Use Kemper to control Lights via MIDI

Hi All,

I have the Kemper Profiler with the Kemper Footswitch.
Every song we play has its own bank on the Kemper. (Performance mode)
I use an iPad and Luminair and DMX for the lightshow.

I would like to be able to trigger scenes and sequences when I change effects on my Kemper. I think I read that the Kepmper controls the footswitch via MIDI. I never worked with MIDI so I have no clue if it is possible to "Listen in" to the MIDI Out port when the footswitch sends MIDI signals to the Kemper. That would be the ideal solution. Luminair has a teaching mode where I can open a sequence and tell it to be triggered by (I guess) any MIDI command.

I connected the Kemper to the iPad (Midi->USB cable -> lightning USB photo adapter but I have no idea where to look if the iPad is actually receiving anything.

My question is if anybody has ever done anything like this or can anyone point me in the right direction so I can start to systematically trouble shoot? Is there an app that can "Listen" to the MIDI channel and tell me if anything is coming in and if so, what the values are?

Thanks for your help,
tom

Thanks for your quick response Paults. That sheds some light on the concept. So the MIDI signal is kind of an "extra" that I can configure to send out when I switch to a channel. I'll give that a shot as soon as I figured out how to monitor incoming MIDI msg on the iPad. Found some apps but no success so far in getting anything.

Thanks again,
tom

Paults,
That did the trick. Took me a while o get the midi into the iPad but a wireless bluetooth Puck (Amazon) was finally successful. I also found free software (MIDI Wrench) to 'listen' on the iPad to the MIDI messages floating around. Here is one way to make it work:

Assign a number to the slots on the Kemper that I want to use to change the chases/sequences in Luminair.
In Luminair go to the chase/sequence (or even the scene) I want to get called when I chose a specific slot on the Kemper foot controller.
Select the chase/sequence (or even the scene) in Luminair, select Options -> Midid Input -> Activate Sequence.
Luminair is in 'learning mode' and will now listen to MIDI.
Hit the slot on your foot controller that you want to trigger the chase/sequence/scene.
Luminair will display the message/number.
Confirm
That's it.

There are some gotchas and things to consider but that's more on the Luminair side and doesnt really belong in this forum. Happy to elaborate should anybody be interested. But the jist of it is nor that I can now trigger light effect sequences that are programmed in DMX by changing slots with the Kemper foot switch (in program mode)

So, here is the next challenge on this. Not only do I want to control the light show (sequences) from my Kemper but I also want to be able to trigger a light sequence without having to change the effect on the Kemper. Say a big white dramatic flash, followed by some red and blue flickering at the most dramatic part of the song (We do Pink Floyd) but I don't want to change the channel on the Kemper and I don't have enough channels per bank (only 5) to keep rigs redundant. So I got the Mongoose which is a generic MIDI switch.

Here is the setup
Mongoose->(MIDI In) KPA (MIDI THRU) ->PUC (blue tooth MIDI transmitter)->iPad (PUC driver->Luminair)->WiFi (Airport Express)->eDMX1 (DMX King, converts DMX over Ethernet to DMX)->Donner (Wireless DMX transmitter)->Donner receiver->Light Fixtures

The System Settings on the KPA are MIDI OUT (not THRU)
All devices are on OMNI Channel
The problem now is when everybody is on OMNI channel that the Mongoose changes the channel on the KPA and then the KPA changes the lights.
So I switched the KPA to Channel 1, the Mongoose to Cannel 3 and the rest is listening to OMNI in the hopes that the Mongoose would stop triggering the KPA. Success! But now the Mongoos isn't passing it's signal through the KPA anymore.

What I don't understand: If I plug the POC into the THRU I would expect to receive both (the KPA and the Mongoose) signals. The Mongoose is coming through but not the KPA. If I switch the KPA in System settings to THRU instead of OUT I do receive the KPA but not the Mongoose signal (and the manual confirmed that). What good is a THRU if it only lets one or the other pass? Do I need additional cabeling (MIDI splitter cable if there is such thing)?

Thanks,
tom