How to make a non-UNO FCB1010 control stompboxes

[6stringer]

Like many people, I have a FCB1010 with stock firmware (no UNO chip). It works well with Amplitube, except for toggling effects on/off. It's been we documented in this forum and others how you can get it to sort of work, but sometimes have to step on a button twice to get an effect to turn on or off.

I've figured out how to get the stock FCB1010 to work exactly as people would expect/hope, using a MIDI translator. This info might be useful to many other people (after all, the FCB1010 has to be one of the most sold MIDI foot controllers). So, below is the approach. Note that I'm not affiliated with the translator app or the virtual MIDI port app I used.

-6stringer


-----------------
The Approach
-----------------
Because the FCB1010 latches its CC values that it sends, Amplitube's own latch option
won't work. We can have the FCB1010 toggle a CC value between off (0) and on (127) each
time we press a switch. But these values might not be in synch with what the current toggle button setting in amplitube. This causes you to sometimes have to press the switch twice to get the stompbox to turn on or off.

What we need is a way to send non-latched CC values to amplitube. It turns out the FCB1010
sends two values each time it sends a MIDI note event: a note on event (the note velocity is
greater than 100, and for the FCB1010, its a default 100) when you step on the switch, and a note off event (the note velocity is 0) when you release the switch. We can use a MIDI translator to convert these note events into CC events.

On my FCB1010, I've programmed switches 6 through 10 in bank 0 to send notes 6 through 10.
The translators we're about to create will convert each of the note events into CC events with
the same number (note 6 will become CC 6, note 7 will become CC 7 etc). This gives me the ability to control the on/off of five effects per Amplitube preset.

------------------
The Translator
------------------
I'm using Bome's MIDI Translator Classic. This app lets you define translator "rules" for MIDI
events. I'm using four translators:

- Note on: This translates the note on event into a CC event with a value of 100.
My incoming translator is "90 pp 64" (don't include the quotes), and the outgoing
translator is "B0 pp 64". The 'pp' in the translator rules is variable. This rule
says "take any note event with a velocity of 100 (the 64 is 100 in hexidecimal), and
send out a CC event with the CC param the same as the note param and the value
100. For example, a note 1 on event will result in a CC param 1 event, with the
value being 100.

- Note off: This translates the note off event into a CC event with a value of 0. Like the
note on translator, the CC parameter value is the same as the note value.
My incoming translator is "90 pp 00", and the outgoing translator is "B0 pp 00".

- Program Change: This just passes the PC event on. My input and output rules are both
"C0 qq". If you don't include this rule, the translator app will thrown out
any PC events it sees. If you want to you PC events with Amplitube,
you'll need this rule.

- CC: This passes CC events on. You'll want this rule so you can still use the expression pedals
and CC events for other things in Amplitube (controlling the looper, next and previous
presets, etc.). The incoming and outgoing rules are both "B0 pp qq".

I have the MIDI input for the Bome app set to be the input device my MIDI FCB1010 is connected to. The output device is set to a virtual MIDI port (see below).

Save all of this to a file. Each time you start your PC, you'll need to start the translator app.

---------------------
Virtual MIDI Port
---------------------
The Bome translator app doesn't act as a MIDI device/port. This means that Amplitube can't
"see" it and it won't appear as a MIDI input device. We need to send the output of the Bome
app to a virtual MIDI port. I'm using loopMIDI v1.0.16. It's a small app that appears as
a MIDI device in applications such as Amplitube and DAWs.

--------------------------
Setting up Amplitube
---------------------------
At this point we have the translators we need and we have a virtual MIDI port that will route
the translated data to Amplitube. Now we need to setup Amplitube. For this example, let's
suppose I have a preset with two stompbox effects in it. We'll call them effect A and effect B.
Both effect has a toggle button we want to control. Also, when the preset loads, effect A is
on and effect B is off.

