OT MKII - Sending Program Changes

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I am trying to send a program change from the OT to an SH01-A and I’m not having any success. Haven’t found any answers that have worked. The setup:

  • OT Project Menu => MIDI => Sync => “PROG CH” Send set to “Yes” (I’ve tried with it off as well as someone suggested this disables automatic sending of PC and not all sending of PC messages altogether)
  • OT MIDI track 1 transmitting on channel 16
    -SH01A’s MIDI CH set to 16. It is receiving note and CC data without issue from the OT.

My understanding is that in the “MIDI Note Setup” menu, if I set the PROG to the corresponding patch that I want selected on the SH01A (0-63) then when I hit play on the OT it should select that patch. It does not do this. I have patch T1-5 (6 in program change indices) on the SH01A. If I select PROG 25 on the OT and hit play no program change occurs.

I am merely trying to learn how this is supposed to behave. I have no specific goal in mind other than to understand how to change patches on external gear using the OT so I can plan ahead.

Could someone give me a brief run down of how to send program changes to external gear using the OT? It seems super straight forward but for the life of me I cannot get it to work. Is it only possible to set the program for the MIDI channel? Can program changes be sent by programming a trig so that one could have different patterns use different patches?

Thank you in advance for your responses! :slight_smile:

I’m also off to bed here so I won’t be responding until tomorrow

#2

Just had a cursory look at the SH01a manual and couldn’t find mention of program change messages. Are you sure it’s supported? It sounds like you have your OT set up well, I do a similar thing with AR sending program changes to a few things and have it set up the same way. The other thing I’d look at is how the machines are connected, i.e if their are going via a computer or a midi box which could be messing with things.

#3

Yup! The SH01-A supports program changes. Not bank changes though. There are 8 sounds in 8 “banks” (selected by pressing Menu then 1 for tones, encoder to select bank and button to select patch) for a total of 64. They are supposed to be accessed using program changes 0-63. No global setting to enable or disable responding to program changes either :confused:

Edit: being sent over standard MIDI cables. Note and CCs work as intended.

#4

Between here and here you should find some answers about Program Changes with the OT. Whether this will help with the SH01A specifically is another matter…

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#5

That means the OT will send predefined bank/patch changes when you change banks/patterns , to sync other manchines. This is different from sending custom PC’s from a midi track.

No, that is not how it works.

First thing to be absolutely aware of: once a PC has been sent, it will not send the same one again unless you have sent a different one in between

Second thing to be aware of is that the program changes in the note menu are linked to a part: they are not sent when you hit play on the sequencer but when you change parts (hence also when you change banks because that implies changing parts). But still, only if different!

Third one: always click on the encoder to validate your entry (label changes from hightlighted to normal)
EDIT: Here’s where stuff can confuse you if you don’t recall the first point I mentioned. When you enter a PC change in the note page, you need to validate it like I said, and by validating it’ll send the PC out so it won’t send it out again until it has sent another one! So it’ll look like it doesn’t work, although it actually does.

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#6

Thanks for the replies @pinup57 and @ericd! That clarifies things a great deal. After reading through @ericd’s links I am going to pick up a MIDI Solutions Event Processor Plus. Looks like some crazy things you can do with them. I’m new to working OTB and I’m learning about all sorts of interesting MIDI quirks. The basic setup and flow of things is easy but I always run into some new things when dealing with the “limitations” of physical MIDI routing. I like being forced to deal with things creatively though! :smiley:

Thanks again for the help!

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