Boss GP-10 - How to implement 5 pin MIDI I/O with Raspberry Pi

Started by loulea, July 31, 2014, 01:22:19 PM

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loulea

Here is a list of "almidi" commands if interested.

Usage: amidi options

   -h, --help             this help
   -V, --version          print current version
   -l, --list-devices     list all hardware ports
   -L, --list-rawmidis    list all RawMIDI definitions
   -p, --port=name        select port by name
   -s, --send=file        send the contents of a (.syx) file
   -r, --receive=file     write received data into a file
   -S, --send-hex="..."   send hexadecimal bytes
   -d, --dump             print received data as hexadecimal bytes
   -t, --timeout=seconds  exits when no data has been received
                          for the specified duration
   -a, --active-sensing   don't ignore active sensing bytes

This website is good info for structuring the data for sending and receiving. <<http://alsa.opensrc.org/Amidi
Music is in everyone!!

gumtown

If you are into c, c++, or Python programming, then RtMidi is a great interface for programming and midi (works on Linux-ALSA, mac osx, and windows).
http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~gary/rtmidi/
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

autodidactic

Hi there. I have an older rpi. I don't have a spare SD card and I don't want to lose some stuff I was already doing on it with PureData and the like. So I want to set this up on my existing Raspbian installation. I am not a low level programmer but am quite comfortable with Linux as far as systems administration and web development is concerned.

I fired up qjackctl and it doesn't recognize the GP-10 at all. I was wondering what kernel version are you using?
1965 Gibson J45
1979 Gibson ES347
90's Epiphone Joe Pass
80's Yamaha Classical
Bouzouki by Dekavalas

gumtown

I used the latest 9/9/2014 download.
Kernel version: 3.12

SD card doesn't cost too much and are easy to find.

Or
make a backup of your existing card with Win32DiskImager
http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

and update the Kernal with
sudo apt-get update
and
sudo apt-get upgrade



Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

autodidactic

Ok, that's probably it then. I haven't updated my Raspbian in a while and am using kernel 3.6. I'll run a dist-upgrade then. No sense in going through another SD card and fresh install just to get a kernel module.
1965 Gibson J45
1979 Gibson ES347
90's Epiphone Joe Pass
80's Yamaha Classical
Bouzouki by Dekavalas

loulea

Quote from: autodidactic on September 23, 2014, 08:56:02 PM
Ok, that's probably it then. I haven't updated my Raspbian in a while and am using kernel 3.6. I'll run a dist-upgrade then. No sense in going through another SD card and fresh install just to get a kernel module.

I would still image your card though to retain your previous state if something were to happen. I've had a couple things happen which I couldn't undo because of programming or loading and had to revert back to a previous image.  :).

http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/
Music is in everyone!!

autodidactic

#256
Quote from: loulea on September 24, 2014, 10:30:55 AM
I would still image your card though to retain your previous state if something were to happen. I've had a couple things happen which I couldn't undo because of programming or loading and had to revert back to a previous image.  :).

http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

Thanks for the good advice. After doing some research it seems that my particular installation is not going to work with the GP-10. Usually with Linux distributions, you use the package manager to upgrade the kernel and then modify the GRUB bootloader's boot parameters to boot using the new kernel. Raspberry Pi OTOH wants you to use the rpi-updater utility which updates the firmware as well as the kernel. Unfortunately, after upgrading using all the usual methods, Raspbian insists on sticking to kernel version 3.6. It doesn't use GRUB to boot and I am not really into learning a new boot loader right now. I'll just use rsync to backup my home directory and do a clean install. The only data on my Pi right now that is worth saving is a collection of PureData patches so not a huge loss.

I am looking forward to getting my Pi setup and chipping in with some development. I'm really liking the GP-10 experience so far. Not only has it given me an enormous sonic pallet, but it's letting me get my nerd on too ;D
1965 Gibson J45
1979 Gibson ES347
90's Epiphone Joe Pass
80's Yamaha Classical
Bouzouki by Dekavalas

batman

Thanks loulea and everyone else, it works!

