elephantgrey

I have been putting off my idea of buying a flightcase, and building a board for all my effects (im thinking of making a dual layer board using GORM shelfs and hinges) because every time im about to, i get GAS for another pedal, and the specs increase a little. As such i still dont have an actual board for my effects, and its getting to the point where im thinking about just building/buying a board for my essencials, and then whenever i get around to the big board, just wire the smaller one into it. So far im thinking just my Compressore, Pollytune, a cheap distortion i dont know the make of*, and my MS60b. But with a little headroom with both space/mA's to add maybe another pedal if the gods of GAS decree it so. Anyone have any advice on what commercial board would be suitable for this, and what power supply i should look at? so far i have only really looked at supplies that would power most of my collection (atleast 3A with multiple voltages etc) so i have dismissed most of the smaller supplies as just unsuitable. Thanks in advance for any input. elephantgrey *Its a cheap thing that cuts alot of low end out, and sounds terrible in a really unmusical way, but part of me loves it.

There was [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/216382-pedalboard-led-strips/"]This[/url] thread a while ago on here about strips of LEDs that fit under the board and run off a 1spot(normal boss type supply).

So your program would input tap tempo and output a/various waveforms over midi (as if its a midi expression pedal), with ADSR coming soon? or have i gotten this completely wrong?

Its not analogue or true bypass, but the boss SL20 might be worth a look.

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1397993338' post='2429253'] the next on my list is a MarkBass Compressore, based on their review again: [url="http://www.ovnilab.com/reviews/markbass.shtml."]http://www.ovnilab.c...markbass.shtml.[/url] [/quote] The sites recomendation (i believe alongside 51m0n 's recommendation) led me to buy a MB Compressore. Never looked back.

I think that nine times out of ten i would prefer to have a dedicated DI box to a DI out on a pedal. That way im not stuck being forced to have that pedal last in the chain. At the moment i use a BDDI sim (zoom ms60b), and after that i have a sound gate, delay and a loop pedal, which all sound better after the preamp, and I toy with putting light distortion/OD after it instead of before sometimes as well. Its just my opinion, but i think having your DI built into a pedal greatly limits you regarding pedal order, and itll be luck if that particular pedal sounds better to you at the end of your particular chain. Just my opinion though.

I was looking about the internet for a chorus pedal with MIDI, and other than the modfactor there is little out there. I came across [url="http://www.rock-gear.de/en/Guitar/Effects/Chorus-Flanger-Phaser/G-Lab-Tidy-Chorus-TCH-1.html"]this[/url] which does have midi, and is a dedicated chorus, which i like. Im on the edge of GASing, but am not sure how well it keeps low end. Im planning to place it before my MS60b (EQ->BDDI->Cab sim->noise gate) as an always on effect. I like how there are two settings, so i can switch between speeds when i change songs (and tempo). I couldnt find any demos on bass on YT. Has anyone tried one out, or seen it used on bass at all? Thanks for advice in advance, elephantgrey.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1397032274' post='2419831'] so it's only really getting rid of hiss when your not playing any notes? [/quote] Exactly this. When your not playing is when noise is more noticeable though. As said above though, your probably better off fixing hum if its a power/technical fault, and using a gate for things like noisy fuzz's and after a 'verb.

Noise gates main application on bass (other than indirectly fixing a problem with buzzing/hum from power supplies/dodgy wiring) is really to stop fuzz/distortion from buzzing away whilst you arent playing, but still letting you crank up the gain for some nice woolly warmness when you are. Whilst i dont see a lot of stand alone noise gates on boards, i do often see gated fuzz's and the like (a fuzz with a noise gate built afterwards). The only other application i could really think of for a gate is to put it after a 'verb, like used on the snare in collins "in the air tonight". edit: tonyquipment beat me too it by seconds with the fuzz explanation.

Today i received my new (to me) midi foot controller (ART X-15 Ultrafoot), hooked it up, and realised almost instantly i have basically no clue what im doing. I have been using midi to sync the tempo of my delay (Timefactor) and loop pedal (RC50) to my drum machine (ESX1), but I now know my knowledge doesnt extend much further than that. I brought the controller to let me control my drum machine with my feet whilst playing (things like start|stop / tap tempo / change between songs / change between patterns (like verse/chorus/middle8 etc) and use exp pedals on it to change arp and filter settings) but im having trouble setting the thing up, and I admit that i am a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. I have tried to read the manuals to guide me, but im having a little trouble understanding them individual, let alone together (Im quite sure they are using different terminology to eachother). Can someone point me in the direction of somewhere i can teach myself a bit more about this? Or has anyone else tried anything similar and can give me some advice? Many thanks in advance, elephantgrey.

