I just got the Ghosts pedal some weeks ago. I’m pretty exiceted about it, but I have some challenges taht I hope someone here knows about.
It’s in a pedal chain and it’s connected to a midi thru box with other pedals to get tempo syncronized. But sometimes almost all functions in the pedal stops working. I cant switch between touch modes, the contact mic does not work - neither does the rhythm generator. The other layers are not working either. I have to do a factory reset to get it back. Could it be the midi connection that makes the malfunctioning?
It’s probably me that does something wrong - but I hope that someone here knows more than me.
Since you mentioned MIDI, I’m wondering if you accidentally sent the pedal some MIDI note data. When Ghosts receives MIDI note data it jumps into “MIDI note takeover mode” and it gates/mutes input audio depending on which exciter mode is set. This is more clearly described in the manual.
When the pedal is in MIDI takeover mode, it can sometimes seem like it isn’t working because the input audio is muted. In that state, the pedal is waiting for more MIDI note data to retune the resonators and open the gate.
Next time you notice this, try turning the ROOT knob and see if the pedal starts responding again. That tells the pedal to stop listening to MIDI note data and go back to using the front panel tuning controls.
If that doesn’t resolve it, it would be helpful to know a bit more about your setup and what you’re doing when it happens. For example: are you starting or stopping MIDI clock, changing presets on another device, or sending any other MIDI messages? What are you doing on Ghosts?
Also, it would be helpful to clarify whether the user interface is completely locked up, meaning the LEDs don’t respond at all (I have never experienced this on any of our devices), or whether the buttons and knobs still change the LEDs but you just aren’t hearing anything from Ghosts.
Thanks for answering this! My thoughts was also that it is abut midi. The leds respons - only not the one for the mic. I have tried to turn the ROOT knob without any result. I have a setup where my loop station (Boss RC 500) feeds the midi for the rest of my pedals - for syncronizing tempo. My midi box is a Kenton Midi Thru 12. I’m starting and stopping the looper and of course turning on and off the other pedals connected to the midi box - Boss slicer, Hologram Microcosm, Hologram Dream Sequence, Evintide H9, Chase Bliss Lost & Found.
Thanks for sharing this. I’ll play with this a bit today and see if I can recreate it.
The brightness of the MIC LED is tied to the gain set on the hidden/pink page. If you turned the gain all the way down, the MIC led wont appear to turn on. It will always look like it’s off.
Thanks for the extra info. I tested every configuration I could think of based on what you described and haven’t been able to recreate anything similar.
Ghosts is designed to work with MIDI clock, and we test it with MIDI clock regularly, so I don’t think this is a general MIDI clock problem. That said, the RC-500 can send other MIDI messages besides clock, including start/stop, program changes, and control changes depending on how it’s configured. So it’s possible something else is being sent from the RC-500 or another device in the MIDI chain.
As @casio.cat said, please email us a video and we can help you troubleshoot more. Once we find the solution we can update this thread.
BOSS RC500 constantly outputs MIDI Sense comnmands which you can’t turn off. I once ran into a very strange behavior of one of the pedals in the MIDI chain. Can it be related? Can Ghosts just “not like” this constant flow of Sence commands?
Ghosts will ignore MIDI messages it doesn’t respond to, so my current suspicion is that the RC-500 may be sending MIDI CC messages that aren’t obvious from the front panel setup.
One possibility is that the Mic Level control, which is MIDI CC 29, was unintentionally set to zero, either from the hidden/pink page or from incoming MIDI CC. That would explain why the MIC LED/button seemed unresponsive, since the MIC LED can appear off when the mic level is turned all the way down.
It’s also possible that one of the touch-related controls was set to zero by MIDI CC. For example, Touch 3 is MIDI CC 27 and controls the level/mix for the touch modes, so if that were set to zero it could make the touch modes seem like they aren’t working.
That’s just a theory at this point, but it fits the symptoms better than a general MIDI clock issue.
I have now discovered that all functions on my Ghosts sets out when i switch to another memory channel on my RC 500. I should try to look in to what RC 500 sends out - maybe somehing can be done there. What I still ddo not understand - and I’m probably a little slow here - is how to load the Init preset. Even after reading the manual. Thanks for helping me out so far.
That’s very helpful. If the RC-500 is sending Program Change messages when you switch presets/memory channels, that is very likely the source of the issue.
Ghosts responds to Program Change messages by changing presets. My guess is that the RC-500 is sending Program Change messages that are recalling Ghosts presets 7-32, which have their settings set to zero. That would explain the symptoms you described: mic level appearing unresponsive, touch modes disappearing, and other functions seeming like they stopped working.
To resolve this, I would either disable Program Change output on the RC-500, or set Ghosts to a different MIDI channel. Ghosts will still receive MIDI clock because MIDI clock is global, but it will ignore channel-specific Program Change messages from the RC-500.
Jaak is correct. By default, BOSS RC-500 will send a corresponding PC command out when it loads each memory slot.
You can disable it by going to SETUP > MIDI > PC OUT and set this parameter to OFF.
There’s also a faint chance that RC500 sends out some CCs as ASSIGN targets for its footswitches, but unless you programmed it specifically, those assigns will be empty.