Hey there, just have a specific question about MIDI on the quad cortex and how messages are received and handled.
I’m trying to transition back to a hybrid rig with a couple wet pedals that I enjoy + a canvas clock and a Morningstar MC4 Pro feeding into a strymon conduit, then into the input of the Quad Cortex 5pin.
I want to be able to use the MorningStar’s time based enveloping and LFO wave messaging to create gestures that the MorningStar can send. However, I have read some discrepancies about what messages the quad cortex can receive on CC parameters. Someone told me I have to map a bunch of cc’s to expression one for example, and then use midi to modulate the value of expression one. Is this true?
If so, it’s very disappointing because this unit has the potential to be very powerful, as it already is. I’ve had mine for many years. I’m hoping that I can do this and reduce travel weight with this smaller rig while still feeling inspired. Thanks!
I don’t think there’s an easy way to use midi from the Morningstar to control a parameter in the way you want. Whoever said you might have to map a bunch of CC commands is right. The midi on the QC is VERY basic
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Yes, I know that the QC can’t be the brains of doing what I’m talking about, I’m more so asking can it receive CC messages for things like tremolo rate/depth, amp block gain, etc.
I highly doubt it. I don’t see anything for that in the manual
QC MIDI is currently pretty minimal, as is the footswitch control. There’s only 8 bypass switches and MIDI CCs no matter how many blocks you have in your patch. And there’s no way to map MIDI messages to parameters. I really hope this is eventually addressed as it is the biggest missing feature in the QC.
Gotcha, so sounds like it can only command other pedals not receive commands? @RexRemus i have heard you are the knower of all things midi, this correct?
The QC can receive midi commands, it just can’t receive much beyond - preset changes, stomp bypass, looper commands, scenes, tuner, and maybe a couple other basic things. It’s very simple commands. Hopefully they’ll update it to actually be functional
Ok gotcha. So if I did use something like an MC4pro then I could use it as reprogrammable extra stomp switches, or to access scene functions if I’m in hybrid mode (half Stomp half scene, to have access to the other four scenes/stomps) Etc.
Sort of….. there are workaround to get that to work the way you’re probably thinking. The midi is really tied to the 8 physical buttons. There’s really isn’t much expanding past those, which is very strange.
If you want to add more than what’s available for the stomps or scenes you have to do weird workaround stuff with the midi to switch between modes. You can’t have more than 8 stomps or scenes at once.
When I originally got the QC a few years ago I thought you could expand it with a Morningstar, but it’s pretty convoluted and requires additional extra cc or pc commands per switch to switch back and forth with the modes
True. I used to use a Morningstar mc6 with my QC. But since the update where you can toggle gig view with the footswitches I have sold them and just worked within the constraints of the QC.
I see the appeal with the mini though. A mini and a mc4 is still a small footprint and I think with some programming you could get access to some things. It does take a significant amount of time to get the hang of unless your a midi wiz.
I often would put 3 midi messages one one footswitch. With QC in scene mode to have access to say a stomp switch to turn on/off a chorus block, that chorus block must be assigned to a footswitch in stomp mode. 1st midi message switches QC from scene to stomp mode, 2nd activated the footswitch in stomp mode for the chorus. 3rd message to switch back to scene mode so the sequence could be repeated if necessary.
Morningstar sends those 3 messages fairly quickly but if you press too quickly, sometimes if can get messed up if it doesn’t complete all 3 midi messages.
In hybrid mode on mini, I think you might have to use message to get to page 2, then message for footswitch, then message back to page 1.
I’ve got a mini on order but it hasn’t come yet so I’m not familiar with it yet.
Please give some details about “there are workarounds”. I have found no way to do things that can’t be done with the built in footswitches. I use midi to select scenes and the built in switches as stomps. No parameter control, no additional stomps, it’s all very disappointing.
The workaround is to program midi mode switching and scene or stomp changes to single footswitches. Some people on the forum will program a button to do multiple things at once like- engage scene, switch to stomp mode, engage a stomp, return to scene mode.
I don’t think it’s the greatest, but there’s little hacks like that to make use of the footswitches more than you may normally be able to. Some people have explained the benefits of it better in some of the threads. I just hope they can make the midi useable on the QC instead of needing the workarounds
Late to this party, but happy to help if I can
If you haven’t found it already I have a playlist of some interesting things you can do on the QC with morningstar controllers: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjbWudLa8g0T2WDZOM2AMvnmZNhzJXagb&si=wCQ-SC19mJfKSCAw
But if you have something specific still that you haven’t figured out, let me know
One thing you can do now, and something I’ve used successfully on gigs is to use a MIDI controller (I used an MC8) to support an expanded hybrid mode. I used the MC8 to control scene switching and that left all the QC foot switches available for stomp control. This is essentially 8x8 hybrid mode instead of 4x4. That worked reasonably well. But the biggest drawback is that I could only have 8 stomp switches and one ext switch. My patches had many more blocks that needed to be controlled so I ended up having to use scenes to control effect bypasses that I would have preferred to be independently controlled by stomp switches.
To me, this remains as the biggest gig-ready usability gap for QC. I need to be able to have MIDI control of any QC parameter, and any number of MIDI message to parameter mappings. To me, this is MVP, not nice to have. Same with tap and hold action on all switches.
I’m assuming you’re doing the workaround where you have the footswitches also going back and forth between stomp/scene mode since otherwise I think impossible to have 8 scenes + 8 stomps?