KAE Systems MIDI Ant User manual

www.kae-systems.com - 1 - MIDI Ant user’s manual v5.0
What’s this?
MIDI Ant is a powerful small-sized universal programmable MIDI controller. It can:
•Reach every preset in every possible bank, in every device! Plus, it helps You to rearrange Your favorite
presets in a list of up to 256 items!
•Show the program number in various formats
•Send a SysEx message or up to 9 short messages at once on each button actuation phase –on press, hold
or release
•Make sophisticated MIDI message filtering, transformation and routing
•Generate a highly precise MIDI Clock for your favorite delay pedal, with period between 20 and 300 ВРМ
and 1 ВРМ increments
•Handle up to 2 external expression pedals and apply sophisticated value transformation and routing. Or,
auxiliary 4th and 5th buttons can be connected to the ports.
Plus, it has these amazing features:
•It comes with a free Microsoft Windows® application for easy configuration
•An ‘auto-calibration’ for both expression pedals: eliminates dependency from the extreme positions of
the internal potentiometers
•Software swappable left and right buttons
•3 types of tempo control: ‘hard-coded’, manual or by expression pedal
•Ultra-bright 3-digit red LED display
•2 high-quality Neutrik® ¼” jacks for external expression pedals
•Phantom-powered from spare pins on the MIDI Out socket
•Intelligent switching 2.5mm DC power jack with center negative pin, permitting either power supply or
phantom power at a time.
•Reverse polarity protection
•Sturdy metal case
•Soft-action (click-less) momentary footswitches for maximum comfort
Note: DC power supply and expression pedals are not part of MIDI Ant’s shipping package.
Layout and connection diagram

www.kae-systems.com - 2 - MIDI Ant user’s manual v5.0
Operation
There are 3 operating modes You can use, but only one at a time.
In parallel with the currently active mode, there are always
working expression pedal ports and the ‘Message reactor’
feature.
Operating mode > Basic
Its purpose is to change the program/patch in Your controlled
device. The buttons act as follows:
-“UP” and “DOWN”:
•When in ‘normal’ sub-mode: change the displayed program. On each change, the currently
selected program is sent by MIDI.
•When in ‘search’ sub-mode: change the displayed program. Hold buttons for fast
increment/decrement.
-„ACT”:
•in ‘normal’ sub-mode: enter ‘search’ sub-mode. Display starts to blink.
•in ‘search’ sub-mode: exit ‘search’ sub-mode and transmit currently selected program by
MIDI. Display stops blinking.
Operating mode > Tap-tempo
Like ‘Basic’ mode, plus You may use the “ACT” button to control the tempo in the controlled device.
- “UP” and “DOWN”:
•When pressed - enter ‘search’ mode (display starts to blink) and change the displayed
program. Hold buttons for fast increment/decrement.
-„ACT”when pressed:
•if in ‘search’ sub-mode: exit ‘search’ sub-mode and transmit currently selected program by
MIDI.
•If in ‘normal’ sub-mode:
- If tap method is “CC message”: a CC message is emitted. BPM value is not shown by MIDI
Ant (it’s calculated by the controlled MIDI device).
or
- If tap method is “MIDI Clock”:
- 2 taps start transmission of MIDI clock stream with ‘hard-coded’ BPM (only if configured) or
with currently selected BPM by external expression pedal (only if plugged).
- 3 or more taps will start transmission of MIDI clock stream with tapped BPM (only if the
stream is stopped), otherwise taps will adjust the tempo to the interval between the last 2 taps.
Maximum tap interval = 3 seconds (20 BPM)
Minimum tap interval = 0.2 seconds (300 BPM)
After first 24 MIDI Clocks (that is one quarter note), a MIDI Start command is sent.
-Button „ACT”when hold for 2.3 seconds: only if MIDI clock stream is running, stops it and transmits
MIDI Stop command.
NOTE: The operating modes are active one at a time; only sub-modes can be changed dynamically. See
chapter ‘Settings’ to learn how to change operating modes.
NOTE: The tap method can be changed only by the configurator utility program for Windows®.

