HUI 16 channels

[Nowell]

Hello.
I have a Ramsa WR-DA7 digital mixer.
Is it possible to control more than 8 channel faders at the same time?
The mixer uses HUI protocal.
I can connect the surface with the   AZ control. (HUI)
I can control 8 channels only at a time.
The mixer has 16 channels Plus 4 busses and a master.
It would be great to get all the faders controlling.
Only one set of midi in/outs.
My DAW is Sonar Platinum.
Any ideas?
Thanks...

[azslow3]

Do you have a link to WR-DA7 documentation which mention HUI? I have only found the documentation for 2.0 update and it doesn't mention HUI (while it mention MIDI improvements).

It can happened the mixer works just with 8 channels when in HUI mode (all DMs I have checked so far limit "DAW controlling more" to 8 channels). MCU is specified as 8 channels per MIDI port (and WR-DA7 has just one), I thing the same is for HUI (there is no half way official docs for this protocol). It is easy to check - if in AZ Controller when you operate other channels you see some changes in the "Last MIDI event", these controls are sending something. Otherwise not.

For 8 channels HUI you can use standard Cakewalk Mackie Surface plug-in, it has HUI mode and it is more "stable" and complete then AZ Controller presets for MCU/HUI (I never had these devices).

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With AZ Controller you can try to use direct MIDI control. From the documentation faders and some buttons can send/receive MIDI. Again, you can use "Last MIDI event" to check something is received. And if you manage to get MIDI sent from all 20 channels, we can make a separate preset for that. Note that in this case normally mixer audio is synced to controls, I mean if you change level of the track that will change level of the mixer channel as well. When you used mixer for audio, that can be desired or not desired effect, depends how you want use your gear.

[mgr]

There is this blog about DA7

http://www.cambriarick.com/DA7/midi.html


It is mentioning MIDI can be assigned to faders etc.,
and it can be configured, whether the fader just sends MIDI, or controlls volume at the mixer.
You need to use the Custom/MIDI fader layer on the DA7.
So I guess it is at least 16 faders you can use for MIDI control.
Whether the faders also receive MIDI and react to that is not being mentioned.

DA7 also seems to support MMC for transport command like Play, Stop, Fast forward and Rewind.
So you should be able to use that as well, letting AZ Controller emulate an MMC recording device,
which it can do perfectly.

I am currently working on a preset for a very similar project for my Tascam DM24 console,
so maybe one could make that preset usable for both DA7 and DM24, provided we can force DA7
to send the same MIDI CC messages from faders and buttons as DM24 does, or two different but very similar presets.

See thread called "Math functions, variables, message construction" in the "Discussion" group.
It mainly deals with arming tracks for recording, which is supported by DM24 via MMC,
as this required new Bit Action functionality in AZ Controller that AZ kindly implemented.
I do not know whether DA7 supports track arming over MMC as well, but at least transport buttons should be exactly the same for both consoles I believe.

[Nowell]

Thanks for the responces.
There maybe hope yet for this mixer.
This what I have found out so far:
The following are being observed from the last midi message in the AZ control
Ramsa set to HUI DAW  control. Faders 1-8
Fader 1:Ch1 CC14: 0, Value 0, to 16352.
Fader 8:ch1 CC14: 7, Value 0, to 16352
MASTER FADER sends sysex message:
Sysex<54>12 45 20 [53 51 20 78 40 40 3 30 41] (fader down)
Sysex<54>12 45 20 [53 51 20 78 4c 7e 3 33 42] (fader up)
Faders 9 to 16 do not send anything in this mode.
Faders 1-8 do respond from Sonar and I can change banks in sets of 8.
The master fader currently does not move in either way.

[azslow3]

I suggest to use Mackie plug-in in HUI mode and try to create preset for MIDI mode to use more channels.

Each device is a bit different... While Mackie HUI/MCU is a kind of "standard", in practice only devices with exactly the same controls can be used without limitation with related software. Avid and other have tried to create "universal" protocols, also with questionable results. Dedicated software/preset for concrete device is always the best solution to get everything possible from it. Universal solutions are always "compromises".

[mgr]

The master fader currently does not move in either way.

As far as I know, HUI does not have master fader.
So whatever your master fader sends over MIDI is probably not HUI message.
And it is also not MCU I guess, since MCU does not use SysEx messages.

Have you tried transport buttons? Play, Stop, Rec,...?

[Nowell]

I have not been able to get transport controls working at this time.
It is supposed to be enabled with a mmc control button.
On the DA7 the display show transport control but Sonar does not respond.

[azslow3]

In the "Last MIDI Event" you should see what is going on. If your mixer doesn't send anything on transport buttons, I mean it is not sent to computer, Surface plug-ins can't work. If you see something, but it is not assigned in preset, the preset has to be changed. Note that HUI transport buttons don't send the same messages as MMC transport buttons.