Aphex Systems 1788a instruction manual Broad Commands & Presets, Limitation, Learning a Preset

additional 1788A is used, the second set of eight faders and buttons of the PC1600 could be coded exactly like the previous tables, except with the channel and/or device number changed to match the second 1788A. Remember, in this case, NET number is just a placeholder and can be anything.

2.1.8 Broad Commands & Presets

It is possible to send many commands within a single SysEx string. This is more efficient than sending many 11-byte SysEx strings in sequence. By looking at the SysEx string illustration of figure 2-3, you’ll notice a grayed out area comprising the command, mic channel and value bytes. By simply repeating these three bytes containing additional commands, mic channels and values, you can cause the same 1788A to update every function in all mic channels or any combination. This could be considered a preset “done the hard way”.

Limitation:

You can also use this way to send a single fader or button to multiple mic channels of the same 1788A. The only limitation is that you can have only one MIDI channel and one device number per SysEx string. Therefore, this technique can create a preset or broad command for a single 1788A but not multiple 1788A’s.

Fig. 2-4. Broadening the Command String

SysEx Start	Aphex MIDI I.D.	MIDI Channel	MIDI Device	Net Number
		xx	xx	xx
F0	00 00 38

Put Up To 64 3-byte Commands Here

Command	Mic Channel	Value	Command	Mic Channel	Value	Command	Mic Channel	Value	SysEx End
xx	xx	xx	xx	xx	xx	xx	xx	xx	F7

NOTE: To effect a massive update of multiple 1788A’s, you’ll need to create a SysEx string for each unit. They can be concatenated (spliced together end-to-end) to make one very long string or sent separately.

2.1.9 Learning a Preset

Many MIDI controllers have a Learn mode. This can help you speed up the process of writing a long SysEx string to use as a preset. 1788A’s have a secondary function that will send a SysEx dump to the MIDI Out port in the form of a properly formatted string. Simply place your MIDI controller in Learn Mode, and while it is waiting for a signal, press both Tone buttons and the Channel 5 button, then release. A SysEx packet containing every parametric value in the 1788A will be sent. No labels or other superfluous data will be included. This SysEx string will be learned as the output string for the chosen MIDI controller’s pushbutton.

You will have to edit the SysEx string to put in the 1788A’s correct MIDI channel and device bytes, since the numbers that were learned would have been the I.D. of the MIDI controller itself. Once this is done, you can rapidly return the 1788A to these parameters just by pushing the MIDI controller button. To implement multiple 1788A’s, you will need to learn the string from each 1788A into a separate MIDI controller button. To recall a preset across several 1788A’s, you would press several buttons.

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