errantember

I'M READY TO GO ON STAGE!!!*

Unless, of course, I'm *not*.

After All That Drama with reverse-engineering MIDIStroke, I plugged in my Rocktron MIDIMate, the pedalboard the entire drama was to enable, and got...
...
...
...nothing.

I *did* test it once after purchasing it on Ebay, and it worked (though not, at the time, with Ableton.) However, although the front panel controls are Doing the Happy, nothing is coming out of the MIDI Port.

Let's review:

Scenario 1) Ableton works with my MIDI keyboard, which is unusable for my actual stage act, since it's hard to firedance with a 48-key keyboard strapped to your ass, but is a 100% proof-of-concept the setup will work. I'm recording my voice, looping it, and having fun.

Scenario 2) I get the Rocktron MIDIMate pedalboard, which I *can* use on stage. It works with other gear, but it doesn't speak the same language as the MIDI keyboard, so I have to reverse-engineer MIDIStroke, a MIDI-to-keypress translation program, to find out what language it *does* speak.

Scenario 3) After a month of digital spelunking, I've decoded the Magical Language of MIDIStroke, and confirmed that I can activate Ableton with the type of message the Rocktron transmits! I've done this with the MIDI keyboard again, because it's easier to use for spelunking. I plug in the Rocktron MIDIMate to enjoy the fruits of my labors and...AND...

...nothing happens.

I try the MIDIMate with another piece of MIDI hardware it was *previously* working with AND...

...nothing happens. Not with any piece of gear I have.

Well mother fucking sonofabitch.

But, before you kill yourself on my behalf (if you're gonna do it, you should really do it for *you*) I've just discovered The Problem.

Most MIDI gear uses an idiot-proof 5-pin cable. There's no way to plug it wrong, it only fits the correct way.

The Rocktron isn't most gear. It has a 7-pin connector (to provide phantom power to other MIDI gear, which is cool, one fewer power adapters on stage) meaning it's possible to plug in the cable in three different position instead of just one.

I move the cable, and now it works!

"YOU'RE READY TO GO ON STAGE!!!"

Bullshit. Now I have songs to write, Kid Beyond work to decode, months of tedious practice, vocal training, and fall back plans, and then, *maybe*, I'll be ready to go on stage.

Perhaps in time for Flipside...