Quatschmacher

I’m running both my BassRigs off a single output from a Zuma with negligible noise. 

Here’s a question I’d be keen to hear the answer to: how does the MXR deal with tuning when the string energy decays? Does the pitch drop as the note rings out when held for a long time? This is something that makes a huge difference. In the C4, you can hear the pitch drop off noticeably. The Future Impact handles this far better. The earlier version would cut off the note dead as soon as the unit detected pitch drop. The v4 is even better as there’s now a rolling buffer which stores the pitch value, so when the unit detects a small pitch drop in the string it takes the previous correct value from the buffer and holds that pitch for as long as the string continues to ring out. It’s an awesome feature, and allows the full release time of the ADSR to be used with rock-solid pitch throughout. 

Stereo chorus and/or delay can sound wonderful on synth bass. Obviously more widely used on lead and chordal stuff though. And stacked stereo bass with subtly different settings on each side can be really great. Moog Voyager does this sort of thing, having two low pass filters in stereo output. 

3 minutes ago, tayste_2000 said:

Yeah this one is mental, examples like “I can’t see a way when using the jack for expression that the same jack could be stereo….. what a failure, I 100% need all these features all the time.”

 

“Bought the pedal this morning, it arrived, it makes a terrible coffee, it’s going back. It’s basically ruined my life.”

 

I’m exaggerating but I’m also not 😂 it’s a pedal, useful maybe, fun sure, necessary 🤷🏻‍♂️ 

I can see why folks might be irked by having to choose between stereo and expression. Shame they couldn’t have made the normal audio output into a TRS socket for the stereo option.

Compromises always have to be made somewhere; like in the C4, you can either have stereo output or an external loop function but not both. 

40 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

I wonder if there's a midi to TRS adaptor to control the CTR jack via midi? I'm sure some clever, enterprising so-and-so will figure it out in time.

There are some things out there that will convert MIDI to passive expression signals:

https://oldbloodnoise.com/pedals/p/mtet-midi-to-expression-translator

5 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Oh how I wish every manufacturer could produce instruction videos as good as this.

Slightly easier when the options are more restricted, but very good point. 

32 minutes ago, HoorayForAnonyms said:

@Quatschmacher dropping the sagely synth knowledge as always.
 

You can effectively double the number of presets with this approach.
 

Really helpful if needing to change sounds for different sections of a song.

 

Madonna’s Like Prayer would be a good example of morphing between a Moogish sound for the chorus and a OC-2 sound for the verse.

 

@Quatschmacher’s approach using an expression pedal would work well for this sort of application. 

You could probably even use a latching TRS switch in place of the expression pedal to immediately jump between two values, or use the expression pedal trimmer to get the full output range over a shorter travel to effectively mimic a switch. 

Don’t forget that with an expression pedal you can effectively have two different presets built into one at extreme ends of the pedal travel, but also all the points in between. 

31 minutes ago, tayste_2000 said:

 

You can add a small switch to cycle presets, I don’t really see the issue here.

The only potential thing I see is that after cycling through the 8 presets, it always goes back to panel mode so you’d have to make sure nothing crazy was dialled up there to avoid a nasty surprise. 

9 minutes ago, tayste_2000 said:

I can send you a DCX Bass and maybe the MXR Bass Synth (I’m in the process of buying one but not in the UK again until end of August)

Aw thanks! I really appreciate that. 

13 hours ago, gyrus said:

This is a great bass EF… just because of the price and its good condition, I’m tempted, but I already have 1 on my board. GLWTS 👍

They sound great when running two together at slightly different settings. I did this briefly when I bought this earlier, more purple model to supplant the darker one I had. If I could sell one of my listings I’d be pretty tempted to get this to do that again. 

Bumping as I’ve amended the list. 

41 minutes ago, matybigfro said:

something you can program without another device

I like things like this (and I say this as someone who’s gone deep on the FI and C4 editors).

47 minutes ago, mattpbass said:

Yeah I get that not everyone needs loads of sounds, but looking at the manual and seeing that you have to hold the foot switch down to get it into preset change mode, then cycle through presets with just a little light to say what you preset you are on, and then it will timeout of preset mode etc… I would definitely mess that up live. 😅

Looks like you can use an external tap switch as a dedicated preset switch. 

58 minutes ago, AinsleyWalker said:

In my opinon, that's the only critique I have of the FI - more simple, useable stock sounds necessary 

That’s simply a case of assembling an alternative bank of 99. Could be a rainy day project for me now that I’m definitely losing my day job. 

1 hour ago, AinsleyWalker said:

😉 I was sad that the 3.6 firmware update (most recent one I've bothered with) removed the original Deep Impact emulations from the default 99 patches

That’s simply not true: they are patches 21-29, as they have been since v3.00. See here:
 

https://www.auraplug.com/panda/downloads/FI411_DefaultSounds.pdf

Manual is up:

https://www.jimdunlop.com/content/manuals/MB301.pdf

8 minutes ago, mattpbass said:

I think I’m still in the (annoying to some) “if you want synth just get a synth” camp

I think we all end up there eventually. 😂

3 minutes ago, mattpbass said:

Sounds great and the tracking seems excellent, but if I read it right there are only 8 presets, and they’re changed by pressing those little buttons? That alone would make it not really a viable gigging alternative to an actual bass synth for anyone but the lightest user. 

There’s a mode which allows the footswitch to be used to scroll presets; mentioned in one of the videos.

Even some actual keyboard synths don’t fare loads better in terms of number of presets: Moog Sub Phatty and Subsequent 25 only have 16.

13 minutes ago, AxelF said:

Anyone know if it can do a clean envelope filter in the same way that it can do a clean octave?

It sounds like you can send just dry bass into it so no reason why the filter can’t be used on that. (There’s an explicit option for the dry to either go through the filter or to bypass it.)

Potentially doing myself out of the sake of my FI4, but @turtus, this is a great deal on a C4 here. 

If it’s the same band she had with her last year at the jazz cafe, it’ll be great. 

On 01/07/2025 at 19:24, nige1968 said:

Don’t know about the OP but I’d be interested in any kind of idiot’s guide you felt able to create! I’ve failed to make any headway with either FI4 or C4, and even my boy (who mucks around with software synths for fun) is similarly bamboozled.

 

(Sorry to hijack — GLWYS)

I did write the user guide, though I appreciate that some folks learn better via video/in-person demonstration.

45 minutes ago, iamtheelvy said:

Yeah, I’ve fiddled a bit with the settings on the pedal (nothing saved), but would need to reorder patches considerably for what I need. Have sat and stared at it for about a month now… I’m not a computer guy!

 

Have to concede the new MXR synth looks far more my thing despite some more limitations!

Reordering is fairly straightforward (drag and drop). Can totally see the appeal of the hands-on MXR; will definitely be checking that out.

I might have a lot more free time very soon so could potentially talk you through the FI stuff. 

That’s a shame as the software is fairly easy to use now, much easier than previous versions.

Also, loads you can do just on the pedal itself.

@GisserD