FBV™ MkII Series Controller Advanced User Guide Using the FBV Shortboard™ MkII or FBV Express™ MkII with Line 6 POD® X3, POD Farm™ 2, GearBox™ & 3rd Party Software
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide - Table of Contents Table of Contents Getting Started.........................................................................................1•1 FBV MkII with Line 6 Spider® Amplifiers...................................................................... 1•1 Updating & Registering with Line 6 Monkey................................................................. 1•1 Line 6 FBV™ Control Application Installation.............................................................
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide - Table of Contents “POD Farm 2” FBV MkII Control Presets...................................................................... 4•3 POD Farm 2 Standalone Application - MIDI Input Configuration............................... 4•7 POD Farm 2 Plug-In - MIDI Input Configuration.......................................................... 4•8 The POD Farm 2 MIDI Assignments View.................................................................. 4•10 MIDI Learn in POD Farm 2..............
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Getting Started Getting Started Congratulations if you’ve obtained a new FBV ShortboardTM MkII or FBV ExpressTM MkII since you are now equipped for remote, hands-free access to numerous Line 6 products, as well as 3rd party MIDI software! This document will walk you through setting up and using your FBV™ MkII Series Controller specifically with POD® X3, POD® X3 Pro, Line 6 POD Farm™ 2 & GearBox™ software, and 3rd party MIDI & DAW software that responds to MIDI control.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Getting Started • If you have a Line 6 account, type in your User Name and Password at the top of the Monkey dialog. • If you have not yet created an account, click the New User button and you’ll be walked right through the steps. Register Your FBV Registration of your Line 6 gear may be required for some updates and product authorizations.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Getting Started Flash Memory Update If Monkey tells you there is a newer Flash Memory version available for your FBV, then it is important that you install it for the best performance and product compatibility. Just follow the steps as Monkey instructs, including these important tasks: • Exit any Line 6 software or 3rd party MIDI/DAW applications that might be using your FBV MkII device.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Getting Started System Requirements We recommend that you read the separate, Line 6 FBV Control Release Notes for the full, detailed System Requirements, as well as current info on compatibility with other hardware and software. This document can be found within the Line 6 Support Community, or on the FBV MkII Online Help page.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Getting Started Line 6 USB audio device you’ll be using with GearBox (TonePort™, POD Studio™ or GuitarPort™ hardware) and launch Line 6 Monkey, or go directly to the Line 6 Software Downloads page and choose “GearBox” to access the latest installer. To Uninstall Line 6 FBV Control Should you ever need to uninstall the application, just follow these steps: • Mac® - Open the Finder and browse to the Applications > Line 6 directory.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Getting Started On Windows® XP, you may need to click through a few dialogs to install the device driver. Once you connect the USB cable, you should see Windows® XP detect the new device at the bottom right of your screen: Next, the Windows® Hardware Wizard will launch. Select “No, not this time” then click Next. In the following screen, select the “Install automatically” option and click Next. Note that XP recognizes and installs FBV as a “USB Audio Device”.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Getting Started FBV Pedal Calibration Note: The following calibration steps are not necessary if your FBV MkII device has the 1.00 Flash Memory version. However, any Flash Memory update past version 1.00 will require that you calibrate your FBV pedal for the best performance.