This is a collection of notes from looking at the TD-3 synthesizer's external MIDI communication. It is not any sort of official documentation, and may be lacking information or outright incorrect. Use at your own risk, and subject to the terms and conditions of this site.
Documented by Brad Isbell, AudioPump, Inc.. Originally tested in February 2020 with a TD-3 v1.2.4, and updated through June 2021 with v1.3.7. Please e-mail me with any corrections or questions. If you find these notes useful in your project, please link back to this site!
Many thanks to Jurgen from Eindhoven for notes on polychaining, test modes, and others.
The TD-3 features a class-compliant USB MIDI interface, as well as MIDI DIN In and Out/Thru ports.
Both USB MIDI and MIDI DIN interfaces can be used to trigger notes and synchronization. However, most SysEx messages can only be sent over the USB MIDI interface. That is, if you want to change a pattern, you must use USB.
Messages to the MIDI DIN Input on the TD-3 will be copied to the MIDI DIN Output and MIDI USB Output.
Messages to the MIDI USB Input on the TD-3 will be copied to the MIDI DIN Output only.
Standard MIDI System Real-Time messages are used to synchronize over MIDI. These are short single-byte messages.
Begins the sequence playback.
FB
Ends the sequence playback.
FC
Indicates the timing pulse for tempo synchronization. Normally, there are 24 pulses per quarter note. However, this can be changed on the TD-3 by pressing the 'Back' and 'Write/Next' buttons simultaneously, and then pressing buttons 5 through 8 as appropriate.
F8
The TD-3 will only respond to start/stop messages from the source it is synchronizing to. That is, if you want to control start/stop from the USB MIDI interface, the USB MIDI interface must be sync master, and must also emit clock pulses.
These messages are standard MIDI.
To turn on a note:
90 30 4F
To turn off that note:
80 30 00
You can find more about these basic MIDI messages on MIDI.org.
Slides are triggered over MIDI by holding one note and starting the next note before letting go of the first. Firmware v1.2.6 is required for proper-sounding slides. Earlier firmware versions have broken slide implementations.
All of the additional features of the TD-3 are done via SysEx messages.
MIDI SysEx messages always start with 0xF0 and end with 0xF7.
All SysEx messages to and from the TD-3 begin with a consistent
identifying sequence for bytes 0x01 through 0x06:
00 20 32 00 01 0A
No messages have checksums.
8-bit values spread over two bytes are very common. It is suspected that this is how Behringer avoids having to deal with 7-bit values. (The most significant bit can't normally be used in MIDI messages, as it indicates a System Realtime message.) Rather than limiting to 7 bits, it seems that 8-bit values are just split into their upper 4 bits in the first byte, and lower 4 bits in the next byte. For example, consider this sequence:
0x01 0x0F
This should be considered as the value 0x1F.
(Also note that this is big-endian. There are a couple exceptions to endianness later in the document.)
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 04 F7
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 05 50 30 44 54 44 00 F7
0x07 - NULL BYTE: ASCII string identifying the model code (i.e. P0DTD)
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 06 F7
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 07 54 44 2D 33 00 F7
0x07 - NULL BYTE: ASCII string identifying the product name (i.e. TD-3)
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 08 00 F7
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 09 00 01 02 04 F7
0x09: Major Version 0x0A: Minor Version 0x0B: Revision
In this example, the firmware version is 1.2.4.
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 77 00 00 F7
0x07: Request Pattern Command (always 0x77 for this request) 0x08: Pattern Group (0-3) 0x09: Pattern Section/Pattern (A=1-8, B=9-16)
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 78 00 01 00 00 02 04 02 03 02 04 02 03 02 04 02 03 02 04 02 03 02 04 02 03 02 04 02 03 02 04 02 03 02 04 02 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 01 00 00 01 00 00 00 0F 0F 0F 0F 00 00 00 00 F7
0x07: Pattern Command (always 0x78 for this response)
0x08: Pattern Group (0-3)
0x09: Pattern Section/Pattern (A=1-8, B=9-16)
0x0A - 0x0B: ???
