Chase Bliss Pedals and the MC6

I'm having a hard time understanding what you're experiencing... but I just tested this and I believe it's working just fine. Do you want both pedals assigned to the same MC6 slot or different MC6 slots?

The only PC Scroll message that should have increment set to NO is the one that you intend to use to resend the current PC number.

Apologies if I'm misunderstanding, but if you can detail exactly what you'd like to do with what actions, I can try to build the presets and send your way!

Do the 8 slots mean the MC6 can only control 8 pedals, or just that only 8 can have PC scrolling?

It means you can only have 8 setup for PC Scrolling. Keep in mind though that you could assign more than one pedal to a PC Scroll Slot.

I'm not sure I understand what you've done in the "New Issue" paragraph. The "resend current" should have the full range of possible presets, and increment should be set to No.

How'd you get that CBA Y-Cable working with your MIDI Box? I just bought one from them and it's not working for me on my MIDI box, though my homemade Y cable is...

The first and second messages are for navigation, scrolling through presets I've already created. The third message simply resends the last PC and is only used to resave a modified Chase Bliss preset.

Regarding Increment / Decrement, you can assign a device to an MC6 "slot" which basically holds the PC numbers in memory.

It's useful to NOT increment / decrement if you have more than one device (on different MIDI channels) in a slot, and are sending two PC Scroll Up/Down messages. For example, if you had a Tonal Recall (Ch.2) and a Gravitas (Ch.3) assigned to MC6 slot 1, you would need two PC Scroll messages, one for each MIDI channel, however, if both messages were set to increment / decrement, the slot number would increase by 2 each time and would be off from the actual PC number that's being sent.

You can also display the currently selected preset in the preset name by typing %E0 (there are 8 slots, 0-7) so you can always see what preset number you're on.

There's actually a better way to re-save presets on Chase Bliss Audio pedals, and you can do it all on one preset (with an MC6 mkII)! You'll need to use the PC Scroll Up/Down types. Essentially you use the PC Scroll up / down to switch between presets and then use a PC Scroll Up / Down type where increment / decrement is set to NO. When the that message is sent, it simply resends the currently select PC message.

Hope that makes sense!

Preset A, Msg 1

Action: Release

Type: PC Scroll Up

Select Slot: 1

Increment: Yes

Channel: 1

Lower Limit: 0

Upper Limit: 127

Preset A, Msg 2

Action: Long Press

Type: PC Scroll Down

Select Slot: 1

Increment: Yes

Channel: 1

Lower Limit: 0

Upper Limit: 127

Preset A, Msg 3

Action: Double Tap

Type: PC Scroll Up

Select Slot: 1

Increment: NO

Channel: 1

Lower Limit: 0

Upper Limit: 127

Howdy folks! Been reading up on my new MC6, but MIDI newbie and lots of questions remain.

Q1: My plan is to have one bank that allows me to turn all pedals on/off and scroll their presets, based on this scrolling I’ll set up the other banks around song-specific needs. Is this reasonable? For context, I’ve got Brothers & Warped Vinyl from CBA, the Meris Enzo, Empress Echosystem, Source Audio Reflex, and Eventide Space, plus plan to add the Empress Zoia, and 1-2 more CBAs, and maybe Red Panda Tensor later.

Q2: How do I set the presets for the CBAs? My impression is that MC6 has to send current settings back to the pedal with a preset slot assignment via Program message, but I’m unclear on the actual procedure and all examples seem to reference established CBA presets. Also, any thoughts on how to not accidentally overwrite preexisting presets?

Q3: I’d been using a CBA Y-Cable with Faves and the two pedals before – is this no longer useful with a MC6/MIDIBox, or am I doing something else wrong? I currently have 1 midibox, but if I can't use the Y-cable then I'm already out of slots. In that case, is there any reason I'd go with something like a qConnect instead of just another midibox? The only reason I aware of is that it would accommodate a Tenor (if I choose it over a CBA Mood), but that seems like overkill.

In a comment from last year, anthonytaglianetti said this:

"In terms of navigation, I have a MC6 Bank that is essentially the "Table of Contents" or index that has presets that immediately call up a specific devices bank. All of my Device banks can return to the index bank by holding a switch to call the "Return to Last Bank" command."

Does anyone know how to set something like that up? I can't figure out how to navigate banks other than iterating through them, unless I hook up a separate MIDI controller.

Thanks!

Hey @njschneider2 i just got this pedal and this thread is really helpful. Since you’ve had This pedal for over a year now would you mind sharing your tips and tricks? I Am coming from a DMC4 as well and impact controllong an empress reverb, Echo System, chase bliss warped vinyl and gravitas. There are so many options with the MC6 and im just overwhelmed with the best way to set up the banks and presets. Thanks!

Thanks guys. This looks really helpful. I'll need to sneak away from the family over the next few days where possible and try your tips out. I'll let you know how I get on. In the meantime have a great Christmas and New Year.

Richard

Hi @stefan - to my knowledge, there is no equivalent mode on the MC6. So yeah, you'd have to know what preset you're on for each device and then assign a switch on the MC6 to change each pedal to the specific program number. So if you had three pedals (say a Warped Vinyl, Tonal Recall and Brothers) you use for a verse, you'd have to assign three messages to a footswitch called "Verse" and send a PC message to each device.

I submitted a request to replicate this feature on the MC6, so I'm hoping it's achievable!

Hi @njschneider2,

I am still struggling with finding an equivalent function of the "preset mode" of the Disaster Pedals. That is so cool to step through all devices find the correct sound and then just save this complete presets to one knob of the midi controller.

It seems so complicated to save the correct messages by hand to have all devices in the right preset.

Don't I have to know all numbers of all presets of all devices in my head or a list to program everything correctly?

