MIDI: GMD40 + Voodoo Labs GCP

I finally had the time to configure my Voodoo Labs GCP to be the midi switcher for my GMD40.

Midi setup is working fine.
I have it set to access 4 presets + 8 instant access buttons.

I have instant access set up to turn the Modulation, Delay and Reverb on and off whenever I need to.
Noise gate on/off
Boost on/off
Amp Mute

Easy setup, and works very well!

In the future I could have the FX loop on/off - but I have decided to run the amp with nothing in the FX loop for now.

I am racking my brain trying to figure out how to set up my midi controller like you did. 4 main channels, clean, dirty, drive, wet/lead and I have 8 other direct access buttons I want to setup as on/off reverb, chorus, delay, trem, phaser, drive, mute and an expression pedal.

I just got a Peak FCB8N, but with their terrible manual, and H&K's lack of midi controller help, I'm racking my brain to figure this out.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Take care.

EofA - first you want to make sure your Peak FCB8N is set up for 4 patch mode. On your controller, they call it 4Pr mode. In your setup you can switch between 4.Pr <-->12.Pr

Make sure the foot controller is sending commands on the same MIDI channel as the GMD40.
If you can change channels with the 4 patch buttons, then the controller and the amp are communicating.

And wow, the documentation for your midi controller is a real bummer.

So you will be able to set CC numbers for your 8 instant access buttons.
The controller numbers are on page 12 of your GMD40 manual.
Instant access will give you 'On-Off' control for anything in this list listed as "On-Off".

My upper left hand button is set to send a CC 63 command - this turns the noise gate on/off.
My next buttons send a CC 64 command, to turn the Boost on and off.
So each instant access button needs to be assigned to a CC number.
I use another button for CC 55 for turning the loop on and off.

For the GMD40 FX, you are only able to access On-OFF for Reverb, Delay, and Modulation.
Meaning, you can't address Chorus, Flanger, Tremelo separately.
So for each channel preset, you can save a Reverb, Delay, and one of the Modulation FX.
Then assign 3 separate instant access buttons for each of those to turn on and off.
(cc 54=Reverb, cc 53=Delay, cc 52=Modulation)

I did find that for things to work with my MIDI controller, I had to do the following:
1) Make sure all 3 FX were on when saving a channel preset on the GMD40. So, I am saving the channel preset with everything on.

2) Separately, on the MIDI controller - I have the on/off state saved for each of the 4 channels.
EX: for my Rhythm channel, I have the noise gate on, boost on, reverb on, delay off, modulation off.
Even though I saved my preset with everything on (so those settings are stored) - when the MIDI controller sends the commands to the GMD40, it is sending those commands to turn off the delay and modulation - even though they are saved in the amp in an "On" state.

3) The Voodoo Labs GCP has 3 options for how the instant access switches work:
  Normal - Only sends the CC message when the button is pressed
  Transmit with Preset - when the preset is selected, it sends the CC message for the state of the button
  Momentary - sends 'On' when pressed and 'Off' when released.
I save my instant access buttons using 'Transmit with Preset'. This is how I am able to accomplish saving the individual FX (Reverb, Delay, Modulation) for each preset, and then still activate them (on or off) with both how the preset is saved, and then turning the FX on/off individually.

THANK YOU!!!!

I'm going to mess with this tonight. I hope to get it working. The first part of you reply I have working in 4pr mode and able to change my first 4 patches.

The rest of it I'll try out. Agreed. The manual for my controller is terrible and lack of any support and online video tutorials. Very disappointing when the pedal is designed really nicely.

Thank you for the help!!!! I got it working but now some other issue.

Correct me if I'm wrong:

I have my 4 main patches, clean, dirty, overdrive, wet/lead

I have access buttons set up for:

C5: Boost | C6: Reverb | C7: Delay | C8: MOD-FX | C1: Global Mute | C2: MOD-FX Type

Seems like each 1-4 channel has to be manually set and saved for using the CC direct access buttons, correct?

EX: Channel 1, Clean, the reverb, delay and mod-fx are saved with that patch and I can turn them on and off. Where as if I select channel 2, Dirty, I have to manually set the reverb, delay and mod-fx and store that in the amp? Meaning, with each 1-4 channel, the CC settings don't carry over globally. They have to be reset and saved in the patch with the correct CC values.

One other issue I noticed. Channel 1 is Clean, dry no reverb, delay or mod initially, but I can turn them on individually. No problem. When I switch to the dirty channel it sounds like the reverb, delay and mod bleed into the dirty channel for a split second, as if, the rev, del and mod are resetting to that patch but the direct access buttons aren't even selected?

I can see in the MAC app when I change channels, the rev, del and mod are resetting, I wonder if there's some latency when channel switching and using CC values?

One more thing I noticed which is real annoying.

Say I'm on my dirty channel and I manually mess with the dials on the amp, hit store... It wipes out all the levels to my reverb, delay and mod? The only way around that is selecting all the access buttons making them active, then holding down store on the amp, then manually turning off all the access buttons one by one? That's going to be terrible live when I want to tweak eq on the amp and storing it.

Ugh...

It sounds like you have it working right.
Yes, in my experience - when saving a patch, you need to think of it as saving to the amp with all of the FX on - even if your patch will have them in the off position when you activate that patch.

Each patch needs to be set and saved individually - in the amp.
Your MIDI controller, saves the on/off state of each instant access button - for each patch that it will access.

If you are noticing FX bleed when switching channels - that is probably a good thing, as having FX like reverb or delay have a hard cut-off when switching channels can sound odd.

And, yes, your last observation seems to be true. Whenever you hit 'store' you are storing the latest state for that channel. If you hit store, when your MIDI controller has turned FX off - that seems to reset the FX.

Poop. That sucks real bad. No quick adjusting the amp at shows? Defeats the whole purpose of turning on/off effects, mod or reverb. I may have to just run it 12pr and have 4 cleans with varying tones and effects, 4 dirtys and 4 leads. All individually set up.

At least I got what I wanted to work so far. Appreciate your help on this.

So this discussion got me thinking ...

What if the "Store" button stored all the settings except the FX settings (Reverb/Delay/Modulation).
And then you could store FX settings separately, by holding down the FX+Store button for 3 seconds?

That's a great idea!!!!! I wonder if they could do that in a firmware update? Email HK with that. I wonder if that would solve the issue?

Another note on this for anyone using the Voodoo Labs GCP and the WiFi adapter.

I could never run the WiFi adapter with the GCP - because I was using a 7-pin Midi cable.
The power draw seems to be too much for the WiFi adapter and causes it to shut down.

I now use the GCP AC power adapter, and a 5-pin midi cable, and it works great!