Tap Tempo Input

Question

I am trying to add a digital knob or slider that shows the BPM of the TAP Tempo on the Helix unit. I can change the BPM using a Momentary button in MD but can't seem to add a Rotary or Slider that does the same thing. I was going down the path of Super/Sub controls and have no problem connecting them together in the interface but turning the dial or sliding the slider does not change the BPM value. While I can tap on the momentary button and see the numbers change on the Helix I'd like to not have to tap but drag the slider to 100 BPM or 75 BPM.

Increment Stepper

1. Create a button

2. Set its subtype to Momentary

3. Make it a supercontrol

4. Make it a supercontrol of the knob/slider etc. that you wish to increment

Comments

A quick look at the Helix manual does not show a direct input for Tempo, only a Tap Tempo, CC64 - 64 - 127.  Unless I am missing something, the only remote way to set Tempo is by using a Tap, which reads the time between subsequent taps to set tempo.

So we prolly can set up a set of controls that does what you say - select the tempo value from a picker, then operate the tap tempo button at the desired intervals.

We do have some time functions in super/sub controls, but they are not to the granularity necessary to control tempo.  So we need to rely on more precise timing (usually) available in StreamByter.

But - i am up to my eyeballs right now in another gnarly MD project for another user on keyboard entry.  This is on the stack next when I finish those.

Quick look at the necessary logic
- generate a table of tempos to tap time delay in ms over desired range 40 - 300 BPM?
- this table can either go into named ticks on the picker selecting tempo, or hard coded in SB code
- create SB code to send a pair of taps at the selected time delay
- an execute button to trigger the desired pair of taps

And how hard would it be for Line6 to have included a direct remote tempo input instead of just tap tempo?

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Thanks for the rapid response. The interesting thing is there is a knob that can be used when setting tempo in the Global settings, I'm going to see if I can find a reference to that and maybe that will handle it gracefully. I will let you know and good luck on your project.

From the manual:

The “Speed” or “Time” parameters of all tempo-based FX can be set to a note value that follows Tap Tempo or the tempo set with Knob 6 (Snapshot BPM/Preset BPM/Global BPM). Choose whether the Helix tempo is stored and recalled with each snapshot, recalled with each preset, or is applied globally across all presets and snapshots. NOTE: Helix does not respond to pressing TAP at tempi lower than 40.0 BPM to ensure that multiple fast tap entries are recognized properly. You may still manually select a tempo as low as 20.0 BPM using this Tempo Select setting.

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I saw the knob 6 mentioned in the menu, but the manual doesn't indicate the control is connected to MIDI.  There is a MIDI value for "Parameter Knob 6" - but not clear if this is the same control, and a 0-127 would give pretty rough tempo control.

You have the real hardware to experiment on - I only have the manual.

Answer 1

Well, the other project started making my head hurt, so jumped over to this one.  

Let me know if the machine responds close to the indicated tempo.  If it works, can add as much granularity as desired to the tempo table.  I added some graphics to show how things are hooked up and a look at how we build the named ticks for the tempo picker.  All you really need are the four main controls and the StreamByter output code (config / connections / output rules).

Two input controls, select the desire tempo, the press execute to implement.

SB actuates the Tap button, supercontrol of a second tap button that transmits to the Helix.  

We could get rid of the second button and send the Cc 64 direct from StreamByter, especially if the channel is fixed.  (keep one for visual indication of what is going to the hw).

Time delay in msec = (1 / BPM) * 60 sec / min * 1000 msec / sec

Downloads: 101
Tap Tempo.mididesigner
Downloads: 101

Images

Tap Tempo

Comments

The tempo does not appear to be close to the picker setting. It automatically jumps to 240 which i believe is the max on the Helix. If I put the picker at 300 it drops the displayed tempo down to around 187. I see where you are going and

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This is the problem of the manual theory vs having the hardware.  The second version may be easier to play with to see what changes are necessary - you can adjust the timing directly in code instead of a spreadsheet.

And what is the hardware doing - does it need three taps, is the time the button held down impacting it, etc.?

Or is the tap tempo reading time between down and up - which is sort of aligned with it jumping directly to the max value.  The 100 ms time delay I set between down and up = a tempo of 600.  In that case, we just change the first off time from 100 to the calculated value, delete the third and forth messages.

Let me know.

Answer 2

Well, the other project started making my head hurt, so jumped over to this one.  

Let me know if the machine responds close to the indicated tempo.  If it works, can add as much granularity as desired to the tempo table.  I added some graphics to show how things are hooked up and a look at how we build the named ticks for the tempo picker.  All you really need are the four main controls and the StreamByter output code (config / connections / output rules).

Two input controls, select the desire tempo, the press execute to implement.

SB actuates the Tap button, supercontrol of a second tap button that transmits to the Helix.  

We could get rid of the second button and send the Cc 64 direct from StreamByter, especially if the channel is fixed.  (keep one for visual indication of what is going to the hw).

Time delay in msec = (1 / BPM) * 60 sec / min * 1000 msec / sec

Downloads: 101
Tap Tempo.mididesigner
Downloads: 101

Images

Tap Tempo

Answer 3

This version is a little neater - by sending the tempo we can dispense with the spreadsheet calculation, let SB do the calculation.  So you can add / delete tempos much easier.

Downloads: 70
Tap Tempo R1.mididesigner
Downloads: 70

Images

Tap tempo R1

Comments

this one seems closer but the values are almost double. When I make a change on the picker it jumps to 240 then moves back to a different value. Example: 70 = 152.5, 40=96.6, 50=119.1, 60=135.3, 100=200

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So the hardware IS responding, and in the correct direction.  Now it is just tuning the code to match the hardware.  Looks like you are getting ~ twice the desired tempo.  Try changing to $60000 in the SB code to $30000 - I think that adjustment is in the correct direction.

And interesting that the two versions are behaving differently - they should give the same result.

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Thanks, figured out how to change the text in the StreamByte Code. Will experiment with the numbers.

Answer 4

This version is a little neater - by sending the tempo we can dispense with the spreadsheet calculation, let SB do the calculation.  So you can add / delete tempos much easier.

Downloads: 70
Tap Tempo R1.mididesigner
Downloads: 70

Images

Tap tempo R1