Wave Idea Bitstream PRO User manual

OWNER’S MANUAL
Rev 3.1 : April 2003

Rev 3.1 - Page 2
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................................3
BITSTREAM PRO FEATURES ..........................................................................................................................3
FRONT PANEL DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................................................4
POTENTIOMETERS /SWITCHES NUMBERING .............................................................................................................6
SHIFT FUNCTION .....................................................................................................................................................7
Displaying switches state .................................................................................................................................7
Locking MIDI out................................................................................................................................................7
POTENTIOMETERS & SWITCHES BEHAVIOR...........................................................................................7
POTENTIOMETERS CONFIGURATION:HOOK /JUMP ...................................................................................................7
SWITCHES CONFIGURATION:TOGGLE /PUSH ............................................................................................................7
USING BITSTREAM PRO IN MODE 1: CONTROL CHANGE ....................................................................8
DESCRIPTION OF “CONTROL CHANGE”MIDI MESSAGES .........................................................................................9
CONTROL CHANGE EXAMPLES .................................................................................................................................9
USING BITSTREAM IN MODE 2: USER DEFINED MIDI MESSAGES ...................................................10
USING THE WAVEFORM GENERATOR (LFO)..........................................................................................11
AMPLITUDE ADJUSTMENT ......................................................................................................................................11
OFFSET ADJUSTMENT .............................................................................................................................................12
FREQUENCY ADJUSTMENT......................................................................................................................................12
USING THE SNAPSHOT SCENE MEMORY.................................................................................................14
USING SYSEX TO SAVE-RESTORE SNAPSHOT SCENE MEMORY ..........................................................................15
USING EXCLUSIVE SYSTEMS TO CONFIGURE BITSTREAM PRO .....................................................15
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT WAVE IDEA SYSEXS.......................................................................................................15
CONTROL DEFINITION (POTENTIOMETER /SWITCH /LFO).....................................................................................15
Definition of a new MIDI Message Assigned to a control..........................................................................16
Definition of a new Alphanumeric String assigned to a control ................................................................18
Definition of the Acknowledge SYSEX sent by BitStream ........................................................................18
Uploading MIDI configuration from Bitstream .............................................................................................19
Answer to a MIDI configuration upload ........................................................................................................19
Uploading LCD string configuration from Bitstream...................................................................................22
Answer to an LCD string configuration upload............................................................................................22
IDENTITY REQUEST.................................................................................................................................................22
USING SYSEX TO CHANGE MIDI CHANNEL ..........................................................................................................23
MIDI INPUT CONFIGURATION.................................................................................................................................24
HOW TO CHECK ROM VERSION .................................................................................................................25
LIST OF SCREENS DISPLAYED BY BITSTREAM PRO............................................................................25
NORMAL OPERATING MODE ....................................................................................................................................25
PROGRAMMING MODE.............................................................................................................................................26
UPLOADING MODE ..................................................................................................................................................27
SNAPSHOT MEMORIES .............................................................................................................................................27
MIDI THRU &FILTER CONFIGURATION...................................................................................................................27
LFO CONFIGURATION .............................................................................................................................................28

Rev 3.1 - Page 3
Introduction
BitStream pro is a universal hardware MIDI controller, fully programmable, that allows to control all
software, and Hardware devices that respond to MIDI events & messages. These MIDI messages can
be all defined by the norm, such as Control changes, NRPNs, RPNs, or Exclusives Systems that are
specified for a dedicated device.
BitStream pro features two operating modes (Control Change / User defined) respectively used to
control all devices that use standard MIDI messages (Control Change), and devices that use specific
MIDI messages. In this case (Specific messages), BitStream Pro is fully programmable with the help
of a delivered software for Windows 9x and 2K platforms. This software allows to assign any MIDI
message (up to 24 bytes per message) to any potentiometer, switch or LFO that features BitStream.
This makes BitStream a Universal MIDI controller able to control ALL soft, gears that respond to MIDI,
usable without PC as soon as it has been configured.
BitStream Pro features
932 rotary programmable potentiometers (Hook / Jump)
98 programmable slider potentiometers – 30mm
98 on/off programmable switches (Toggle / Pushbutton)
9LCD screen 2 lines of 16 chars with backlight
9Snapshot scene memory
916 MIDI Channels
9Intelligent and programmable built-in MIDI thru and Merge
9Controller fully programmable via a delivered software
92 Operating Modes :
Mode 1: universal MIDI messages (Control Change)
Mode 2: user defined MIDI messages
93 groups
Mode 1: Group A: Control Change 0 - 31 Assigned to 32 potentiometers
Control Change 32 - 39 Assigned to 8 slider potentiometers
Control Change 40 - 47 Assigned to 8 on/off switches
Mode 1: Group B: Control Change 40 - 71 Assigned to 32 potentiometers
Control Change 72 - 79 Assigned to 8 slider potentiometers
Control Change 80 - 87 Assigned to 8 on/off switches
Mode 1: Group C: Control Change 80 - 111 Assigned to 32 potentiometers
Control Change 112 - 119 Assigned to 8 slider potentiometers
Control Change 120 - 127 Assigned to 8 on/off switches
Mode 2: Group A: Programmable MIDI Messages (up to 24 bytes per message)
Group B: Programmable MIDI Messages (up to 24 bytes per message)
Group C: Programmable MIDI Messages (up to 24 bytes per message)
9Built-in LFO (Sine / Square / Triangle) with Offset / Amplitude / frequency adjustable with 3
additional potentiometers, assignable to any user defined MIDI event, internally or externally
synchronized
9Dimensions: 19 Inches metallic rack enclosure 4U height.
9Delivered with the unit : External European DC power supply , CDROM
91 year warranty
BITSTREAM PRO
> WAVEIDEA 99 <

