MVave Chocolate wireless/usb midi foot control that won't break the bank

[SamIAm]

I bought one of these back in Feb to control my MOD Dwarf.  It is solidly constructed, nice and small, has a built-in rechargable battery and is only about £30!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SHUAIGUO-Chocolate-Wireless-Controller-Rechargeable/dp/B0B6PG9JK9

It can take a TRS expression pedal and send to midi,  it can send midi over usb or bluetooth, to do the latter they sell this (£18)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B37M62BB/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3

 

 

 

 

As this review points out, using the bluetooth means you can keep funky gear up off the floor.

 

It is configured using software on a smart phone, not the easiest app to figure out ... but this fellow has produced a set of videos on how to configure it, this is the advanced custom mode one.

 

It is not the world's most sophisticated midi controller (Which is why I'm in the process of building one myself) but it has worked well for me (Tho I only got the bluetooth adapter recently so do not have much experience of it's performance/reliability)

 

S'manth x

Edited July 25, 2023 by Smanth

[MrDinsdale]

Can this run off a USB cable to the mod dwarf?

[SamIAm]

Yes. That is how I've got it setup at present.  The USB cable carries power from the Dwarf and also MIDI.

 

S'manth x

[MrDinsdale]

Ace, will need to have a think as currently I'm relying on having a row of pedals behind the dwarf, this would force me to rethink some of that layout quite a bit!

[tauzero]

I'm hoping someone may be able to point out whatever obvious step I've missed in getting the Chocolate to control a couple of Zoom MS pedals (either an MS-60B or an MS-70CDR) via an MS-1. I'm trying to get Program Change A working with them. I have paired the Chocolate with my Android phone and set it to Program Change A, paired the MS-1 with the phone and set it to OTG, connected the MS-1 to the Zoom pedal (this is also the power for the Zoom pedal), switched Bluetooth off on the phone, switched the Chocolate on (flashing blue light) and then the MS-1 (flashing blue light turns solid, as does the light on the Chocolate) so I'm satisfied that they have paired with each other and not the TV or some other random Bluetooth device. I then try pressing switches on the Chocolate and nothing happens.

 

This setup is the same as that shown in one of the other videos by the same guy that did the tutorial about that @Smanth has included, except that I'm not using a separate 9V supply. There's another Youtube video that shows the Chocolate being used with an MS-50G with no 9V supply or batteries, so it should work.

 

One thing I'm not sure about - in Cubesuite, when I tapped on the right-hand button with what appears to be an expression pedal on it, I see [1] 1 CC 0 0~0. If I press + to add another entry, I get [2] 1 CC 0 0~0. I'm not sure if this is simply a CC for the expression pedal (which I'm not using) with the first parameter being the control it applies to and the 0~0 being the range. If so, that's all irrelevant to me as I'm not using the expression pedal.

 

Is there anything obvious (or not obvious) that I may have missed?

 

[rwillett]

Have you tried a midi sniffer program on something higher level than an Android device e.g. A pc or Mac?  Actually work out what is being sent as opposed to what you think is being sent.
 

I’ve got the same Chocolate as @Smanth and spent some time trying to get my head around how it worked. I love a puzzle as much as anybody but trying to work out the Chocolate device was hard work. The docs are useless and you need to really understand the model of how it’s put together. I’ve seen your posts so I know that you know what you are doing with IT, but I would go back to first principles, connect to CubeSuite, set it up, connect back to your desktop/laptop, check what’s actually being sent. 
 

i ended up buying a MIDI programming kit for the Mac that allows me to capture the commands, transform them based on some logic and resend them to another app.  It’s basically a midi proxy server, similar to Nginx.  It’s called https://www.bome.com/products/miditranslator. Worth the money in my opinion.

 

currently on holiday in north wales so can’t look at the one I have , but if you haven’t made progress by the weekend, let me know

 

rob

[SamIAm]

50 minutes ago, tauzero said:

I'm hoping someone may be able to point out whatever obvious step I've missed in getting the Chocolate to control a couple of Zoom MS pedals (either an MS-60B or an MS-70CDR) via an MS-1.

 

Sorry, @tauzero I cannot see any thing obvious (but it is a configuration I've not tried) what @rwillett suggests sounds sensible (and I concur with his view of you tech skills)

 

S'manth x

[BigRedX]

Have you checked that the Zoom devices in question actually respond to MIDI commands?

 

When I was looking at them for another thread, I was surprised by just how many didn't. The presence of a USB socket does not mean that they accept MIDI via USB as it appears to just be for programming the devices via the Zoom app. I didn't have time to look at every Zoom pedal, but after 10-15 minutes on the site AFAICS only those with actual DIN MIDI sockets will respond to MIDI commands. 

[SamIAm]

2 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Have you checked that the Zoom devices in question actually respond to MIDI commands?

A fair point, but the MS-60B does (Based on experiments I've done controlling it from a laptop) and there are several online examples where the MS-70CDR does as well.

S'manth x

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Have you checked that the Zoom devices in question actually respond to MIDI commands?

 

When I was looking at them for another thread, I was surprised by just how many didn't. The presence of a USB socket does not mean that they accept MIDI via USB as it appears to just be for programming the devices via the Zoom app. I didn't have time to look at every Zoom pedal, but after 10-15 minutes on the site AFAICS only those with actual DIN MIDI sockets will respond to MIDI commands. 

 

They're the same Zoom devices as are shown in Youtube videos responding to MIDI commands, set up the same way. See the video up above showing an MS-70CDR being used - I've tried an MS-70CDR and an MS-60B. I've also tried the other part of the MS-1, the twin DIN plugs, in a Roland XV-2020 - the light flashed showing that MIDI data had been transmitted but nothing happened (although I may have the XV-2020 set up wrong).