Voodoo Lab

Hey guys, I'm hoping there is someone out there who may be able to help with this issue as driving me nuts

I have a Voodoo Lab PX8-Plus switcher which I use to control 8 pedals using the "Preset Method" i.e. controlling different loop combinations using the 36 presets available on the PX8-Plus. I have 3 Strymon pedals (Mobius, Timeline and BigSky) which I'd like to control using MIDI and I'm under the impression that it is possible to sequentially scroll through the presets on these pedals so long as the devices are all set up correctly. Unfortunately, I'm having issues and I can't figure out why as the PX8-Plus seems to be programmed correctly. The MIDI connections for the Strymon pedals are as follows:

MIDI OUT (PX8-Plus) --> MIDI IN (Mobius), MIDI OUT (Mobius) --> MIDI IN (Timeline), MIDI OUT (Timeline) --> MIDI IN (BigSky).

According to what I have read on this forum, when set up correctly, the switcher should scroll through the patches sequentially as follows:
Bank 1, Preset 1 (PX8-Plus) activates Preset A Bank 0 (pedals).
Bank 1, Preset 2 (PX8-Plus) activates Preset B Bank 0 (pedals).
Bank 1, Preset 3 (PX8-Plus) activates Preset A Bank 1 (pedals).

At the moment, nothing is happening via MIDI; as I change the presents on the PX8-Plus, all the Strymon pedals just stay on the same patch. I have been in touch with Strymon and all of the pedal parameters are set correctly to allow MIDI messages thru the pedals; I have set everything to run on Channel 1 and I have enabled both PC and CC messaging types on the PX8-Plus but still nothing is happening.

I have a feeling it is a communications issue between the PX8-Plus and the Strymon pedals - I'm not convinced that the PX8-Plus is sending the program change message via the MIDI OUT port to the Strymon pedals to switch patches, but I'm not sure how I would go about checking this - has anyone else had this problem? I have changed cables (I have tried 5 different cables) and tried connecting the pedals individually as well as chained together and still the problem remains. I have also tried a factory reset of the PX8-Plus and I have the same problem.

Right now I'm out of ideas and it would be great if someone could help as this would be a very useful feature for me.

Any help would be much appreciated, many thanks in advance.

HMM... PX-8 Plus should always be sending Program Changes on MIDI Channel 1 with each preset, this is always on and cannot be changed. Do you have any other MIDI source to send to one of your pedals to ensure tey are responding on MIDI Channel 1?

Hi John, thanks for the response, it really is appreciated.

After connecting up a Behringer FCB1010 MIDI controller and spending a couple of minutes studying how to program it, I managed to successfully scroll through the presets on the Strymon pedals with no problems which almost certainly confirms my suspicions with the MIDI Out port on the PX8-Plus; It's quite surprising as I would expect hardware related issues to be very rare with MIDI interfaces in general, but I guess it's not completely unforeseen.

Is there anything else I could check on there or would that be too involved? Could it be a firmware issue or something else as obscure? I'm based in the UK so I'm not sure who I could turn to on this side of the pond, but if you have any more pointers or anything else you think would be useful to check, I'd be most grateful if you could share your expertise.

Any further help would be much appreciated.

Just updating this thread for anyone who may find it useful.

The problem was due to no MIDI signal coming from the MIDI Out port of the PX8-Plus switcher. I'm not sure whether it was hardware or software related as my distributor has replaced it free of charge (I'm in the UK) after my retailer let me down and didn't want anything to do with it.

The new unit works perfectly and I didn't really have to program it to work as such, just connect it correctly and off you go, it really is a great product. Big thanks to Westside distribution who are very helpful for any UK folks experiencing similar problems; you should be able to deal with any issues through your retailer, but if they're completely useless like mine was, it is definitely worth giving them a call.

I also called the VoodooLab number on the website but nobody was picking up, presumably because CA was locked down at the time due to Covid. I got an email address for Ben Resnick who was super helpful and prompt over email who advised me I could ship the unit directly to him or go through my distributor. I ended up going through my distributor (would have cost approx. £40 / $52 to ship to CA) and got the problem sorted.

A big thanks to Ben from VoodooLab and everyone from Westside Distribution in the UK, very good service indeed.