Rev 3.1 - Page 4
Front panel Description
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Rev 3.1 - Page 5
Control LEDs:
- MIDI Led: On when MIDI data are generated by the controller
- On/Off LED: On when controller is turned ON
Group selector
Current group can be changed using the 3 positions of the slider button
LCD display:
First line indicates: Current MIDI channel / Controller number / Controller Level / Group
Second line indicates “Control Change” in Mode 1, or a “user defined alphanumeric string” assigned to
each potentiometer / switch / LFO for the user defined mode.
Snapshot button:
Allows saving / restoring values of all 40 potentiometers and Switches in non-volatile memory.
Mode Button:
Used to change the current operating mode:
Mode 1: Control Change
Mode 2: User defined MIDI messages
Potentiometers:
32 rotary potentiometers independently configurable : Hook / Jump behavior
LFO on/off button:
Allows to turn ON/OFF the LFO, a LED is associated to this button
LFO Waveform Selection type:
Used to select waveform type generated by the LFO.
Sine / Square / Triangle
LFO Waveform Amplitude:
Used to adjust waveform amplitude (0 < Amplitude < 64)
LFO Waveform frequency
Used to adjust waveform frequency (0.01 Hz < Frequency < 10 Hz)
LFO Waveform Offset
Used to adjust waveform offset (31 < Offset < 95)
Current MIDI Channel Selection:
Used to Select MIDI Channel from 1 to 16:
UP switch allows increasing MIDI Channel
DOWN switch allows decreasing MIDI Channel
When simultaneously pressed, these buttons perform a SHIFT function
When SHIFT active, LCD shows all 8 switches state (from ROM V2.0)
ON/OFF Buttons
These buttons play the same role as all potentiometers; they are used to control soft / devices, with
ON/OFF MIDI messages.
All the 8 buttons can be independently configured: Toggle / Pushbutton behavior
Slider Potentiometers:
8 programmable 30mm Slider potentiometers
11
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1
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Rev 3.1 - Page 6
Potentiometers / Switches Numbering
The 3 groups (A, B, C) are shown at the top left of the above window
The 3 numbers indicated on each control correspond to the control number (CC#) sent by each
potentiometer or switch, depending on the selected group. These numbers are very useful for mode 1
(described in the next chapter), since the user is able to instantly know the controller sent.
All four bottom switches are pushbuttons type. They can be easily programmed as transport functions
(play, stop, forward, record) to externally control sequencers such as cubase, or other. On the other
hand, the four top switches latching type, they can be used with any ON/OFF function, ie mute, etc.

Rev 3.1 - Page 7
SHIFT Function
When simultaneously pushing MIDI channel UP & DOWN, the SHIFT function is active until one of the
two MIDI channel pushbuttons is released.
Displaying switches state
Once the shift function is active, all the 8 switches state are displayed on LCD, as follow:
The 8 switches state are shown in a set of 8 characters (4 top switches followed by all 4 bottom
switches):
. _ means the switch is pushed (or toggled to ON)
. ■means the switch is relaxed (or toggled to OFF )
Locking MIDI out
Once a control (potentiometer, switch or LFO) has to send MIDI data, if SHIFT function is active, then
assigned MIDI events are not sent to the Bitstream MIDI output.
Bitstream behavior stays unchanged, apart from the LCD which indicates locked MIDI data, as follow:
Potentiometers & switches behavior
From ROM V2.0, all the 40 potentiometers and all the 8 switches have two behavior options,
described below. All can be independently programmed via the configuration software (> V3.1),
available for both mode 1 and user defined modes.
Potentiometers configuration: Hook / Jump
This allows to set the selected potentiometer behavior as Hook or jump mode, hook is used to avoid
jumps when switching from one group to another. The MIDI events are not sent until the potentiometer
physical value is equal to the current group value. Jump is the common behavior, the Bitstream
doesn't care about physical and group mismatches, and send MIDI once the potentiometer tweaked.
Switches configuration: Toggle / Push
This allows to set the selected programmable switch behavior as toggle or push mode. When a switch
is configured as toggle, a single push/release toggle the actual switch value between Min to Max
values, this mode is mainly used to program on/off functions as mutes, as opposed to the push mode
that has for effect to send Max value once pushed, then Min value once released, this mode is mainly
used to program momentary functions as transport.
16 127 127 A
Buttons: _■_■__■■
16 LCK 127 A
user defined str