To get Amplitube to receive the translated MIDI events, we need to select the virtual MIDI port
as the MIDI input device. Go to the AUDIO/MIDI properties page and select the virtual MIDI
port as the MIDI input device. On my PC, it appears as "loopMIDI Port" in the pull down menu
of devices. Don't select the device the FCB1010 is connected to, or you'll just receive the
untranslated MIDI events.

Now go to the CONTROL tab on the Setup dialog in Amplitube. Click on the Control Change
button, and then on the Preset button. You'll see our two stompbox effects in the list. Let's
use switch 6 on the FCB1010 to toggle effect A on/off, and switch 7 to toggle effect B on/off.
The way I have my FCB1010 setup, switch 6 sends a note 6 event. The translator will translate
that into a CC 6 event. Select the effect A bypass row in the list on the CONTROL page, click
on the Learn button, and step on switch 6 on the FCB1010. You should see CC# 6 filled in the
row. Important! Set the "Latch" value in the row to ON. Repeat this for effect B, this time
stepping on switch 7. Click on the OK button.

If you step on switch 6, you should see effect A turn off. If you step on switch 7, effect B
doens't turn on...hmm..what's up? Step on switch 7 again and now it turns on. That's not
exactly what we want. The problem is effect B is off by default when the preset was loaded.
We need to tell Amplitube to swap the min/max values. Go back to the CONTROL page on the
Settings dialog, and set the Min value for effect B to be 100%, and the Max value to be 0%.
Now effect B should work correctly. These values are stored in the preset, so make sure you
save it!!

There's one drawback to having to adjust the min/max value for effects that are off by
default. You'll need to assign MIDI control values by preset, not globally for an effect slot
(which Amplitube 5 isn't even supporting at the moment, even though previous versions did).

I don't know why the developers chose to treat effect toggle buttons the way they do. Life would be much easier if they just considered the effect on/off button as being pushed each time any CC event came in that was tied to that button. That's what the application does with other "buttons", such as the looper buttons. Considering the FCB1010 is probably one of the most widely sold MIDI devices, maybe someday this will change.

[freddano]

First of all, thank you for a great explanation. I used your instructions sucessfully. However, I've since discovered that it really is only necessary to reprogram thew FCB1010 (non-uno) to send CNT1 AND CNT2 for Amplitube 5 to be able to use it.

This is done by programming the FCB1010 like so:

Choose the button you wish to reprogram (in this example: Bank0, Button 1)
Press and hold DOWN
Press up to confirm when the green light flashes.

Press and hold 1 until the red light goes off to de-select Program Change
Press and hold 6 until the redlight turns on to select CNT1
Press and hold 7 until the red light turns on to select CNT2

Press and release 6 to program CNT1. When the red light flashes press UP to confirm
Choose a CC number. To choose 21, Press 2 and then 1. Press UP to confirm
Select level. So select level 0, press 10/0. Press Up to confirm.

Now, here comes the important part. Press and release 7 to program CNT2.
Select the same CC number as under 6. Press 2 and then 1. Press UP to confirm.
Select the OPPOSITE level as under 6. Since we're dealing with a seven bit number, the "opposite" is 127. Press 1, 2, 7. Press UP to confirm.

You should now have red lights on 6, 7, 8, 9. Press and hold down to leave programming mode.

Go back to AT5 and program your stompbox as per usual to CC21. Don't use the AT5 "Latch" control.

HTH

Fredrik

[mistermahler1]

Thanks for both the posts ,.. totally new to AmpliTube ,.. joined the Sale for MAX level

FCB1010 often pop up seccond-hand in my town for a decent price

SO ,.. is a non-modded FCB1010 the obvious choice for a cheap and well-equipped board ???

Safe from trouble as long as the guide-lines in these two posts are followed ???

Or something else to consider at same price-level ???

IK's own board is over my price-level, and never available seccond-hand, plus I would prefer the more buttons and pedal on the FCB1010

Maybe I would even stretch it to the modification, needed be

Thanks in advance for any help

[GuyCNicholas1]

I read this thread and, no offense to 6stringer, I tried out option 2 as it seemed much simpler. It seemed to work just as I would expect it to. I would like to ask the original authors, what, if any, benefit there is to one approach over the other?