If only I could plug in my midi controller and use tone studio at the same time...

loulea

Quote from: batman on October 05, 2014, 03:58:41 AM
Thanks loulea and everyone else, it works!

If only I could plug in my midi controller and use tone studio at the same time...

Glad to hear Batman!
Music is in everyone!!

BackDAWman

I now have my GP-10 hooked up through the Rasberry PI into a Neutronik IMOne midi interface. The cool thing about the IMOne is that it has female connectors. One MIDI in and two MIDI outs, so it's acts like the 5 pin MIDI the GP-10 should have. So my rig looks like:

iPad>MIDI lead out 1>Voicelive 3
     >MIDI lead out 2>IMOne>Raspbery PI>GP-10

It works great!

I also tried plugging into a synth from the GP-10 this way and latency is acceptable ie as good as the GP-10 can be. I have to admit I had been playing around with the triple play before this so latency was made blatantly obvious. The FTP is still the best there is!

loulea

Quote from: BackDAWman on October 07, 2014, 05:01:53 PM
I now have my GP-10 hooked up through the Rasberry PI into a Neutronik IMOne midi interface. The cool thing about the IMOne is that it has female connectors. One MIDI in and two MIDI outs, so it's acts like the 5 pin MIDI the GP-10 should have. So my rig looks like:

iPad>MIDI lead out 1>Voicelive 3
     >MIDI lead out 2>IMOne>Raspbery PI>GP-10

It works great!

I also tried plugging into a synth from the GP-10 this way and latency is acceptable ie as good as the GP-10 can be. I have to admit I had been playing around with the triple play before this so latency was made blatantly obvious. The FTP is still the best there is!

Another successful PI story's! Glad to hear of your success. Did you use the image or load from scratch? Is there also a noticeable difference in the latency? I cannot notice any.
Music is in everyone!!

BackDAWman

I loaded Raspbian on myself and set it up. I figured that if it was working I wouldn't mess with it.

I don't think the PI adds any detectable latency. I think the GP-10 has about the same latency as my GR-55.

Elantric

Nice to see that after 3 months - Roland US still provides a link to this thread !
(they typically remove all references to VGuitarforums from the Roland Blog after 1 week)
http://www.rolandus.com/blog/2014/03/14/gp-10-guitar-processor/

supernicd

Quote from: Elantric on October 08, 2014, 04:46:09 PM
Nice to see that after 3 months - Roland US still provides a link to this thread !
(they typically remove all references to VGuitarforums from the Roland Blog after 1 week)
http://www.rolandus.com/blog/2014/03/14/gp-10-guitar-processor/

That is a strange policy for Roland to have.  Granted, I guess we do post our criticisms and wish list items here too, but this site has helped me get far more from my Roland gear than I ever would have alone.  And in fact my membership and participation in this forum could be directly linked to me purchasing more Roland gear.
Strat w/ GK-3, Godin LGXT
VG-99, GR-55, GP-10
---------------------------------------------------------------

pasha811

I discovered VG99 because of this forum and eventually got one.. I am with you! :-)
Listen to my music at :  http://alonetone.com/pasha/

loulea

I don't see why Roland would have objections to this since we are promoting Roland products. We are highlighting both the good and the bad and providing solutions to deficiencies in their products or promoting some the great features also. If I were them I would provide a PI with every GP-10 :). These forums provide a valuable service and I am glad to be part of it. I feel another thread starting :).
Music is in everyone!!



batman

Let's say I have a midi controller and one of the buttons is set to tap tempo.  The midi controller outputs tap tempo on one midi channel only (but can transmit PC/CC on multiple channels).
Let's also say that I use a GP-10 + RP, which go to the PA, and external effects which feed through to a normal guitar amp.  One of those effects could be a delay or other time-based effect that accepts midi to switch patches and sync tempo.  However, I don't want the effect pedal and GP-10 on the same midi channel as I use many patches on the GP-10 and don't want to set up a bunch of 'blank' patches for the delay.
Is it possible to configure the Raspberry Pi to 'listen' to the delay on one midi channel and output it on 2 channels (1 for the GP-10 and 1 for the delay pedal)?

