Firstly I have searched a bit about this on these boards and online however I am new to coding for MIDI.
You see the idea I have is (I hope) rather simple.
I would like to make a small MIDI interface that allows me to press a multitude of buttons (anything from 12 upwards I guess) that would send a MIDI User Channel change command to my Synth (Roland XV-5080 or JV-1080).
I have a MIDI Controller keyboard that I love playing (Doepfer LMK+1) but it does not have any programmable buttons, merely a weighted keyboard, pitch bend and modulation wheel.
This would not need to take any input from the keyboard as the synths both have 2 inputs, I can send the channel change message through there with no worries, I already do this with another keyboard plugged in the 2nd port.
Anyway I would be incredibly grateful for any finger pointing towards certain articles to read about as I know there's a big difference in sending program change data and actually changing from one User Channel to another.
I have been in contact with the People from Doepfer as they offer a 64 button controller but they have told me this does not change user channel merely things within the channel like LFOs and all that.
So in short, a small box with buttons that would change user channel would be grand! I merely need to know where to start reading and what to look out for.
Many thanks and please do ask me any questions, I will try my best to reply as well as I can.
As far as I can tell, you are asking 2 or 3 questions.
The last thing you ask is whether there is a per built device which sends the midi commands you want.
This is a question you need to post to a musician orientated forum e.g a forum for midi and keyboards, not a Maker forum like this one
You are possibly asking for details of midi commands to change the User Channel
You would be better off posting that sort of question to either a the music section of this forum or a midi related forum.
To build this yourself, you'd need a box with 16 buttons on it. And included an Arduino with a midi connector on it.
I don't know if such a thing exists, but perhaps someone could provide links to boxes with multiple buttons, to which you could modify to create this device
I can't see a date on the Midi Footsteps article, but it looks quite old.
You'd be better off using a Mega 2560 to save the need for an external port expander, then just use a midi shield
This of course doesn't help the OP in regards to a pre-made box with a load of buttons on it.
Or the midi programming for the User change stuff.
I suspect there would be some midi 16 button input device, which could be connected to the Arduino Mega2560 + Midi shield (input), which could do this.
Or possibly use on of those 3.5 inch touch sensitive screens onto the Mega 2560, and use 16 soft buttons
Or of course just buy a cheap Android tablet, and connect a Midi interface to the OTG port through a couple of adaptors and write some very basic Android software.
(I have a feeling that the Android option would end up cheaper as you can pickup single core 7 inch tablets for less than $50)
Sorry I digressed a bit and rambled not really specifying exactly what I'm looking to make.
Indeed though I think you are correct, I ideally want to make a small unit with X amount of buttons where each one will switch to a designated User Channel on my synth device.
I have read some of the documentation about MIDI commands, I figure the best course of action is to wire up a MIDI connection to my Arduino MEGA 2560 and experiment with the MIDI signals I can send. There's little chance of me doing any harm as any changes sent to my synth will be lost on reeboot.
I guess it's just down to a little time consuming "bit bashing" to find what information I have to send.
I'm fairly ancient by computer terms, but as I work as a developer / programmer, I find that any resources over 2 or 3 years old tend to have been superseded.
But, I agree this isn't true of most things.
@CGough
I have read some of the documentation about MIDI commands, I figure the best course of action is to wire up a MIDI connection to my Arduino MEGA 2560 and experiment with the MIDI signals I can send. There's little chance of me doing any harm as any changes sent to my synth will be lost on reeboot.
