Midi control CQ18T and Reaper/Other Daw

CQ CQ General Discussions
1

Hi

is there a way to midi control Reaper from my CQ18 and vice versa?
From midi control app in windows i see midi signal from mixer when i turn knobs,
but i’m not able to configure reaper to receive inputs from CQ. Thanks

2

Hi @Paolo

The CQ sends and received MIDI messages as detailed in it’s MIDI Protocol here - https://www.allen-heath.com/content/uploads/2024/10/CQ_MIDI_Protocol_V1_2_0_iss4.pdf
You can also use the A&H MIDI Control Driver to translate between the CQ’s NRPN messaging and CC messaging as per the A&H MIDI Control Help Doc - https://www.allen-heath.com/content/uploads/2024/06/AH-MIDI-Control-V2.10-Help_Iss1.pdf

MIDI messages can be used to control all kinds of things, but a few things that might help you here:

  • The CQ uses NRPN messages, which are different to CC messages, so to use these with other equipment/software, that must also work with NRPN messaging. OR you will need to use the CC Translator option in A&H MIDI Control
  • Turning knobs or pressing keys and buttons when controlling a CQ audio channel does not send MIDI messaging from the controls. The controls adjust the parameters in the CQ core, and it’s these changes which are sending messages.

Hope this points you in the right direction - you could also get something like MIDI OX or Pocket MIDI to take a look at the MIDI being sent, to then work out how you can apply it in Reaper.

Thanks,
Keith.

3

Does this mean I must send midi messages to the CQ in NRPN format? Or can it also accept regular old CC/note/etc messages?

4

Hi Keith

The protocol doc is not as easy to understand as you may think. However I think that the string for muting FX1 is B0 63 00 B0 62 51 B0 06 00 B0 26 01 - Is that correct?

If so, it doesn’t work when I send it from my iPad app - Stage Traxx 3.

Is there not a simple standard midi message I can send to mute channels?

5

@Southside Jimmy

All channel control MIDI to and from the mixer uses NRPN messaging, because otherwise you’d be limited to a maximum 128 ‘things’ you could control, and there are far more than that!
Interestingly I was looking to see whether Stage Traxx supports NRPN messaging and found a post which appears to be from @Geoff on their forum here - NRPM MIDI messages - Stage Traxx Support
So you are correct with the mute message you posted when displayed in a hex format (as in the MIDI Protocol doc) but it looks like Stage Traxx might be using a decimal format and also does not directly support NRPN messaging.
You need to convert the hex to decimal, then use the Stage Traxx MIDI syntax.

We can’t support software from a third party of course, but I have confirmed the following works to turn the FX1 Mute ON at 3 secs:
[midi@00:03.001: CC99.0@1]
[midi@00:03.001: CC98.81@1]
[midi@00:03.001: CC6.0@1]
[midi@00:03.001: CC38.1@1]

and then to turn it OFF a few seconds later:
[midi@00:06.001: CC99.0@1]
[midi@00:06.001: CC98.81@1]
[midi@00:06.001: CC6.0@1]
[midi@00:06.001: CC38.0@1]

Hope this helps,
Keith.

1 Like
6

Late follow up, but thanks for that, Keith!