USB Midi Through Front USB Port ? (& MIDI w/ Pico general)

    • New
    The Profiler Model referred to in this thread is ...
    ☑️ Profiler Head/Rack

    Does the KPA (I have the rack) support receiving MIDI messages from the front USB port by a MIDI device ?

    I'm trying to design a simple pedal that sends MIDI messages to the KPA, I only recently found out that the MIDI standard needs stable 5V which I'm trying to navigate around by exploring other options.

    I'm aware of USB Midi with a PC however I don't want to use a PC, I want to press down on a footswitch and have it send MIDI messages preferably over USB.

    Cheers.

    • New

    Not fully sure that doable, but if you're a bit handy you could use an arduino and a few components to make a MIDI footswitch, so you'd use a MIDI cable to the kemper and then you could use the front USB to power up the arduino, that's what i'm currently using.


    I made one with 11 buttons (4 effects, 4 banks, performance/bank up, performance/bank down and tuner), here you can see the schematic and some simple code:

    Thread
    MIDI controller with Arduino UNO
    Hello, i'm trying to use a Midi controller (i built it) with my Kemper, but i can't make it to work.
    I tried several codes and nothing seemed to work.
    I don't know what i'm doing wrong, the controller works fine on PC via USB, but does nothing when i connect it to the kemper via MIDI.
    kemper-amps.com/wbb/attachment/15041/

    This is (more or less, i'm using more buttons) the schematic of my controller.
    As i said, it works like a charm via USB, and i tried several codes to make it work via midi and…
    Erikcb


    All you need is the arduino, a breadboard, some 2 pins SPST momentary switches, some resistors, cables and the 5 pin MIDI DIN socket.

    And a case of course, i made one with some cheap thin MDF. It might not be the best looking, but it was a fun project and works perfectly.

    This is a simple midi pedal, it doesn't allow MIDI in (for tuner and so) it only sends MIDI to the KPA.


    You can also configure the buttons to do other stuff (toggle all stomps, tempo tap, hold delay, infinite delay, ect) you can google Profiler MIDI Parameter Documentation to see all the options.


    Hope this helps :)

    • New

    Thanks so much for the response. Turns out you're the perfect person for my following questions.

    I was able to breadboard a pico with some midi functionality and I was able to send midi signals correctly, lots of fun.

    Qs:

    1. Is it safe to use the 3.3 Volts coming out of the micro controller to feed into the MIDI voltage line ? It seems to work. 5V from the pico also works. Just wondering about the safety of it overall.

    2. About the MIDI signals, I see that the features I wanted to program into the pico are not possible to send over MIDI to the kemper (performance right/left). There is this NRPN documentation section, not sure if that's something you've tried and have anything to share before I do a deep-dive into how it works ? (nvm, figured it out)

    As for your schematic, I did lots of googling and didn't find anything on Kemper + MIDI (bad SEO ?) I only found USB-MIDI with a PC. I would love to have seen that before I did a deep dive on MIDI and uart. Would have saved lots of time. I have a very similar schematic.

    Edited once, last by 0K1900 ().

  • 0K1900

    Changed the title of the thread from “USB Midi Through Front USB Port ?” to “USB Midi Through Front USB Port ? (& MIDI w/ Pico general)”.
    • New

    Sorry, i can't help with the question, i'm not that informed about it, i just mixed up some tutorials until it worked, i feed mine via USB, but if you find out if it's safe or not i would love to know how so i could do it myself :D

    About the second question, i see you figured it out, but ye, it's doable, i don't use NRPN tho, not for anything in particular, i just didn't understand how it works and the simple MIDI CCs work for me.

    Here you have the Profiler MIDI Documentation so you can check what else you can do.

    Yea as i said i had to mix some different tutorials/posts, not all of them Kemper related.


    Here is the main tutorial i used, it's in spanish (i'm from Spain) but it's pretty simple and you can always just translate the web ^^

    • New

    Oh. Okay.
    NRPN I found very simple but I thought manual was a bit confusing.
    Essentially you have to send 4 messages (although maybe a single one could work? didn't try that)
    Here's how I wrote it in C++