I'm aware that this http://www.midisolutions.com/prodevp.htm and possibly this http://www.midisolutions.com/prodbtc.htm may provide a solution but it would be nice to avoid spending too much more money :)

Thanks

BackDAWman

If you could find a MIDI application for Linux that could do MIDI routing you certainly could with the PI running Raspbian.

Google is your friend but here is the first thing I found:

http://linux-sound.org/one-page.html?bcsi_scan_C6EECA52839E4502=0&bcsi_scan_filename=one-page.html#midi

gumtown

wouldn't you just simply have the GP-10 on (for example) midi channel 1 and the delay unit on midi channel 2, and have the required switching done with this fancy multi-channel midi controller.
I can't recall if clock sync is midi channel specific or uses system exclusive instead (where channel is ignored).
Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

batman

Quote from: gumtown on October 23, 2014, 03:11:38 PM
wouldn't you just simply have the GP-10 on (for example) midi channel 1 and the delay unit on midi channel 2, and have the required switching done with this fancy multi-channel midi controller.
I can't recall if clock sync is midi channel specific or uses system exclusive instead (where channel is ignored).

The midi controller (RJM Mastermind FYI) only outputs tap tempo on one channel, so whatever isn't on that channel would ignore the tap signal.  That's a good point about the clock sync but I'm learning this midi stuff as I go so will have to look into it.
I didn't really search too much because I know essentially nothing about Linux as well and am not really sure what I'm looking for.  And if I found it I doubt I could get it working reliably.  I was hoping someone would say "sure you can do that with R Pi straight out of the box, just..." :/
But yes I'll look into it further
Thanks

bigdough

Hi guys,
I spent the last three days reading and doing my best to understand what I was reading throughout this thread and, despite my complete ignorance of electronics and programming combined with my poor English, I have a sense that what you did and still do is remarkable; so tons of respect and gratitude from Rome – Italy where I live! (Special thanks to Elantric making extra efforts so that people beyond dumbness like me can actually understand something).
Now I'll describe my situation with my basic vocabulary, hope you'll forgive me:
I'm a happy VG-99 user, I control it with a Parker Fly Classic 1994 equipped with a RMC Poly Drive I and a sustainiac pickup; I'm also a looping guy (of the soundscapes type), so in time I built up a system which now looks like this:


The Rolls Midi Wizard is actually there only to control the Looperlative, for the rest of the system I use a Roland FC-300 (the whole thing has been assembled by a friend of mine who's a professional: http://www.spfmanufacturing.com/).
I drive the old Oberheim Matrix 1000 synth from the VG-99 midi out while the audio mono out of the synth goes back into the VG-99 via the "Guitar input" plug, so that I can process that signal into the VG effect chain an control the mix between the Matrix and the VG with one of the two exp. pedal of the FC-300. The Eclipse gets the digital audio signal via the SPDIF from the VG. Now, as the Eclipse has two pairs of stereo outs, the signal is sent both to the mini-line-mixer and to the Looperlative, and then the Looperlative outs (only wet) go to the mini-line-mixer too. I had to do it that way because the Looperlative in a series chain just sucks, in parallel... well, it's just acceptable. In fact the week element of the whole system is definitely the Looperlative, but this is another matter; also that is the past...
My frustration for the Looperlative poor performance, the need for a lighter/simpler setup, and last but not least, my unstoppable fever for getting gear, brought me firstly here:

And now here:

Now, I guess I don't need to explain where I'm heading to...
Checking MusicOverGear's shopping list:
Stuff I already got:

•   Boss GP-10 with a GK Pickup (see last pic).
•   Midi Foot Controller that sends Program Change Messages (My Rolls Midi Wizard).
•   Raspberry Pi B+ 512MB
•   Pi Power Supply.
•   Micro USB Cable to connect the power supply to the Pi.
•   Pretty Much Any Micro-SD Card 4GB or higher (I just ordered this kit which is now on its way).

Stuff I still have to get:

•   Inline Midi Interface & Cables.

