So you can get one of the preset editors for the PCM to load without an error?
If so, wait until the debug screen says — END —
Then press SYNC.
You have to wait until the preset fully loads before pressing SYNC.
Without pressing SYNC, the editor defaults to values that are probably not compatible w. the PCM 81 OS. SYNC is absolutely necessary before doing anything with the controls.
Also - the PCM 80/81 can get into some weird MIDI conditions and not respond properly.
Suggestion - turn off the PCM 81, get a good error-free load into the Electra, then turn on the PCM 81, wait for a full bootup, then press SYNC.
Let me know if that helps.
I’ve had to power cycle my PCMs during testing due to MIDI weirdness, but if you get a good load into the Electra, then it should be fine.
It’s likely not an issue with the PCM 81. I have two 81s and an 80 here and all of them are OK with MIDI.
Note that my previous post is not the normal way you have to do things. Normally the Electra preset is loaded cleanly and you can start talking to the PCM with no issue.
I’m going to see if I can make a change to only show the Sync button after a successful load.
To reiterate - trying to use any of the controls before a successful sync probably will greatly confuse the PCM and require you to power cycle it.
Hi sorry for the delay. I followed these directions and the “SysEx data error…” still appears after pressing SYNC and the bulk MIDI dump happens. Dunno if this is relevant, but I’m only able to get the bulk MIDI dump to happen when the PCM’s SysEx device ID is 0; it doesn’t dump when device ID is 1.
Another curious thing I noticed just today: After the PCM reboots, the screen shows “Tap twice for new tempo”. I can’t get past this with any of the PCM buttons/knobs. The only thing that clears this message is unplugging the MIDI OUT cable from Electra…
This is very strange. Can you try to reboot PCM with another preset loaded in the controller. Just to see if the PCM shows the “Tap twice…” message due to the communication with the PCM preset.
I’m on travel and won’t be able to look at things until next week.
Some thoughts - the tempo thing is probably the result of the Electra trying to set a delay control to echo:beat even though communication is not firmly established.
The sysex error message means there is still a fundamental issue talking between the PCM and E1. Just to verify (again) - all these attempts are just the PCM and E1, nothing else connected to the E1?
The device id will be recognized and used once the Sync process succeeds. I will try various combinations when I get back.
Without actually seeing it all in person, I can only guess at this point. There’s something different about your configuration compared to mine and to others, so it will be good to figure it out
@Martin: the “Tap twice…” message appears with a different (not PCM) preset loaded in E1 @oldgearguy: verified, yes - the only connections to E1 are the PCM81 and USB to laptop
Usb to laptop - is anything running on the laptop other than the Electra web UI?
Tap twice - likely some other app running is sending MIDI CCs that is causing that behavior. The PCM does respond to MIDI clocks and CCs so no guarantees how it will behave.
yes, that came to my mind too. It feels like that the PCM has problems with data that is routed to it via E1. An easy test would be to power E1 with a USB power bank or a wall charger.
I tried with E1 connected to wall charger, just now and also earlier on in this discussion. There is nothing else connected to either the E1 or PCM - only E1 powered by wall charger and MIDI cables between E1 and PCM.
“Tap twice…” still appears upon PCM boot. “SysEx data error…” persists when knobs are turned.
I’m very grateful to you both for your kind attempts to resolve this.
Fwiw, I had a nice go at it with @oldgearguy 's PCM 80 preset on both my PCM 81’s and had a pretty flawless experience aside from a few very minor things which I let him know about last night.
@cdp I hope you can get it working. It is a total game changer when it comes to building out patches!
Hey guys, to my delight and astonishment (after twiddling random settings on the PCM81), I got the darn thing to work. Please don’t ask me how, as I’ll never be able to retrace my steps and determine what did the trick. Perhaps it was sacrificing my dozens of saved register patches when I did a full factory reset on the PCM? Who knows…
Anyways, y’all are fantastic to take all this time and attention to assist me. Many thanks!
Congrats. The PCM 81 can get into a state where it refuses to talk MIDI sometimes. Usually it’s due to coding errors on my part, but be aware that if you’re doing something and the PCM 81 starts acting up, a PCM 81 reboot may be needed.
My plan is to work on the PCM 81 this weekend to do more bug cleanup and display tweaks.
If you ever run across a broken algorithm or weirdness, please try to document what you did to get there so I can try and address it.
Re “PATCH SEL” (home screen, upper left): How does one send this from Electra to PCM81? I can send patches the other direction (PCM>Electra), but can Electra push a program patch change to PCM?
@oldgearguy is a saint for this work. I am having so much fun exploring the pcm 81 in ways that would have never been possible with all the front panel menudiving
On that note, sent you an email. Great to have the res/pitch algos fully functional. Taking the potential of those algos to places I could never have done without your generosity of spirit and passion.
Fixed a lot of the sysex error messages this weekend, did more general cleanup.
Looked at the patch matrix stuff. You can now create new patches in empty slots. However, still a lot of issues with the Dual FX and other advanced algorithms as far as the patching, but it’s better than before.
Save/Config button seems to allow me to only take the program that’s already loaded into E1 and the save it to one of the PCM’s R register banks. This is handy, yes, but what I don’t seem to grasp is how to have E1 tell the PCM which program to load. Turning the upper left pot pot of the E1’s home screen will cycle thru the myriad program preset names, but for what reason does it do this?