Greets

Stefan

First you'll need to assign the Warped Vinyl (WV) and Tonal Recall (TR) to their own midi channel. To do this with Chase Bliss stuff, you hold down both footswitches on the Chase Bliss pedal and then insert power. The pedal will now be set to the Midi channel that sent the first program change message. So do this:

Setting up the Warped Vinyl

- Assign one switch (say, switch A) on the MC6 to be a PC scroll up message and set it to Channel 1. You could name this switch WrpdUp

- On the WV, hold both switches down and insert power. Now press switch A on the MC6. You may want to press it a couple of times. If done correctly, the WV is now set to Midi channel 1 and you'll see the middle LED on the WV switch from green to red to green to red (etc) as you press switch A

Setting up the Tonal Recall

- Repeat the process above, but set up a second switch on the MC6 (switch B) to send a PC scroll up message to Channel 2

- Hold both switches on the TR while inserting power, just like you did with the WV, and then press switch B on the MC6 a few times.

You should now have the WV and TR talking with the MC6 controller.

To set up Bypass/Engage on the Warped Vinyl

- Assign a CC toggle message to a switch on the MC6 (switch C). Call this switch WVBYP, and give it the full name #WVACT. That way when you press the CC toggle, the name on the MC6 will switch between WVBYP and WVACT each time you press it. This is helpful for seeing the state of the pedal from just the MC6.

- For the inactive state, send a value of 0 to CC#102. For the active state, send a value of 127 to CC#102. Assign this command to Midi channel 1.

To set up Bypass/Engage on the Tonal Recall

- Follow the same steps as above, but assign the CC toggle message to switch D and name it TRBYP with a fullname of #TRACT. Assign the CC toggle message to Midi channel 2. Each Chase Bliss pedal uses the same CC# for bypass/engage (#102). A value of 0 to CC#102 bypasses the pedal, and a value of 127 engages it.

Setting up Tap Tempo

- Set up a switch on the MC6 (say, switch E) and call it Tap. You will probably want to have all of your devices on the same tempo, so you will have two commands assigned to this switch. Name this switch Tap

- Send a Control Change message to channel 1. Send a value of 127 to CC#93. Send a second Control Change message to channel 2. Same value, same CC#.

- Now each time you press switch E on the MC6, it will simulate pressing the tap switch on the WV and TR.

- Some people prefer midi clock, so you would have to assign a Midi Clock Tap Tempo message to switch E instead. I think Midi Clock Tap Tempo is more accurate than simulating pressing the tap switch, but YMMV.

Just read through the midi manuals on the Chase Bliss pedals, (here's the Tonal Recall's, for example http://chaseblissaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CBA_TonalRecallMidiSheet-Web.pdf) as well as reading through the different midi types on the MC6: https://morningstar-engineering.gitbooks.io/mc6-midi-types/content/chapter1.html

The MC6 has a slightly bigger learning curve than more user friendly midi controllers, like Disaster Area stuff, but there is so much more potential with the MC6! Good luck and have fun.

Hi @richardjw89,

I am not sure if I can help you with all your questions since I am still figuring out some points, but maybe I am a step further...

First. Have you read the Midi manual for ChaseBliss pedals?

Have you assigned them to a midi channel?

What do you like to control with Morningstar? Presets of the CBA-pedals or parameters? For presets you will need Program-Change-messages (PC#).

Maybe I can help you with some more information, but first I need to know if this is what you were asking for.

Greets

Stefan

Please help. I'm completely new to MIDI. I have a Warped Vinyl and Tonal Recall and am trying to set them up with my new MC6. But I'm unable to do so! I've looked at the CBA video on hooking up with the Boss ES-8 and tried to replicate with the MC6, but without success. I thought I understood the basics re CC# etc. I'm doing something wrong! Can someone walk me through a v simple set up (or 2) e.g. engaging / bypassing pedals and tap tempo. Thank you, in anticipation.

Hey Stefan,

It's nice on the DMC's because the controller seems to memorize the current preset array, allowing you to simply hold a switch to save that array (i.e. presets for any number of the 6 pedals).

On the MC6 this feature doesn't exist. So, say you have three Chase Bliss pedals (Gravitas, Brothers and Tonal Recall) that you use for a verse. If you use preset 1 on the Gravitas, preset 4 on the Brothers and preset 3 on the Tonal Recall, then you have to assign three PC change messages to one of your MC6 footswitches. So you would send a PC# 1 to the Gravitas channel, PC# 4 to the Brothers channel and PC# 3 to the Tonal Recall channel.

You can call the switch on the MC6 that you programmed to do this "Verse", and when you step on that switch, it will send those three messages.

I'm going to send this as a feature request - the ability to save the current preset array to a switch.

Hi njschneider2, found this thread here while coming up to the forum with similar questions.

Like you did, I come from a DisasterArea controller (DMC-6) and so I am used to that "Device-" and "Preset-Modes".

I have purchased the MC6 because I now have 7 devices I want to (or better have to) control with a midi-controller. Since the DMC-6 is limited to 6 devices a change was needed.

Did you figured out a good way to set up the MC6 to have those songparts (Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge) like on the DIsasterArea?

Thanks.

Stefan

That's still cool though. My MC6 is supposed to arrive Monday, so I'll try getting everything set up and give you a break for the time being :) Thanks for all of your help!

You can toggle two values with the CC toggle command, back and forth. You can only scroll program change messages a text the moment. Scrolling or stepping through CC could be a good feature request though.

F*in rad! Thanks for checking! So can you set it to toggle through two values, back and forth? Or could you have the switch scroll through all 6 possible CC commands for the note division switch?

I just checked, it works by toggling the CC for tap divisions. You can get some pretty cool pitch shifting :)

That's a great idea about switching the CC Value for the time parameter as an alternative.