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Getting Started FBV Express MkII Calibration Steps • Start with your FBV device not connected to any USB port or Line 6 device (and, therefore, powered “off”). • Press and hold down the “D” labeled footswitch while you “power on” your FBV (by connecting to your computer’s USB port, or Line 6 device with which you plan on using your FBV). Upon release of the D footswitch, the FBV Tuner’s numerical display will read “1”.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: POD X3 FBV™ MkII with POD® X3 In this chapter, we’ll cover the specific features for using Line 6 FBV Shortboard™ MkII or FBV Express™ MkII to control POD® X3 “Bean” or POD® X3 Pro devices. Instructions are the same for POD X3 “Bean” and X3 Pro, unless otherwise noted. You should already have your FBV MkII connected and working with your POD X3. If not, then head on back to “Getting Started” on page 1•1 for instructions.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: POD X3 FBV Express™ MkII LOAD CHANNEL: Press the A, B, C, or D button to instantly load the respective preset in the current User Bank. To select one of the 1 - 32 numbered Banks within your POD X3 User folder, turn the knob on your POD labeled “Press to Save”. The POD X3 Home Page The POD X3 Home page is your main screen where you can see the elements of the current preset.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: POD X3 other presets.* You can modify these as well, and then when you push the SAVE button, choose one of the 128 locations in the User folder to store your customized preset there to allow it to be accessed your via your FBV. *If you have an FBV Shortboard MkII model, note that its LCD display will always show the POD X3 current preset title, even if that preset is within a folder other than the User folder.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: POD X3 Pedal: The onboard Pedal (as well as a connected Expression Pedal) can actually be assigned to control either Tone 1, Tone 2, or both Tones, and assigned to different functions (Wah, Volume, Tweak). Please refer to the following POD X3 System Configuration section for details on how to set up these pedal behaviors per Tone. Pedal VOL & WAH Indicators: These two lights at the left of the onboard Pedal indicate the current mode.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: POD X3 The three PEDAL settings on the top row configure the behaviors of the Wah/Volume/Tweak Pedal on your FBV MkII device for the current preset. Note that a Pedal has several “modes” of operation, configurable to switch between controlling Wah/Volume/Tweak. The Pedal also has the ability to perform in these modes independently per Tone 1/Tone 2. • FBV Shortboard MkII - Includes one onboard pedal, which is pedal “1”.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: POD X3 TONE1 PEDAL - Use this TONE1 setting to configure the two “modes” of operation for Pedal 1 & Pedal 2 (if Pedal 2 is connected) for Tone 1. The settings here are strictly for Tone 1, and the value you have set for the PEDAL CNTRL setting (see previous) determines whether Tone 1 will be controlled or not by your pedal(s). Note that the pedal options differ if you have an FBV Shortboard with an Expression pedal connected.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: POD X3 • LOOP - (POD X3 Pro only) Toggles the FX Loop on/off. • DUAL - Performs the same toggling behavior between Tone 1 and Tone 2 as the TONE 2 (Hold For Dual) button on your POD X3 hardware, including the Hold For Dual function to enable/disable Dual Tone via footswitch. Note: You’ll see that changing to the DUAL option automatically also changes the TONE2 LP SW option to DUAL - this is necessary since both perform the same function.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: POD X3 Likewise, if you set pedal 2 modes to “2-TWK” for both Tone 1 & 2, then the assigned Tweak parameters are simultaneously controlled for both Tones by pedal 2. It is also possible to actually set the TWK assignment independently, so that the specific parameter controlled by pedal 2 is independent for each Tone.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: POD X3 effect results in less gain - placing the volume after a distortion effect reduces the overall volume level without affecting the gain. With the Volume in the Pre position, and using the Delay effect, you can swell in your guitar volume and then roll the pedal back and still hear the delay repeats - but placing the Volume pedal Post conversely turns down the original signal AND the delay repeats...
