Creating/controlling layouts for use with MIDI footpedals and multiple banks

[thirdspace]

Hi all

 

Wondering if you can help? I am attempting to set up a Concert for use with a Behringer FCB1010 MIDI footpedal, with the intention of using MainStage as a Guitar Multi FX.

 

The Behringer has 10 switches and two foot pedals so I have created a Grouped Control to represent this. It is also capable of having up to 99 'banks', so these can potentially be mapped to different sets of controls etc in MainStage. The switches also need to operate in different ways per bank - so in one bank Switch 1 might be momentary, but in the next bank the same switch need to be an On/Off type. (The chip I have in the FC101 allows this btw in case you have one and it yours doesn't do this).

 

However, if I want the switches to do different things in MainStage for each bank, the only way I can map MainStage controls for each bank is to add a new Grouped control. Beyond about 4 this becomes visually overwhelming - imagine if I wanted to have say 20 banks where each bank enabled the 10 switches to do something unique to that bank - it would look ridiculous and not be a useful visual to support live performance!

 

SO what I'm hoping is that there is a cunning way to set it up so that each time you change Patch in MainStage, it calls up a new versions of the same Grouped Control, so that the visual display remains large and visually useful. MS doesn't have layers but if it did these might exist on different layers which come to the top when the Patch is recalled. So that's not a solution - but is the effect I'm after. Another non-solution would be if each Patch could have its own layout - which doesn't seem to be possible either. I know Smart Controls exist but you can't use your own Grouped Control as a template for Smart Controls afaik.

 

Any ideas/thoughts?

 

(Have attached an image of my Grouped Control so you can see where I'm starting with this)

[gacki]

I'm not 100% sure why you need the switches to operate differently per bank. Perhaps this could easier be accomplished with different assignment types on the patch level?

Can you give a more detailed example what you want/need to switches to do?

[thirdspace]

Thanks for the reply. The issue is caused because I wish to use plugins and have the sound they make continue while I then use other plugins. For example one bank on the footpedal is devoted to the Loopback plugin. Having set the loop going I would then want to go to another bank to control another plugin. If I set up a Patch in Mainstage for say the Loopback plugin, as soon as you switch to another bank the sound stops. So unless there is a an option to stop this happening I am obliged to add all these plugins at concert level so that the sounds persist as I move from one to another. If I add the plugins at concert level but then create a switching layout at Patch level, Mainstage won't let me map controls at Patch level. Hence I have ended up with a layout with multiple instances of the control layout shown above, which graphically is messy and not useful in a live context as I can't see the detail. Any suggestions welcome as I am probably missing something really basic here!

[ro-ja]

If I set up a Patch in Mainstage for say the Loopback plugin, as soon as you switch to another bank the sound stops.

 

Between Concert Level and Patch Level there's also the Set Level. Put the Loopback plugin in a set. Fill the set with patches. Now you can change patches and the Loopback keeps playing / recording.

[thirdspace]

Thanks - I hadn't considered using Sets - is there a functional difference? For example, is there an advantage to using a Set for the Loopback plugin as opposed to having it at Concert level in this case?

[ro-ja]

If you need the loopback(s) globally you can use it on the concert level. If you need specific loopbacks for different songs I would organize the songs in sets. This way you can have things that should be available for the whole song on the set level and things that you need only for certain parts on the patch level. I find it useful also that you can set the loopback to be cleared automatically when you switch to another set. So nothing gets carried over to another song accidentally.

[jwhitesides]

I second what ro-ja wrote.

 

Treat the concert level as your set. Treat your sets as your songs (this is where you would set up your loopback or other effects that need to stay during an entire song). Treat your song patches as parts to the song.

 

Seems to be a fundamental issue with how to name things when it comes to complicated setups.