LawrenceH
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Everything posted by LawrenceH
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The first Chameleon one of the two is much better to my ears. There's some good videos on YT about making that exact patch on an ARP - uses distortion I think.
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In my experience your technique for that one (and possibly your strings) would have to be absolutely flawless - the quick octaves are the thing it finds hardest. The tracking is (very) good though but that song is a bridge too far. I don't know whether it'd be possible to setup a patch that played alternating octaves from a single trigger note as a sort of cheat, but obviously that's not as fun or as versatile, might get you through a straight cover though.
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Despite years of piano lessons and messing about on synths, I still don't want to play basslines on them - for some reason it just doesn't scratch the itch in the same way as playing them on bass guitar. Can never shake the feeling I'm pressing sprung switches, I don't feel the same connection. The FI VIP gives me that playing satisfaction, it's just more fun.
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Not who you were asking but the program change footswitch already lets you do up/down based on how quickly you click - not perfect of course, but once you get used to it it works well.
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The FI VIP screen is very bright in real life. It doesn't film well. No problem on stage unless you're under bright red light I guess
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What band are you in that you get to play D-Train?! I want to come and watch
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I did this, got a prompt reply asking my address and an envelope arrived a few days later containing the film. I also mentioned some suggestions I've made here about presets and a tutorial video showing recreation of a classic bass sound from scratch. The response to these was very positive. It is a nice luxury when you as a consumer can communicate directly with the design team on a product like this.
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Here's mine, plonked on the kitchen worktop, and no messing with the phone camera. Plugged in, the numeric display is (usefully) bright - hence it washes out the cameras as seen above. Looking carefully in person, I'd say it's up there with my Cali76 bass comp in terms of finish quality and apparent ruggedness, though obviously it's more 'functional' than 'graphic designer-y'. But on a pedal this complex I don't care, particularly when its from such a small company and getting it re-engineered to match a commissioned visual design brief would make it (much) more expensive.
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The brushed metal case of the VIP looks a lot nicer in-person than these photos and videos. It's a high quality tooling and finish. But ultimately who cares, as long as it's sturdy (which it definitely is). No-one in the audience will pay it any attention and even if they do, most pedalboards look like a crappy mishmash unless you happen to have complementary visual designs across the board - or choose your pedals based on fitting a visual aesthetic over sound.
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I do really like the last voice, sounds sexily expensive - can see that being v useful. Is that off the FI or the Moog? I guess robotic Kraftwerk emulation probably has a bigger market segment in Germany/EU, but I'd still like a demo with a more funk-oriented player, focusing on playability and expression. I know I should be the change I want to see, but the learning curve seems steep in terms of learning the pedal itself alongside video production and YouTube publishing.
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Excellent, that suits me as though I use rounds I'm a very reluctant string changer! I was concerned that fast mode might use more of the overtones to make a guess at the note and old strings can be a bit dicey there. Thanks as always for the sage advice and keeping us in the loop. Looking forward to the new update!
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I also have a more general question about tracking and strings/instrument EQ. Are spanking new roundwounds likely to track better than older? How about flats? What about the effect of tone controls on the instrument itself? Or pickup position? Any safe generalisations? It's possible I've asked something similar before, in which case forgive me.
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Brilliant! Can't wait to give it a go. Amidst all the focus on preset management, I hope the idea of changing a subset of the default presets (ideally the first bank) to some of your more 'classic' bass sounds hasn't fallen by the wayside for any upcoming release. For obvious reasons I'd think it a particular selling point if one of these was a sound with e.g. square/pulse and saw layered.
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Boring midi problems aside, I'm interested to know the current progress on implementing portamento/glide on audio trigger. For me that is still the number one feature limitation (as opposed to quality of life issue) of the FI4.
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Hmm I had no idea about that! A strange and annoying quirk that seems like it would cause all sorts of problems. Can't remember if it has been open or not tbh. Will have another go, thanks for flagging that!
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No other devices - this is the first bit of midi kit I've used for probably over 20 years. I don't actually recall making or altering any settings at all save possibly selecting the device itself within the editor. I think chances of operator error are high. But I don't mind spending £25-odd on a name brand interface just to rule out one set of possibilities.
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This very cheap one, doesn't seem to need additional drivers
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Windows 11 PC
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I have the VIP with recent firmware (possibly current? Would need to check), and the usb interface is I think one you have had working. It does talk to the FI4 but seemed erratic when adjusting settings and loading/initialising patches. One issue is not knowing what 'correct' operation is meant to look like when editing patches especially when learning my way around a new synth architecture. I'm generally not a huge fan of learning from videos, but a clear, dry tutorial on building a 'classic' patch (eg Chameleon) from a freshly initialised patch would actually be very helpful for unlocking and showcasing the power of this pedal.
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Ah shame, yeah I did think it was pretty ambitious given the parameter depth/breadth! I remember the 90s S&S synths (eg Korg, Alesis) were really well designed for this - but even they relied on 2x16 LCDs to navigate the menus. Incidentally I have had trouble with the super-cheap midi interface I bought, not sure if it's user error, my computer or the interface itself, but I'm going to order something like the Behringer Go to see if it resolves itself. I've managed to load the odd patch but manual editing seems inconsistent and I wouldn't trust it to update firmware.
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Ah ok, thanks. I can see the point of that but personally, full parameter editing would be much more useful. Especially if patch organisation via the pedal is going to be a thing (since I would never use 99 patches for unique voices, I'd just arrange the banks to suit particular sets)
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Hi Peter What is a set list mode?
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Rehearsal room/stage electrical safety gear
LawrenceH replied to Beedster's topic in General Discussion
This'll be my last post. But in the scenario above where someone is already getting electric shocks possibly due to a faulty amp, removing the earth from the mic wire is NOT an acceptable solution. If the fault is in the guitar amp (or the supply feeding it), removing the path to earth means they are still building potential which can easily be earthed through another path, like a different mic or some random bit of stage kit or touching someone else who is earthed. Especially dangerous if it's one where the potential slowly floats up over time. The ONLY safe solution is to stop using that guitar amp/supply. Hum is not necessarily a sign of serious danger. However, an electric shock is a damn good indicator (nylon trousers notwithstanding). The point is not that the fault is definitely lethal, but that you don't know it isn't -
Rehearsal room/stage electrical safety gear
LawrenceH replied to Beedster's topic in General Discussion
I am temporarily popping out of my posting retirement to say, the solution to an untraced fault causing electric shocks via the mic is NEVER to remove more earth connections. This is a potentially (geddit) lethal scenario. If you have any doubts at all about a venue's electrics or your gear, at least plug in through a decent RCD. For god's sake don't try and work around it by removing earths! By the way, a local RCD on your gear is safer than relying on an RCBO back at the distribution board, because RCD effectiveness is influenced by length of a cable run. -
This is exciting. If you could use both an FM and virtual analogue voice simultaneously, that would be even more so - a bit of moog underneath REALLY fattens up a dx7 bass sound. Definitely another case where careful choice of presets will be invaluable; so many of the classic sounds were just factory presets in the case of FM, it is horribly unintuitive to programme. I guess an S&S engine would be useful for some people, and very innovative in guitar pedal terms. Wavetable synthesis maybe even more so. For digital multi-effects, imo they have to be very good indeed to make it much of a selling point. So many decent-ish utility units and modellers already available. A nice compressor model would help give the synth output an even more 'finished' sound based on my experience so far, but again 2 or 3 optimised presets would be essential. I'm a big fan of the one knob compression/saturation in the Strymon Deco I picked up recently, it really is very tape-like and sounds great on the FI4/VIP, just adds hugeness.
