Firmware bug in GCPro?

[effitall]

Not sure if this is news or not...But here goes.

I've got a Digital Music branded GCPro running firmware v1.11. For the MIDI devices that I have, I need to configure the device "starts at" on the GCPro to 00. This works great. I'm using 4 preset/bank on the GCP and when I hit number 1 in bank 1, I get "1" on all the MIDI devices. Bank 3 preset 3, gives me 11 on all my devices. This is what I would expect.

Now...When I'm creating patches on the GCP, I hit edit, then select my first device and say I want patch 24...I press 2,4, and I get 25. This is true for all the devices. Seems like the offset that's programmed in the GCP during the setup of devices, is ignored when editing patches. For now I've been just punching in one less than what I want and fortunately, none of the sounds I want are in preset 1 on my devices.

Not sure if there's a later version of code for the GCP that fixes this or not. I picked mine up second hand, performed a reset on it and have been learning my way around it. It really is a powerful piece of kit. The only thing I'm missing now is a MIDI mixer (which I'm working on).

Thanks!

[JohnClark]

I've not been able to repeat this problem here, however it may be worth noting that the presets are fully programmable and you can simply go into any preset that isn't sending the Program Change you want and assign the correct Program Change. Complete instructions are found in the Assigning MIDI Program Changes section of the Ground Control Pro manual under Edit Preset.

I hope this helps!

[effitall]

Hey John,

Thanks for the reply! I agree...I can tell the GCP to send out whatever program change I want within a GCP preset. The problem is...When I tell the GCP Preset to select patch 24 on device 1, device 1 jumps to patch 25.

When I'm not using a GCP Preset...And I'm just selecting bank/patch, the GCP is sending the proper change numbers because I configured the "Starts at" for each device. For instance...If I select bank 1 and press button 4 (4 presets per bank mode), all the devices go to preset number 4.

For whatever reason...The GCP (when configuring presets) is ignoring the "starts at" offset configured in the devices section of the GCP setup.

It's not a big deal...It just means whenever I'm using a GCP preset, I'll never be able to hit program 1 on my devices (unless I edit them to respond the way the GCP is configured natively (which may or may not be doable..I haven't looked).

Let me know if this sheds any light. I can create a video showing this if you'd like.

Thanks,

James

[JohnClark]

I guess I misunderstood a bit...

So when you are in the Edit mode for any preset, the device patch numbers match the displayed Program Change number from 1-23, but then skip to patch 25 when you have Program Change 24 displayed?

Is each device set to a different MIDI channel than the other devices? Is anything set to respond in OMNI mode? What exactly are these devices and how do you have the MIDI cables routed in this rig?

[effitall]

Hey John,

Very straight-forward setup...

There's the GCP as the main controller.

Device 1 is a Peavey CEQ280 set to MIDI channel 1.
Device 2 is another Peavey CEQ280 set to MIDI channel 2.
Device 3 is a TC G-Major set to channel 3.

So GCP goes to the G-Major first. G-Major Thru to the second CEQ280, OUT the CEQ280 to the IN of the other CEQ280.

I can easily setup up patches on the GCP to select patch 10 on Device 1, patch 38 on Device 2, and patch 24 on device 3. The problem is I have to tell the GCP to use patches 9, 37, and 23 to get the ACTUAL patches that I want.

Now...As long as I'm not editing a patch on the GCP and I'm just selecting a bank/preset...Like say bank 4 preset 1 (patch 13 on all devices), I actually get patch 13. Now...If I go into the GCP "Edit" mode on that preset, select device 1 and click 1,3....Device 1 will jump to patch 14.

<------Break for a reality check----->

So I just went to my rig. Went to bank A1 and selected preset 1 bringing up patch 41 on all devices. I went into the patch EDIT mode....and lo-and-behold, the GCP says each device is set to patch 40. This is probably just a cosmetic thing. The "edit" mode of the GCP seems to be oblivious to the "starts at" offset. By default I believe the GCP is set to start at 1. With that...Pressing bank 1, preset 1, would give me patch 2. So I changed the "starts at" to 00. Now pressing bank 1 preset 1 gives me patch 1. Unfortunately the preset edit mode of the GCP doesn't pick up on that offset resulting in some confusion when selecting presets from edit mode.

Simple solution...See if I can change the MIDI start number on my devices to 1 instead of 0. If so...Not a big deal...Update devices, update GCP patches, done. But I still feel there's a cosmetic flaw in the GCP during patch editing when the "starts at" is at anything but 01.

James

[JohnClark]

The Starts At number refers to the lowest displayed patch number on the device you are controlling. In the case of a G-Major the Stars At number should be 1, because the lowest patch number it will display is 1.

What is the lowest patch number the CEQ 280 will display?

[effitall]

Crap....Had a post and lost it....

Anyway...Here goes....

The CEQ is setup to display patch numbers 1-128 when responding to MIDI program change numbers 000-127.

By default (it would seem at least)...When you power up the GCP and hit bank 1 preset 1, it sends out MPC 001. This selects patch 2 on the CEQ. Soo...That's why you go into the setup and change the "Starts at" parameter to 00. Now when you hit bank 1, preset 1, it sends out MPC 00 and the CEQ goes to patch 1 (which is the lowest displayed patch number). 1=1

My gripe is that if I go to edit the GCP preset 1 and you want to pull up CEQ patch 24...You have to tell the GCP the actual MPC number 23...Not the friendly number that the CEQ displays (24). 1=2

It's a cosmetic issue that was unexpected. I had to do a double take the first time I created a preset on the GCP.

"Okay..Device 1, patch 2, 4.....(play...frown...hit recall on the CEQ and notice that it's on patch 25 not patch 24)

Huh....

Device 1, patch 2, 4....25?!

Device 1, patch 2,3....24!"

[effitall]

Ahhh...I think I see my error...

I need to not think of bank 1 preset 1 as "1" but rather "0"

So it's really 0-3, 4-7, 8-11 etc...

Not 1-4, 5-8, 9-12...

Once you get that...It falls into place...

[JohnClark]

It is true that internally MIDI Program Changes are numbered from 0-127, but we allow users to shift the number displayed on a Ground Control Pro so it can be displayed as 0-127 or 1-128... whichever best matches the patch numbers displayed on any particular device that uses the more "consumer friendly" numbering convention of starting at 1.

I'm not too sure you have to think of it in any different manner than to set the Starts At number so it matches the lowest displayed patch number each device is capable of, then when editing your Ground Control Pro presets you simply type in the number of the device patch you want.

[effitall]

Yeah...I follow it now. Powering up the GCP and hitting the first preset button sends MPC 01 and not MPC 00. Therefore when I set the devices to "Starts at 00" all the banks/presets started popping up as I expected them to. Unfortunately that whacked out the patch selection in the GPC preset editing.

I'm all straightened out now though. Thanks for the assistance!