Tap Tempo for Keeley Halo?

MIDI Control Others
1

I’d love to be able to control my Keeley Halo’s tempo via my MC6 Pro, but am not able to. I’ve followed the instructions in this Morningstar video (starting at ~3:00), but no luck.

And I’ve tried both the NO and NC settings. Also, the Halo accepts tap tempo after you hold down its Button A for 2 seconds. So just in case the Halo needs to be in that mode to receive a tap tempo via its TRS/EXP port, I’ve tried a 2-second push and then tapping tempo on my MC6 Pro. No luck. Here are my settings (which match those in the Morningstar video):

Halo Tap Tempo

The Halo manual does say:

“Plugging a mono cable into the expression jack will allow the use of an external switch for tap tempo control.” Whereas I’m using a TRS cable, so maybe that’s an issue?

There are some posts asking the question here and in Reddit’s r/guitarpedals. The answers are all that it seems like it should be possible. But no confirmations (that I could find) or guidance on how to get it working…

Has anyone been able to get this working?

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Hello Steve.
I can think of two causes, TRS-connection and workaround with hold-button.
I’ve used the HALO with a mono patch-cable & MXR Tap Button and it worked without any issues. In this case you also don’t need to do 1sec hold to activate the Tap function. Just tap the beat and the HALO was synced.

BR
Stefan.

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3

Hi Stefan – That’s it! I swapped my TRS patch cable for a TS cable, and tap tempo works just fine. (Per the Morningstar video, I’m using a TRS 3.5 mm male to 1/4" female to connect to the MC6 Pro’s 3.5 mm relay port, but then just a TS patch cable from that cable to my Halo.) Many thanks! – Steve

p.s.: I was misled by the “TRS” label on the Halo’s port. But as the Halo manual states (and which I didn’t absorb…), TRS is for an expression pedal, whereas it’s mono (TS) for tap tempo:

“When a TRS (stereo) expression pedal is inserted, the expression pedal defaults to controlling the LEVEL control of the delay. Note: Plug a mono Tap Tempo box into the TRS EXP. PEDAL jack to allow the control of the Tap Tempo & Infinite Hold.”

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4

Hello Steve and Stefan -

I also have the Keeley Halo on my board, controlled by the MC6 Pro. While it is true that controlling the Tap tempo from the expression pedal input requires a mono TS cable, I have connected a TRS cable from the external switch control (labeled “Tip = B / Ring = A”) to one of the relay ports. This does two things:

  1. The Expression pedal input is still open to connect an expression pedal.

  2. I can control virtually everything - including Tap Tempo - from my MC6 pro.

So I have one page on my MC6 Pro with the following presets:

A) Select A or B side on the Halo (selecting the other side also enables the Halo if bypassed)
B) Enable/Bypass the Halo (whichever side is selected)
C) Select next preset bank up on Halo
D) Latch (and then un-latch following a second tap) Infinite Hold on side A
E) Latch (and then un-latch following a second tap) Infinite Hold on side B
F) Navigate to another page to select a different pedal

I have a second page dedicated to Tap Tempo (for the entire board). The pedals with MIDI are obviously pretty simple, but this page includes the Halo, and sets it to the same tempo as all the MIDI pedals. It duplicates a number of functions, one for side A and one for side B. I imagine if I worked longer on it I could whittle it down to one set of functions that “know” which side is selected (from a preset toggle), but this took me long enough that I was happy to leave it with two sets of functions. It has the following presets:

A) Set BPM A - This navigates to a hierarchical set of pages that allows you to select a specific numerical BPM tempo (e.g. 132 BPM, or whatever…) and set all of your pedals to that tempo. Obviously, this sets the tempo for the Halo assuming side A is selected. When setting the tempo for the Halo, this activates a preset that automatically closes the A switch for 1020 ms (putting it into “Tap Tempo mode”), then uses the MC6 Pro Relay Switching message “Sync Clock 8 Taps.” Works like a charm…
B) Tap Tempo A - Used to tap in a tempo that is applied to all pedals including the Halo when side A is selected.
C) Tap Tempo B - Used to tap in a tempo that is applied to all pedals including the Halo when side B is selected.
D) Set BPM B - Identical to preset A, but used when side B is selected on the Halo.
E) HALO A - This is functionally equivalent to the physical Halo footswitch (switch is closed while depressed, and opens when released). So you can do whatever you may want with it, including hold it closed for one second prior to tapping in a tempo on preset B.
F) HALO B - Analogous to preset E.

