Paint Audio MIDI Captain foot controller

My one negative observation re: MIDI Captain is that it does seem to chew through batteries pretty quick, if you run on 2xAA (as I have been. It kind of blew my mind - and not in a good way - when HoTone released the "wireless" Control 4 that didn't really support battery power in any way. :rolleyes:)

I'm going to have to look into some kind of high capacity rechargeable alternatives. I think I read that there's a way to charge batteries while they're still installed in the MIDI Captain, which is a decent, cost-effective alternative to a built-in lithium ion battery, I guess.
 
mbenigni said:
My one negative observation re: MIDI Captain is that it does seem to chew through batteries pretty quick, if you run on 2xAA (as I have been. It kind of blew my mind - and not in a good way - when HoTone released the "wireless" Control 4 that didn't really support battery power in any way. :rolleyes:)

I'm going to have to look into some kind of high capacity rechargeable alternatives. I think I read that there's a way to charge batteries while they're still installed in the MIDI Captain, which is a decent, cost-effective alternative to a built-in lithium ion battery, I guess.
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I have a bunch of rechargeables I got for IEM beltpacks, Tascam recorders, etc. Some older Amazon Basics and some newer Energizer rechargeables. Ive only tried the former and they recharge slowly while the unit is connected to an alternate power source. It came in handy when I disconnected the Midi Captain from my board and brought it up to my desk for editing. If using the battery feature seriously I'd bring some spares fo sho.
 
Tried my Dunlop DVP4 into the expression pedal input. It does the same thing as the MIDI Commander when control is sent from the tip - huge jump from value 0 to 100 before I even get halfway down on the pedal. Then it hovers in between 115 to 122, going up and down until the pedal reaches toe position and finally lands on value 127. I have to open the pedal and flip the internal switch to get the control sent from the ring, where expression control works as expected.

Two footswitches at once work but they're definitely not simultaneous, quite a shock when attempting to turn a compressor off and a drive on.

The MIDI Mate adapter came in, what a hell of a way to pop my wireless MIDI cherry by also not needing power to the controller! This is insane, may just be the feeling of novelty but I'm glad I didn't get the standard version.

Geek Mode has its quirks. Coming out of the menu after making a change dumps me onto one of two HX presets, either the first or 59th preset. Some color assignments don't seem to work: On the Page 1 layout, switch A's dim state is always orange. Page 2, switch 2's dim state is always purple/red.

Mr Zuo got back to me about bricking my unit. They received my message a day after I sent it and they replied that same day - I just didn't notice it in my Spam folder until today. He assured me that the issue was something I had already expected all along - the files you trash aren't truly gone until you "empty the trash", still taking space on the disk. It makes sense that reformatting cleared that data out.
 
Alex Kenivel said:
Tried my Dunlop DVP4 into the expression pedal input. It does the same thing as the MIDI Commander when control is sent from the tip - huge jump from value 0 to 100 before I even get halfway down on the pedal. Then it hovers in between 115 to 122, going up and down until the pedal reaches toe position and finally lands on value 127. I have to open the pedal and flip the internal switch to get the control sent from the ring, where expression control works as expected.

Two footswitches at once work but they're definitely not simultaneous, quite a shock when attempting to turn a compressor off and a drive on.

The MIDI Mate adapter came in, what a hell of a way to pop my wireless MIDI cherry by also not needing power to the controller! This is insane, may just be the feeling of novelty but I'm glad I didn't get the standard version.

Geek Mode has its quirks. Coming out of the menu after making a change dumps me onto one of two HX presets, either the first or 59th preset. Some color assignments don't seem to work: On the Page 1 layout, switch A's dim state is always orange. Page 2, switch 2's dim state is always purple/red.

Mr Zuo got back to me about bricking my unit. They received my message a day after I sent it and they replied that same day - I just didn't notice it in my Spam folder until today. He assured me that the issue was something I had already expected all along - the files you trash aren't truly gone until you "empty the trash", still taking space on the disk. It makes sense that reformatting cleared that data out.
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I'm surprised to hear that about the DVP4, since my Dunlop works well "out of the box". I wonder if I could make the same change to my Hotone Press, which is pretty much unusable with MIDI Captain right now. I'll have to check the docs to see if it has any kind of polarity switching.

Sorry to hear about the non-simultaneous switching. I had a suspicion after testing on QC, but I wasn't sure whether it was the MIDI Captain or the QC (or my foot LOL) that was delaying the second toggle.

I'm completely addicted to wireless MIDI, and latency between MIDI Captain and MIDI Mate is really low - possibly even lower than between two paired CME WIDI Masters. This is important if you ever want to control a looper. (Ampero Control 4 internal wireless - based on an earlier Bluetooth rev. - to CME MIDI Master was too high for this application.)

If you haven't already, email Wilson Zuo about all of those weird little quirks. He seems to be very thorough. They'll probably patch things up in f/w within a few months.
 
For some reason the MIDI Mate isn't receiving anything from the Cap'n on the second go-around. Checked the usual suspects, Wireless ID, MIDI Channel, sent them another email about it.