Rev 3.1 - Page 8
Using BitStream Pro in Mode 1: Control Change
This mode is a universal MIDI mode that allows to control all soft synths (Reason, Live, …) / gears
with very simple MIDI messages called “Control Change”. BitStream can generate all 128 possible
Control Change, on all 16 MIDI channels.
This mode is the non-programmable mode, all the MIDI events described below are built-in the
Bitstream Pro.
Using the 3 groups allows to cover all 128 controllers as follow:
Group A: Potentiometers 0-39 send controllers 0-39
Switches 40-47 send controllers 40-47
Group B: Potentiometers 0-39 send controllers 40-79
Switches 40-47 send controllers 80-87
Group C: Potentiometers 0-39 send controllers 80-119
Switches 40-47 send controllers 120-127
Each potentiometer / Switch is able to send 3 different controllers depending on the current group. All
controllers are sent on the selected MIDI Channel that can be changed with the help of MIDI Channel
UP-DOWN pushbuttons
16 127 127 A
Control Change

Rev 3.1 - Page 9
Description of “Control Change” MIDI Messages
“Control Change” MIDI Messages are 3 bytes length, defined as follow:
Bn CC VV
n = MIDI Channel
(0x00 to 0x0F hexa)
or
(00 to 15 decimal)
Note: MIDI channel 1 corresponds to n = 0
MIDI channel N corresponds to n = N-1
CC = Controller Number (0 to 127)
VV = Controller Value (0 to 127)
Control Change Examples
Generating controller 66 on MIDI Channel 7
Control Change number 66 is obtained with potentiometer 26, when group B is selected.
MIDI Channel 7 is obtained when LCD indicates 7 for the MIDI channel
Corresponding MIDI message is :
B6 42 VV
B6 indicates that a control change is sent on MIDI Channel 7
42 indicates that controller 42 (Hexadecimal or 66 decimal) is sent
VV Indicates potentiometer value
Generating controller 00 on MIDI Channel 16
Control Change number 00 is obtained with potentiometer 00, when group A is selected.
MIDI Channel 16 is obtained when LCD indicates 16 for the MIDI channel
Corresponding MIDI message is:
BF 00 VV
BF indicates that a control change is sent on MIDI Channel 16
00 indicates that controller 00 (Hexadecimal or 00 decimal) is sent
VV Indicates potentiometer value

Rev 3.1 - Page 10
Using BitStream in mode 2: User defined MIDI Messages
This mode is used when the soft/device to control doesn’t accept standard MIDI messages specified
by the Norm.
The user can assign up to 3 MIDI strings to each potentiometer / Switch, in order to control his
device(s) with BitStream pro. Since Bitstream Pro front panel features 49 controls (32 knobs / 8 sliders
/ 1 LFO), this makes an amount of 147 programmable MIDI events.
For each one of these events, all the following parameters can be programmed:
-Control Min & Max values
-Control value position
-MIDI channel Position
-Checksum Position, checksum range (for SYSEX events)
-Delay to insert after MIDI event (from 0 to 90ms)
-Chained control, including Crossfaders
-16 characters MIDI string (displayed on LCD)
A software delivered with BitStream Pro allows to configure these MIDI strings, for additional
information, refer to the “Software user’s guide” available on Waveidea website.
User defined MIDI strings are described in the manual of the device to control (MIDI Implementation
part). In the case of popular devices, such as Roland MC-303, Quasimidi 309, etc, several library files
are available on the Waveidea website. They can be downloaded for free, and used with the
“BitStream Configuration software”.
These library files are downloadable from:
http://www.waveidea.com
The user has also the possibility to assign to each potentiometer or switch an alphanumeric string of
16 chars max, that will be displayed on the second line of the LCD display in order to indicate what is
the parameter controlled.
Example:
This screen allows the user to know that the controller parameter is the filter Attack of his Roland MC-
303, on the MIDI Channel 16, with a value of 127 on the group A.
Waveidea highly recommends to use the dedicated configuration software to program
Bitstream Pro. For additional information about Bitstream Pro User defined mode, please refer
to the configuration software user guide, available on Waveidea website
16 --- 127 A
MC - 303 Attack
16 --- 127 A
User Defined