Kit you need

If you want to control your Tenori-on with a computer the solution is readily available.

Download and install some basic software from the internet that enables you to send MIDI messages. One that works fine for me is SysEx Librarian. There are many others.

I also installed MIDI Monitor …just to check what signals were going in and out of my computer.

Get a USB to MIDI port, and a couple of MIDI leads.  As the interface may have female connectors built in, and the Tenori cable has female connectors too, you need the short midi cables to join them.

I got my interface and cables from Maplins.co.uk, but there are plenty others out there.

Plug the interface into your computer.

Connect the MIDI OUT of your interface to MIDI IN of the Tenori-on.

Connect the MIDI OUT from your Tenori-on to the MIDI IN of your interface.

That’s it. You are ready to send some messages.

The basics of hexadecimal

You’ll be more comfortable with the code if you know hexadecimal coding. Here are some basics…

Zero    = 00

one     = 01

two      = 02

etc.

ten      = 0A

eleven = 0B

etc.

fifteen = 0F

10 in Hex = 1 x 16  = 16 in decimal

40 in Hex = 4 x 16  = 64 in decimal

F0 in Hex = 15 x 16 = 240 in decimal

FF in Hex = 15 x 16 + 15 = 255 in decimal

Need more clues? Probably easiest to Google it. I’ll probably just repeat what is out there already. For now that’s probably enough.

Some useful codes to send

To control the Tenori-on from a computer you first need to send a signal to the Tenori-on to put it into Remote Control Mode. You can do this by sending the code below to the midi IN on the Tenori-on.

Enter remote control:   F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 00  02 00 00 00 00 F7

If it’s the first time you’ve seen this type of message it can be a bit off-putting but much of it is the same in each message. It’s created like this so the Tenori-on can distinguish messages targeted at it from other MIDI messages targeted at other devices that are linked in the same MIDI chain.

The code is basically saying

SysEx message coming up (F0)

…for a Yamaha device (43)

…with this device ID (73)

…with this model ID (01)

…with this sub ID 1 (33)

…with this sub ID 2 (01)

 [Then the message in 6 bytes ]

…checksum, which is number calculated to enable the device to check the message has got through without the data being corrupted. In this case it’s ignored (set to 00), which gives a slight improvement in responsiveness but can mean that faulty messages can get through.

… SysEx message ends (F7)

So most of the message code is identical each time. I’ve highlighted the bits you need to pay special attention to in bold.

Send this message to get it out of remote control mode…

Exit remote control:  F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 F7

…if you goof, and it seems locked in Remote mode, you could switch the Tenori-on off and on again.

To select a particular Block send these SysEx messages… (remember to put it into Remote Control mode first by sending the code above)

Block 1:        F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0F  00 00 00 00 00 F7

Block 2 :       F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0F  01 00 00 00 00 F7

Block 3:        F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0F  02 00 00 00 00 F7

Block 4:        F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0F  03 00 00 00 00 F7

Block 5:        F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0F  04 00 00 00 00 F7

etc.

Block 10:      F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0F  09 00 00 00 00 F7

Block 11:      F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0F  0A 00 00 00 00 F7

etc.

Block 16:      F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0F  0F 00 00 00 00 F7

..you can see that the 10th byte is the only one that changes each time here ..and that the system regards Block 1 as zero (00) and Block 16 counts as number 15 (0F).

Other useful ones include…

Play:              F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 08  01 00 00 00 00 F7

Pause:          F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 08  00 00 00 00 00 F7

 

Turn volume to 0:                          F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0C  00 00 00 00 00 F7

Turn volume to 64 (half):             F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0C  00 00 40 00 00 F7

Turn volume to 127 (full):            F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0C  00 00 7F 00 00 F7

 

Reverb set to 0 (off):                     F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0C  0B 00 00 00 00 F7

Reverb on 127 (full):                     F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 0C  0B 00 7F 00 00 F7

There are others that can be tried and these are detailed in the firmware instructions you can download from Yamaha. They are at the end of the pdf booklet in a table.

When you have finished your explorations, remember to Exit the remote control by sending:

Exit remote control:  F0 43 73 01 33 01 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 F7

Limitations

SysEx messages are large (14 bytes) compared to note messages or patch select messages…. and MIDI is slow, so in my experience messages can get tangled if you send several of them in rapid succession.

Regular MIDI control pedals, that you might use to select guitar effects in a rack unit for example, are designed to send Patch select messages that are shorter than SysEx messages. They won’t do the job needed here.

There is a way. I’ve done it … and I’ll put some videos on YouTube to show it in action …but it cost me more than the Tenori-on did and it involved re-chipping pedals.

So before I set anyone on wild-goose chases, and recommend anything unreliable, I need to work on it a bit more, and try and do it in a more relaxed way. Hot and flustered is not an attractive look on stage!