Home
I love the tone on my GM36. I also liked the price which was kept low by offering advanced features as add ons. But now I've gone whole hog with every option and am pressing on to make this my best rig ever.
For those of you who use Preset mode with a MIDI controller of some kind, I bet you wish you could see information about the Preset on your GM36. Seeing the name (which appears in the iPad app) would be really nice.
Here's how I solved it (almost)
1. I use the FSM-432, a WMI-1 and the iPad app. This all works great. I make a change on the foot switch and I see it in the app and the amp. Changes made in the iPad app show up on the app and the foot switch.
2. Currently, I use a TC Electronic Gmajor2 FX unit. It is connected in accordance with the WMI-1 manual page 11 (which deserves some study):
http://hughes-and-kettner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/WMI-1_BDA_E_D_J_1_0.pdf
3. My Gmajor2 FX unit is configured to listen for program change messages on MIDI channel 1, the same channel my GM36 uses. It displays a number and nice long name for each preset.
4. Thus my plan is a 1:1 correspondence between presets in the amp and those in the FX unit.
(BTW, I put this all in an SKB 6U shallow rack using a 1U rack shelf that is about 6 inches deep and holds the GM36 perfectly (after strapping down with heavy zip ties). I suggest you put the GM36 in the top for heat reasons. The rack has rails in front & back (spaced 10.5") which let me put a 1U fan unit in the back to blow out the heat. The fan ran on 12V and was too noisy so I made a simple adapter to run it off of 5V (i.e., USB) and now if keeps things relatively cool with virtually no noise-- I would probably only turn off the fan when non-live recording. You can find these fans in computer supply houses- this should lengthen your amp's life. I plan on sharing ideas on the rack thread).
Problems with the above:
5. If you change the preset on the FX unit, it does not change the amp or FS-432. I would like my FX unit to be the master control unit for the whole rig.
(You might ask: why bother? You can see what preset you're on with the iPad app. You'd have a point. I write software for a living so I do not want to depend on a computer, though I will probably always bring it)
One Solution:
6. Refer to page 11 of the WMI-1 manual.
I added a connection from the MIDI OUT of the FX unit to the MIDI IN of the FSM-432.
Now, when I change presets on the FX unit, the amp and the iPad app also change to that preset.
Remaining Problems:
7. Somehow, when you change presets in the FX unit, everything follows it, except the FSM-432 foot pedal. It still shows the previous selection. Now, clearly Pgm Change messages are emanating from the FX unit and traveling thru the FSM-432. They to go on to change the preset selected in both my amp and iPad app.
So, why does the FSM-432 not respond to program changes that it obviously receives and passes on thru? I think the answer may lie in how signals are routed (see p11 of WMI-1 manual). Clearly the FSM-432 is able to send and receive data using just one MIDI cable connected to its MIDI OUT. It would seem that I need to take the serial data coming out of the FX unit MIDI OUT and merge it with data that is already being sent down the FSM-432. I am a total MIDI newbie but find myself looking at buying one of these:
http://www.midisolutions.com/prodmrg.htm
...to perform such a merge. Having written countless serial data apps, maybe I'll make one.
Other Questions:
8. Has anyone configured their GM36, FSM-432, WMI-1, iPad app to work with an effects unit AND that effects unit selects what preset to use on everything?
9. Would a MIDI merge device solve my problems? Given a setup that works, I would hope that I could insert the Merge device some where in the chain and then take the FX unit's MIDI OUT and inject its data.
For those of you who use Preset mode with a MIDI controller of some kind, I bet you wish you could see information about the Preset on your GM36. Seeing the name (which appears in the iPad app) would be really nice.
Here's how I solved it (almost)
1. I use the FSM-432, a WMI-1 and the iPad app. This all works great. I make a change on the foot switch and I see it in the app and the amp. Changes made in the iPad app show up on the app and the foot switch.
2. Currently, I use a TC Electronic Gmajor2 FX unit. It is connected in accordance with the WMI-1 manual page 11 (which deserves some study):
http://hughes-and-kettner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/WMI-1_BDA_E_D_J_1_0.pdf
3. My Gmajor2 FX unit is configured to listen for program change messages on MIDI channel 1, the same channel my GM36 uses. It displays a number and nice long name for each preset.
4. Thus my plan is a 1:1 correspondence between presets in the amp and those in the FX unit.
(BTW, I put this all in an SKB 6U shallow rack using a 1U rack shelf that is about 6 inches deep and holds the GM36 perfectly (after strapping down with heavy zip ties). I suggest you put the GM36 in the top for heat reasons. The rack has rails in front & back (spaced 10.5") which let me put a 1U fan unit in the back to blow out the heat. The fan ran on 12V and was too noisy so I made a simple adapter to run it off of 5V (i.e., USB) and now if keeps things relatively cool with virtually no noise-- I would probably only turn off the fan when non-live recording. You can find these fans in computer supply houses- this should lengthen your amp's life. I plan on sharing ideas on the rack thread).
Problems with the above:
5. If you change the preset on the FX unit, it does not change the amp or FS-432. I would like my FX unit to be the master control unit for the whole rig.
(You might ask: why bother? You can see what preset you're on with the iPad app. You'd have a point. I write software for a living so I do not want to depend on a computer, though I will probably always bring it)
One Solution:
6. Refer to page 11 of the WMI-1 manual.
I added a connection from the MIDI OUT of the FX unit to the MIDI IN of the FSM-432.
Now, when I change presets on the FX unit, the amp and the iPad app also change to that preset.
Remaining Problems:
7. Somehow, when you change presets in the FX unit, everything follows it, except the FSM-432 foot pedal. It still shows the previous selection. Now, clearly Pgm Change messages are emanating from the FX unit and traveling thru the FSM-432. They to go on to change the preset selected in both my amp and iPad app.
So, why does the FSM-432 not respond to program changes that it obviously receives and passes on thru? I think the answer may lie in how signals are routed (see p11 of WMI-1 manual). Clearly the FSM-432 is able to send and receive data using just one MIDI cable connected to its MIDI OUT. It would seem that I need to take the serial data coming out of the FX unit MIDI OUT and merge it with data that is already being sent down the FSM-432. I am a total MIDI newbie but find myself looking at buying one of these:
http://www.midisolutions.com/prodmrg.htm
...to perform such a merge. Having written countless serial data apps, maybe I'll make one.
Other Questions:
8. Has anyone configured their GM36, FSM-432, WMI-1, iPad app to work with an effects unit AND that effects unit selects what preset to use on everything?
9. Would a MIDI merge device solve my problems? Given a setup that works, I would hope that I could insert the Merge device some where in the chain and then take the FX unit's MIDI OUT and inject its data.
