Live Setlist Control with Bomebox and MTP

Hi guys.

I just bought a Bomebox which i am still waiting to receive.

I am starting with a new band in which i will be the keyboarder and i know that we will have live shows in which i will have to deal with MIDI Song switching with some scenes per song.

Summing to this i expect to have to deal with some change in the order of the songs in the Setlist.

Is there a tutorial about dealing with this for 3 keyboards, 2 synth modules, 4 Effect Rack units and eventually digital mixer presets?

I can already do this with a Windows PC using midikuper but i'm hoping to be able to do this without needing the pc, and that is where the Bomebox comes to the equation.

Hi, everyone has their own style and rig setup so I doubt is that there is something that will meet your needs out of the box.  With that said, perhaps the best strategy is to organize your songs by presets using Bome MIDI Translator Pro. You would initially set it up on a PC, but the upload it to BomeBox once you have what you want and then you would not need a PC from there.

For song changes you could for instance hit a single key or button on one (or more) of your MIDI controllers. You could then set up that key to activate a preset and then have that preset then trigger one or more actions (such as program changes, etc) to your various gear to set up for the next song (or scene).

If you would rather, you could also set up different project files for each song and then instead of preset activation, load a new project file for  a song change.

There are almost infinite ways to do things so, if you have some examples of what you want to do for a song or scene change, come back here and I can help you more with some specific examples.

You will need to purchase Bome MIDI Translator Pro as well to run a project file on your BomeBox. However you can test your project files on a PC or Mac using a trial copy of MT Pro.

Let me know.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz

 

 

 

Hi Steve. Thanks for the prompt answer.

Let me see an example of what i have and need:

Teensy Pedal (in USB) with CC#112 for Scene Down and CC#113 for Scene Up; and CC#117 for Song Down and CC#118 for Song Up;
Studio Logic Acuna 88 Keyboard Controller in USB
Kurzweil PC3K6 Keyboard Synthesizer in USB
Korg M3Module Synthesizer in USB
TC Electronic M3000 (With USB Midi converter cable) in USB
…Other stuff not needed to mention here for the purpose.

Say e need for a Scene in First Song (Hypothetical values, i don’t have the right MSB/LSB values in may head now) :
-Send ProgramChange to PC3K : MSB0 LSB8 PC#14;
-Send ProgramChange to Korg M3Module : MSB0 LSB12 PC#41;
-Send ProgramChange to TC Electronic M3000 : MSB0 LSB1 PC#2;
-Acuna88 Play Midi Channel 3 in Key Range A0-A4 to Channel 1 of Korg M3
-Acuna88 Play Midi Channel 1 in Key Range A3 to C8 in Channel 2 of Kurzweil PC3K

Now, another Scene in the same Song:
-Send ProgramChange to PC3K : MSB0 LSB8 PC#8;
-Send ProgramChange to Korg M3Module : MSB0 LSB2 PC#10;
-Send ProgramChange to TC Electronic M3000 : MSB0 LSB1 PC#4;
-Acuna88 Play Midi Channel 3 in Key Range A0-C6 to Channel 1 of Korg M3
-Acuna88 Play Midi Channel 1 in Key Range C#6 to C9 in Channel 4 of Kurzweil PC3K

Second Song now (First Scene):

-Send ProgramChange to PC3K : MSB0 LSB2 PC#47;
-Send ProgramChange to Korg M3Module : MSB0 LSB1 PC#13;
-Send ProgramChange to TC Electronic M3000 : MSB0 LSB1 PC#8;
-Acuna88 Play Midi Channel 3 in Key Range A0-A4 to Channel 1 of Korg M3
-Acuna88 Play Midi Channel 1 in Key Range A3 to C8 in Channel 2 of Kurzweil PC3K

Now, Second Scene in the same Second Song:
-Send ProgramChange to PC3K : MSB0 LSB4 PC#91;
-Send ProgramChange to Korg M3Module : MSB0 LSB11 PC#39;
-Send ProgramChange to TC Electronic M3000 : MSB0 LSB1 PC#18;
-Acuna88 Play Midi Channel 3 in Key Range A0-C6 to Channel 1 of Korg M3
-Acuna88 Play Midi Channel 1 in Key Range C#6 to C9 in Channel 4 of Kurzweil PC3K

–/–
It is easy to make the Program Changes and i suppose the filtering for the Key Range too, but how to change from one scene to the other (and go back – or have copies of the scenes in the preset and/or only do a “Next Scene”) and then from Song to Song?

 

Oh, and i know i\'ll have to buy Bome Midi Translator Pro. ;)

Something like the attached structure should work.

I’m using global variable ga to handle the song/scene structure

First 2 digits is Song 0-99, last 2 is scene 0-99

So song 0 scene 0 is 0

Song 1 scene 0 is 100

Song 1 scene 1 is 101

Hopefully you get the point.

I use preset enable (disable all others) to switch song and call the preset by number (with an offset of 2 as we have 2 “always on” presets before the song presets start.

I divide the global variable ga by 100 to get the song number and then call the song by preset number. That way if you want later you can move your songs around in your setlist and continue to use the preset numbers to call them.