www.kae-systems.com - 3 - MIDI Ant user’s manual v5.0
Operating mode > Custom buttons
In this mode, You can execute one of the following actions on each of the button’s actuation phases
(press, hold and release):
•Send a MIDI message batch of up to 9 short messages with independent channels.
•Send a MIDI System Exclusive message (“SysEx”) with up to 34 data bytes
•Enable one or more message converter rules (see Message reactor)
•Disable one or more message converter rules
Additionally, You may configure the actuation type of each button as momentary or latching/retentive.
The momentary actuation completely follows the behavior of the Ant’s physical footswitches (1 stable ‘off’
state). The latching actuation gives You 1 additional stable state (‘on’) and yet keeping the ‘release’ events.
With a ‘latching’ button, You can execute up to 6 actions.
NOTE: All settings in ‘Custom buttons’ mode can be changed only by the configurator utility for
Windows®. For detailed explanation, see its manual. See chapter ‘Settings’.
Expression pedal ports
Up to 2 external expression pedals can be connected to MIDI Ant. Pedals should be passive (no
battery powered) and should provide 6.3 mm ( ¼” ) TRS male jacks. Maximum allowed resistance of their
internal linear potentiometer should be 30 kΩ (kilo ohms). Virtually all commercially available pedals meet
this requirement.
The pedals can be assigned to a ‘Control change’ or ‘Pitch bend’ MIDI message, to 4th or 5th custom
button or one of them can be assigned to tempo controller. On each change of a pedal position, a MIDI
message will be sent, or BPM value will be changed.
Both pedal ports have an auto-calibration, which provides full-range values even if the internal
potentiometer in Your pedal doesn’t swing end-to-end. If your pedal has an ‘offset’ knob, set it to minimum.
The auto-calibration is always on, regardless of the pedal assignment. To reset the calibration of particular
expression pedal, just unplug it while the MIDI Ant is powered.
When a pedal is assigned to a MIDI message, its value could to be limited in a specific range. After
this, it could be transformed before to be output to the message.
Transformation will not be applied to a pedal, when it is assigned to tempo or custom button.
Transformation types chart
Range of values for both axes: [0..127]
Input values are on horizontal axes
Recommended diagram for connecting 4th and 5th
buttons.
Expression pedal ports work in all operating modes.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
164 127
Exp
Log
Gauss

www.kae-systems.com - 4 - MIDI Ant user’s manual v5.0
MIDI message reactor
This is a very powerful feature, allowing
sophisticated transformations of the input MIDI messages
like:
•Pass or block messages with specific type, channel and
data
•Change the type of the message (for example 'Control
change' to 'Pitch bend')
•Change the channel of a message
•Route different channel messages to a specific channel
•Distribute ‘Note on’ messages to different channels,
depending on note number
•Apply offset or other transformation to the note
number in a ‘Note on’ messages
•Duplicate a message
and many more…
Message converter operation diagram. You can define up to 16 conversions.
Additionally, all defined conversions could be enabled and disabled dynamically when You use mode
‘Custom buttons’.
The message reactor works in all operating modes. The feature can be configured only by the
configurator utility for Windows® (see below). See its manual for details.
Settings
All parameters can be edited by a special free Windows® application, the MIDI Ant Configurator. It
offers very intuitive and self-explanatory interface, but yet it has its own manual. The application and the
manual can be downloaded freely from the MIDI Ant’s webpage.
Settings > ‘On-site’ edit mode
Some of most important parameters can be edited anytime without PC. To get into ‘on-site’ edit
mode, power MIDI Ant off. Press and hold simultaneously „UP” and „DOWN” buttons and holding them that
way, reconnect the power to MIDI Ant. Now release the buttons to continue.

