# FBQ2496 and MIDI woes



## noeffred (May 24, 2007)

Hi there

I just got my FBQ2496 yesterday and tamed my room problems with the help of RoomEQ and I have to say it sounds fantastic now! Money well spent one could say!

There is one little problem left though: With the FBQ I got a USB-MIDI Adapter from Swissonic. It was rather cheap and it certainly is :R. It gets recognised perfectly well under Linux (HTPC runs Linux) and WindowsXP but although the MIDI LED flashes on the FBQ, not all filters are set, or they are set incorrectly. I used the latest version of RoomEQ and tried on Windows and Linux to no avail.

I wasn't able to find much information on this problem, so maybe someone has a tip for me?


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## Otto (May 18, 2006)

Do you know if any filters are set at all? How do they compare to what you think should be in there? Are they just not saving? Did you set up the FBQ to "save" the MIDI changes? I'm not sure how it's done on the FBQ, but on the BFD you do something like hold the in/out and another button at the same time to be able to scroll through those controls (sorry, short on time to look it up right now). REW will also tell you how to do it when you first start downloading filters.


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## noeffred (May 24, 2007)

Hi Otto

Yes, filters are set, although the values for them (frequency, gain etc) are completely off. I just reset the FBQ and tried to load a set of 12 filters which resulted in 2 Filters (number 2 and 7) being set, neither being defined with these values in the equalizer setup of REW. I know these filters get set because subsequent measurements show and the LEDs light up if a filter is set. 
I noticed while transfering that another filter was set, which was deleted again during the loading sequence. Looks to me like some sort of communications problem.

The MIDI settings are sparse allowing me only to set the channel and turn MIDI communication off or on, which of course it is.


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## noeffred (May 24, 2007)

While entering the data manually something else came to me: could it be, that the values calculated, are not accepted by the FBQ? The way they are defined in the filters window can't be entered manually (probably because the display is only three digits wide). Unfortunately I have no idea how to send MIDI commands via a different software as to verify this. Maybe someone can point me towards one? Some sort of terminal to enter commands like a telnet session or thelike?


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> The way they are defined in the filters window can't be entered manually (probably because the display is only three digits wide).


The manual discusses this problem with this statement. It uses the dot as an indicator of the extra digit value of negative gain.









brucek


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## noeffred (May 24, 2007)

@brucek:
You are right of course, yet this only applies for the gain parameter, not for the others, as far as I can tell. For instance there is no obvious way to enter 0,016 as the bandwith parameter, as suggested by the filters window.


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> For instance there is no obvious way to enter 0,016 as the bandwith parameter, as suggested by the filters window


That's what the 1/60th light is for....

I think that's covered by this:










brucek


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## noeffred (May 24, 2007)

Ha, would you look at that. I must have misread that. The english manual is a bit clearer there. You do feel a fool! :whistling: :R

Still, the two still won't talk properly with each other. Think I'll have to stick to the manual method. :no:


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2007)

Is the communication through Midi working with fbq2496? I have just ordered my fbq2496 and I need to know if I should buy buy a cable or save my money. Should the connection frome the pc come from the soundcard or can I use an available usb port on the front or anywhere else?


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## brucek (Apr 11, 2006)

> Is the communication through Midi working with fbq2496?


Yes.



> I have just ordered my fbq2496 and I need to know if I should buy buy a cable or save my money.


Hopefully, I can keep my bias towards simply entering the filters by hand out of this question.

Iteratively, it makes sense to use the USB cable. You can enter the filters very quickly from REW into the FBQ once the cable is hooked up and you have the FBQ setup to receive the information.
I always make the point that I can enter the filters by hand before you have the cable hooked up. Most people like the cable because it's kinda cool. 



> Should the connection frome the pc come from the soundcard or can I use an available usb port on the front or anywhere else?


Use an available USB port. See here

brucek


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

noeffred said:


> Unfortunately I have no idea how to send MIDI commands via a different software as to verify this. Maybe someone can point me towards one? Some sort of terminal to enter commands like a telnet session or thelike?


This is a good Midi debug tool: http://www.bome.com/midi/sendsx/


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