As I switch between songs, I always set scene back to 0. I use the modula operator on ga to get the scene number.

For scenes, I use a rule at the beginning of the translator to determine the current scene number and ignore outgoing action if not the scene for that translator.

I only populated translators and rules in the first 2 song presets.

I hope this structure helps get you started.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz

 

 

A XXXL Size Thank You for your kind help, Steve.
I will study it and reply here once i receive the box and make the tests.
Kind regards

You can do the tests with Bome MIDI Translator before you get the box. Project file will work the same on the box. Just make sure all incoming and outgoing ports have aliases so that you can assign them differently on the BomeBox than in MT Pro.

Thanks for the heads up on the aliases, Steve.
I will start the study!
Thanks

Hi Steve.
I had a try on this. Changing Songs (Presets in MTP terminology) does this:
1: IN 1.1 Control Change on ch. 1 with CC#:113 (0x71) and value:127 (0x7F)
2: OUT 1.1 activate only preset number pp
3: IN 1.1 Control Change on ch. 1 with CC#:113 (0x71) and value:127 (0x7F)
4: OUT 1.1 activate only preset number pp

It really activates the Song according to the footswitch i press. Fine 🙂

In the Scenes it only returns this:
1: IN 1.3 Control Change on ch. 1 with CC#:118 (0x76) and value:127 (0x7F)

I don’t see any change in the Scenes when i press the footswitches. All scenes are Active whether i press the footswitches or not.

Look at the rules in each translator. The second rule determine the scene number

if pp!=0 then exit rules, skip Outgoing Action

Will only execute on scene 0

Hi Steve.
Oh, i thought the translator scenes where adjusted to that. I was indeed confused by that number, but i’m still trying to understand the philosophy behind the concept. I will try again at the end of the day.
My bad.
Thank you

OK, I did scenes with global variables as at this point,,nested presets are not possible. The main thing you need to do is make sure the translators within the preset only execute if it their scene.

Hi Steve.
Yesterday i couldn’t try with my synths, but i could make some changes in the file you sent me (Your PC# where sending the wrong commands like sending Song Up when it should be Scene Down or Up- not sure now- and so on) and with the monitor turned on i could see the pp “Scene” Number being changed (for Song i already had feedback in the Presets Window). I expect to be able to try with the Synths today.

OK, so maybe the messages were wrong but the model should still work. Let me know how things turn out.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz

For sure Steve. (Not complaining, just informing how things are going) 🙂

Hi Steve and all.
I can already tell that the Song/Scenes are changing with success. I was strugling with a key “0” value in my PC3K’s screen MIDI monitor and then i remembered to use another variable instead of pp as i recalled that pp was already in use by the Song/Preset translators. I used tt and it worked.
Now, lets see about Bank/Program Changes and Key Ranges. 🙂

Hi, the variables oo,pp, qq,rr, ss tt, uu,vv, ww and xx are local variables and can be used throughout your project and are unique to the incoming trigger so you will get no name collisions. However they are only available within that translator so are not static. Once the translator completes there values are thrown away.
Consider them as temporary variables.

Hi Steve.
I can already do the key range set-up. 8)
I’m being chalenged by the Bank/Program Changes. I chose the bank change and also tried with NRPN 14 but can’t find a way to make it be output to the synths.
I expect it to be something with the incoming trigger: Disable/Enable Processing or Timer or Preset Change., but…

If you post your file, I can have a look. You may need to target the proper output ports for a given synth for these incoming triggers.

Hi Steve.

There you have it.

It is only a scratch yet something like an exercise book. I will need to do some housekeeping later, like thinking the namings for the scenes for instance.

What are the names of your ports for your synths? It looks like you have not targeted the output to any synths so the output will go to whatever project default ports you have open which at this point is only Bome PC3K.

The names are the real ones + a Bome word as prefix in the alias. And in the M3 i removed the SOUND word from the alias\’s name. I do have it functionning except for the Program Change part.

Oh, i just noticed that there are 2 translators with the default ones in scene 2 part, but i did’nt work on them yet.

Do you see the Program changes going out looking at the log?

No

I found a workaround for the Program Changes using the release of the switch pedal to send the Program Change.
That is, as the scene/song selection is sent on de pressing of the pedal as 127 value and as such the selection becomes made, the depressing of the pedal, as Value 0, will send the CC# (as Any CC, Any Value, from the Teensy Pedal port).

So, i put:

Incoming:

From Port: Teensy Pedal

Any CC#

Any Value

 

Outgoing

Bank Change#

To Port: Bome PC3K

 

It is working now. ;)

Now: Transpose and find a way to have feed back to know which Scene/song is active

Thank You Steve

Probably just need to set up another preset that directs output to your controller and send note-on or note-off to control the LED. Usually (but not always) MIDI controllers accept the same note number for turning on and of the LED. Velocity of the note controls the color if the controller LED's are multi-color. If not multi-color it is usually velocity 127 for on and 0 for off. Steve Caldwell Bome Q and A Moderator and Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist bome@sniz.biz