Midi message to trigger gate

[Little9426]

Hi, thanks in advance for any insights..
I built a selectable (from 1-8) sequence circuit that outputs each step through a variable pot.
I can connect this to a little tone generator and with some messing with the pots, I get a kind of arpeggio thing...I like it.
So i adapted the sequence circuit to accept an external 5v clock and connected this to a box that I bought that chucks out a 5v gate signal form an incoming midi message.

For the life of me i can't find what message I need to send from a VST host ..or the route it needs.
But.
When i close the program, the sequencer moves to the next step. Then I open the program again, and then close it and the sequence shifts to the next. I can do this for the whole sequence.
What message is being sent to trigger the sequence and how can I get it to do it when i want.

i would be so grateful for help. Cheers.

[BertKoor]

The specifications of the midi->gate box you bought should state that. What make / model is it?
I would expect any note-on message makes the gate "high" and note-off makes it "low" again.

[whyterabbyt]

a box that I bought

What box? There's no manual or info from the maker of the box? Any reason not to contact the maker?
Do you know what kind of MIDI message it responds to? (notes, CCs, something else?)

When i close the program, the sequencer moves to the next step.

What program? Your DAW?

There's no specific reason a DAW should be sending MIDI messages just on startup and shutdown. You could try a MIDI loopback into a MIDI monitor like MidiOX to see if it'll display what's actually being sent, but its all very opaque, and impossible to second-guess without way more info on the specifics.