Tapping in a tempo on presets B or C results in the MC6 Pro displaying the resulting BPM value just above the label displayed for preset C. So, if you want to ensure that all pedals are precisely set to the same tempo, you can navigate to that tempo via preset A or D, and everything will be as precise as possible.

I’m not sure how to go about sharing just a specific bank from my MC6 Pro definition file, but if you are interested and there is a way, I’d be happy to share the banks for the Halo and Tap Tempo. It did take some time to get everything working!

All the best,
Cliff

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Hi Cliff – Wow, thanks for all this info on your setup! I will take some time to walk through it and will certainly know if I have any questions!

Best, Steve

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Hello Cliff,

Very interesting post indeed. I also have the Halo and the MC6 Pro. Would love to see some screenshots or a more detailed description of exactly how you have programmed the MC6 Pro.

All the best,
Per

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Hi Cliff,

Amazing! I just got a Halo and have an MC6 PRO. I found this looking for the best ways to control the Halo.

I would be interested in getting the bank info. Could you share? Or at least screenshot all commands?

Thank you!

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First, please let me make a disclaimer: I have created some interesting and, I think, very useful set-ups on the MC6 Pro (including this one). However, I have not been doing this for a long time, and as soon as I find a way to make something work, I pretty much just go with it. I worked for many years developing software, and that perhaps has enabled me to create some unorthodox solutions, but there may very well be simpler and more direct ways to implement things of which I am unaware. If you see something that is unnecessarily complex and inefficient, please let me know! I would love to learn more.

That said, in reference to my earlier post (actually a reply posted a bit earlier in this thread), here is a link to a Zip file containing .json file back-ups of fourteen different banks:

  1. The main bank for controlling the Halo itself (MC6PRO_HALO_Bank 27_20241117), located in bank 27, as the name implies
  2. The main bank for setting the tempo for all pedals on the board (MC6PRO_TAP TEMPO_Bank 29_20241117)
  3. Two banks at the top level of a hierarchy to get to a specific BPM value (MC6PRO_Bank_30_BPM PAGE INDEX 1 and MC6PRO_Bank_31_BPM PAGE INDEX 2)
  4. Ten banks that provide presets to set an absolute tempo from 30 BPM through 229 BPM (of course, you can extend that if a wider range is needed). (MC6PRO_Bank_32_SET BPM _1 through MC6PRO_Bank_41_SET BPM _10)

I have included in the name of each bank back-up .json file the actual bank number in which the bank is loaded in my MC6 pro, because there are many instances of presets that use the “Engage Preset” message, and thus make a “hard-coded” reference to another bank in which that preset is located. I am unaware of any way to “re-map” bank references, so I think in order to utilize these bank back-ups “as-is,” they will need to be loaded into the same bank numbers. If you know a way around that, great! (And please teach me how!)

So, not to belabor the obvious, but for a quick test of this, I would do a complete back-up of your MC6 Pro, then load these banks into their corresponding original bank numbers. You will likely want to add presets somewhere in your hierarchy to jump to the Halo bank (bank 27, page 1) and also to the Tap Tempo bank (bank 29, page 1).

IMPORTANT NOTE: On the hardware level, you will need a stereo ⅛” male TRS to ¼” male TRS cable to connect the MC6 Pro Relay Port B to the “TIP = B / RING = A” jack on the side of the Halo. If you happen to have a Walrus Audio Julianna (or, I suspect, any other pedal with an external tap tempo jack - you will have to research that), you could connect another identical cable from Relay Port A to that pedal’s external tap tempo jack.

All the best,

Cliff

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Thanks a million. I can´t wait to try this out.

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You have saved me thank you!
I owe you

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Hello Cliff

Thanks so much for sharing your process and files.

I’m trying to utilize the banks/presets, but noticing the Halo is reacting in unexpected ways. The Halo is receiving relay info, but doing weird things, such as bypass or switching presets when using the Tap Tempo A present, etc.

Would you be willing to share some steps/logic to build 2 presets that accomplish these things with the Halo?:

  1. Switch that engages / bypasses side A
  2. Tap tempo for side A

Thanks!!!
chance