@dinkz pretty much summed it up. Id just like to add that the most common use for both is compressors usually are used either at start of the chain to even out your playing (especially useful if you swap between techniques) or at the (middle/)end of the chain to even out your effects. Noise gates are often used after noisy fuzz/dist's so that there is silence when your not playing a note, and nice wooliness when you do.

hmm, i have no idea what they would be. The MB:SS says on the website it doesnt track, but im at a loss as to how it would go about it otherwise, even things like phase modulation to add on octaves to the signal to convert the signal into a saw wave.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1394560465' post='2392742'] You just need a MIDI thru box with enough outputs for all your devices. [/quote] I dont just want to send one midi signal to multiple devices, i would also like to designate which parts of the midi goes to which device, like tempo & start message from drum machine to the rest, key messages from keyboard to drum machine, program change from foot controller to all, a message to loop pedal to start/stop particular loops from foot controller, things like that. I guess i could just use a merge box to merge foot controller and keyboard into the drum machine, and then split the signal with a thru box to the rest of the pedals, but then i would have to filter out commands on the individual pedals. which is annoying. Would also like to have different switches on the foot controller to send program change messages to different pedals.

I currently have 3 pedals that run off of midi (with plans for more), and a midi keyboard. I currently have them all connected in a chain (with one device as master, with the keyboard into it, and the other two as slaves, middle one sending midi thu signal (same output as is put into it). As im thinking of expanding this in the future (more pedals controlled by midi, and a midi foot controller to control various things, mainly in the drum machine). I am starting to think that chaining the midi though all of the pedals will soon become overly complicated, and might even cause a lag in the signal (each device adding latency). What im wondering is if there is a device that i can get to connect all of my other midi devices to, and controls what signal go to which (a bit like a mixing desk, taking clock/start-stop/program change/note etc in from each device and sending them to where i want them to go). Is there any such device about, or would it to be to do using a raspberry pi and a usb interface with multiple inputs? (something like [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-MidiBox-Merge-Interface-Vista/dp/B00ANHYJ20"]this[/url] maybe?) Many thanks in advance, elephantgrey.

What about compression? sure you can squeese the hell out of the signal, but a subtle touch of it can really be the the closest thing to a talent simulator there is.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1394498662' post='2392060'] I've never tried the Mothership but my god it's massive. And I've tried a lot of pitch-tracking bass synth pedals and they are routinely awful. The Korg G5 and Markbass Supersynth get around the tracking problems by not actually tracking your signal and instead modulating it to create a sawtooth, but they also sound bad. [/quote] Wouldnt they need to track the signal to do that? the only way i know of to change the waveform like that is to bitcrush the signal down to 1 bit. It then becomes a square wave, maybe with a bit of a weird PWM.

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1394459771' post='2391521'] Number three and a half is the Zoom MS30B, which works as a chain of stompboxes. You can opt to have it cycle through a series of patches as per type 1, or have three of the stompboxes in the chain set to on or off and then switch the fourth stompbox by means of the footswitch. [/quote] You can turn individual effects on and off, but you have to switch between them which cant really do that with your feet. This is useful if you use three effects always on, and have one that you use sometimes. For example i use a preamp, a cab sim and a noise gate on all the time, but then have a pitch shifter on only for some songs. Another option i like is to have a chorus>fuzz>noise always on, and then a OD at the start on sometimes, to drive the fuzz more.

Im always a fan of chorus into dirt. Our lead G-tarist in my last band used to have only have a chorus into a valve OD/dist pedal, if he tweeked it he could get a pretty spot on cobane sound, though he usualy went for a more trebbly sound to sit above me and the rhythm g-tar.

Interesting, very interesting...

hmm okay. Im wondering if there are any boutique pedal makers that makes synth pedals that i could get to make one custom?

im looking for a synth pedal with sine wave -1&-2 (with maybe a saw at -1). would be nice to have PWM control over each oscillator. Ive done a quick serch and keep comming up blank. I know i could have a midi converter pickup thing, and then add a synth into my board, but i dont really want a rack unit, and dont know of any pedals that are acual synths with midi input. Also from what ive heard, most of those bass > midi converters dont have great tracking. What im thinking at the moment is that im goign to split my signal right after my compressor (i go bass>tuner> compressor) and then merge the synth (compleatly wet)in right at the end of my signal for a nice sub sound (providing the FOH is good enough), or before a LPF, controlled by an exp pedal that also controls the feedback of a reverb, and controls how much of the synth goes into the verb, for a real oldschool dnb sound. Both tricks ive used to good effect in DAWs in the past. Any ideas? Thanks in advance, elephantgrey.

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1394037094' post='2387220'] Would be very interested to see what happens if you start chaining modulation effects, mind...though I suspect it could get very messy very quickly! [/quote] You would need to get ones with midi to sync the tempos. That to put them into a feedback loop with a delay at the end (set to single delay for feedback loop), i find delays help sync up modulation effects. Im quite sure a flanger is actualy two phasers, one still and another with an lfo. This is what my flanger hoax is anyway, and that sounds like a flanger if i set it as such.

acording to the internets "What a wah does is clear - it is either a bandpass filter or an overcoupled lowpass filter that exhibits a resonant peak just at its lowpass rolloff frequency." So any BPF or LPF with a high ressonence (or ressonance control) should hit what you want. Edit: the movement of this is what causes the voul like sounds, which is why i thought that it might be a formant.

A static wah pedal would be a band pass filter right? Or maybe a formant?

Im not sure about the tuner on it, as i use a polytune. I use mine as Detuner>BDDI sim>Amp sim (i keep changing my mind on these)>Gate. There are some nice modulation, like the sequence filter, that i would love to use if zoom ever added midi to there pedals.