Boss RC10R and MIDI

[Alien Radio]

Can someone help me? I know literally nothing about MIDIs!
I’ve recently got a Boss RC10R, and I’m loving it. It has MIDI ins and outs. I know you can connect extra controls and clocks etc, but what I really want to do is use the MIDI out as a dedicated out for the drum beats. I’ve checked the parameter guide and, although it read like a foreign language, I think it said this is possible. But there’s also a message saying that connected audio devices to the midi will cause malfunctions???
Can anyone with experience of this pedal or knowledge of MIDIs help me?
Cheers
Sam

 

[Roland GR 88]

The MIDI ports will only accept or send digital commands, never audio even they look like an aux. jack. These are there to send, receive and pass through timing and start/stop/fill commands.
Within the parameter menu in the pedal is a setting to split the audio so the loop and dry signal are output on A and the rhythm from B.

 

[Alien Radio]

Cheers for your help man. I thought that might be the case. So what does
“You can use note-on message from an external MIDI device to play the rhythm sound module built into the RC-10R.” mean??
Is it just talking about some way of triggering the rhythms? Sorry. Like I said, I know absolutely nothing about MIDI!

 

[WasabiChicken]

Sorry for replying two years late, but for the sake of posterity and in case anyone else comes across this thread:

So what does “You can use note-on message from an external MIDI device to play the rhythm sound module built into the RC-10R.” mean?? Is it just talking about some way of triggering the rhythms?

Yes. That's precisely what it means.

"Note on" is a type of MIDI message meaning "play this note", or in the case of drums, "hit this drum". What the parameter guide is saying here is that you can connect a MIDI controller (like a MIDI keyboard, external drum machine, a PC…) to the RC-10R, have that gadget send these "hit this drum"-messages to it, and the RC-10R will convert it into a drum beats on the fly.

For example, I literally just set this up:

Laptop → USB audio interface with MIDI output jack → RC-10R → amplifier.

From this laptop, I use a piece of software (Musescore, but any media player will do really) to play MIDI files of drum tracks, and the RC-10R plays it. The RC-10R is basically acting as a drum machine.

The main advantages of this setup compared to "just" using the RC-10R via footswitches are:

1. Musescore lets me select precisely which measures I'd like to play. I can jump to problematic sections in a song, use Musescore to loop them, and practice until I get it right. I can tell the band stuff like "let's try that again from the 2nd chorus", and this drummer will start from the second chorus.
2. I'm not restricted to simple A/B loops with intro/verse/chorus/outro kinds of structure. I can pack a MIDI drum track with whatever I like (triplets, tempo changes etc). Essentially playing songs as opposed to "loops".

 

[FenderSunburst]

Sorry for replying two years late, but for the sake of posterity and in case anyone else comes across this thread:

Yes. That's precisely what it means.

"Note on" is a type of MIDI message meaning "play this note", or in the case of drums, "hit this drum". What the parameter guide is saying here is that you can connect a MIDI controller (like a MIDI keyboard, external drum machine, a PC…) to the RC-10R, have that gadget send these "hit this drum"-messages to it, and the RC-10R will convert it into a drum beats on the fly.

For example, I literally just set this up:

Laptop → USB audio interface with MIDI output jack → RC-10R → amplifier.

From this laptop, I use a piece of software (Musescore, but any media player will do really) to play MIDI files of drum tracks, and the RC-10R plays it. The RC-10R is basically acting as a drum machine.

The main advantages of this setup compared to "just" using the RC-10R via footswitches are:

1. Musescore lets me select precisely which measures I'd like to play. I can jump to problematic sections in a song, use Musescore to loop them, and practice until I get it right. I can tell the band stuff like "let's try that again from the 2nd chorus", and this drummer will start from the second chorus.
2. I'm not restricted to simple A/B loops with intro/verse/chorus/outro kinds of structure. I can pack a MIDI drum track with whatever I like (triplets, tempo changes etc). Essentially playing songs as opposed to "loops".

Thank you so much for your reply !

I finally found this thread after a lot of googling !

I use a BOSS RC-10R and I would like to be able to play a MIDI drum track from a Mac or iPad, send the "notes" to the BOSS RC-10R, and let it play the drum as an external MIDI intrument.

As far as I undertand that’s exactly what you do. I am really interrested in your setup.

Could you tell me which USB audio interface with MIDI you are using ?

 

[WasabiChicken]

Could you tell me which USB audio interface with MIDI you are using ?

Of course.

I use a PreSonus AudioBox USB 96, and I chose it entirely because it had MIDI sockets and it was available in my local store. I connected it to the RC-10R using a MIDI-to-TRS (Type A) cable, one like this.

I feel obliged to point out that it's an almost embarrassingly over-engineered way to play drums from a laptop, though:

• For starters, you could substitute the audio interface with something simpler, like for example this.
• You could also forgo all the MIDI- and RC-10R hardware nonsense, install a DAW onto your MAC, and use it (along with any audio interface) to play not only drums, but whatever you want.

 

[FenderSunburst]

Thank you again for your reply!

You’re right. It is probably an over-engineering approach. But at least it is an option.

I tried to import custom rhythm patterns to the BOSS RC-10R using BOSS Rhythm Converter sorftware, bit I didn’t succeed to make it work correctly.

I was looking for an alternative.

Thanks a lot!