I thought I'd share something I've been idly musing about today.
I have a pretty nice pedalboard, but I don't like all the tap dancing.
I've tried multifx and never got on with them and though I could go to a switching system that's going to require a massive board, loads of cables and you still only get one variant of each pedal.
So I was thinking would it be possible to setup a simple board using all MIDI capable FX so they all stayed in the loop, but you got a simple MIDI pedal and switched them all.
I'm looking for stuff that is not insanely massive, or expensive which rules out the big Strymons and possibly Eventide (though I could be convinced about the H9).
So what products could you have on a board like that?
I can think of
Line6 - M5, M9
TC - Flashback x4 and Nova Drive
Soundblox - Orbital Mod, Multiwave Distortion, etc (though you need a MIDI adapter at £75 unless you go to the pro models)
Zoom G3 (+£80 for a USB MIDI host adapter)
TC - Spin Doctor (Insanely expensive!)
I think the distortion would be the biggest challenge as I can only really think of the Nova Drive as the only example of a MIDI enabled analog distortion pedal unless you used a combination MIDI/Looper pedal.
What other interesting MIDI enabled pedals are there?
Anyone doing it and got it working.?
Comments
Does it need to be midi? Having a looper set up with a few loops means you can tap dance before each song to prepare the effects you need, then hit one button to get them in and out - for me, this would mean a loop for rhythm (which would have distortion, chorus, compression and fuzz in it, not in that order) and solo (overdrive, delay, reverb).
Obviously, if you needed both loops on its just two clicks. If the song has no distortion on at all, just switch it off - you'll still be able to hit comp, chorus and fuzz on and off at once.
Obviously, this might not be a useful solution at all for you... But it's simple and used pedals you love.
equally some might be constrained to work on a particular (or worse) all midi channels..
Using midi is an interesting process from a programmers point of view - the protocols: note on, note off, preset change, control change, system controls may all be interpreted differently by different devices and most pedals implement a subset of the protocols, if you get something like the FCB1010 and the UNO chip you can programme for 5 seperate midi channels (so 5 devices most likely) simultaneously.
I've paired an M5, EHX2880 and Linn to an FCB1010 and I had to generate a spreadsheet as a reference to the midi commands each used - annoyingly none were discrete so that's 3 seperate channels and the M5 getting one expression pedal and the EHX the other.. and I'm still trying to figure out how to sync the time on them all...
It's well worth doing but don't expect it to simplify anything
Line 6 M9/M13
Pros:
Great sounding effects
Scenes work well
the tap tempo behaviour and the note-syncing is the industry standard as far as I'm concerned
Will respond to incoming CC and PC messages instantly
Cons:
Even though the effects sound great, they're getting a bit long in the tooth. Not much control; certainly nowhere near what you get with Strymon et al.
The footswitches do break quite often. They need upgrading eventually.
Can't change the scene folders without bending down to do it.
Small display; tuner is a bit annoying to use in this respect.
The units do *not* work well when acting as a midi source - the internal logic is "change DSP settings, then transmit midi messages" and this results in delays. So your amp changes (for instance) come slightly too late.
Line 6 Pod HD500
Pros:
A bit better midi implementation than the M series; you can decide which switches send CC's or PC's
Sending PC's from the bottom row will be instantaneous
More effects at once - up to 8 I believe
Better switches
Works well as a master controller for your setup - front row midi switching, back row effects
Tap tempo is excellent
Bigger screen, tuner display is good
No cocking about with scenes - just use your presets!
You can dedicate the expression pedal to be a volume control, which means getting rid of your tone sucky Ernie Ball.
Cons:
Sending PC's from preset changes *will* introduce a small gap of silence.
4 cable method uses up two of your fx blocks in order to get the best signal to noise ratio
4 cable method isn't 100% transparent
Boss GT-100
Pros:
Two screens mean the programming workflow is really very easy
Effects are good quality, as good as the single stomps
4 cable method seems more transparent than the Pod HD
Has manual mode as well as preset mode
Big tuner display - better than the Pod imho
Again you can dedicate the expression pedal to be a volume control, which means getting rid of your tone sucky Ernie Ball.
Plenty of external switches and assignable actions
Preset changing is instantaneous, even when doing 4 cable mode
Cons:
Tap tempo behaviour is good, but the delays don't respond to it very well - clicks, glitches, pitch artifacts, and general nastiness
Only 6 switches across the bottom, which means entering manual mode a lot to activate certain effects without changing amp channel (if switching real amp via midi)
A fair bit more in depth than the Line 6 stuff, takes a while to get your head around