Feature request for KPA-pedal- multichannel midi out

Quote from Fcerha

I would love to have a pedal that has the capacity to send an extra patch change message on a separate midichannel.That would allow me to pair the KPA rigs with any fx- patches in another unit,
directly from the pedal, via midi thru.

Hi, you can do this with several readily available controllers.
Or did I misunderstand you?

+ 1, midi through is working, it depends from the controller.

Quote from Fcerha

I would love to have a pedal that has the capacity to send an extra patch change message on a separate midichannel.That would allow me to pair the KPA rigs with any fx- patches in another unit,
directly from the pedal, via midi thru.

You just need a midi controller that will send different programme changes over each channel. Only problem you then encounter is that there will be a slight delay in the patch change on the second device as the change goes through the first device.

I got around this by buying a Mult output midi thru box. It has 1 input (from your controller) and multiple outs so that the change information is received by each device simultaneously.

Quote from Fcerha

Yes I know that there are pedals that do this, but I just hope that the KPA-pedal will be so much better, and I hope that this aspect won´t be forgotten. In my case it is a Variax guitar that I want to switch models on, so that I could for example pair a Lester neck mic (on the Variax) with a high gain profile(on the KPA) and one of the Chime 12-string simulations (on the Variax) with A Roland JC(on the KPA). This requires that the pedal "knows" that a certain program should send not only PrgCh #1 for the KPA high gain profile but also PrgCh #16 to the Variax...on a separate channel.

This may take some extra explanation. In case some people don´t know about the Variax, it emulates 25 different guitars and does a good job, comes close enough at least to my ear. But switching around on the model selection pot on the guitar takes too much time, so most of the time I am in the area where you find the Gibsons and the Strats. Those of you who do know about the Variax may be aware of Line6´s own solution, that allows you to control the Variax from one of those Line6 pedals. They use their own cable for that......and it is basically a bastard cable. It has the shield of an XLR and contains an RJ-45 plug from a UTP ethernet cable. And it simply handles midi. Apart from a little bit of extra physical support where the shield goes into the guitar I can imagine no other purpose for the non-standard cable than making people stick to Line6.

I did a bit of searching and found out about the PrgCh numbers for the guitar models and how to do the wiring from the UTP to a midiplug. Ironically the fellow who gave all this advice had done it in order to make the Variax cooperate with a Vetta(which is also Line6). So I made my own ethernet-midi adapter If I could only control the guitar and the KPA from the same pedal I would be in control Nirvana!

As you understand, the capacity to control an extra midi unit adds endless possibilities to the KPA system. You could for example control external effects in correspondence with the rigs of the KPA.

Then actually you'd be fine with a Pod HD 500 switching the KPA and the Variax at the same time, and powering the Variax, too.
The HD 500 is a very capable midi controller.

Quote from Fcerha

I feel a bit akward about it since I would not use the audio stuff in the pedal. Price tags could make me rethink, though.

Hmmm...are you somehow affiliated with Line6?

Yes, not using the audio of the HD would seem like a big waste of resources, I know. OTOH: nothing controls a Variax like a product that uses the same proprietary protocol.
It was just an idea and if you can find a used unit...

For the 2nd question: I'm a private person, don't work for Line 6 and have no further affiliation with Line 6 except that I have moderated the German Line 6 user forum for the last 10 years.

Quote from Fcerha

After the announcement that the KPA pedal will not be around until much later I bought the FCB1010. It takes some patience to memorize the various programming procedures, but once you get the hang of it, it is a quite pleasing tool. I even got it to control the Variax, just like I hoped it would:-)

Great! How did you achieve this?

Quote from Fcerha

From the aspect of the FCB1010:
This pedal is able to send 5 PrgChg simultaneously over several midi channels...just like I hoped the KPA pedal would.
I set the KPA to listen to channel2(and switched off omni). I programmed the FCB1010 to send PrgChg to the KPA On channel2(naturally) and to the Variax on Channel1, which is the channel it listens to. I don't think I would have figured out the programming procedures without The Idiots guide to FCB1010(Google is your friend)

From the aspect of the Variax, the catch is how you send midi to it without the limitations of the supplied Variax cable.
It turns out that the proprietary aspect of Variax control is the cable only. Or so it seems. A year ago I just imagined "what if it is good old midi running through that bastard cable?" Some googling led me to a post on a line6 forum where somebody had supplied a list of program change numbers and a small sheet for some soldering work. So I took an old ethernet cable and attached a 5pin midi plug at the other end.
I have the guidelines at home and could post them later if anybody wants them .When I looked a week ago that post was still in the Line6 forum.

This is great news and very valuable information. Thank you!