I don’t know if this is the best place to ask-if not, I apologize.
I’ve set up a couple of pedals now with the Morningstar editor and seeing as how I had no idea what I was doing, other than a weirdly worded manual I got some help with I’ve been doing okay.
I’d like to set the tap tempo on my Boss DD-500 up to a switch on my MC6mkii, and I’ve got it all working in the editor, and it’s doing it’s thing, but it’s wildly inaccurate. Is Press the best action to send? I’ve got it on toggle; so you know, on and off. but it’s not really tracking very well. CC messages obviously.
I’m sure this is a no-brainer if you’re a midi pro, but I’m a little confused.
I’ve got the DD200 but just use Midi Clock. Is there a reason you’re using CC’s instead?
In the Boss’ settings there is “Sync” which may say something like internal or auto and you want that set that to respond to Midi Clock. Also to note, there is a master setting called “Tempo Hold” which you may need to change too. This keeps the current tempo when you switch to a new patch (I think if off, the tempo will change to whatever it was set when the patch was saved)
On the Morningstar it’s as simple as setting up a blank preset with a single Press action set to Midi Clock Tap. (there’s a setting on the Morningstar for Midi Clock persist but tbh I didn’t notice a difference in my set up so I left it off) Any pedals in your chain that are set to Midi Clock will follow whenever you tap the Morningstar.
Just the one midi clock tap message in the editor, right? And just a press action? And then on the Boss there’s a Synch control. I’ve set it to EXT (Midi). The other options were: auto, INT, or EXT (USB) which of course I’m not using. Set up like this with no CC message, it doesn’t do anything.
Hey there-sorry for the late response, I’ve been working day and night the last few days, sessions, live audio, etc.
So-
When I set it up exactly as you have in the screenshot, nothing happens. I can confirm that the DD-500 is receiving CC messages, as I mapped a delay max feedback to max value control in bank one, switch A on the MC6. And it works fine, and did so on the first try.
James suggested just sending a single CC message, with the tap tempo control # (#82) and max value of 127. That too doesn’t seem to do anything at all.
I’m pretty confused.
But we know the DD-500 does in fact receive CC commands.
DD-500 sync options in the MIDI menu are as follows: EXT(MIDI), AUTO, EXT(USB), INTERNAL.
I think I’ve tried each, just for thoroughness’ sake, but it seems obvious that EXT(MIDI) would be the correct option, right?
Hi, the DD should take the clock if sync is set to EXT. Do you have any devices between the MC and the DD in your MIDI chain? Can you confirm that the MC is actually sending clock information?
If you want to use cc to control the tap tempo you’ll have to send a 0 and 127 for every button press. I got the best results when I paired 0 with a press and 127 with a release action. For “normal” tempos between 80 and 140 it works ok. It’s usually off by 2 to 4 bpm compared to the bpm displayed on my MC.
I did not; I had sessions most of the week and so I haven’t gotten back to messing around with it. Just using the tap tempo on the DD-500 itself for now.
I’m going to sit down with it and try again tomorrow as I’ve got some time. It’s pretty frustrating.
I’m sure it’s user error, but honestly-I think I’m understanding everything pretty well; and it seems the Boss is very straightforward although I’ve heard others complain about it being difficult to navigate. I don’t really think so, but then I am an audio engineer as well as a guitarist, so maybe I’m just used to dealing with a certain level of programming even though I’ve avoided MIDI to this point.
I appreciate you trying to help! It just seems like if I’ve got SYNC set correctly then it should work. I dunno.
Yeah you may want to reach out to Boss. Having the SYNC setting correct and a simple Press message Tap is all I did on my DD200. Let me know if you get it working!
I know it’s getting to the Boss…but the tempo is not what I’m tapping in. I can tap as fast as is humanly possible, and the tempo will jump around in the 300-400 ms range. So the command is getting there, but it’s not accurate at all. Disconnecting from the editor while testing.
I can also get the same result with CC messages. I know that CC messages get to the Boss, because I previously mapped the feedback to 100% on button A bank 1 with a press CC command.
Just a guess, but some algorithms on the DD have quite short delay time limits. For example the Analog Delay caps at 300ms. So regardless what you tap in the delay time won’t take on a longer value. If you set a small subsivision it will always end up at 300ms
Just a thought, but this sounds like a bug in an old firmware at one point. I had this issue a while back with using an AUX switch for tap. Are you up to date?
@Meck72
Were you ever able to get this figured out? I’ve been experiencing a similar frustration myself. (I realize this is an old thread, but I’m brand new to MIDI and this seems to be the best place to reach out to others.)