Always observed as 0x0000
0x0C - 0x2B: Pitches
2 bytes each, 16 steps total
MSB = 0x00 through 0x02
LSB = 0x00 through 0x0F
Pitch is one octave lower than MIDI standard.
Pitches entered with the high 'C' on the TD-3 keyboard have their top bit set
high. Therefore, you'll want to bitwise AND the value against 0x7F to get
a proper pitch value. There is no need to re-create this behavior. Setting
pitch values without it appears to work just fine on the TD-3.
Null/inactive pitches are canonically set to 'C2' (MIDI 'C1' value of 0x18).
(It may not be required to set them to 0x18.)
0x2C - 0x4B: Accent
2 bytes each, 16 steps total
MSB = 0x00 (always)
LSB = 0x00 or 0x01 (boolean)
0x4C - 0x6B: Slide
2 bytes each, 16 steps total
MSB = 0x00 (always)
LSB = 0x00 or 0x01 (boolean)
0x6C - 0x6D: Triplet Mode
MSB = 0x00 (always)
LSB = 0x00 or 0x01 (boolean)
0x6E - 0x6F: Step Count
MSB = 0x00 through 0x01
LSB = 0x01 through 0x0F
0x70 - 0x71: ???
Always observed as 0x0000
0x72 - 0x75: Tie
See Rest for format.
0x76 - 0x79: Rest
Bitmask, with only least significant nibble used. Layout is like this:
xxxx7654 xxxx3210 xxxxFEDC xxxxBA98
For example, to set a rest for each step:
00001111 00001111 00001111 00001111 (0x0F0F0F0F)
To turn on/un-rest only the first step:
00001111 00001110 00001111 00001111 (0x0F0E0F0F)
To turn on/un-rest the last four steps, in addition to the first:
00001111 00001110 00000000 00001111 (0x0F0E000F)
The exact same SysEx message that comes back in the response to fetching a pattern can be used to set that pattern as well. There is nothing special. Simply re-play the pattern back to the synthesizer and it will save it.
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 75 F7
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 76 00 08 0C 02 02 00 01 02 03 46 F7
0x08: MIDI Out Channel [0x00-0x0F] 0x09: MIDI In Channel [0x00-0x0F] 0x0A: MIDI Transpose [-12 <0x00> to 0 <0x0C> to +12 <0x18>] 0x0B: Pitch Bend Semitones (0-12) 0x0C: Key Priority <enum> 0x00 - Low 0x01 - High 0x02 - Last 0x0D: Multi-Trigger Mode <bool> 0x0E: Clock Trigger Polarity <enum> 0x00 - Fall 0x01 - Rise 0x0F: Clock Trigger Rate <enum> 0x00 - 1 PPS 0x01 - 2 PPQ 0x02 - 24 PPQ 0x08 - 48 PPQ 0x10: Clock Source <enum> 0x00 - Internal 0x01 - MIDI DIN 0x02 - MIDI USB 0x03 - Trigger 0x11: Accent Velocity Threshold (0 to 127)
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 0E 01 00 03 F7
0x08: MIDI Out Channel [0x00-0x0F] 0x0A: MIDI In Channel [0x00-0x0F]
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 12 02 F7
0x08: Key Priority <enum> 0x00 - Low 0x01 - High 0x02 - Last
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 11 03 00 F7
0x08: Pitch Bend Semitones (0-12) 0x09: ??? (always 0x00)
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 14 01 00 F7
0x08: Multi-Trigger Mode <bool>
MIDI notes with velocity above this value will be treated as an accent.
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 1C 66 F7
0x08: Accent Velocity Threshold (0-127)
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 0F 11 F7
0x08: MIDI Input Transpose (semitones) -12 (0x00) to +12 (0x18)
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 1B 03 F7
0x08: Clock Source <enum> 0x00 - Internal 0x01 - MIDI DIN 0x02 - MIDI USB 0x03 - Trigger
This setting is only valid when the clock source is set to 'Trigger' (0x03).
