New MXR bass synth pedal released

[SICbass]

@Quatschmacher, fancy seeing you here 😎

Edited 19 hours ago by SICbass

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Excellent, that is on my 'buy second hand when someone gets bored of it' list!

 

Sorry I won't be able to help you out on that dear chap this time around...but I'll happily join you on the 2nd hand waiting list!

 

(And I've got first dibs on any kit coming onto the market from @SumOne under our long term 'gear' supply arrangements 😅).

 

Wow! This thing is already shaking up the market - just checked what's been recently listed in the FS section and quite a few synth pedals! Clearly a lot of folk (understandably IMO given how good this thing appears to be!) seem to be wanting to make the switch.

Edited 19 hours ago by Al Krow

[LukeFRC]

Out of interest, how does it feel @Chadu25 as just an octave? 

[Chadu25]

2 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Out of interest, how does it feel @Chadu25 as just an octave? 

I'll try it out tonight when Í'm home. Only tested in for 15 minutes as I had to go to work. Will do a quick comparison with my Anagram's octave.

[Byo]

Following this post.

 

I'm big fan of building synth sounds with pedals, also have IMA's HX Stomp synth packs (pretty awesome btw).

 

I also own an EHX Microsynth and a C4 that I have used a lot in the past, alongside other pedals, in order to create landscapes and sounds, plus I own several synths too.

 

So I am familiar with what you can achieve with a bass and pedals.

 

I do like what the MXR Synth does, but I am not fully sold on it yet. I'm hoping for more videos to come out and to hear real world bass players talk about it, not the usual marketing videos that are currently flooding YouTube since its release this week.

 

IMA's video is really good, he's a great educator when it comes to pedals and creating sounds.

 

The tracking seemes like a great selling point, plus the preset option and no need to connect to a laptop to edit or enter submenus.

And the size... perfect for a small board or as a one-stop shop on a bigger board if you need a few synth-like sounds at he gig.

 

Looking forward to everyone's experiences with the pedal!

Edited 18 hours ago by Byo

[tauzero]

6 hours ago, Quatschmacher said:

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

 

It seems a little strange that the connector is TRS but it only makes use of a single footswitch, either tap or hold to scroll up or down. A double footswitch with one up and one down would be handier.

[Al Krow]

14 minutes ago, Byo said:

The tracking seems like a great selling point, plus the preset option and no need to connect to a laptop to edit or enter submenus.

And the size... perfect for a small board or as a one-stop shop on a bigger board if you need a few synth-like sounds at he gig.

 

+1^^ to both of those which, as you say, are great selling points.

 

I've always struggled with the tracking / glitchiness of one or two of the leading synth pedals, which meant they didn't work for me live. I ended up with a Boss SY200 which has fabulously tight tracking, but doesn't have the quality of synth tones of e.g. a FI. This pedal seems to deliver the best of both worlds. That really is quite a feat, well done MXR/IMA!

[thumbo]

I didn't realise I wanted a synth pedal on my board until seeing the demos for this. Well played MXR. 

[Linus27]

6 minutes ago, thumbo said:

I didn't realise I wanted a synth pedal on my board until seeing the demos for this. Well played MXR. 

 

Me neither 😆

[MacDaddy]

4 hours ago, thumbo said:

I didn't realise I wanted a synth pedal on my board until seeing the demos for this. Well played MXR. 

 

4 hours ago, Linus27 said:

 

Me neither 😆

 

I feel your pain...

[matybigfro]

Reading the manual the control design for this does look pretty genius cramming a helluva lot of control into a six knob pedal. At the same time personally I'd probably rather just plug my phone into my C4 and have a visual of the settings. I can see that it would appeal to lots of people who find that idea off-putting and want something you can program without another device. 

[Quatschmacher]

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).

[Chadu25]

All knobs flat. Here’s some Chaka Khan and Bruno Mars groove. Also, the Octaver sounds great! I’d still prefer the Kaamos/Octabvre though as I’m mostly using this pedal for moog stuff. 
 

 

 

 

[Al Krow]

Comprehensive run through of the features from MXR:

 

 

[SICbass]

4 hours ago, Chadu25 said:

All knobs flat. Here’s some Chaka Khan and Bruno Mars groove. Also, the Octaver sounds great! I’d still prefer the Kaamos/Octabvre though as I’m mostly using this pedal for moog stuff. 
 

