the note on message (or the
value of the controller) to set the volume of the loop you switch to. You
jump directly to the loop you want by pressing it's associated
Note/controller number. (you can set which notes/controllers it uses for
the loops.)

The parameter called "SamplerStyle" sets exactly how it reacts to the midi
message. If it is set to "run" the echoplex jumps to the loop and keeps it
looping in the normal fashion. If SamplerStyle is set to "One" the echoplex
will trigger the loop from the beginning and play through one time and
stop. Sending repeated messages for the same loop will give you stuttering
or retriggering effects. And finally, if SamplerStyle is set to "Att" (for
attack) the echoplex will trigger the loop and play it as long as the note
is held down, which is like playing a sample from a keyboard controller.
Again you can do retriggering effects.

With the midi switching, the SwitchQuant parameter can also be on, and will
act as described above with the NextLoop button.

So as you can see, there are plenty of possibilites to cover just about any
sort of use. As far as whether your ADA pedal will work, that I don't know
since I'm not very familiar with that pedal. I suspect that Mr. T was not
very ambitious with that one and just designed it to control the MP-1,
which means it is probably a very limited pedal. There are a variety of
better pedals out there, some of which can be picked up used for very
little money. You might want to get something like a Digitech PMC-10, the
Butler Midigator (I think it'll work, not sure), Roland FC-200, or maybe
Rocktron AllAccess if you can afford it. The web site explains what to look
for in a pedal for the echoplex.

hope this helps,

kim

______________________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                   | Looper's Delight
kflint@annihilist.com       | http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html
http://www.annihilist.com/  | Loopers-Delight-request@annihilist.com