Midi Bank Change (incoming)

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I am trying to change banks on the OT from my foot controller but i can’t figure out how this works. I read about CC0 or CC32 but they don’t do anything. Do I have to send a PC along with the bank change CC to select a pattern, like when switching on the machine? Or does a bank change stay on the same pattern relative to the bank?

I can send PC messages from my FCB1010 but they only let me access the first 8 bank I want to access all 16 though so I have to find a way to change banks. Any ideas? Sorry if this has come up before but I’ve been searching this board and couldn’t find much.

Bank Program Change on Octatrack MK2
#2

Figued it out after much experimenting. Apparently the OT doesn’t respond to Bank Change in a traditional way. Instead what bank change does is change between bank groups ABCDEFGH and IJKLMNOP. Bank Change value 0 puts you into the first group which stores 128 patterns which you can then navigate with Program Change messages. Any other Bank Change value puts you in the second group. A Bank Change command always has to be followed by a PC for it to actually change the bank.

Once you are in the second bank group any Pattern Change (PC) will take place within that second group until you change back to the first one again via Bank Change. Unfortunately the same does not go for a manual Bank Change into the second group. Any PC will make you jump back into the first group again. Weird.

Would have saved me an entire afternoon if there would have been any mention of this unconventional behaviour in the manual. oh well…

#3

i might be wrong but as i understand if you map, lets say Bank A pattern 1 as midi program change # 1, so Bank B pattern 1 would be midi program change # 17.

#4

Yes, that’s what I said. But without the Bank Change on MIDI CC0 you can only access the first 8 banks like that if you swich patterns using MIDI PC because PC messages only go up to 128. You cannot access Banks IJKLMNOP which store another 128 patterns.

This is kind of important for me because I use one bank per song and I use a MIDI footcontroller because I play guitar. So without Bank change messages I would be limited to 8 songs for a show.

#5

3 posts were merged into an existing topic: Midi bank change (Nov 2013)