Noob midi cc question regarding ditto x4 (Solved!)

The Lounge General Discussion
#11

Hey thank youuu, you can find the latest firmware here. :slight_smile:

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#12

Thank you brother, I tried it here but for some reason, the midi cc thing still didn’t work. Maybe I’ll have to try the PC version…
Anyway, thanks for checking in and keep up the great work!

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#13

Hey Aldo! Did you ever manage to sort a reliable CC send method from the digitakt? It’s so strange. It seems to cycle in odd numbers between 0 and 127. I had some success with sending 2 different CC values per trig by assigning two different values to CC3.

For example on trig 1 (1:4) I have it sending 127, and 16 at the same time. This seems to start recording right away. Then on the first trig of 2:4 I have it send 0, on the first value only. This seems to stop and start recording every 4 pages but it’s not entirely reliable. Sometimes it will record double the length or play double the length.

I also have issues getting it to start on time in general. If you have any extra digitakt advice to pass along I am all ears…

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#14

Ok, now its working the same by sending a 127 value for CC3 on trig 1 (1:4) … I think it’s just feeling sorry for me at this point. lol. It might be worth noting for other people that I have switch 2 set to true on the Ditto for some extra reassurance that the loops will end evenly.

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#15

Hey, it’s super weird indeed. I haven’t figured the whole thing out but I’m getting some pretty consistent result lately. I use only one value per CC, 126 to start the recording and I believe 123 to stop it. I don’t think the values really mean something (after all in normal use you’re using a single switch to both start and stop the recording) but maybe it likes it when you alternate between odd and even numbers? That sounds like a super weird “theory” but that’s the only rule I can think of at the moment, aha.

I’ll be working on a new live-looping jam this week, I’ll try to dig a little deeper and will let you know if I find anything interesting. :slight_smile:

Oh and about the “starting on time” thing I can’t really help you, I don’t use the MIDI clock anymore so the Ditto doesn’t react to the Start/Stop of the DT. As far as I remember it was working pretty well tho. :confused:

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#16

Yeah, I think you’re right about it enjoying a switch between either a set number of values or even and odd. No clock? Madman. Stoked for your new vid, thanks for taking a look!

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#17

Hi guys. Fantastic you found a way to control it via midi… Thanks so much for documentating it

I have a question as a new person to midi…
My pedal (behringer fcb 1010) controls my g-major fx processor, and I plan to connect the ditto to the g-majors midi thru
So that my one pedal controls both the g-major and ditto

Would it be better to connect the pedal to ditto first and then from dittos midi thru to the g-major?
Since the ditto may need the quicker midi response time from the pedal?

And, trying to control both devices using the same pedal… Do they need to be on different midi channels or something like that?

And is there a way of the g-major sending its clock to the ditto? Ie if I program a tap tempo on the g-major, it would be useful if the ditto syncd to it

Sorry for all the questions! Really new to midi

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#18

Welcome to the forum!

It shouldn’t make any difference. MIDI Thru should pass through MIDI messages almost instantaneously.

That’s generally the best way to do it.

The manual that I saw for the G-Major 2 indicates that it cannot send MIDI clock.

#19

Thanks for the quick reply Peter, that’s really helpful

Could it be possible the other way around? I.e the ditto sends its clock to the g-major?

I should say I have the g-major v1

#20

As far as I know the Ditto X4 has no MIDI Out port and therefore no way of sending MIDI messages.

#21

Thames very much Peter, I appreciate it! Even though its bad news haha

#22

Hi ditto x4 users… i currenly updated to latest firmware… and turn out bad… i really dont need the new features of latest firmware. I updated coz sometimes the ditto stop or freeze… but not to the point i am annoyed. So i realized the usefull of old firmware for me… pls if someone know how to go back in last firmware.thankyou

#23

Hi, it’s possibile to control the UNDO function via Midi CC?? Thanks

#24

Hey Aldo, I’ve seen some of your jam session and I really liked them. They are very inspiring. To say the truth I buyed a Ditto last week because of you and because I found a really good used one for a good price :grin:. I would like to ask you something. What do you mean exactly that you don’t send the clock to ditto? How do you keep everything in time? Some of your guitar loops looks to be longer than the 4allowed pages by the DT sequencer… How do you do that? If you like to share of course…
Thanks

#26

Hey of course! Glad you were inspired by my stuff. :dizzy:

I wasn’t using the clock because it was often unreliable. Instead I was sending CC messages from the Digitakt MIDI tracks to trigger the recording and playback of the loops on the Ditto. That way they were exactly the length I needed. It was pretty tedious and not 100% reliable but it was enough for “home use” I guess! Here is the MIDI implementation chart for the Ditto X4 :

CC3 Looper 1 Rec/Dub/Start
CC9 Looper 1 Stop
CC14 Looper 1 Clear
CC15 Looper 1 Level
CC20 Looper 1 Hold to Store
CC21 Looper 1 Clear Backtrack
CC22 Looper 2 Rec/Dub/Start
CC23 Looper 2 Stop
CC24 Looper 2 Clear
CC25 Looper 2 Level
CC26 Looper 2 Hold to Store
CC27 Looper 2 Clear Backtrack
CC28 Decay “Level”
CC29 All Loops Stop
CC30 All Loops Clear
CC31 FX On/Off
CC85 Parallel/Serial Toggle

You can control all the parameters but to simply create a synced loop you want to use the CC3 and CC22. At the very beginning of your pattern, place a trig that will send a CC3 message with a value higher than 1, and for example 4 bars later, put another trig with a different value to close the loop. Oh yeah and I believe the Ditto is hard-coded to receive those command on channel 4. :slight_smile:

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#27

Hey thank you! It sounds brilliant… I am definetly going to try. So the max lenght of the loop you’re recording is the DT 64steps right?
In the case I need I longer loop couId I use trig condition on the last trigger (the one which send cc to stop rec)? Last thing… Do you have to disable clock send from the DT?

#28

Hey, you can make loops a lot longer yeah, either with Trig Condition as you mentioned or by making your MIDI track longer/slower than the rest of the sequencer (FUNC + PAGE and FUNC + YES to enter Scale Per Track mode, and choose something like 1/4 and 1/8, also set M.LEN to Off). And I used to disable the MIDI clock but not sure if that changed anything. :slight_smile:

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#29

Hey… Very cool. I’m going to try ot right now…
Thanks

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#30

I’ve seen some of your videos because I’ve a ditto x4 and I really liked them, congratulations and thank you for sharing them.
I have seen another video where you use the OT as looper, do you prefer it instead of the ditto?
I have OT and Ditto, and I would like to know your opinion about it (I also play guitar).

Thanks!

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#31

Hey thanks for watching them. :slight_smile:

I would say the OT is more reliable, the Ditto loops tend to drift which will simply kill the whole performance. So yeah OT over Ditto! That said the OT has some major limitations as a looper, and I encountered some weird audio issues too. :confused: I stopped using them and switched to the Aeros Loop Studio which has less creative feature but it reliable and easy to use.

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