FSM 432 MK III and iPad cabling

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum and to H&K gear in general. Been playing off and on for over 35 years now, but only recently decided, after many years of the same gear, to upgrade to something a bit more modern. I've been a Line6 player (yeah, I know, don't judge) for better than 20 of those years. So, I kind of got used to the benefit of having almost everything I needed for effects already baked in to my amplifier. Consequently, trading up to something better would necessitate something pretty special. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across the H&K GM40D and finally pulled the trigger a few nights ago. It won't show up until after XMas, but I like to be prepared. hence, my question:

Since I already threw down a pretty good chunk of change for this head, I'm already having the companion unit eyeballing me sideways at my spending even though she's the one who's been pestering me for years to get back into playing! So, i have to keep any further spending down to a minimum. The unit I bought comes with the FSM 432 MK III control board which, it seems, I'll need to use the MIDI plugs on the back of the head to work with. However, I want to be able to use the iPad app to be able to more finely tune my tones at the same time. This tells me that I'll have to hard-wire the iPad to the head and that is going to present a cabling issue.

Since I can't really justify the WMI-1 unit at the moment, I'm trying to cobble together a (cheaper) solution in the interim:

To go between the iPad and the head: iConnectMIDI1 Lightning Version, 1-in 1-out USB to MIDI Interface for Mac, PC and iOS - (amazon.com/dp/B00MRFG3WU/)

Which tells me I'll probably need a pair of these MIDI splitter cables to be able to run everything together: MIDI DIN Splitter Cable - Riipoo 0.5 Meter MIDI DIN 5 Pin Male to Dual 2 x DIN-5 Female Extension Audio Adapter Cable, For MIDI keyboard synthesizer, Organ, Electric Piano, MIDI Guitar, KS-MiDi0.5 - (amazon.com/dp/B06Y53DNLF/)

So, my question is this: Will this setup work to run both at the same time? I am certainly no MIDI expert so, admittedly, I may be way off in my thinking here. If so, is there a better solution, something that won't cost me an arm and a leg - and, consequently, won't get me banned to the couch at night? GAS is a hard mistress!

I am not around my equipment at moment to look. Buy the only problem I see with this is the FSM 432 uses 7 pins and the two extra pins provide power to the pedal.
Otherwise I am sure it would work.
Maybe you can find a 7pin din connector splitter and use the cable that came with the pedal to connect the pedal and get a standard midi cable for the iPad interface.
Maybe mouser or one of the other electronic supply and parts companies will have one.

I have the WMI-1 (I got the whole thing together with Amp, Pedal, and WMI-1. It works great. The iPad control makes it very easy to control the amp.

If you get the iOS midi interface you will be able to use either pedal or iPad
You can also use your computer. There is a free app.

And yes GAS is a rough one.

Thanks, David. Much obliged for the answer.

Jareth,
I had the same question. I found that the MIDI Out from the FSM-MKIII going to the MIDI In on the amp worked fine to send MIDI commands to the amp. And as has been noted, the power to the FSM comes in via the extra 2 pins on the special MIDI cable with 7 pins total.

I used the same MIDI interface you showed to connect the iPad to the FSM, but I was not getting two-way communications between the amp and the iPad app.

So I purchased a standard 5-pin MIDI cable and a female MIDI coupler (https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GMD108--hosa-gmd-108). I connected my iPad to my MIDI/Lightning adapter, then connected one end of the MIDI adapter to the FSM MIDI IN. I connected the other adapter MIDI plug to the coupler and the other end of the coupler to the MIDI Out/Thru on the amp.

This allows me to run the FSM and my iPad app seamlessly and they all talk to each other. The coupler was $4.99 and I could use a standard 5-pin midi cable with this setup. It is cheap and very functional. When I am playing live (I play at my church), I can place the iPad on a music stand and the cables go down to the floor to the FSM in front of me. Then the other two MIDI cables (the 5-pin and the 7-pin), go back to the amp behind me.

The WM-1 wireless setup that was mentioned would certainly work, but it was obviously much more expensive and would require switching my iPad to the WM-1 Wifi network. And I would still have to run my 7-pin MIDI cable from my FSM to the amp. So I'm very happy with my setup.

I hope this helps. Oddly, I would think this would be a common question, but I was never able to find a solution online or in the manuals.

Here is a little video I made for a friend who was having the same issue. Hope this explains what I was trying to say.

Just flicking through this quickly so I can't give a proper response so I may have missed the details. I'll get back to it to check out later.