 

 

 

Sounds great, which frankly isn’t helping 😎

I have bills to pay and a marriage I would rather like to stay in.

[mattpbass]

5 hours ago, Chadu25 said:

All knobs flat. Here’s some Chaka Khan and Bruno Mars groove. Also, the Octaver sounds great! I’d still prefer the Kaamos/Octabvre though as I’m mostly using this pedal for moog stuff. 
 

 

 

 

How are you finding the tracking?

 

It really does sound cool, though having watched that demo video I still think the preset change is unnecessarily fiddly for live use. 

[simonlittle]

6 hours ago, Chadu25 said:

All knobs flat. Here’s some Chaka Khan and Bruno Mars groove. Also, the Octaver sounds great! I’d still prefer the Kaamos/Octabvre though as I’m mostly using this pedal for moog stuff. 
 

 

 

 

Sounds great Chad 👍

[AinsleyWalker]

1 hour ago, mattpbass said:

I still think the preset change is unnecessarily fiddly for live use. 

 

That's my only gripe at the moment too, I may get one to 'set and forget' for a more generic synth sound, and then use my Future Impact to able scroll through more specific sounds easily. 

Edited 34 minutes ago by AinsleyWalker

[tayste_2000]

5 minutes ago, AinsleyWalker said:

 

That's my only gripe at the moment too, I may get one to 'set and forget' for a more generic synth sound, and then use my Future Impact to able scroll through more specific sounds easily. 

 

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

[AinsleyWalker]

2 minutes ago, tayste_2000 said:

 

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

It's just another thing to buy and make room for. The solution I outlined would work better for me. 

[tayste_2000]

Just now, AinsleyWalker said:

It's just another thing to buy and make room for. The solution I outlined would work better for me. 

 

Fair enough and I think that’s true for all the people on other forums going, why doesn’t it have usb (apparently it does inside), why can’t we share presets, connect it to a computer etc. Just buy something else, we’ve all got loads of options these days.

 

For me who’s been on the fence over a C4 for years because I don’t enjoy messing with my phone when playing it’s ideal.

 

Same sort of vibe as the controls on my Subdecay Noise Theory but simpler than the Subdecay Pixelwave.

 

This probably gets rid of the MXR BOD and Mojohand Filter off my board (Other than the filter is only there because it looked weird with the gap 😂) and then anything I use the Zoom MS60b/+ for.

 

A nice thing to have with minimal faff to play along to modern pop songs.

[ardi100]

This would cure my GAS for all other synths pedals and the limitations of Boss Gt1 B. The eight presets would be a limitation that I reckon could be worked around. The biggest problem is that I'm not in the Madonna band that necessitated synth sounds!

[LukeFRC]

I don't get the preset moaning thing.

 

If you use synth bass a lot, you're probably not the intended audience - FI4 or an actual key bass would make more sense....
If you're in a band where  the whole band being on midi controlled effects sequenced to the click and needing midi control, it's probably not for you... 

 

Occasional synth parts, and any band where there's a second between songs (when the guitarist is tuning?) to reach down and click onto your next preset...  surely you'll be fine?

 

 

I really don't get the whole "Oh if only it had X" thing you see on here, and a lot on talk bass... "oh if it had X Y and Z I'ld be buying it" - well there are already products that do that get that instead. Most companies look to slim down the UX into something that is simple and usable. If you look at Source Audio for instance who tend to get lots of opinions and try and do them, they get criticised as they are too complex... 

[AinsleyWalker]

7 minutes ago, tayste_2000 said:

 

Fair enough and I think that’s true for all the people on other forums going, why doesn’t it have usb (apparently it does inside), why can’t we share presets, connect it to a computer etc. Just buy something else, we’ve all got loads of options these days.

 

For me who’s been on the fence over a C4 for years because I don’t enjoy messing with my phone when playing it’s ideal.

 

Oh yeah absolutely - the simplicity of the MXR is a plus for me personally.
Not tried the C4 but I've had a Future Impact for years and really like all the deep diving you can do, however the immediacy of the MXR is really cool. I loved the EHX Micro Synth for the same sort of reason.