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 My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI 

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 My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI 
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Post My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI
This particular plan is for electric guitar, but I figure it qualifies for the section because everything is applicable to Stick.

I have started a Youtube channel, a subject for another thread, to which I intend to publish my first video in August. This pedalboard will be the centerpiece of my videos to the extent that it applies.

Governing Principles
  1. Centralized Control
    Virtually everything should be controllable with my feet, including pedals and amp channels (five via the combination of a Synergy SYN-1 with a SYN-30 head).
  2. Prolific MIDI
    Everything should use MIDI which can, and all of their MIDI features should be usable with related features available simultaneously.
  3. Modularity
    To the greatest extent possible, it should be possible to remove an item or separate everything without permanent modification.
  4. Isolated Power
    Pretty much self explanatory, all pedals should have isolated power such that they perform optimally.

Specific Components
  1. Pedalboard
    I bought Aclam Guitars' Smart Track pedalboard to satisfy the third principle, as no adhesive is required to secure a pedal to the board. I realized early in the planning that I will need their tallest optional shelf, the Wahpper+, to fit all of the pedals while still having space for future expansion.
  2. Power Supply
    The best compromise of cost and function available to me is the MXR Iso Brick. In fact, the initial configuration uses all of its outputs.
  3. Loop Switcher
    Similar to the previous point, the Boss ES-8 is the best compromise I could find. The combination of these two form the best alternative to a Gig Rig switcher and modular power supply.
  4. Wah Pedal
    I bought a Sonuus Wahoo because it can send MIDI expression while being used as a typical wah treadle and contains an LFO in addition to two featureful filter circuits (much more than an adjustable wah) with a variety of triggering options.
  5. MIDI Routing
    I bought a Disaster Area Designs micro.ghost to connect and power the Sonuus Wahoo (more on that later) and a Disaster Area Designs MIDI Box 4 to connect the Empress Effects Phaser and Alexander Pedals Space Race with room for expansion.

Power Outputs
Adjustable Outputs @ 12V: Current Doubled, Friedman Fuzz Fiend
18V Output 1: Empress Effects Phaser
9V 450mA Output 1: Boss ES-8
9V 300mA Outputs: Current Doubled, Disaster Area Designs micro.ghost and Sonuus Wahoo (via USB)
9V 100mA Output 1: Stone Deaf FX Fig Fumb
9V 100mA Output 2: Alexander Pedals Space Race
9V 450mA Output 2: Boss DD-500
18V Output 2: Split Output:
Truetone V189 18V to 9V Converter, Sonic Research ST-300 Mini
Truetone V189 18V to 9V Converter, Distaster Area Designs MIDI Box 4
Because the Truetone V189 uses a stepdown transformer, both the tuner and the MIDI Box 4 still have isolated power.

Audio Cabling
George Ls .155 Right Angle to Right Angle, 1 foot or 20 inch Premade (Confirmed to Work with ES-8 Jack Positions)

MIDI Cabling
  1. MIDI DIN Loop
    ES-8 Out -> SYN-30 In -> SYN-30 Thru -> DD-500 In -> DD-500 Thru -> micro.ghost In -> micro.ghost Out -> MIDI Box 4 In -> MIDI Box 4 Thru -> ES-8 In
  2. USB MIDI
    micro.ghost USB Host -> Wahoo USB
  3. TS MIDI
    • MIDI Box 4 to Phaser Control Port, Tip Active
    • MIDI Box 4 to Space Race MultiJack, Tip Active

MIDI Control
  1. Boss ES-8
    • MIDI Clock Out
    • Master Mute
      ES-8 Mute switch mutes SYN-30 output via MIDI.
    • Device Control Presets
      1. Amp Control Mode
        • Footswitches change SYN-30 channels via MIDI and SYN-1 channels via External CTL 1/2.
      2. Phaser Control Mode
        • Footswitches are momentary, when held down the Speed/Ratio/Sensitivity and Width/Release settings can be changed.
      3. Delay Control Mode
        • Three toggle footswitches duplicate pedal's A, B, and CTL buttons.
        • Four momentary footswitches allow changing Feedback, Effect Level, Tone, and Modulation Depth.
        • Two momentary switches enable Hold and Warp via External CTL 3/4.
      4. Looper Control Mode
        • Four toggle footswitches control Enable, Record/Overdub, Play, Stop, and Clear functions.
      5. Reverb Control Mode
        • Six momentary footswitches allow changing Reverb, Space, Tweak, Mix, Level, and Clock.
    • Sonuus Wahoo
      Treadle "turns" virtual knobs when used with device control presets.

Other Control
  1. Boss ES-8 External CTL 1/2
    As part of the Amp Control preset, External CTL 1 and 2 enable and bypass the SYN-1 while also selecting its active channel.
  2. Boss ES-8 External CTL 3/4
    As part of the Delay Control preset, External CTL 2 and 3 enable Hold and Warp for the DD-500. I may make these functions available in my main, "Stompbox Mode" preset.

Boss ES-8 Audio Connections
Tuner: Sonic Research ST-300 Mini
Loop 1: Sonuus Wahoo
Loop 2: Friedman Fuzz Fiend
Loop 3: Stone Deaf FX Fig Fumb
Loop 4: Empress Effects Phaser
Volume Loop: SYN-1 Input and SYN-1 FX Send
Loop 5: Boss DD-500
Loop 6: Alexander Pedals Space Race
Out 1/L: SYN-1 FX Return

Boss ES-8 Parallel Loops
  1. Friedman Fuzz Fiend and Stone Deaf FX Fig Fumb
  2. Boss DD-500 and Alexander Pedals Space Race

Congratulations to anyone who made it this far! The Boss ES-8 has two inputs and two outputs, which I have forgone in favor of using two parallel loops (the maximum possible).