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: FBV Control Application The Line 6 FBV Control Application The previous “Getting Started” chapter should have already gotten you up and running with your Line 6 FBV™ MkII controller. In this chapter, we’ll provide you with an overview of the features and functions found in the Line 6 FBV Control application’s user interface.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: FBV Control Application Device Controls 1 - FBV Image: A graphical image of your selected FBV MkII device is displayed here. To edit the MIDI assignment for any control on your FBV, click directly on the footswitch or pedal in this image, or on the corresponding row in the Control Properties list below to select it. See the Control Properties List description on page 3•3 for edit options.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: FBV Control Application 6 - Control Properties List: This list displays all editable Footswitch and Pedal controllers for your selected FBV Shortboard/Express MkII device. As mentioned in the above descriptions, you can click directly on a switch on the Device Controls - FBV Image, or click on any row here in the Control Properties List to select it and edit its MIDI settings.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: FBV Control Application Toggle1/Up Toggle2/Dn CC/Val Columns: These columns become selectable when the MIDI Command is set to “MIDI CC” and Value is set to “Custom”. Individual values can be then be entered manually here to specify the Toggle 1/Up and Toggle 2/Down switch behaviors. (See “Footswitch Control Behaviors” on page 3•5 for details.) Port: The FBV Control software MIDI Out port the data is to be sent out.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: FBV Control Application 7 - No Device Connection Indicator: If no FBV MkII device is detected when you launch the Line 6 FBV Control application, you’ll see this alert at the bottom of the application window, meaning that you either neglected to connect the FBV unit’s USB cable, or there is a problem detecting the device: If your FBV is disconnected, you can plug it into your computer’s USB port while the Line 6 FBV Control application is still open, and the application will
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: FBV Control Application • Momentary: Transmits the first CC & Value when the control is pressed down, then the second CC & Value when the control is released. This type of Momentary switch action is commonly used for a parameter such as a piano’s sustain pedal, where you want the sustain parameter “on” only while holding the footswitch down, and “off” when released.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: FBV Control Application Pedal Control Behaviors The on-board pedal of your FBV MkII (as well as an optional, connected Expression pedal on an FBV Shortboard MkII) supports transmitting a MIDI CC type message, and will “sweep” the range of parameter from 0 to 100%. Obviously, the Pedal control is best used when assigned to a knob or slider type parameter in your software, so that you can have “hands-free” operation over it.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: FBV Control Application • In the above directories you will find the “factory” FBV Presets we’ve included (e.g. - “FBVDefault.fbv”). Simply select one of these files and click open. • This will load the FBV Preset into the FBV Control application’s GUI and automatically load it into the internal memory of your FBV MkII device. Note that your FBV Shortboard/Express MkII device holds one complete FBV preset at a time.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: FBV Control Application Preferences As is the case with most other software applications, we’ve placed a few of those more “geeky” settings away in the Preferences.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: FBV Control Application The ‘About Line 6 FBV Control Application’ Dialog This dialog provides you with some helpful information about the application. To launch it go to: • Mac® - Line 6 FBV Control > About Line 6 FBV Control • Windows® - Help > About Line 6 FBV Control Here you’ll see the following compelling information: • The version number of the Line 6 FBV Control application.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 FBV™ MkII with Line 6 POD Farm™ 2 This chapter covers the use of your Line 6 FBV Shortboard™ MkII or FBV Express™ MkII to remotely control numerous parameters within the Line 6 POD Farm™ 2 standalone application and POD Farm™ 2 Plug-In.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 MIDI Communication with your Software With your FBV MkII device USB-connected to your computer, you typically just need to set your software application to receive MIDI control data from the specific MIDI Out port and MIDI channel to which your FBV device is transmitting. For example, in the Ableton Live® or Live® Lite software, the Preferences > MIDI/Sync dialog offers options to choose one or more MIDI controller devices.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 POD Farm 2 Pre-configured MIDI Assignments POD Farm 2 standalone application and POD Farm 2 Plug-In come with a complete folder of Tone Presets that include “pre-configured” MIDI control assignments. To access these Tone Presets, select the “POD Farm 2” titled folder within the Presets View.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 • On Mac, go to /Applications/Line 6 and double-click on Line 6 FBV Control • On Windows, go to Start button menu\Programs\Line 6\Line 6 FBV Control For additional info, please see “The Line 6 FBV Control Application” on page 3•1. This automatically loads the complete set of “POD Farm 2” MIDI control settings into the internal memory of your FBV MkII device.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 FBV Shortboard MkII Control POD Farm 2 Pre-configured Model & Parameter D Selects Setlist 3, and recalls the “0” numbered Tone Preset within Tap Not in use Stomp “Stomp” effects (Distortions, Dynamics, Filters) - On/Off Modulation Mods - On/Off Delay Delays - On/Off Reverb Reverbs - On/Off Toe Switch Wahs - On/Off, Bender effect On/Off Pedal Wah Wahs - Adjusts Position knob Pedal 2 FBV Shortboard MkII Control No assignment POD F