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 1A 02 F7
0x08: Clock Source Trigger Rate <enum> 0x00 - 1 PPS 0x01 - 2 PPQ 0x02 - 24 PPQ 0x03 - 48 PPQ
This setting is only valid when the clock source is set to 'Trigger' (0x03).
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 19 01 F7
0x08: Clock Source Trigger Polarity <enum> 0x00 - Fall 0x01 - Rise
After any of the above configuration set statements, the TD-3 will respond the same messsage:
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 01 00 00 F7
Resets all the configuration of the TD-3 to factory defaults. (Leaves patterns intact.)
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 7D F7
There is no response for this message.
Sets the TD-3 into a panel test mode where all buttons and the tempo, track, and mode knobs send MIDI data to verify their operation.
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 50 01 F7
A0 00 00-A0 7F 1F Tempo Knob
Last two bytes are little-endian, 7-bits per byte.
A1 00 00-A1 7F 1F Track/Pattern Group Knob
Last two bytes are little-endian, 7-bits per byte.
NOTE: This knob is ANALOG. Each click is an approximation.
You will see values in-between clicks. Also note that this
knob is backwards, so as you turn to the right, values will
go down.
A2 ?? ??-A2 ?? ?? Mode Knob
See notes for previous knobs. Full range of this knob is
known, as it is physically limited from turning further.
You can probably get the full range, but it may vary from
unit to unit.
A4 01 01 Start/Stop On
A4 01 00 Start/Stop Off
A4 00 01 Clear On (main LED turns green, synth sounds)
A4 00 00 Clear Off
A4 03 01 Bar On
A4 03 00 Bar Off
A4 02 01 Pitch Mode On
A4 02 00 Pitch Mode Off
A4 04 01 C0 On
A4 04 00 C0 Off
A4 05 01 C♯ On
A4 05 00 C♯ Off
A4 06 01 D On
A4 06 00 D Off
A4 07 01 D♯ On
A4 07 00 D♯ Off
A4 08 01 E On
A4 08 00 E Off
A4 09 01 F On
A4 09 00 F Off
A4 0A 01 F♯ On
A4 0A 00 F♯ Off
A4 0B 01 G On
A4 0B 00 G Off
A4 0C 01 G♯ On
A4 0C 00 G♯ Off
A4 0D 01 A On
A4 0D 00 A Off
A4 0E 01 A♯ On
A4 0E 00 A♯ Off
A4 0F 01 B On
A4 0F 00 B Off
A4 10 01 C1 On
A4 10 00 C1 Off
A4 11 01 Step On
A4 11 00 Step Off
A4 12 01 Triplet On
A4 12 00 Triplet Off
A4 13 01 Pattern A On
A4 13 00 Pattern A Off
A4 15 01 Pattern B On
A4 15 00 Pattern B Off
A4 14 01 Slide On
A4 14 00 Slide Off
A4 17 01 Write/Next On (main LED turns yellow, synth sounds)
A4 17 00 Write/Next Off
A4 16 01 Back On (main LED turns red, synth sounds)
A4 16 00 Back Off
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 50 00 F7
Enables echoing back MIDI messages from input to output.
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 7E F7
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 7E 00 00 01 00 02 F7
Danger: Don't brick your synthesizer! Don't do this unless you're prepared to brick your synthesizer! The proper way to do a firmware update is with the official SYNTHTRIBE software. Proceed at your own risk!
To enter DFU mode:
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 03 30 F7
The synth will reboot and switch from its normal PnP IDs (VID 1397/PID 1226) to VID 1397/PID 1227. All LEDs will be lit.
Proceed with sending your firmware SysEx file, message by message. The TD-3 will ACK each message with this response:
F0 00 20 32 00 01 0A 01 00 00 F7
Do not send the SysEx too fast. Ideally, wait for each ACK before proceeding with the next SysEx message.
When the firmware file has been fully sent, the TD-3 will reboot.
Updated: June 28, 2021
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