Hi all, I’ve been trying to get my Quaverato build working on my pedalboard and have a few questions about its midi functionality.
Firstly, saving/recalling a preset: when I do this following the procedure in the manual (setup the sound>toggle mode>hold bypass switch>while LED flickers turn multiplier knob to desired preset position>release bypass switch) it seems to work, but when I recall that preset the effect rate is different, as though just that parameter has not been saved to the preset. Has anyone else experienced/solved this? For me, recalling a specific ‘rate’ is pretty important, one of the main reasons for presets if I’m honest.
Secondly, I’d like to use my expression pedal (via my switcher/midi controller) to control various parameters, but sometimes it may be ‘rate’, other times ‘depth’ etc, but I’d like to still be able to tweak settings on the fly without necessarily re-assigning which parameter the midi exp pedal controls to the most recently ‘nudged’, is there a way to do this? Ideally, I’d want the midi exp pedal assignment to be saved with the preset, so whichever preset I recall, the midi exp pedal will switch to the desired control parameter, is it possible to do this?
Thirdly, I use a programmable loop-switcher that’s also a midi controller to control my board, some non-midi capable pedals (drives/modulations etc) are in loops & the switcher selects which loops are in the signal chain according to how I’ve programmed the patches, this is what I use to setup sounds for sections of songs & I can change multiple pedals with a single stomp (avoiding ‘tap-dancing’). MIDI enabled pedals are not in loops but are co trolled using midi PC/CC/Exp messages sent from the switcher. Doing it this way means I have to be able to programme the bypass state of these pedals using CC messages. The Quaverato uses a CC message of any value to ‘toggle’ the bypass state, but this is problematic. What is happening is I setup a patch that uses the Quaverato & set that patch to send the bypass toggle message, if I then navigate to a different patch that doesn’t use the Quaverato I need to set that patch to also send the bypass CC, this is fine if I then go straight back to the first patch, but if I go to another non-quaverato patch first, the cycle of toggle CC messages is out of sync with my patches & when I return to the patch that DOES use the Quaverato it either bypasses or unbypass the pedal dependent on how many other patches I’ve visited in the meantime. What I need it to do is tell the Quaverato to always turn on when I select that patch because I need to be able to recall that sound from any other patch regardless of whether the toggle CC has been sent an odd or even number of times.
My other midi enabled pedals allow me to select which bypass state I want by sending a particular value, for instance 0-63 is enabled & 64-127 is bypassed.
I guess what I’m asking is if there’s any scope on the Quaverato’s midi chip to have these sort of functions recoded? Could I somehow set it up so that the bypass state can be specified with a value rather than toggled? & could it be programmed so that midi-exp assignments are saved inside a preset, that sort of thing?
I love the pedal, the sonic possibilities and UI are the best I’ve found so far, but these little elements of its midi implementation are pretty fundamental to the way I use my board & if I can’t control it the way I need to with midi then it’s back to searching for a different fully midi capable, analog signal path, harmonic tremolo (that is not the CBA Gravitas), & I really don’t want to jump back on that search having built this pedal and love the way it sounds.
Sorry for the very long post! Any tips would be most welcome.
Ben,
Thanks for reaching out about these issues.
As far as I can recall (it’s been a while since I looked at this code), I do think that the RATE is a saved parameter in the presets. When this happens, does it sound like the saved rate is a multiple of the intended rate?…In other words, is it being multiplied by the multiplier knob? That’s the only thing that I can think of that might be part of this issue.
The idea of having the assigned expression parameter saved in the preset is a really good idea. I can’t believe that we didn’t think of this earlier. I will add this to our change log for the next update. Thank you for the suggestion.
I think in our latest version of the Quaverato software we implemented your third suggestion. In this latest version we have the bypass function split across the data range…0-63 is on (or off, I can’t remember at the moment) and 64-127 is off (or on).
In this latest version of the code we also made updates to the tap time functionality, which keeps the tempo from drifting over time as much. We actually haven’t put this version of the software into production yet, but I can send you the hex file if you want to install it on your pedal. You’ll need a USBtiny ISP programmer and a PC.
I don’t know that we’d be able to update the code anytime soon to adapt the other change you suggested, because our software guy is on an extended break, but I will put it in the future change log.
Thank you for your suggestions. Please let me know if you want that hex file to update your pedal.
-Brach
Hi Brach, thanks for your reply, that’s awesome news about the bypass CC messages, and I’d definitely like to install that if you’re able to send me the update. I’ll order the programmer from the dealer here in the UK.
And no worries about the exp pedal assignment update, I can do without that for the time being, it’s the bypass thing that was causing me issues! Do you need my email to send the software?
Ben,
Write to us at info “at” zeppelindesignlabs.com
…or just send us a note through our contact page form. Please include your Quaverato’s serial number. I’m out of town right now, but I can send you the hex file as soon as I get back.
Thanks.
-Brach