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 manually within POD Farm 2 Plug-In for any of your FBV MkII controls!) You’ll see more about Local & Global assignments and MIDI Learn in the following sections. • Pedal Volume - Adjusts both the Tone A Level and Tone B Level faders within the POD Farm 2 Mixer View simultaneously. If your current POD Farm 2 configuration is a single Tone, then only the Tone A Level fader is controlled. Note that this is a Global MIDI assignment.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 Folder. The Toe Switch additionally has a “hard-wired” function to toggle your FBV Shortboard MkII “Pedal 1” function between the “Pedal Wah” and “Pedal Vol” assignments. • Pedal Wah - Adjusts the “Position” knob for Wah models within some of the POD Farm 2 Tone Presets. In a few Tone Presets, one pedal may also control the Bender model’s “Position” knob, for some cool pitch bending action.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 Preferences - MIDI dialog on Windows® XP • As the initial default, you’ll see all ports for all Line 6 MIDI devices already selected. You may want to de-select all except the ones you want to use for POD Farm 2 control. Your settings will then be remembered on subsequent uses of the application.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 Select your FBV MIDI Out Port here (each FBV port can be selected for up to 4 MIDI Inputs if desired) Click both the “Track” and “Remote” buttons to “On” for your MIDI Input Port* Ableton Live - Selecting FBV MkII as MIDI Inputs (Mac® OS X) *It is only necessary to turn on the MIDI In “Remote” option to allow Live to receive MIDI control data from the selected MIDI port.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 Once the above MIDI routing is configured, you are now ready to put that FBV MkII to use with the POD Farm 2 Plug-In! The POD Farm 2 MIDI Assignments View The MIDI Assignments View displays all MIDI control assignments for the current Tone Preset within the POD Farm 2 standalone application and POD Farm 2 Plug-In.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 POD Farm 2 • In the MIDI Control sub-menu, click MIDI Learn. This places POD Farm 2 into MIDI Learn mode, where it waits to receive a command from your connected MIDI control device. • Now just stomp the footswitch or wangle the pedal on your FBV that you want to “map” to the selected parameter, and the FBV control will instantly be “learned” by POD Farm 2.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 GearBox FBV™ MkII with Line 6 GearBox™ This chapter is specifically for using your Line 6 FBV Shortboard™ MkII or FBV Express™ MkII to control the Line 6 GearBox™ software. Let’s jump right in! What is GearBox? In case you’re wondering... The Line 6 GearBox software is available free to owners of Line 6 USB audio interface products (POD Studio™, TonePort™, GuitarPort™ devices).
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 GearBox * Note that the FBV MkII MIDI Out port names appear within differently depending on your computer operating system (for FBV Express MkII, you’ll see “Express” in place of “Shortboard” in these titles): Mac OS® X Windows® 7 & Vista® Windows® XP MIDI Out Port 1 FBV Shortboard Mk II (Port 1) FBV Shortboard Mk II USB Audio Device MIDI Out Port 2 FBV Shortboard Mk II (Port 2) MIDIIN2 FBV Shortboard Mk II USB Audio Device [2] MIDI Out Port 3 FB
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 GearBox As a handy reference, the following table tells what each FBV control will actually trigger in GearBox when using this GearBox.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 GearBox Customize Your GearBox Control The above settings are great, but now you want more control you say? No problem! Many GearBox functions are capable of being controlled remotely, via MIDI commands. All you need to do is edit the settings within the Line 6 FBV Control application, entering the MIDI command assignments for the desired GearBox functions. First you’ll need to see what the necessary MIDI commands are for all of the GearBox functions.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling Line 6 GearBox Configure a Footswitch to Toggle your Amp or Effects On/Off The GearBox.fbv preset already configures the GearBox amp and effects items to be “toggled” on/off, but if you want to change the assignment of any switch, you can refer to the Line 6 MIDI Continuous Controller Reference PDF, and take a look at the GearBox MIDI CC chart. Look up the desired GearBox effect parameter and note its CC number.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software FBV™ MkII with 3rd Party Software Once you have things connected and powered up (if you haven’t, then head on back to “Getting Started” on page 1•1), you should now be ready to put your Line 6 FBV Shortboard™ MkII or FBV Express™ MkII device to work to remotely control your favorite software applications! Here we’ve included some helpful tips and examples for how to configure MIDI and DAW software applications to respond to your FBV MkII devic
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Control Surface Options Some applications specifically offer a selector to choose one or more connected “Control Surface” or “MIDI Controller” devices, and you should first look to see if your software offers this type of option. You should see 4 selectable options for your connected FBV MkII device - one for each MIDI Out Port.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software MIDI Channels Each USB MIDI Port carries 16 MIDI channels. By default, your FBV MkII device is configured to transmit its MIDI data to Channel 1 on the selected MIDI Port for each Control. However, you can set any individual FBV Control to transmit its MIDI control data to any MIDI Channel (see the “Control Properties List” section on page 3•3).
