MIDI OUT - Soft Through Bug? - FA-06 / FA-07 / FA-08

MIDI OUT - Soft Through Bug?

8 Mar 2022, 02:38

I wonder if the implementation of the Soft Through function in the FA series is buggy or if I'm doing something wrong. Here's my scenario:

Roland TR-6S MIDI OUT -> Roland FA-07 MIDI IN | MIDI OUT with Soft Through = ON -> Elektron Octatrack MKII
The TR-6S is sending Transport and MIDI Clock, Sync Out = ON
The FA-07 is set to Slave, Clock Source = MIDI
The Octratrack is set to receive Transport and MIDI Clock for Sync

Now when I hit Start/Stop on the TR-6S it starts/stops the song on the FA-07 with the correct BPM, but the Octatrack does nothing, although it is supposed to receive Transport and Clock through the MIDI OUT from the FA-07 with Soft Through on. According to the FA-07 manual, Soft Through is supposed to transmit all incoming MIDI messages from the MIDI IN unfiltered to the MIDI OUT, but it seems no signal is going through the port.

When I connect the Octatrack directly to the TR-6S it works as expected.

To confirm how Soft Through should work, I set the FA-07 to Master, send Clock and connect its MIDI OUT to the MIDI IN of the TR-6S, enabled Soft Through on the TR-6S and connect its MIDI OUT to the MIDI IN of the Octatrack. This works as expected and MIDI messages incl. Sync and Clock from the FA-07 are passed on to the MIDI OUT of the TR-6S, functioning as a MIDI THRU port.

Clearly, the FA-07 implementation of Soft Through via the MIDI OUT port doesn't work. Any ideas?

Re: MIDI OUT - Soft Through Bug?

8 Mar 2022, 20:31

Do you have "Sync Output" turned on? That might be the solution.

Re: MIDI OUT - Soft Through Bug?

9 Mar 2022, 00:51

Yeah, I tried both states on and off, didn't work either

Re: MIDI OUT - Soft Through Bug?

9 Mar 2022, 10:32

Hi,
Not tried this routing.

You mention Soft-through and Sync Output settings. Does the USB_Midi Through On/Off option make any difference?

Re: MIDI OUT - Soft Through Bug?

9 Mar 2022, 13:23

I have not tried setting my FA-07 up that way. ( I have 4 midi in/outs from my PC + a midi patchbay to do that.)

If the FA doesn't pass clock signal thru midi, then you may need to get a midi splitter box (Such as a MIDI Solutions Thru or Quadra Thru) so you can send one to the FA and the other to the Octatrack.

Re: MIDI OUT - Soft Through Bug?

9 Mar 2022, 13:41

USB-MIDI THRU doesn't make a difference since this is supposed to turn on/off the MIDI THRU only via USB.

However, I got a little further with my testing and I can confirm that Soft Through does enable MIDI THRU on the MIDI OUT port, but it still isn't fully working as expected. When I send MIDI notes on MIDI channel 5 from the TR-6S OUT to the FA-07 IN with Soft Through ON, the notes data is getting passed on through the MIDI OUT port to the Octatrack or any other MIDI device.

Now passing on MIDI clock and start/stop is a different story. As @Dnomaid suggested in their reply, SYNC OUT has to be ON indeed. What doesn't work is getting clock and start/stop working simultaneously. With setting the FA-07 to REMOTE it will pass on the start/stop commands from the TR-6S to the Octatrack. All three devices start/stop synchronized, but the FA doesn't follow the tempo of the TR-6S - which is normal according to the manual.

When setting the FA-07 to SLAVE, it will follow the tempo sent by the TR-6S, but now the star/stop doesn't work anymore on the Octatrack. It will light up the PLAY button, but it won't actually play.

It's an odd behavior and while Soft Through mostly seems to work, it does create problems when the FA is put in SLAVE mode :(

Re: MIDI OUT - Soft Through Bug?

9 Mar 2022, 14:05

Dnomaid wrote:
If the FA doesn't pass clock signal thru midi, then you may need to get a midi splitter box (Such as a MIDI Solutions Thru or Quadra Thru) so you can send one to the FA and the other to the Octatrack.

Yeah, that's probably the easiest solution. But tbh, it should work with just the Soft Through setting on the FA and no other tools required. The Octatrack MIDI THRU for example passes incoming clock and sync to other devices without any issues.

Re: MIDI OUT - Soft Through Bug?

13 Jun 2023, 20:20

I don't have a newer Fantom, but have an MC909 which is based on the earlier Fantom-S/X series, and can confirm that this seems to be an annoying Roland thing, also present in their previous MCs. 'Sync Output' can only be ON in Master and Remote modes. If set to Slave, the Sync Output goes to OFF and cannot be set to ON. I don't think it's a "bug" per se, but it's definitely annoying. I just used Remote making sure to set match my tempo as a workaround until I got a midi patch bay