Almost ready to give up!

swquantum · February 11, 2022, 12:20am

I’ve had the MC8 for over a year and I still can’t seem to get it to work with my Strymon pedals in the manner which I was envisioning at the outset. All I want to be able to do is create a series of patches that pull up various presets from the Strymon pedals for different songs.

I’d love to be able to connect with an MC8 professional and get tutored properly. I’d be willing to pay advisory fee if necessary. If I can’t get help, I’ll end up selling the MC8 and looking forward another way to do what I’m envisioning.

As the Beatles would say, help, I need someone!

james · February 11, 2022, 5:04am

To create presets on the MC8 to call up presets on the Strymon devices, you just need to send PC messages out.

Have you:

Set up each Strymon device to an independent MIDI channel? Also, MIDI PA on the Timeline/Bigsky/Mobius needs to be turned on so that they will respond to MIDI PC messages
We’ve got some notes here: https://morningstarengineering.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/MMS/pages/929726465/Strymon
Checked the wire connection? MIDI Out from the MC8 DIN port to the MIDI IN of the Strymon. If you are chaining the Strymon devices, MIDI Thru on the strymon needs to be turned on too.
Checked the MIDI Monitor to see if the MIDI messages are being sent as per how you programmed it when you engage the preset?

swquantum · February 11, 2022, 2:01pm

I’ll check each of these items.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I’d really love to use the MC8 if I can figure it all out. So far, it’s been a nightmare

swquantum · February 11, 2022, 7:59pm

So it looks like I’m doing everything correctly, but the Volante is changing to the correct preset.

Please advise…

swquantum · February 11, 2022, 8:05pm

I’ve got the Volante set up correctly Channel 4 (Blue light).

winkj · February 11, 2022, 10:32pm

Hi, did you mean to say that it’s not changing correctly? The above makes it seem like everything is good.

You posted a screen shot of the omni ports… looking at the Volante, it seems it has regular midi ports. How are you connecting the MC8 to the Volante, cable wise?

swquantum · February 11, 2022, 11:27pm

not changing - my bad.

going from MC8 via stereo TRS to Volante, BigSky, Nightsky and Mobius. Trying to get Volante working first and then will do that other pedals.

winkj · February 11, 2022, 11:38pm

Looking at the Strymon here, there is no TRS midi in:
https://www.strymon.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/volante_rearpanel_detailslabels2-1-1024x650.jpg

And reading in the User Manual, it mentions TRS midi out (from the Volante), but no TRS input.

Have you tried a regular MIDI cable? Edit to add: Manual link I was using: http://www.strymon.net/manuals/Volante_UserManual_RevE.pdf. Don’t have any strymon devices, but in the manual, I miss any reference to using TRS for MIDI in

winkj · February 11, 2022, 11:54pm

Another note: there’s different standards for MIDI over TRS, and the MC8 can be configured to support those. See the user manual here:
https://morningstarengineering.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/MMS/pages/602734593/MC8+User+Manual+firmware+v3.8#Switchable-TRS-MIDI-Configuration

Assuming you’re running the latest firmware, you should have the following options:

I see you have currently selected “MIDI Out (Deprecated)”, potentially trying the other modes could get the Volante to communicate. Sorry I can’t help with actual testing

swquantum · February 11, 2022, 11:58pm

I was going to try the out MIDI Out options.

Volante has TRS MIDI Output capability (see screenshot below)

swquantum · February 12, 2022, 12:00am

The program change is showing up in the MIDI Monitor (see screenshot) but the Volante isn’t switching to the Preset - at least the lights are not changing on the unit to correspond with the present.

winkj · February 12, 2022, 12:02am

Well, if you want to send a change from the MC8 to the Volante, the Volante needs MIDI input, not Output

Something else to check: Based on this, you will need to turn off MIDI output mode on the Volante to receive over TRS:

james · February 12, 2022, 7:42am

Can you use the MIDI Out - Standard option instead of the deprecated one?

Also, can you post a picture of how you have it connected to the MC8?

I’d recommend setting up with the Timeline/Bigsky/Mobius first, because those have a LED screen so easier to confirm that you have the correct parameters set.

Set MIDI Channel
Set MIDI PA and MIDI CC to On

swquantum · February 13, 2022, 4:51pm

Thanks, I’ll give these suggestions are try.

I don’t have a picture, but imagine 4 stereo TRS cables going out of MC8 into the 4 Strymon pedals. That part is pretty straightforward.

swquantum · February 13, 2022, 5:48pm

I got Nightsky working properly.

Batting .250…

swquantum · February 14, 2022, 2:40pm

Quick update - after spending 3 hours trying to get the MC8 to work with the Strymon pedals (only the Nightsky was working with the TRS cables) I’m going to try chaining the Styromon pedals with the MC8 using Boss uni-directional MIDI cables. That solution worked for another user. Hoping it solves the problem here. Will let you know.
Appreciate the suggestions and support.