Hey All,
So I have a Digitakt providing the main element of the set I am trying to put together. I have a few synths hooked up and I am trying to add some guitar layers as well live as an extra element. I have an Eventide H9 which has a decent looper and MIDI options but I am not entirely sure how I could make the thing work. I can hook it up and send MIDI clock to it but I am not sure how I can synch the start and end point of the loop to the bars playing on the Digitakt. I was also looking at the line6 Helix Stomp as it has cab sims and it could run a few effects even when the looper is engaged so it would be even better but as far as I can understand it has a less solid MIDI implementation.
My idea is that when I engage a specific pattern on the Digitakt it would send a midi trigger to the looper to start the recording and for example 16 bars later it would send another trigger that engages playback. I do have a separate footswitch so I could also engage the looper with that but then I am not sure how it will be synched. Any input would be really welcomed as I am a bit lost but really want to make this work. Thanks!!!
You can map CC receive to all functions of the looper. You can do this in the H9 Control app. For your automation idea on a pattern, I would use a combination of trig 1 and trig 2 with micro timing pushed far left, both with trig conditions with the right 1:4, 4:4 math to get 16 bars of playback after recording.
Edit: if that’s not enough info, I can revisit later. I’m not sure how the H9 looper behaves when midi sync’d, but I know that it will sync.
I do the same thing with a Ditto X4 (which I would not recommend), it uses the same CC message for starting and stopping the recording, so I simply set a trig with this CC on the first step of the sequencer so that when I play the pattern, it starts recording and when the pattern starts over it stops recording and begin to play the loop, the cool thing is that you can engage/disengage that whole setup by simply muting the MIDI track (here is a video where I use this setup : https://youtu.be/s7tzPW5Kyz8)
Excellent jam.
Thank you!
indeed, an extremely cool jam
Guys, thank you so much for all your help so far. I could finally sit down with the H9 and experiment a bit and it is all looking promising. The Digitakt is sending out clock and messages (supposedly on the right channel), the H9 is in synch, the tempo is right. However, whenever I set the midi config up H9 defaults to the first preset I have on the unit (which is not the looper preset I want) and I can’t seem to change that from the Digitakt even though I tried a few things already that worked fine on my Minilogue for preset changing. Also, currently I am starting and stopping the loop on my phone in the H9 control app as the trigger doesn’t seem to be working the way I want. I have set the corresponding midi CC messages in the control app (this mapping is really cool btw) but I should be messing up/overlooking something.
@AldoVino Could you perhaps tell me a bit more about your exact settings on the Digitakt?
Well I don’t have any special settings I’m afraid. I looked at the H9 MIDI implementation but it’s not very clear to me (as I don’t know the pedal at all), but if you’re sure the DT is sending all the information needed (clock/CC/Program Changes?) the problem is probably somewhere else!
How do you send the MIDI data? What I mean is do you just press the track key, or do you place a trig on the grid with the informations? If the latter, be sure that your MIDI track is not muted! (kinda silly but it got me a few times)
Another common mistake is to choose the wrong CC number on the Digitakt MIDI tracks. The labels are kinda confusing but what you want to look at is the little number under each case, not the label inside the case (which is just a generic name for this specific CC and doesn’t correspond most of the time).
That’s all I can think of at the moment. 
Maybe experiment with the MIDI Config settings, some stuff are disabled by default. If you got a MIDI interface and the motivation you can also download some MIDI desktop app (like MIDI Patchbay I believe) to monitor what MIDI the Digitakt is really sending, that way you’ll who’s the culprit!
@AldoVino thank you so much for the tips. I managed to make it work at the end, I am not really sure what it was but I started the whole process again from scratch and could make it work. The CC message you assign to the looper functions (rec/play…etc.) is one thing but the value you set on the other menu screen should be above 60 to make it mean a ‘yes’ for the system and it might have had it only around half way or so.
There are a few quirks which I don’t really understand right now but these are either a user error on my end or specific to how the H9 works. When I open the pattern on the Digitakt, it won’t immediately switch to my looper preset, I have to wiggle the knob on the Digitakt to make it switch to the desired preset. Same goes to looper rec start. I placed the trig on the very first step and whenever I unmute the MIDI track to start the recording, it has to go a full circle and come back to the trig for the second time to actually make it record (I don’t have any trig conditions set whatsoever) so seemingly the first time it hits the trig it only puts the H9 into ‘ready’ mode and it has to come back again to actually do the action. Also, when the loop is done it switches to overdub instead of play which is not a huge issue but definitely annoying. Does anyone have some experience with this? …going back to my original post, does the Helix Stomp support all the same looper+Midi functionality?
Hi Aldo! Very cool jam and setup you have going! Would you mind explaining the setup a little more in detail as I am looking to do something a bit similar to your setup. I am currently playing in a band that has a dominantly digitalt setup where we use the Digitakt as the tempo keeper as it sends midi clock to the drummers BD-90 metronome, the guitarist’s Line6 Helix and Kember Profiler Head, my OP-1 and Flashback X4. In one part of the song I would like to record and loop an 8 bar loop of my guitar on the Flashback X4 and therefore I’m very interested in how you managed to make your Ditto X4 receive loop stat/stop messages from your Digitakt so that the loop is in perfect sync with the Digitakt’s grid?
I am pretty sure/hoping that my Flashback X4 can loop in the same way as the Ditto X4 but I am pretty knew to the whole MIDI world and I don’t know how to make my Digitakt send the correct CC message which starts and stops the looper. Could you help explaining what you did?
Thanks in advance!!! And once again awesome jam(s) you have on YouTube!
Hey, sure! I never used a Flashback so not 100% sure if can replicate that setup tho. 
All the Ditto settings can be controlled with CC messages and Program Changes. Here is how I set things up :
The MIDI implementation chart tells me that CC#3 controls the Loop 1. I set a MIDI track on channel 4 (the fixed MIDI channel used by the Ditto), I go to my Amp page and select the CC#3 (you have to look at the number below the little rectangle, the label inside is only a generic name and can be misleading). Then I go to my Filter page and activate that CC by pressing the corresponding encoder.
Lastly I place a trigless trig on the very first step of the sequencer and I set a high value (like 120) and that’s kinda it! When I press play, the CC message is sent and starts the recording. Then when the sequencer starts over, that very same message will stop the recording.
This method doesn’t rely on the MIDI clock so I disable it. The messages are sent with super precise timing so the loops just stay in sync. 
I hope this help somehow, and thank you so much for all the kind words mate!
One thing to note with the H9 looper is that it can be set to record for a certain number of bars. You don’t need a stop command.
Also, it can be set to enter playback or overdub after recording.