Digitakt & Blofeld (multi mode) MIDI

I’m using my Digitakt with a Waldorf Blofeld in multi mode, sending a number of different MIDI tracks from the Digitakt to sequence different Blofeld voices. I want to use MIDI sent from the DT to tell the Blofeld to move between different “multi” patches, but I’m having real trouble setting up the right MIDI messages to achieve this.

According to this thread: Blofeld - change multis using program changes it looks like I need to send MIDI CC #0 value 127 followed by a program change message. It looks like people are doing this successfully with an Octatrack.

However, despite the Digitakt manual saying it sends CC #s 0 - 119, when I go into the AMP page on a MIDI track, the lowest CC # I can set is 1 (mod wheel) not 0. This doesn’t send the right message to the Blofeld, so when I send a program change message, it changes the individual voice within the “multi”, not the patch as a whole.

How do I get the Digitakt to send CC #0? Has anyone else had anyone luck switching Blofeld “multi” patches via MIDI from a Digitakt?

Elektron implements Bank Select as CC 0. You should be able to use the Bank and Program settings in the DT’s MIDI sequencer tracks.

Thanks: this doesn’t seem to be working though! I can send the Blofeld a Program Change message when it’s in “sound” mode and it changes the patch being played exactly as expected.

If I change to “multi” mode and send the Blofeld the same program changes, then I get nothing: I was assuming that either the “multi” or the sound within it should change, but nothing happens at all. I’ve checked that the Blofeld is set to the right MIDI channel , the little light in the top corner is flashing so it’s definitely receiving the messages… I’m completely stumped.

yah, i’ve had the same issue. it works fine with the monomachine but not via the digitakt.

Wait, it’s suddenly started working! I had the Bank Select message set to 127 but on the Digitakt it counts from 1 rather than 0, so you need to set it to 128.

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ah, i’ll try that!

Elektron really need to sort this out - it’s different across devices

Ideally the user could select the referencing system so there’s 0-127 or 1-128

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Yep: you need to open the SRC page of a MIDI track on the Digitakt, and set its MIDI channel to match the Global MIDI channel on the Blofeld (Press Shift / Global on the Blofeld then scroll to MIDI channel to check / change this).

Then on the SRC page of the MIDI track on the Digitakt set Bank to 128 and Program to the number of the multi you want to load. Set different Program numbers to different patterns / trigs, and the Blofeld should automatically switch between them.

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yeah, it works no problem on the mnm. i think it’s switched on the mnm tho, so instead of CC for 0 you use bank change on the digitakt. will give it another go later today.

Cool. From playing around with it, it looks like you also need to send a MIDI note on the relevant channel for the program change to be sent by the Digitakt / picked up by the Blofeld

just tried, and it’s all good. it’s confusing the way bank changes are implemented.

now i just need to figure out how to do bank changes on the ob6 and blofeld.

Elektron should show values from 1 to 128, just as every manufacturer should according to the MIDI specifications.

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aye, but at least i found a workaround for ob6 bank changes.

anyone know if there’s something similar for the blofeld? changing multis is great, but would be nice to change banks too.

Changing banks can be done with a workaround on some devices, but not on others (also see Digitakt not sending bank select (patch works)).

It would indeed be nice If Elektron were to find a way to give us the option of making it work with all synths.

CC0 with a value 0-7 followed by a Program Change works for my Blofeld os1.23 (even though the docs I’ve seen states that CC0 MSB Bank Select is not supported, but these may not reflect the changes including those allowing Multi Select using CC0 value 127 (0x7F) ) - nonetheless it works, as does CC32 with a value 0-7 followed by a program change - it’s nice to see Waldorf being pragmatic

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i’ll try that, thanks.

does the DT have CC0 as an option tho, or is that the bank change parameter under SRC?

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I believe that may be the hardwired value, this thread discusses this (I don’t know the DT menues)

aye, i’ll check it out. thanks for the heads up.

It’s the latter: the Bank Select value on the SRC page sends CC0

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Some cut’n’paste text i’ve found from the waldorf site from back in the day wrt Blofeld… copied here for posterity, echoes what was said above but has caveat about functionality subject to change … fwiw


Some notes on how to change programs in V1.15:

Bank MSB (CC#0) and Bank LSB (CC#32) are currently interchangeable, 
this may change in the future.

Banks 0-7 correspond to banks A-H in the Blofeld (global channel in 
sound mode, multi part channel otherwise).  You can switch up to 16 
programs back-to-back without problems (in other words, set up a full 
multi).  Some controller surfaces might send more program changes in a 
shorter time than the Blofeld needs to fetch the new program from 
memory, so you should slow down a bit as you approach the final 
destination (or rate limit the controller data if that is possible).

Bank 127 is for switching between multi programs on the global channel 
(although it currently works on all channels).  After switching to a 
new multi you need to leave some time before you can switch the 
programs in that multi (about 30 MIDI bytes over USB) so that Blofeld 
can finish loading the multi before it gets new program changes.
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