Live effects - but not via effects pedals e.g. using Akai MPC, Roland SP 404, Mixing desks.

[SumOne]

I had some success using an Akai MPC as a Live Bass effects unit, it has a Tuner, Amp sims, lots of live effects with more parameter controls than most effect pedals have, all relatively easily edited via touchscreen and assigning knobs.  There wasn't noticeable latency.

 

The main downside was it being relatively large and not being 'stompable' e.g. couldn't put it in the floor and stomp on/off effects mid-song. It could potentially sit on my amp for always on type effects but seemed a bit big/expensive/complex for that vs just using a cheap Bass multi-fx like a Zoom MS 60B so I never actually used it live for Bass effects but it seemed perfectly possible.

 

 

I don't own the MPC anymore but I still like the idea of using hardware for sampling and drums stuff so am eyeing up the Roland SP 404 MK2.  What is helping to convince me about it is that it seems quite a capable unit for adding live effects and basically using it as live multi-fx unit (all be it not stompable, and not bass specific). It has a big effects list including Guitar Amp sims (unfortunately no Bass Amp sim though) so I'm hoping it could be a useful multi-fx unit that sits on the Amp, sample trigger, and drum machine and sequencer....4 in 1 bargain! 

 

I've also found that some quite limited effects on my mixing desk (Mackie FX 12v3) can be usefully when assigned just to the Bass. It wouldn't be ideal for all live stuff as again it isn't stompable but does have potential to add stuff like Delay, Reverb, Chorus as long as you don't want them turned on/off mid-song.  

 

I also tried Laptop and interface hardware teamed up 'Gig Performer' software. It gives a huge potential for all the different effects you can use, latency was low, it turned into a faff to try and have Laptop and interface etc for gigs though. One big issue was how to stomp on mute and view a tuner without using the laptop - I'd need a tuner pedal, by then might as well just have a small multi fx.

 

Any other non-standard ways you've added live effects? It seems there is a whole world of things like DJ effects units out there that can potentially do the job - and many are cheaper and more feature full than Bass specific things. 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by SumOne

[BigRedX]

I looked dispensing with my Helix Floor and using Helix Native going through the laptop which provides our drum and extra synth backing.

 

Unfortunately even on an M4 MacBook, having the Helix Native plugin active added another 5-10 seconds to loading time of each song which was IMO too slow for live use, so for the moment I've stuck with using the hardware.