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Ableton Live® - FBV MkII Setup Tutorial We’ve provided a step-by-step tutorial here for how to configure the popular Ableton Live software’s functions to be controlled by an FBV Shortboard or Express MkII device.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Once you have all these settings created, go to File > Save to save the preset, and exit the FBV Control application. Ableton Live MIDI Input Device Configuration Next, we need to configure Ableton Live to receive MIDI commands from the FBV Controller device: Launch the Ableton Live software, and go to Ableton Live > Preferences > MIDI/Sync page (Mac®) or Options > Preferences > MIDI/Sync page (Windows®).
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software The same applies in Windows® XP, Vista® & 7, but you’ll see the FBV Port names are listed differently Windows® XP Windows Vista® & Windows® 7 • Now go to the Input menu in the top row of the dialog and select the same FBV Port 1 device. This allows Live to utilize your FBV as a MIDI Controller Input device.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software • To map one of the Live highlighted controls, simply click on it - Live then waits to receive a MIDI command. For this step, we’re going to map the Live Transport Play, Stop and Record buttons to the FBV A, B & C footswitches, respectively.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software If you have the Live MIDI Mappings panel open, you’ll also see these mappings you just created there. Note that if you want to delete any of them, select the mapping in this list and hit the Delete button on your computer keyboard. • Press the MIDI Map Mode button again at the top right of the Live screen to exit Map Mode. Now press your FBV’s A, B and C buttons to try them out.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Drag the Chorus effect to your Audio track to insert it. • You’ll then see the Chorus effect module appear in Live’s lower effects panel. Now place Live into MIDI Map Mode (see the instructions above, at the start of this section). Once in Map Mode, you will see the Chorus effect’s “map-able” parameters highlighted. • We’re going to map to the Chorus Dry/Wet knob.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Exit Live’s MIDI Map Mode and give it a try - You should see the Chorus Dry/Wet knob respond to your FBV Pedal movement! Now it’s your turn. Switch your FBV pedal so the “VOL” LED indicates it is set for the Pedal Volume Control and go ahead and map it to a different effect parameter following the same steps we just did here.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Click the arrow here to expand the effect module... Click the Configure button to add a POD Farm Plug-In parameter to this module Now, in the POD Farm Plug-In window, click directly on the Wah edit panel’s Position knob to select this parameter. Once you’ve selected the Plug-In parameter, you’ll see a slider appear in the Line effects module for that parameter.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Control Automation Recording with your FBV Pedal Once you have a parameter mapped to your FBV pedal, in many cases the DAW software will also allow you to “record” your pedal moves in real-time as an automation envelope on your track. The perfect example for this is for us to use the POD Farm Plug-In Wah mapping we just created in Ableton Live, and record our FBV Wah pedal moves to add some snarky wah action on our guitar track.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Apple GarageBand® - FBV MkII Setup Tutorial Apple GarageBand uses its own proprietary protocol for controlling most of its software parameters, therefore, the FBV MkII MIDI controllers unfortunately cannot access all GarageBand functions directly. However, there are a few Pedal assignments that will allow you to control the current GarageBand track’s Volume and Pan parameters.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Apple Logic® - FBV MkII Setup Tutorial Line 6 FBV MkII devices’ Footswitch and Pedal controllers can be configured to trigger Logic Transport functions, mixer faders, software instrument & plug-in parameters and more! To follow are the instructions for configuring an FBV MkII to function with Logic Pro 8 (the steps should be similar for other recent versions of Logic as well).