Found a reply from Wilson in my Junk folder, responding to my "quirks" email, explaining the preset jumps and talking about updating Geek Mode with customizable options like in Normal Mode. :banana
 
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Alex Kenivel said:
For some reason the MIDI Mate isn't receiving anything from the Cap'n on the second go-around. Checked the usual suspects, Wireless ID, MIDI Channel, sent them another email about it.

Found a reply from Wilson in my Junk folder, responding to my "quirks" email, explaining the preset jumps and talking about updating Geek Mode with customizable options like in Normal Mode. :banana
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Not sure what you mean by "second go-around"... Did you ever get this resolved?
 
Alex Kenivel said:
I mean the second time using it. The Amazon seller sent a prompt replacement and has been working fine ever since.
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Hey

It seems that the update process bricked my unit as well. Just a blank LED screen when I turn it on. Tried reformatting but no luck still. Any ideas on how to solve this? How did you get yours back to life? I emailed Wilson but have yet to get a response. Cheers.
 
kaptainkashmir said:
Hey

It seems that the update process bricked my unit as well. Just a blank LED screen when I turn it on. Tried reformatting but no luck still. Any ideas on how to solve this? How did you get yours back to life? I emailed Wilson but have yet to get a response. Cheers.
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Does it still connect to a computer as a storage device?
 
kaptainkashmir said:
It does.
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Okay, so far what has been done to update the device?

As far as I know all you need to do is:

Download the FW3.04 update files

Erase all the files on the MIDI Captain EXCEPT the "license" folder (move all else to trash and empty trash to completely erase the files - this was the issue I encountered )

Transfer all of the new files from the update onto the MIDI Captain.

Restart.

Let us know what happens!
 
I just tried to link the update file from their website and noticed that the update is for the MIDI mate and not for the midi captain. Perhaps you transfered the MIDI mate files instead of the midi captain files.

The update files exist for the midi Captain somewhere, but their website is a mess. I'll throw the files I have onto my Dropbox and share them
 
Alex Kenivel said:
I just tried to link the update file from their website and noticed that the update is for the MIDI mate and not for the midi captain. Perhaps you transfered the MIDI mate files instead of the midi captain files.

The update files exist for the midi Captain somewhere, but their website is a mess. I'll throw the files I have onto my Dropbox and share them
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Oops! Yeah, that might be a problem LOL.
Alex Kenivel to the rescue! :beer
 
Dropbox doesn't allow certain files to be uploaded so Google Drive will have to do:

(Edit: Files removed because they are back up on the website)


I've also Emailed Wilson about the webisite error
 
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dies cast away GIF
 
Alex Kenivel said:
Ive only tried the former and they recharge slowly while the unit is connected to an alternate power source.
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Holy schnikeys - emphasis on "slowly". I've been charging via USB for about a day, and it went from 25% to 75%; seems to have stopped there. The display only looks to have 4 positions, so maybe anything under 99.999999% reads as 75%. :D The metric that matters, of course, is how long do the batteries last from here? (Other point of interest: is charging from the 9V barrel jack input any faster?)

It charges so slowly that it's hard to be certain, but I think it only charges if the pedal is turned on? Which is kind of weird.
 
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JiveTurkey said:
dies cast away GIF
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Haha, Dude actually responds really quick. In fact he already fixed the link on the website.

mbenigni said:
Holy schnikeys - emphasis on "slowly". I've been charging via USB for about a day, and it went from 25% to 75%; seems to have stopped there. The display only looks to have 4 positions, so maybe anything under 99.999999% reads as 75%. :D The metric that matters, of course, is how long do the batteries last from here? (Other point of interest: is charging from the 9V barrel jack input any faster?)

It charges so slowly that it's hard to be certain, but I think it only charges if the pedal is turned on? Which is kind of weird.
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I've had the same batteries in for weeks and I never get a "full" indicator, always a blinking at 75%. Plugged into 9v power FWIW. I think that just may be the graphic for "charging" even if full. I never take it off of 9v power, I really should just take the batteries out
 
Alex Kenivel said:
Dropbox doesn't allow certain files to be uploaded so Google Drive will have to do:

Google Drive: Sign-in

Access Google Drive with a Google account (for personal use) or Google Workspace account (for business use).
drive.google.com

I've also Emailed Wilson about the webisite error
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Yup, solved this a few days ago. Thanks! I knew I wasn't hallucinating when I saw that the files were named as Midi Mate lol.

Btw, is there any option to get the colors/lights to dim when the switch is toggled as 'off'? I noticed that the LEDs are off when they are not active. Any chance there's a way to have it dim then bright when toggled? Thanks
 
kaptainkashmir said:
Btw, is there any option to get the colors/lights to dim when the switch is toggled as 'off'? I noticed that the LEDs are off when they are not active. Any chance there's a way to have it dim then bright when toggled? Thanks
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They're working on it, so I've been told
 
So how are you gents getting on with your midi captains now? These appear to be £129 in the UK, which for 10 programmable buttons for my stomp is a bloody steal if they're as good as they look. Are any of you using the wireless midi mate? Being able to control my JVM and stomp from one box and have the jvm controlled wirelessly would be pretty cool.

Edit - well I answered one of my questions. Looks like the black model doesn't have the integrated wireless so I'd need the blue or gold to use the midi mate. I can only find the black standard model for sale in the UK.
 
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