Thanks to both of you for your posts!

[6stringer]

No offense taken.

For me, option 2 doesn't work (which is why I cooked up option 1). I'm suspecting my FCB1010 has some really old firmware on it. If option 2 works, then it's a much simpler option because there's no need for the additional software.

[GuyCNicholas1]

Coolio, and thanks again! As a final note to other reading this, I will say that I have opened my FCB 1010 which is new as of about 15 November 2021, and it is on the v2.5 of the firmware.

[freddano]

Hello,
For me, 6stringers approach works well, but only if there is a midi translator available. And, even though midi translator works under wine in Linux, I really wanted a "native" solution to use under Linux. (Yeah, I do see the irony in that, given that AT5 it self only runs under wine.)

But there you have it - 6stringers approach works really well, and there is really nothing wrong with it. I just went the extra mile for the hell of it. 6stringer deserves praise for writing up the original solution and sharing it with us.

What I've done since is actually to cook up full presets that switches quickly in AT5, instead of controlling individual effects. My own, completely non-scientific examination has made me draw the conclusion that what takes the most time to change in AT5 is if two different speaker-mic-setups are being used. So if I switch presets, say one with and one without a chorus-effect, it's nearly as quick if the speaker-mic-room-combo is the same in both presets as if I just flick the on/off-switch on the chorus. Using this approach, it's not necessary to reprogram the FCB1010.

[GuyCNicholas1]

I may have spoken too soon, as I am new to this software approach (up until now I was using a GT-6). What I noticed and, and was going to ask here, was that it sometimes misses the first press. Then, what I was trying to setup was a simple chain with say a chorus and a distortion box and I wanted to save the preset with one on, and the other off. I would then assign the same switch to both with the goal of basically swapping them each time the pedal was pressed. However, what happens is that only one will go the first time the pedal is hit, and then they toggle in unison, both going either on or off.
Before I posted my question here, I reread 6stringer's original post, and now I think I understand there was a subtly that I was missing originally and that the simple approach is not actually working for me.
Before I proceed down 6stringer's solution can anyone tell me if my goal of turning one box on and another off, actually works?

[Calvinlove0]

Option 2 worked for me...for those that don't know though - theres an app that can be used to upload all midi options to the FCB1010 without any footwork (FCB1010 Manager)

[GuyCNicholas1]

#6stringer, using your approach I was able to achieve what I really wanted, which was to toggle a pair of effects...yay.
Using your example of effects A & B with A defaulting to ON and B defaulting to OFF. In the control change panel I set both to CC#6, while keeping the Min/Max values as you stated, 0 & 100 for effect A and 100 & 0 for effect B.

Two other quick notes. First, for me on AmpliTube 5, you have to enter the midi bypass for each stomp prior to going to the control panel or else you get an empty list. And second, though I am sure all of you already know this, but on Windows you right click and drag up/down to edit the Min/Max values.

[greg2074]

I just found this video showing how to set it up and get it working on a FCB1010 with stock firmware.
https://youtu.be/OhSSqpRmfi4

[GuyCNicholas1]

I have now setup a Mac and I am trying to replicate this process. Does anyone have info on that?

[freddano]

I have now setup a Mac and I am trying to replicate this process. Does anyone have info on that?

The process is exactly the same, actually. If you use the FCB1010 itself to program the controls, you end up with a board that sends midi-CC's. And that protocoll is built in to MacOS, just as it is in Windows, Linux or really anything. You might need a MIDI-to-USB-controller, but that's no different either. Of course, there are programs written for MacOS that you can use to send different programmings to the FCB1010. Check out https://mountainutilities.eu/fcb1010 for instance.

Speaking of it - If you program the CC's to go from 1 to 127 (instead of 0 to 127) it still works with Amplitube, but you can also use the "Midi-Toggle" feature in Reaper. (Toggle if CC > 0).

Hope this helps,

Fredrik