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software the transport indicator and activate the pedal or footswitch on your FBV, and you’ll see this MIDI In information displayed.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software TIP: Alternatively, you can use the Command+L key shortcut instead of going to the Logic Preferences menu. • When you select this “Learn Assignment...” menu command, it launches the Logic Controller Assignments dialog, and a message informs you that it is waiting for you to access your MIDI Controller so that it can “Learn” the MIDI command from it.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software • Launch Logic and go to Preferences > MIDI. • Select the Sync tab. • Click the MIDI Sync Project Settings… button at the bottom right of the Sync tab - this launches the Song Settings dialog. • In the section labeled MIDI Machine Control (MMC), check the Listen to MMC Input option. Note that this is a per-Song option in Logic. To make this option “global”, you must modify your Logic template file with this MMC setting.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Cakewalk SONAR™ - FBV MkII Setup Tutorial Line 6 FBV MkII devices’ Footswitch and Pedal controllers can be configured to trigger many of Cakewalk SONAR functions, software instrument & plug-in parameters and more by taking advantage of the SONAR built in ACT (Active Controller Technology) features! To follow are the instructions for configuring an FBV MkII to function with SONAR 8 Producer (the steps should be similar for other recent versions of
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Note that if you are using Windows® 7 or Vista®, your MIDI Out Ports will appear as “FBV Shortboard MIDI Out” or “FBV Express MkII MIDI Out”. Use FBV MkII as a Surface Controller in SONAR SONAR includes its own ACT MIDI Controller Plug-In feature, which allows you to easily create, customize and save mappings for any MIDI surface controller. The SONAR ACT feature is very powerful and it is recommended that you read the SONAR documentation.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software • In the ACT Controllers toolbar options, click the Controllers/Surfaces Properties button that is at the right end of the Control Surfaces toolbar. • In the ACT MIDI Controller dialog, select the Default preset from the Presets menu. When this preset is loaded, you’ll see that the “cells” in the dialog allow access to numerous SONAR parameters.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software The GearBox Plug-In Edit Panel, Wah effect • With your “focus” still on the GearBox Plug-In window, you should now see the many GearBox Plug-In parameters shown in the cells of the ACT dialog. We specifically want to access the Wah - Position parameter. To see this you’ll need to select Bank 4 of the top row of “Rotary” cells, and the Wah - Position parameter should appear in the Rotary 1 controller slot. The Default preset is selected.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Propellerhead Reason® - FBV MkII Setup Tutorial The FBV MkII devices of course do not include the note keys & knobs like a Line 6 KB37 “keyboard” controller offers, to allow you to play the Reason instrument devices, record MIDI performances, etc.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software • You should now see your FBV device configured accordingly. Exit the Preferences if all settings appear as shown here: Please see the next section for how to map your FBV MIDI controllers to Reason parameters.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software • Launch Reason and load one of your Reason projects. Right click (Windows®) or Ctrl+click (Mac®) on any Reason component’s knob or slider that you want to control with your Pedal. We’ll choose the FREQ knob of one of the Reason synth devices. Right click (Windows®) or Ctrl+click (Mac®) directly on the knob you want to control... Then choose Edit Remote Override Mapping.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Digidesign Pro Tools® LE Transport Control - FBV MkII Setup Tutorial We’ve provided a step-by-step tutorial here for how to configure an FBV Shortboard or Express MkII device to remotely control the Transport of the Digidesign Pro Tools LE® 8 software. (The steps are similar for other Pro Tools versions as well.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software The result should appear in the Control Properties list like this: • When settings are complete, exit the Line 6 FBV Control application and leave your FBV connected to your computer. Configure Pro Tools LE for FBV MkII device The next step is to make a few settings within Pro Tools to allow it to receive the MMC commands from your FBV MkII device.