GM Arts Firmware for BJ Devices TB-12
  User Guide

This firmware is written for the BJ Devices TB-12 model. It will not work with other models.

Loading Firmware and Settings

There are 2 files that need to be loaded into your TB-12:

• The firmware is a file that ends with ".hex" - it controls how the TB-12 works. You can always go back to BJ Devices factory firmware if you wish.
• Settings for the MFC are in a file ending with ".eep". A sample file is included, and you can use the PC editor to create your own settings files.

Instructions for loading these files into your TB-12 can be found here.

Connections

1. Connect a MIDI cable from you TB-12 MIDI OUT to your musical device's MIDI IN.
2. If you have an Axe-FX II and wish to use those features on you MFC, connect another MIDI cable from you Axe-FX MIDI OUT to the TB-12 MIDI IN. Make sure that your Axe-FX is set to send both tuner and tap MIDI messages.
3. Optionally connect one or both pedals to the TB-12.
4. Then connect power to your TB-12.

You can now use your TB-12!

Play Mode on the MFC

You will spend most of the time on the MFC in PLAY mode, where you select patches and switch effects off and on. Here's what the foot switches do:

The top left 5 buttons select a patch in the current bank.

The top right button is used for backtracking if you have it enabled. Backtracking switches between the last 2 patches you've used. Very handy when you play a short lead break and need to switch between lead and rhythm sounds.

Long-press (hold down) the top right button to go to BANK mode, where you can choose one of 16 banks. If you haven't yet selected a patch (or if you're not using backtracking) you only need to press this footswitch to go to BANK mode.

The bottom left 5 footswitches are used for effect switching. Usually these will be toggle effects (press to turn on, press again to turn off).

The bottom right footswitch is used to give you a different set of effects on the 5 effect footswitches. In total, there are 9 effects available plus a Tap footswitch.

LEDs in Play Mode

There is a LED for each footswitch. This is how they work in PLAY mode:

The currently selected patch will light red. If you turn effects off and on, the patch LED will flash to indicate that you can press the patch footswitch again to reset effect states.

The Bank LED will flash if you've changed banks to indicate that the current patch is not in the new bank. This means that if you press a patch footswitch, you'll select a patch from the new bank.

The patch LEDs light green when effects are on. The Tap LED lights when it has set a tempo. This is configured in settings where you can set how many tap presses are required after a patch change to set a tempo and optionally turn on additional effects.

The Shift LED flashes green when shifted.

LCD in Play Mode

The LCD shows the current patch, the bank selected for the next patch and effect states.

The example shows effects numbered 1 to 9, but you can customise these to whatever you want with the editor. You could show "D" for Drive, "B" for Boost, etc.

If you're using an Axe-FX and the tuner is on it will display on the bottom row of the LCD. The top row will still show the bank as well as the 5 effects NOT displayed on effect LEDs. For example, if you have Shift on, the 5 effect LEDs will show the shifted effect states as usual, and the LCD will show states for the 5 un-shifted effects. When the tuner is turned off, the display returns to normal.

Bank Mode on the MFC

From PLAY mode, press the top right footswitch to go to BANK mode. If you're using this button for backtracking and you've already selected a patch, you'll need to long-press this footswitch to go to BANK mode.

There are 16 banks labelled from A to S (some letters such as "O" are skipped to avoid confusion with numbers). BANK mode gives you two different ways to select a bank:

• Press up and down to choose the bank you want, then Save
• Press a select button for the bank you want

You can press Exit to return to PLAY mode without changing bank.

The screen shows banks that can be selected with the 4 top left footswitches. In this example they select banks A to D. Likewise, the 4 bottom left footswitches select banks E to H. When you select a bank this way, you return immediately to PLAY mode.

There are 2 sets of bank letters: banks A to H shown in the example, and banks J to S. To switch between these 2 sets, press either the bank up or down footswitch. This way, you can select any bank with a maximum of only 2 presses.

The bank-up and bank-down footswitches can also be used to select a bank, but of course you may need to press them a few times to get to the bank you want. The bank you've chosen is shown at the right of the display (bank C in the example). Press Save to choose that bank and return to PLAY mode.

There's a shortcut with bank up and down: If you long-press either of these footswitches, it will select the next bank and return you to PLAY mode.

And one final shortcut: If you press and long-press Save, it changes to the bank containing the current patch, and returns you to PLAY mode.

Sample File Settings

The sample file should be a good start for Axe-FX II owners. It uses Basic settings, but of course you can modify these with the editor and use Advanced features if necessary.

• MFC patches A1 to S5 select Axe-FX patches 001 to 080
• Effects 1 to 4 are scenes 1 to 4
• Tap is on footswitch 5, and it turns on the Delay effect after 2 presses
• The shifted effects from left to right are: Drive, Filter (for boost), Chorus, Reverb and Tuner
• Pedal 1 is volume using CC number 7, and will need to be attached as a controller to a volume block in the Axe-FX
• Backtracking is enabled
• If you connect a MIDI cable from the Axe-FX MIDI OUT to the MFC MIDI IN, you will see the Axe-FX tuner, tap tempo, patch names as well as have tempo backtracking

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