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Remote control of Dashboard parameters

I am using the seaboard 49 with Mainstage 3. I have a variety of patches and channel strips, within Mainstage, some of which use the Equator Synth engine as an input source, and others which use the Logic/Mainstage ESX24 sampler or one of the many other instruments available in Mainstage as an input source.

To make the Seaboard correctly control the Equator synth, I have to set the dashboard pitch bend range to 48. But, to correctly control most of the Logic/Mainstage instruments, I have to set the dashboard pitch bend range to 2.

I need some way to automatically change the dashboard pitch bend range when I call up the different patches in mainstage. Right now I have to have dashboard open as well as Mainstage and then jump between programs to make the dashboard pitch bend changes as the different channel strips require. This takes time between songs and opens up the door to user error with disastrous sonic consequences! I suppose with time I could re-create all of my channel strips to use the equator synth as an input (it is quite a powerful synth!), but that is not practical in the near future. So, what options do I have to be able to change the dashboard pitch bend range from within Mainstage? 

For that matter, it would be useful to be able to change the Dashboard  Mode settings and the Midi Settings remotely, via a sys exclusive command or CC message or Program change message, etc.


10 people like this idea
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Here are the main MIDI messages used to configure the Seaboard RISE. 


  • Note 1: if you send the RISE a message that corresponds with a different (unpublished) message, it is possible to change the settings so as to make it temporarily unusable, in which case you may need to manually reinstall the firmware. Sending these messages is not officially supported, and so you do so at your own risk.

  • Note 2: BLOCKS use the BLOCKS API rather than these messages, and it's not currently feasible to control BLOCKS remotely outside of using the BLOCKS API. For details on developing with BLOCKS, please see https://juce.com/blocks

  • Helpful hint: you may use a MIDI monitor application like SNoize's MIDI Monitor to "spy" on the communication between ROLI Dashboard and the Seaboard RISE. You'll see these messages correspond to the changes you make within ROLI Dashboard.

And now to the RISE's configuration MIDI messages:

  • SysEx messages
    • 8: Pedal CC (0–119)
    • 14: Use global channel? (0–1)
    • 20: Left MIDI Touch Fader position (0–127)
    • 21: Middle MIDI Touch Fader position (0–127)
    • 22: Right MIDI Touch Fader position (0–127)
    • 23: Glide sensitivity (0–127)
    • 24: Slide sensitivity (0–127)
    • 25: Press sensitivity (0–127)
    • 26: Strike sensitivity (0–127)
    • 27: Lift sensitivity (0–127)
    • 28: Left Touch Fader MIDI CC (0–127)
    • 29: Middle MIDI Touch Fader CC (0–127)
    • 30: Right MIDI Touch Fader CC (0–127)
    • 35: XY Touchpad X CC (0–127)
    • 36: XY Touchpad Y CC (0–127)
  • RPN
    • 0: Pitch bend range (1–96)
    • 6: Zone start channel (sent on the desired zone start channel)
    • 6: Zone end channel
    • 6: Zone global channel
  • NRPN
    • 0: Glide/Slide tracking mode (0–4)
    • 2: Pitch octave (0–8); 4 is default
    • 3: Pitch semitone transposition (53–75); 64 is default
    • 4: Press tracking mode (0–4)
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I agree with Kirill, this *IS* a must have.


If I play a quick demo for a Youtube video, I do not need this feature.


But, in live session I  would need to change the mode each time I change the expander configuration., for example from a guitar sound to a violin, using different polyphony (6 to 2),transposition and sensitivity setup. Without automatisable configuration, I have to change the mode manually between each song, and so I have to stop playing, and focuss on technical stuff :(


Configuration using MIDI messages would be sufficient,if it embraces all the configuration parameters. I think program changes relative to modes would be a better choice.


Going further, the use of split zones, each assignable to a mode would be the most versatile approach. With this feature, I could use the first octave in piano mode and the others using MPE to a violin. Without this feature, I need a companion keyboard managing splits with Mono Polyphonic expression...


@Red, could you please provide MIDI implementation soon ?

I hardly need this feature. Let's say, I'm playing live set. In one song I use Equator with 

48 pb range, in another I use other synt with another pb range. We hardly need function to translate pb range from daw to dashboard when we change the song. Thank you.

That would be great! I believe there is a way to send unique MIDI messages from Mainstage so knowing what messages to send is a great start. 


For the future Dashboard update, I was imagining having the option to save all the Rise dashboard settings as a "Scene" or "Patch" and then being able to recall them by sending a simple MIDI patch change command from Mainstage directly to the Rise Keyboard. 



Thanks for the suggestions, and I definitely see how useful this could be. Our team will be looking at the possibility of including some of this functionality in a future version of Dashboard. 


In the meantime, as a starting point, we can summarize some of the main MIDI messages that Dashboard uses to set up the Seaboard RISE, so if you'd like to change the pitch bend range or channel range on the fly, for instance, you can send the RISE these messages. We'll post here once we've compiled a digestible list of these messages.


(BLOCKS work a little differently, as they enter into API mode when used with Dashboard, and so to set up BLOCKS one needs to enter API mode as well.)

This would be a huge time saver for me as well. I'd mostly need to set MIDI channel ranges and MPE mode  as well as the pitch bend range. Say when I switch from Equator to Omnisphere (8 channels, pitchbend range +-24, MPE Off) or Kontakt (1 to 16 channels, pitch bend range +-12, MPE Off) and back.


Not sure about Rise, but Dashboard and ROLI Blocks already do communicate via SysEX, half of this communication keeps showing up at my DAW's MIDI input, forcing me to use a plugin to filter the chatter out. But as of now I wasn't able to make sense of the messages, not to mention sending a sysex to a block and have it react. Still I can't get rid of the itching feeling that at least some setting measures would be working right now if I just found the correct messages to send.


I have been asking for some SysEx documentation several times at different channels, but nothing appeared yet, as far as I know.

+1 That would be an awesome addiction. For now I don't think it's doable unfortunately.
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