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Next, we need to access the small “Pro Tools” menu on the Transport. In the Pro Tools - Transport sub-menu, select “Pro Tools” so that it is checked. Now, in the Pro Tools - Online submenu, select “MMC” so that it is checked. ...And that is it! Now just try pressing your FBV’s A, B, C & D buttons and you should see it control the Pro Tools transport accordingly.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Steinberg Cubase® - FBV MkII Setup Tutorial Line 6 FBV MkII devices can be configured to control numerous Cubase parameters, including transport functions, mixer parameters and more! To follow are the instructions for configuring FBV MkII to function with Steinberg Cubase® 4 on Windows®, however, the steps should be similar for other recent Cubase® and Nuendo® versions on both Windows® and Mac® as well.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Select MIDI Port Setup Uncheck the “All Inputs” box for all the FBV USB MIDI Ports Check the first FBV USB MIDI port, and uncheck the FBV ports 2, 3, & 4 Note that since we’re using Windows® XP in this example, the FBV MIDI ports appears as “USB Audio Device”. They will appear named differently if using Windows® 7, Vista® or Mac OS® X (see page 6•1).
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software • In the top right panel you will now see a list of Cubase parameters that you can map your FBV device’s controllers to. The easiest way to do this mapping is to use the Learn function. For example, to map the “Fader 1” parameter at the top of the list to your FBV’s Pedal Vol, follow these steps: • Make sure your FBV pedal is set to Pedal Vol (the “Volume” LED indicator on your FBV is lit).
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Controlling 3rd Party Software Check the box for MMC Slave Active Choose your first FBV USB MIDI Port for the MIDI Input Click OK to exit the dialog Now try your FBV footswitches that you assigned to transmit MMC commands, and you should see the Cubase transport respond. With the 3rd party application examples covered in this chapter you should now be pretty well informed on how to get your Line 6 FBV MkII device configured as a USB MIDI controller.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Reference Reference We’ve included this handy Reference chapter in case the answer to your question wasn’t too clear in the previous chapters (or for you impatient types that want the quick answer!). Here we’ve included lots of questions & answers, troubleshooting tips, and other info we figure you might be too embarrassed to ask about.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Reference If FBV MkII is a MIDI device, why does it not have any 5-pin MIDI cable connectors on it? FBV MkII does all its MIDI communication via its USB connection to your computer. When you launch any MIDI or DAW software, you’ll be able to select any of the four FBV USB MIDI Out ports to receive MIDI from it. No messy MIDI cables are needed! Can I use FBV MkII to control POD Farm™ 1.x Plug-In or standalone application? Since POD Farm 1.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Reference FBV does not control anything on my Line 6 amp or POD - FBV MkII must be securely connected to your FBV and amp/POD using an RJ-45 cable (push the cable into the device until you feel it “click”).
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Reference • Windows® users - The Windows® Class Compliant USB driver inherently will not allow more than one application utilize one USB MIDI port at a time. So, if you have the Line 6 FBV Control application running, and/or more than one MIDI/DAW application, you’ll need to either exit all but one such application that uses your FBV device, or change some of your MIDI settings in these applications. See “Windows® MIDI Port Communication” on page 6•1.
FBV MkII Advanced User Guide: Reference • For info on POD Farm 2 Plug-In & POD Farm 2 standalone application’s MIDI control functionality, please see the detailed User Guides from the official Line 6 POD Farm source: POD Farm Online Help • Got other Line 6 gear? You can find the latest versions of Line 6 product manuals available here for download: Line 6 Product Manuals • For technical support, choose from the many options listed on the Line 6 Support, including the searchable Knowledgebase: Line 6 Sup