What sort of MIDI interface are you using? They don't all work with the app! The interface MUST support SYSEX data transfer. Some older or cheap interfaces, (mostly Chinese nowadays), don't support this. The MIDI messages you send are defined in the old MIDI spec. That means the data message size was originally fixed and hardware like interfaces was designed to accommodate that. However there is now an additional level of functionality available which allows you to send larger blocks of data than that standard. This is SYSEX transfer (System Exclusive or unique to your own setup). The app requires that to be supported to function. One way transfer is a symptom of this problem. You could check out that aspect in your interface spec. They usually specifically state "Supports SYSEX transfer".

I use the iConnectMIDI1 from iConnectivity.
It appears the video I tried to post did not actually post. Perhaps it was too large. As I mentioned before, in order to get full functionality, I had to run a cable from the OUT/Thru MIDI jack on the amp to the white MIDI cable labeled IN on the iConnectMIDI1 interface. Since both cables in this setup are male, I had to use a female-female adapter. The black OUT iConnectMIDI1 cable goes to the MIDI IN on the FSM. Lastly, the 7-pin cable goes from FSM MIDI OUT to amp MIDI IN. I hope this clarifies for anyone still confused by my prior post.

Thanks Lerxst1.  Sorry for the quick response, it was only that I didn't have time there and then to sit and read the small print.  There was no confusion, you have your setup exactly as H&K recommend in their videos using the original iRig.  I just didn't have time to read and digest Jereth's info from the start to be sure what his issue really was.  From what I've found, the iConnectMIDI1 supports Sysex transfer correctly so it definitely looks as though that isn't the problem in any way which we knew would be the case from your own experience.  It's good to bring up and describe the issue of Sysex again as it doesn't seem to be mentioned a lot and still causes problems.

The only thing odd to me is that you had to use a gender changer in your cable connections.  Usually outputs and inputs are specifically matched with female and male connectors respectively.  To have to change the gender smacks of a connection into the same type of connection, input to input and vice versa.  When inputs and outputs are different genders they can't be confused at the same end.  I know that idea is not correct in this case due to the iConnectMIDI1 but it is odd.  The iConnectMIDI1 has male connectors in both roles, MIDI Out and In.  It doesn't really matter at this level but it is unusual.  The idea is that output connections which may be carrying high voltages have their pins shrouded in a female connector.  Input connections which are accepting a voltage are left bare as there is no danger there.  You should then always be using extension cables to connect them, (male to female), making them continue the same gender of connection through and also making them compatible with either an in or out just by turning them around.  They can then be daisy chained to extend them.  Sure, it's pedantic and not always necessary, but it's just odd on  iConnectMIDI1's part.

Jereth.  If I am honest, knowing only what I know about it at the moment, I have to admit I think the WM-1 is very overpriced!  It is only network and MIDI technology and that isn't terribly complicated nowadays.  There are other units out there which should do the job much cheaper if perhaps by a different route.  The last time this idea came up in the forum, which was a while back now, there was the possibility of the Yamaha MDBT01 which is much cheaper.   I have not heard of it being used in the H&K setup so it would require someone who is more of a MIDI expert than I am to check that it does the job correctly but it is a thought.  You would think there should be better units than that out there by now.  The units at that stage do work via Bluetooth, now older technology,  whereas the WM-1 creates a virtual computer network but, hey, MIDI is totally outdated nowadays but it still does the job.  You pays your money and you takes your choice I guess.

I agree on the WM-1 pricing, it seems a bit excessive, and a bit odd that they went with WIFI instead of bluetooth on it too.

In theory, any MIDI interface should work, I have seen demos of the iRig MIDI being used which is considerably cheaper.

It has gotten me thinking though, and I may have to try something here.   I don't have a MIDI interface that I can connect to my iPad, but I do have a MIDI connection on the audio interface on my mac.  In theory, I should be able to use that connection to the Hughes and Kettner, and do bluetooth MIDI from my iPad to my Mac, and pass it through to the Grandmeister.   Since I already have the cables, that could be a free solution.  

If it works I will do a video on it.   I was thinking of hooking up the MIDI to my mac anyway, and see if I could just develop and app on the Mac to use, which I would prefer over the iPad anyway.

After a little searching, it appears there already is one. So for me, problem solved.

Bordonbert,
The only reason I used the gender changer adapter was for convenience. By using an extra MIDI cable, I was able to have my iConnectMIDI1 right in front of me on a music stand and very close to the FSM. And then I have the 7-pin cable and the “extra” cable running back to my amp a little further away from me on stage behind. The connectors on the iConnectMIDI are too short to reach everything.