Disaster Area DMC-4 Midi Controller Help!

[tinkercity]

I just picked up a midi controller for my Timeline. It's the Disaster Area DMC-4. I know many of you use these great little midi controllers to work your Timelines... I have absolutely no idea how to set this up or get it to sync up and work with the Timeline.

Are there any guidelines? Anyone that has one can help?

Really appreciate it. I am great at many things... Midi is NOT one of them.

Cheers!
M.

[XISTH]

The guy who builds them, Matt, is on this forum as 'DisasterArea'. PM him, I'm sure he can help.

[4nd3h]

Also crxsh. Or is it crxshdxmmy here?

Basically he helped pioneer the DMCs with the TL along with Matt. There are plenty of threads on TGP about this already, good reading in the megathreads.

[tinkercity]

I'll do some searching and reading.... Paging crxshdxmmy!

I'm basically needing help getting it setup and synced with the Timeline. I've never worked with Midi in this way... So feeling a little lost

[crxshdxmmy]

If you bought it direct, it should come pre-programmed. So, generally speaking, you should be able to plug it in and have it go.

If you've done that and it isn't firing, I'd suggest you power down the TL, connect the DMC... and then power up. Should work fine.

If not, give me a little more context on your problem. What you've done, what it's doing, etc.

[tinkercity]

Originally Posted by crxshdxmmy

If you bought it direct, it should come pre-programmed. So, generally speaking, you should be able to plug it in and have it go.

If you've done that and it isn't firing, I'd suggest you power down the TL, connect the DMC... and then power up. Should work fine.

If not, give me a little more context on your problem. What you've done, what it's doing, etc.

Do you need to change anything in the Timeline to "accept" the DMC-4? I bought it second hand, but it was purchased directly then. He never even hooked it up. So, essentially yes it's from the factory.

I did this:
- hook up midi cable to DMC-4 and into the Midi "In" on the Timeline
- Powered both up at the same time
- pushed the buttons on the DMC-4 in green mode to change banks
- Nothing happens
- Switched colors, hit other buttons
- Nothing happens....

So, maybe it's not configured right? Or do I need to configure in the Timeline's global menu?

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

[SamusJean]

Try doing a firmware update and do the configure process if you haven't already. There's instructions on it here

[crxshdxmmy]

Originally Posted by tinkercity

Do you need to change anything in the Timeline to "accept" the DMC-4? I bought it second hand, but it was purchased directly then. He never even hooked it up. So, essentially yes it's from the factory.

I did this:
- hook up midi cable to DMC-4 and into the Midi "In" on the Timeline
- Powered both up at the same time
- pushed the buttons on the DMC-4 in green mode to change banks
- Nothing happens
- Switched colors, hit other buttons
- Nothing happens....

So, maybe it's not configured right? Or do I need to configure in the Timeline's global menu?

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

Well, for starters, check your modes. Unless that's custom firmware... green mode is loop control. Red is secondary loop functions. White is loop volume.

And blue is bank/preset control.

[tinkercity]

Originally Posted by crxshdxmmy

Well, for starters, check your modes. Unless that's custom firmware... green mode is loop control. Red is secondary loop functions. White is loop volume.

And blue is bank/preset control.

Yup. Got the Blue preset mode to work... but everything else doesn't seem to be doing anything.

[tinkercity]

FWIW, the directions on how to set it up are slightly confusing...

Here's the transcript... I'm just thinking I'm missing something in the configuration?

Thanks for the help!!!

DMC-4 Strymon Firmware

v2.00 brings the new Timeline features to the DMC-4. The configuration mode is similar to the new DMC-3XL method, press and hold Button 4 (upper right) at startup.
Please note: When the firmware update is first applied, the new configuration variables need to be set by entering the DMC-4 config mode. Hold button 4 at startup (upper right) and wait until all the LEDs stop blinking. Press buttons 1-3 until their LEDs are off, and press button 4 until the RGB LED is orange or white. Once this is completed, the new configuration may be selected per the instructions below. This procedure will not need to be repeated once the unit is configured for the first time.
The pedal will not work correctly until the configuration has been set.
Details:
[3] [4]
[1] [2]
Mode 1 (looper control, blue)
Button 1 – record / overdub
Button 2 – play / (hold for stop) stop
Button 3 – undo / redo
Mode 2 (looper FX, red)
Button 1 – half speed
Button 2 – reverse
Button 3 – pre / post
Mode 3 (bank / preset, green)
Button 1 – bank / preset down
Button 2 – bank / preset up
Button 3 – bypass
Mode 4 (looper level, may be disabled)
Button 1 – looper level down
Button 2 – looper level up
Button 3 – looper full up / looper full off
Expression input may be assigned to expression (orange,) looper level (white,) or tap tempo (use external momentary switch like Disaster Area DFC-1 or Boss FS5U, violet.) If no expression pedal is connected, set expression input to tap to prevent spurious expression commands.
Configuration:
Press and hold button 4 (upper right) at power-on.
Blue LED on = preset mode, off = bank mode
Green LED on = instant stop, off = delayed stop
Orange LED on = foot level on, off = foot level off (disables white mode)
RGB LED orange = expression, violet = tap, white = looper level pedal assignment
Press and hold button 4 (upper right) to save configuration.

[SamusJean]

It's pretty straight forward. Hold down the button at power up and wait until all the LEDs stop blinking. After that, you can follow the configuration chart and save your settings.
If the problem persists, you should probably contact Matt at Disaster Area Amps

[tinkercity]

Originally Posted by SamusJean

It's pretty straight forward. Hold down the button at power up and wait until all the LEDs stop blinking. After that, you can follow the configuration chart and save your settings.
If the problem persists, you should probably contact Matt at Disaster Area Amps

Ok, I guess I'm missing something on the configuration chart... At the risk of sounding like a moron, How do you select these configurations and save them?

Seriously thanks guys...

[tinkercity]

Finally got it to work! Not sure what was up, but I did a restart and it worked. Seems that the Timeline can get "confused" at times. Anyone else notice this?

[crxshdxmmy]

Originally Posted by tinkercity

Finally got it to work! Not sure what was up, but I did a restart and it worked. Seems that the Timeline can get "confused" at times. Anyone else notice this?

...no.

But I'm glad you got it going. FYI — I've noticed a couple of times that if the volume on the looper is all the way down (white mode) then it doesn't seem like anything is actually happening. Wind that up though and BINGO!

Let us know if anything else comes up. Happy to help.

[jaymeister]

I have a dmc4. It is fantastic, but there was one small glitch with mine when I got it a couple weeks ago. The mode LED was wired differently than their instructions. Blue mode and green mode were reversed. Once I figured that out it was a breeze.