If I got it right, there are two main ways of doing the thing: Loulea's and MusicOverGear's, and I'm figuring out a third way for me which is somewhere in the middle: because I'm getting a Micro SD Card pre-loaded with "NOOB", I'd rather avoid the whole thing of the disk image which didn't seem to get to any full declared success anyway; also, although I didn't really understand how to do it, I'd rather avoid to install a power button by making the SD card "read-only". On the other hand I'd like to get my Ipad to program the Pi possibly using the GUI rather than typing those hieroglyphics...

A second list again from MusicOverGear:

Software You Will Download
SD Formatter
NOOBS

General flow of events:
Format card
Download NOOBs
Unzip NOOBs
Copy NOOBs to card
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Until here, providing my Micro SD Card pre-loaded with "NOOB" works, I should be ok, that is, I don't have to do it
Plug in all devices to the Pi: GP-10 USB, Midi Interface USB, USB Mouse, USB Keyboard, HDMI Video, Ethernet
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put card into Pi
Power up the Pi
Install Raspbian
Use Raspi-Config to make Raspbian boot to LXDE (Desktop Environment)
Open QjackCtl and learn how to make connections
Use Patchbay to make a connection file
Activate patch bay persistence
Open a Terminal and type the following
sudo leafpad
Open the file /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart
add the following line to the autostart file
@qjackctl
reboot using the little power button in the start menu
bask in sense of accomplishment
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I suppose that up to here the document Loulea attached here: https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=11998.msg87161#msg87161 supported by the unsuccessful but detailed report by Elantric: https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=11998.msg87313#msg87313 should be able to guide me through the process...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
decide how you want to do a shutdown script and do it
You can just buy a solution like this one, or...
You can follow my instructions below, which picks up from a previous video and requires some very basic computer literacy - not for everyone.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This last bit I really don't know, the following vid is too much for me. From Loulea's side this post looks like the state of the art: https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=11998.msg88049#msg88049 but still it's not clear to me if I need a physical power switch or not (I'd rather not).
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Now here comes my list of questions:

1.   Will the Micro SD Card pre-loaded with "NOOB" included in the kit be enough for the purpose or will I need an extra one, possibly 16GB? Maybe, if anything, just for the backup?
2.   For the process of Pi programming shall I hook the Pi to my home rooter via Ethernet cable?
3.   Will I also need a Wireless Wifi Adapter to make my Ipad communicate with the Pi? And would this one be ok? http://www.amazon.it/TP-LINK-TL-WN725N-Adattatore-Wireless-Configurazione-semplice/dp/B008IFXQFU/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1415876245&sr=8-5&keywords=Wireless+Wifi+Adapter
4.   I watched tons of vids and I'm a bit confused now: which one I should take as a reference to accomplish my task?
5.   Since I share with MusicOverGear the wish to implant the Pi somewhere into my pedalboard, is there a safe way to power it on/off with the rest of the gear without having to install and always use the Power Button?
6.   If I plug the midi out from the MIDI-USB cable/interface into the midi in socket of my Eventide H9 will this enable to send midi program change message from the Rolls pedalboard to the H9?
7.   Once I've done all that (which is still quite far), I'm thinking of hooking my Ipad to the Pi via USB (camera kit) and drive a soft synth with note on messages coming from the GP-10 (the audio from the Ipad would go into the GP-10 via Aux in); do you guys see this as a possibility? And for that, if I think ahead, I'd probably need a good quality MIDI-USB cable/adapter like Roland UM-ONE mk2 or ESI MIDIMATE II rather than a generic Inline Midi Interface & Cables (Listed as HDE USB MIDI Cable Converter PC to Music Keyboard) sold by amazon, right?

Now I want to thank you again, especially the ones who made it through this long blurb to this point, then, if you feel like support and answer my questions, I'll buy you a cappuccino next time you'll happen to be in Rome!

Kevin M

I just ordered a Raspberry Pi kit also for the same purpose with a 32 GB sd card. I plan on documenting my steps as well. I did order the wireless adapter in case I need to SSH into it later on. I won't receive my kit until some time next week.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Elantric

There are many steps -

One day we'll create a step by step PDF Guide

Untill then just have to read the two threads we have on Raspberry Pi MIDI I/O setup.
and watch the YouTube videos that have been posted in the threads
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=12067.0