Control Display based on incoming MIDI?

Morningstar Gear MC6 Pro MIDI Controller
1

I know the chances of this being possible are very slim, but there have been so many updates that I may very well have missed something, so I figured I’d ask.

I have an RJM PBC 6/x and an MC6 on my board. The PBC is the main controller, and I use the MC6 to bank through PBC-programmed songs, and to navigate to different pages on the PBC.

Say I add a pedal to my setup that is fully MIDI enabled, but that does not have a screen. Is there a way to program the MC6 (or more likely, an MC6 Pro) to display a pre-programmed preset name for that pedal based on the incoming MIDI signal?

I know I could create a bank for every preset with the names entered (probably would need two - one for on, one for off), and send the MC6 signals to switch banks along with the preset changes, but that could get out of control very easily, so wondering if there’s a simpler way to accomplish this. Thanks for the help!

2

Yes, there are a few ways IIRC:

  • There is a sysex commands to set short, shift, and long name:
  • Use Preset Rename action(s) in a preset and trigger that via preset CC #21 from your other pedal. Perhaps use an off screen hold the actiosn … that update the name for an screen preset.
3

Hmmm, the sysex option is intriguing, and seems like it would be the best option if I could figure it out. I’m going to be controlling a Strymon Timeline mounted underneath my board with an RJM PBC 6/X. The PBC does support sysex programming, so it’s definitely possible. I just need to figure out how to use it to send actual text. If anyone knows of any good tutorials, feel free to send them my way!

Also looks like this gives me a real reason to upgrade my MC6 to an MC6 Pro, so I’ll have to start looking into that!

4

So you can have longer text that is changeable?

5

That would be the idea. I’ll do more research before I seriously think about purchasing, but ideally I would use sysex to change the preset name (specifically the long name I believe) remotely. I really only use one bank and page, so I don’t think I wouldn’t need to worry about stuff getting reset.

6

Just looked at the documentation for a few minutes, and I think this would actually be pretty simple! The PBC can send 16 hex number pairs per message, and I can use a macro to pair multiple messages together. Rolling with that, I’d basically have a macro for each Timeline preset, each containing 3 sysex messages:

  1. A start with all the required info/opcode info.
  2. The desired name in ascii code.
  3. An end, which would just be the checksum and end sysex code.

If it’s that easy, then really it will just be me taking the time to figure out all the names in ascii code and programming them in. Wouldn’t even be hard to change stuff in the future!