Sun Jun 18, 2023 12:12 pm
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Post Re: My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI
Have you tried the $400 Tonex pedal for guitar?
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/tonexpedal/
I bought one and use it almost as much as the Kemper Stage.

For Stick, I use the Fender Mustang Micro into my home sound system.

For Railboard, I use the Helix Floor into the back of a JC-120 bypassing the pre-amps. The JC-120 has zero floor noise when tapping into the main amp and bypassing the two pre-amps controlled at the front.

For recording, I use a Black Magic 4K cinema camera with Rode NTG5 shotgun mic patched thru the Zoom F6 field recorder, then back into the camera. I use a 2 Terabyte Samsung EVO Plus 'NVMe SSD' for storage.
The recording is processed with iZotope Ozone Advanced and DaVinci Resolve.

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#6460 Railboard - Black with glow inlays.


Sun Jun 18, 2023 6:36 pm
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Post Re: My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI
I strongly dislike digital modeling with regard to electric guitar.


Sun Jun 18, 2023 6:51 pm
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Post Re: My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI
Back when I planned to include a Source Audio Reflex expression pedal, which was discontinued before I could afford it, I thought about outputting its LFO via MIDI to modulate the output of a GigRig G2 (which I might have financed, before the G3 and Boss ES-8 existed) and thereby create a tremolo effect for free.

I was at first disheartened that the Wahoo cannot output its LFO, as that would prevent me from applying the same scheme with the Boss ES-8. However, I have realized two things:
  1. The Boss ES-8's output gain is boost only, hence tremolo is impossible.
  2. I might be able to use the Wahoo as a harmonic tremolo by placing it last in the chain and running its two filters out of phase.
I just need to see whether I can tweak the band-pass mode to function as a high-pass filter. How would I trigger that, you ask? The ES-8 has a wave generator, the output of which can be sent to the Wahoo's MIDI expression CC number!


Tue Jun 20, 2023 1:55 pm
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Post Re: My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI
You know, I just realized that I could add an MXR Iso Brick Mini and a Boss ES-5 to switch an array of four fuzzes between the ES-8's Loop 2 and 3 (the fuzz loops) to go from four fuzz options to 16 fuzz options. It looks like I could buy another two or three sets of the "simple" power supply supports (one set came with the board) to hang both of those below the shelf, with room on top of the shelf for (at least) two more fuzzes!

This was mostly a thought experiment, as the cost would be roughly $625 before buying two more fuzzes.


Tue Jun 20, 2023 5:27 pm
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Post Re: My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI
Thanks to enduring pain, I failed to check the specifications for the power supply supports before working all that out: the tallest option supports 2.24" at max, and the ES-5 is 2.69" tall.

I could use a pair of Voodoo Lab Hexes (one per remaining ES-8 loop) to support five more pedals per Hex, ensuring that the pedals connected to each Hex are mutually exclusive, though I might have to get as creative with power outputs as I did in the initial pedalboard plan (the Hexes would be powered by a split 18V output like the ST-300 and MIDI Box 4 to preserve outlets). This would create a hard separation between the pedal groups which would not exist with a Boss ES-5, hence I would have to choose carefully. It looks like I could buy another four or five sets of the "simple" power supply supports (one set came with the board) to hang all three below the shelf, and I might add more supports to hang the Disaster Area Designs MIDI boxes.


Wed Jun 21, 2023 8:26 pm
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Post Re: My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI
https://www.youtube.com/@ScottUhlMusic/videos

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#6460 Railboard - Black with glow inlays.


Tue Jun 27, 2023 10:19 pm
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Post Re: My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI
WerkSpace wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/@ScottUhlMusic/videos

If that's just an example of a footswitch MIDI controller it seems quite tasty, especially that 'time engine' stuff (but not available this side of the Atlantic, yet?).

In early May is a topic about 'slient' foot controllers Glenn mentioned the Nektar Pacer https://nektartech.com/pacer-midi-daw-footswitch-controller/

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Wed Jun 28, 2023 6:00 am
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Post Re: My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI
Though I had to stay up two consecutive nights to do it, thanks to factors beyond my control, I secured an even better deal than was previously discussed: $200 off the discount previously discussed and everything shifted to the longest financing term (four years without interest), such that my monthly payment will be $93 less than I planned. Everything has shipped, except some of the audio cables and the TRS cable for additional control of the DD-500.

I will watch that video about the MIDI Captain out of curiosity; it does not seem to provide the same functionality as the Boss ES-8.


Thu Jun 29, 2023 12:01 pm
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Post Re: My Pedalboard Plan, Featuring MIDI
What caught my attention was the wireless battery operated feature,
not to mention the time engine that can sync multiple midi changes
by pressing only one button. https://paintaudio.com/

Scott has a lot of interesting videos and appears to like wireless options.
https://www.youtube.com/@ScottUhlMusic/videos

Robstafarian wrote:
I will watch that video about the MIDI Captain out of curiosity; it does not seem to provide the same functionality as the Boss ES-8.

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#404 Stick - (1978) Angico hard wood.
#6460 Railboard - Black with glow inlays.


Thu Jun 29, 2023 2:46 pm
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