Wahoo and Midi In Pedalboard Environment

[benevan]

I would like to use my Wahoo as part of a whole pedalboard setup, integrating midi control over the several separate effects units.

I have read through the product manuals of the Wahoo and other midi effects units I have and I think what I want to do is possible, but I have no prior experience with midi so I am not sure how it could be accomplished. Also, I assume that I would need to purchase additional equipment as the Wahoo only has midi through USB and other effects units I have use 5-pin midi.

1) Use the Wahoo footpedal as an expression pedal for an Eventide Pitchfactor or H9. The Wahoo manual indicates that expression control can be sent over midi. The Eventide factor/9 pedals can receive midi messages over 5-pin midi, so I assume that this could be accomplished?
2) Use the Tech21 Midi Mouse (or other similar device) send Program Change message over 5-pin midi to the Wahoo.

I may also add a Voluum to the pedalboard system, with similar integration in mind – primarily PC messages. The overall intent is to sync all effects – with one program change, I can set all effects as necessary rather than tap dance to change several effects for one desired tone. This also incorporates the expression pedal from the Wahoo (or possibly Voluum in the future), eliminating the need for a separate expression pedal.

[james]

All this can be done.

You are correct that you need something else to hook up the Wahoo with 5-pin MIDI. This one from Kenton in the UK works well, but there are also other alternatives available. http://www.kentonuk.com/products/items/ ... host.shtml

[benevan]

I found the Ghost Converter from Disater Area which appears to have similar functionality to the Kenton? It has 9 VDC power which is much more compatible with standard pedalboard power supplies compared to the 5 VDC for the Kenton.

http://www.disasterareaamps.com/shop/ghost-converter

Too bad I will have to spend an additional 130 to 150 USD just to have 5-pin midi connection, while it appears to be a standard feature on the Voluum. You may want to consider a design revision for the Wahoo to include the same connection functionality as the Voluum. I can´t imagine the component costs to include 5-pin midi jacks on the circuit is an additional 150 USD - it is most likely closer to 1.50 USD.

[james]

The gHOST converter should work.

The Wahoo doesn't have MIDI because there wasn't the resources on the digital side to include it. The Wahoo requires more analogue control so there wasn't anything left to drive MIDI. Whereas the Voluum had capacity to include this. It was also hard to fit in MIDI connectors to the Wahoo because there is so much analogue circuitry on it, compared to the Voluum.

[ThePiecan]

I think it would have been sweet to put a midi clock usb out on the Voluum, so folk could daisy chain the midi clock to the Wahoo. it would have also encouraged sales of both units. why make sales for Kenton...knock up a little box and encourage sales of your units. £100 for Kenton host is quite a bit just to get clock from Voluum to Wahoo! this has been my biggest disappointment with the Wahoo, which has meant purchase of usb noise attenuators/ buffers etc. etc

[benevan]

I finally picked up the gHost inverter, connected everything up and nothing happens. I am sure that there is something wrong with the settings, and it could be with the Eventide, but I thought I would post here to make sure I have everything set up correctly with the Wahoo.

Chain is Wahoo USB -> gHost USB Host -> Pitchfactor MIDI Input

The Wahoo manual indicates that expression is always sent whenever the footpedal is moved. Midi channel 0. Are there any other settings that I need to make to the Wahoo?

I am a little concerned as the Pitchfactor has midi channels Omni and 1-16, not 0. Is Omni the same as 0?

[james]

Perhaps the Wahoo isn't sending MIDI.

MIDI channel numbering can be done in two ways: 0-15, or 1-16. The programmer-way to think is 0-15, the musician-way is 1-16, but these are the same thing (0 = 1; 15 = 16; etc). Sometimes mistakes are made and you say 0 when you mean 1, etc. The Wahoo manual should really say it outputs on MIDI channel 1, not 0 (i.e., using 1-16, no 0-15 numbering).

But you can change this on the latest Wahoo firmware using the desktop editor. You can turn it off, or set it to send on any channel (1-16). So check this isn't set to "off".

"omni" means a device receives on any channel. You don't send omni (that would mean sending 16 times, once per channel). Setting the pitch-factor to receive omni means you don't have to worry which channel the Wahoo is sending on.

[benevan]

Thanks for the reply. Got the new firmware and set to channel 1. Expression over midi is not working, but I suspect it has to do with the setup on the Eventide so I am trying to figure that out.

Do you have any experience or other references with expression over midi using other devices? Some examples would be helpful, even if only for troubleshooting.

I am able to send PC messages from the Eventide to the Wahoo via the gHost converter, so that is a good sign.

[james]

Do you have a Windows PC, or a Mac? It can be very useful to use a MIDI monitor program to see what MIDI is being sent. You can also use this to send particular MIDI messages to MIDI gear to test various functions.

For Windows: http://www.midiox.com/

For Mac: http://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/

I suggest using this to see what the Wahoo is sending, and help debug what's going on.

[benevan]

OK thanks for the reference. I actually set the Wahoo to send PC messages to the Pitchfactor and that works fine, so I now know that my signal chain is correct.

I checked with Eventide regarding the setup and they mention that in addition to setting the correct MIDI channel, I also need to set the appropriate MIDI CC number. I checked the Wahoo manual and the MIDI CC number is not mentioned. Can you please advise the Midi CC number that should be used?