OnSong, Sanpera, and Vypyr Pro

[Jwsadler]

I use Onsong extensively to manage my lead sheets and setlists. Now that I have a Vypyr, I’d like to connect OnSong to it so that switching to a lead sheet sends a MIDI command that selects an appropriate set of presets for the song. I could use the Vypyr’s MIDI port, but then I can’t use the Sanpera.

Ideally OnSong would select a bank of 4 presets, and then the foot contoller could select among the 4 presets as needed for parts of the song. I can get this done with a bluetooth foot pedal connected to OnSong, but I’m concerned about latency. Worse, the MIDI command chard does not seem to offer a way to select a preset without also selecting a bank. The doc says that a PC message calculates a bank automatically, so I don’t see how the foot controller could change preset without “knowing” something about the required bank.

Has anyone solved this problem?

Is there any way to connect an iPad to the VyPyr’s USB port and have it see the VyPyr as a MIDI device? If so, will the Sanpera still work?

[wmjones]

[
Post the question on Peavey's Facebook page. No one seems to check this forum any more.

[Jwsadler]

Thanks. Will do

[Roger Crimm]

Checking with engineering on this. Stay tuned...

[Jwsadler]

After a few months of detective work and Roger’s help, I have a solution that works for me, and some learnings along the way that are not documented in the Peavey Vpro MIDI spec.

Despite what the spec says, if you send the Vpro PC01, PC02, PC03, or PC04, without a bank select, it will change the preset without changing the bank. This is exactly what I needed, but was not documented. I found it completely by accident when I tried out an IK Blueboard that happened to do this.

I use OnSong and the Blueboard connected to the Vypyr pro with a Yamaha MDBT01 bluetooth midi adapter. I use MIDIFlow on my iPad to merge signals from OnSong and the Blueboard app. I have an expression pedal plugged into the Blueboard that controls master volume via CC07.

Conclusion - after doing all the hard ways, I finally discovered the easy way and it works very nicely. I would have saved many hours of tinkering if the PC01-03 behavior had been documented. THe Vypyr Pro MIDI implementation tramples convention in a number of ways that it’s probably too late to change. Bank select and the PC behavior are the biggest one IMO. I hope this helps.

[Jwsadler]

Update: I now have this setup working exactly as I wanted it. The setup now is:
= IK Blueboard in MIDI Mide 2 (emits CC events on button presses) with an expression pedal
= MidiFlow standalone for iOS on my iPad
= OnSong on the iPad
= Yamaha MDBT-01 bluetooth MIDI adapter connected to the Vypyr Pro MIDI ports

MidiFlow allows very flexible remapping of CC messages. I have it set up so that:
Button A increments the preset from 1-4, staying in the same bank
Button B decrements the preset
Button C toggles Bright
Button D toggles Boost
Expression pedal controls master volume

And OnSong selects a bank and preset whenever a song is selected.
Zero fiddling with my amp or effects boxes between songs any more