www.kae-systems.com - 5 - MIDI Ant user’s manual v5.0
Here are the available parameters and their possible values in exact order. Change each parameter’s
value by pressing buttons “UP” or “DOWN”, then move to next parameter by pressing button “ACT”. After
adjusting the last parameter, you’ll enter the last operating mode you’ve selected.
1. Operating mode:
•“F.bA” – mode ‘Basic’
•“F.tt” – mode ‘Tap-tempo’
•“F.cb” – mode ‘Custom buttons’
2. Channel for all messages, defined in ‘Program items’ table; in hexadecimal format:
•“cP.0” .. “cP.F”
3. Assignment of Pedal A.
•“A.no” – not assigned
•“A.tt” – assigned to tempo control (changes the BPM)
•“A.Pb” – assigned to a MIDI ‘Pitch bend’ message
•“A.cb” – 4th custom button
•“A. 0”.. “A.7F” – assigned to a MIDI ‘Control change’ message. The controller number is shown on
rightmost 2 digits in hexadecimal format.
4. Transformation type for values from Pedal A (valid only when Pedal A is assigned to a MIDI message):
•“At.-” –no transformation
•“At.L” – logarithmic transformation
•“At.E” – exponential transformation
•“At.G” – Gaussian transformation (a.k.a ‘S’-curve)
5. Channel for MIDI messages, emitted by pedal A. The value is shown after dot in hexadecimal format:
•“Ac.0” .. “Ac.F”
6. Assignment of Pedal B.
•“b.no” – not assigned
•“b.tt” – assigned to tempo control (change BPM)
•“b.Pb” – assigned to a MIDI ‘Pitch bend’ message
•“b.cb” – 5th custom button
•“b. 0”.. “b.7F” – assigned to a MIDI ‘Control change’ message. The controller number is shown on
rightmost 2 digits in hexadecimal format.
7. Transformation type for values from Pedal B (valid only when Pedal A is assigned to a MIDI message):
•“bt.-” –no transformation
•“bt.L” – logarithmic transformation
•“bt.E” – exponential transformation
•“bt.G” – Gaussian transformation (a.k.a ‘S’-curve)
8. Channel for MIDI messages, emitted by pedal B. The value is shown after dot in hexadecimal format:
•“bc.0” .. “bc.F”.
Settings > Default settings
MIDI Ant ships with following default settings:
-Operating mode = ‘Tap-Tempo’, tap control method = MIDI clock
-64 program items
-Linear representation of programs, starting from 1.
-Linear program mapping in the program items: N.0 -> PC#0, N.1 -> PC#1 and so on.
-No custom messages defined
-Both expression pedals not assigned.
-Both expression pedals not calibrated.
-Message reactor passes through all supported messages.

www.kae-systems.com - 6 - MIDI Ant user’s manual v5.0
Technical parameters
Parameter
Value
Unit
Mechanical
Overall dimensions
146 х 83 х 57
mm
Net weight
416
g
Electrical
Supply voltage (DC)
Min
Typ
Max
V
6
9
12
Current consumption
Min
Typ
Max
mA
40
Front view of the MIDI Out socket. Ground pins (blue)
are connected internally.
MIDI implementation chart
Message type
Message
code
Transmitted in work mode:
Note
Basic
Tap-
Tempo
Custom
buttons
Note off
8x
Yes
Note on
9x
Yes
Polyphonic key pressure
Ax
Yes
Control change
Bx
Yes
Yes
Yes
0 = Bank select LSB
32 (dec) = Bank select MSB
Program change
Cx
Yes
Yes
Yes
Channel pressure
Dx
Yes
Pitch bend
Ex
Yes
Expression pedal values
routed only to MSB.
System Exclusive (SysEx)
F0
Yes
Up to 34 data bytes
MIDI timing code
F1
Yes
Song position pointer
F2
Yes
Song select
F3
Yes
Tune request
F6
Yes
Timing clock
F8
Yes
Yes
Start sequence
FA
Yes
Yes
Continue sequence
FB
Yes
Stop sequence
FC
Yes
Yes
Active sensing
FE
Yes
System reset
FF
Yes
Note: ‘x’ in message code = channel info.
Supplying phantom power via ‘MIDI
Out’ socket