Hardware midi mapper? (for live use)

[SpaceNorman]

Any updated thoughts/experience on the Genovation MPC-900?

 

EDIT: Well I won one on eBay for $89USD so I guess I can provide an update here after I try it out.

 

I for one will be waiting to hear how it works for you Steve! When I saw the MPC900 mentioned in this thread yesterday - I couldn't help but think it was EXACTLY what I'm looking for!

[Steve Force]

Any updated thoughts/experience on the Genovation MPC-900?

 

EDIT: Well I won one on eBay for $89USD so I guess I can provide an update here after I try it out.

 

I for one will be waiting to hear how it works for you Steve! When I saw the MPC900 mentioned in this thread yesterday - I couldn't help but think it was EXACTLY what I'm looking for!

 

Gladly, my friend!

[Steve Force]

Any updated thoughts/experience on the Genovation MPC-900?

 

EDIT: Well I won one on eBay for $89USD so I guess I can provide an update here after I try it out.

Yeah, I saw that, and briefly considered buying it myself. Some boards could really use a 10-key keypad for patch selection (I hate scrolling), and that's a nice compact size, though it looks to be a bit of a nuisance in being in multiple pieces. But if you're always using it with the same board, maybe you could velcro and permanently wire a lot of it into place.

 

The setup editing looks like a nice feature, too... too bad the software is PC only (no Mac).

 

One feature I thought was missing was that there's no mode where you can assign an entire patch change to a single button... you always have to hit "enter."

 

I've only begun playing with an M-Audio Evolution UC33e. It looks like a good solution, though it took some back and forth with tech support to figure out how to make it do what I wanted, the manual is terrible. It does provide the 10-key keypad for patch selection function, and it does a whole bunch of other things. It's not as small as the Genovation, but it's still pretty compact.

 

My Motif is an excellent controller and I can control most MIDI Program Changes from that.

 

However, for other applications, my Electric Violin signal chain for example, it would be cool to just dial in the patch. I do have a foot controller that would work but I think this Genovation offers a far better solution. In theory anyway.

 

For Reference : my electric violin signal chain is:

 

Violin -> Johnson J-Station (MIDI controllable) -> Electro-Harmonix POG2 -> Lexicon MX200 (MIDI-controllable)

 

BTW: I have owned a UC33e for several years and my experience with it is.... lukewarm.

[TechEverlasting]

The powerful Kurzweil Setup mode has already been mentioned. One option to consider is a used Kurzweil K2500R module. This will let you create chains of hundreds of 8-channel Setups which you can step through with a footswitch, with extensive control over program changes, splits, transpositions, balancing and some controller remapping. You'd run MIDI out of your controller into the Kurzweil rack and be able to use two MIDI outputs (there's a Thru-Out switch for the middle MIDI port.) You could even reserve one or two layers of your zones for local "backup" patches in case something else fails.

[Steve Force]

UPDATE: Well I received the Genovation MPC-900 this week and finally had a chance to use it.

All I can say is..WOW.

 

Not only can I direct dial Patches on direct dial MIDI channel targets, I can also scroll patches, LSB and MSB direct dial, on that MIDI channel as well.

 

I need to spend some more time with this gadget to understand all functionality but I already think...I will get another!

 

One for my Electric Violin application (mentioned above), and another to place right next to me wherever I am in my man-cave project studio.

 

The controller itself is about the size of a old desktop digital calculator (4 inches wide by about 6 inches deep), with industrial-grade buttons and a high-impact gray plastic case.

 

An Ethernet cable connects it to a small box with has the power (wall wart input) and DIN Midi in/Out connectors. No USB on that device, however, they did provide a RJ-47/USB cable which I assume allows one to use USB midi (need to check on that.)

[Steve Force]

(approaching this like a typical geek--plug in, play, then RTFM...)

 

What I REALLY like about this gadget is that you can program presets that can send, per ANY/ALL MIDI channel(s) (1-16) MSB, LSB, PC, and Arbitrary MIDI Data as well (Each Preset can also send up to 16 bytes of arbitrary MIDI data before or after the patch change data.)

 

This mitigates my Yamaha Motif ES6 4 Channel preset limitation. Sweet.

 

BTW I checked to see it I could do MIDI thru--no dice.

[SpaceNorman]

Steve,

 

Any opinions on the software interface?

[Steve Force]

Steve,

 

Any opinions on the software interface?

 

Howdy.

 

I will be messing with that here shortly; however, it looks Very straight-forward (what we would expect from a MIDI interface.) This device reeks of Quality (industrial-grade.).

 

BTW The Librarian feature (free) looks very similar to standard librarian features that we have used in the past.

 

So one can completely configure the device via a PC graphically, updating the onboard flash via MIDI. Very nice when it comes to programming presets with more complex MIDI channel/Program Change data.