FAMC Mini, User Manual, Page: 13 / 98

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can hear it. That's where the PROGRAM CHANGE message comes in. It's a MIDI standard message for the purpose of
telling a device to change patches. It can be used for many things, but you can usually count on this message working as
we need it to. Devices handle presets differently, some use Banks, others not. If your device has more than 128 presets
(patches) available, then it uses banks in some fashion. If it is less than 128, you need not worry about Banks.
Before we begin with Program Commands, lets discuss Banks briefly. All devices can provide different numbers. MIDI
in general provides direct access for up to 128 patches. These presets are sometimes numbered from 0 to 127, and
other times numbered from 1 to 128. For devices that show presets from 1-128, it is important to know that those
numbers are for human readability. The actual MIDI data will be between 0-127. So 1 will actually be a data value of 0
to the MIDI system itself.
In devices that support more than 128 presets (patches), the likelihood is that these sounds will be organized into
banks, with each bank containing no more than 128 sounds. The MIDI protocol now includes the facility to switch from
one bank to another, though some older instruments have non-standard bank change commands. Usually a Bank
change requires a CC message (described below). Again, the commands required are usually explained in their MIDI
Implementation guide.
So now we have the basic understanding. A Program Change message will be made up of 3 parts, (1) The Command
“Program Change (PC)”, (2) the MIDI Channel we are talking too, and (3) the Preset (patch) # we want to select ( a
number between 0 and 127).
Let’s create a sample command now. We want to talk to a device on MIDI channel #1. We want to tell the unit to turn on
Preset #10. The Command will be “Program Change Midi Channel #1, with Preset 10). Pretty simple right--- yep, it is
that simple.
On the LF+, this Command might look something like this on 2
nd
line of the LCD: 01 | 01|5|10. The first 01 is telling us
that we are programming the first command of the sequence (perhaps the only command). The Second 01 is the midi
channel (the screen’s top line say “Midi Chan”. The 5 refers to the 5
th
midi command, and the top of the screen says
“Program #” so you know it's a Program Change. The 10 at the end is the preset # for the program Change message.
Not hard once you are looking at the screen.
Command: CONTINOUS CONTROLLERS (CC)
While CC functionality can get complicated, it’s not that hard to understand for most of your purposes. What are CC
messages used for? Ever move an expression pedal up and down to control your Volume? Well, how did the effects unit
know to increase the volume when you pressed the expression pedal down? How did it know to lower the volume