Two H9s, one doesn’t respond to CCs

[aronortega]

I have two H9s on my main board. One is running in front (let’s call it “PRE”) and one is running time-based effects in the amp’s loop (let’s call it “POST”). Besides the obvious configuration differences (for example: H9 POST is set to Kill/Dry), these two pedals have pretty much the same internal settings. Each H9 is assigned to its own MIDI channel.

I am controlling them using a RJM Mastermind PBC10. If I create a preset on the PBC10 recalling both H9s, they respond to PCs. Although, I have noticed H9 PRE behaving strangely on occasion (instead of jumping to the correct preset, the screen would switch to BPMs or pick a different preset altogether). What I can’t seem to get right is to get H9 PRE to accept CCs.

I have both H9s set to be controlled by CCs in my PBC10’s Global Settings. This feature worked at some point in the past before I finished wiring the board. Now that it’s finished, H9 PRE doesn’t receive any expression commands. The H9 screen does not show any changes as I rock the expression pedal back and forth. But since my Global Setting is to control both, I can see how the CC commands do work on H9 POST.

I am troubleshooting right now. But maybe there’s something I am missing. These are the things I’ve tried so far:

• I ensured my Expression Global settings on the PBC10 was set on both H9s, CC17 (Exp Pedal).
• I temporarily deleted said Global Setting and created a separate PBC preset where I manually inserted a CC command to control Expression on the H9 PRE.
• I ran a separate Expression pedal via TRS to the H9 PRE pedal (it works fine then).
• I uploaded the same preset on both H9s and saw how H9 POST responds to CCs but PRE does not.
• I set both units to MIDI through.
• I upgraded both units to the latest software version.
• I reset H9 PRE to factory settings and re-uploaded my presets.
• I ran the MIDI connections in series (H9 PRE was actually in front of H9 POST). H9 POST gets the CCs, but H9 PRE (which sees MIDI commands first) does not.
• I sent MIDI messages to both units in parallel (using a MIDI Thru box). I tried different ports out of said thru box.
• I have swapped the actual MIDI cables to rule out cable failure.
• I ensured the “Ignore Incoming CC” check box on the Device tab of my Mastermind Editor was left unchecked.

I am running out of options. And I’m starting to suspect hardware failure, especially after H9 PRE glitched a couple of times and failed to load the correct PCs. This glitch is however intermittent and I have been unable to replicate it.

Any ideas?

[joecozzi]

Hi aronortega,

I understand how this is frustrating. You have already tried most of the options I was going to recommend. I have seen circumstances where the H9’s don’t like to appear early in a MIDI daisy chain, but rather, operate normally when placed at the end. In every case, using the MIDI Thru box as you’ve described fixes the problem, but nothing jumps out at me in your case. Have you tried swapping the H9’s where the one that’s currently acting as your PRE you program as your POST and vice versa? That might help determine if one is problematic or if it has to do with something else in the programming.

[aronortega]

joecozzi wrote:

Hi aronortega, I understand how this is frustrating. You have already tried most of the options I was going to recommend. I have seen circumstances where the H9’s don’t like to appear early in a MIDI daisy chain, but rather, operate normally when placed at the end. In every case, using the MIDI Thru box as you’ve described fixes the problem, but nothing jumps out at me in your case. Have you tried swapping the H9’s where the one that’s currently acting as your PRE you program as your POST and vice versa? That might help determine if one is problematic or if it has to do with something else in the programming.

It appears it was an issue with the H9 Control app. If I scrolled back and forth between both H9s, the app would show I had picked the same parameters for Expression. But once I singled them out and clicked on each option, they’d be different. After I updated them, they both started receiving CC messages simultaneously. But another weird thing happened. Some other options got changed in the process(???)

The MIDI through from the first H9 got changed, the actual expression travel of the pedal went out of whack (to the point I had to re-calibrate the PBC10). It was an interesting back and forth for sure.  So far, I’ve had to recalibrate twice. But it is now working!

[joecozzi]

Glad you figured it out. Thanks for reporting back.

[aronortega]

joecozzi wrote:

Hi aronortega, I understand how this is frustrating. You have already tried most of the options I was going to recommend. I have seen circumstances where the H9’s don’t like to appear early in a MIDI daisy chain, but rather, operate normally when placed at the end. In every case, using the MIDI Thru box as you’ve described fixes the problem, but nothing jumps out at me in your case. Have you tried swapping the H9’s where the one that’s currently acting as your PRE you program as your POST and vice versa? That might help determine if one is problematic or if it has to do with something else in the programming.

I had planned on doing this next. I will get to it soon and let you know.

[Author]

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