using a Midi footswitch to control a rack mounted effects processor

[TheMadCap]

Question for you guys and gals out there:

I have a few pedals that I use, a VOX wah, DOD chorus, a Flanger, overdrive, etc. In addition I have a Fender Twin, so there are three channels on that pedal, so I really need to cut down on the tap dancing, because I have never been good at it. I often mess up and stomp the wrong thing and it sounds horrible.

So what I was thinking was just using one effect (other than the wah) by using a midi footswitch to control my Alesis Quadraverb. I have about every effect I need there, so I was planning on cooking up a few custom channels and using something like an old ART X-11 or the like to control the patches.

What does the board think about this option? Thanks for your advice!

TheMadCap

 

[Robert]

How many patches do you need to store? Midi Mouse is good, just go up and down to find your patches. Very simple.

 

[deeaa]

I hear you mad, I have always hated that dance thing; I almost always sing and play and with songs having up to a dozen changes of sound it is very hard to change sounds sometimes.

I've had a couple of different MIDI controllers and systems, starting from a BOSS multifx and a midi pedal in the 90's. They usually work very well, and I always liked the simplicity in playing. However usually you will still also need a wah etc. separately.

When I was still using a rackmount (the last I had was a Peavey Rockmaster system) I was seriously considering the Behringer (FC100?) big midi pedal. Unless I got it all wrong, it also has a system to select amp channels so you could even eliminate the Twin pedal...and 2 expression pedals that could be used for WAH and volume - I wonder how the quadraverb does that though... All I'm leery of is Behringer quality, but they are cheap...

The drawbacks I can think of is that despite usage is simple, it is still quite a complex system to move and maintain. You still need cables like MIDI cable, power cable, guitar cable, amp channel cable, and some outboard effects probably like a WAH, so it might turn out more complex a system than a bunch of pedals. And then you have everything riding the same bus, if you get a bad cord or connection it's all dead whereas with pedals you can just toss the one that gives you trouble. And with many FX units you tend to lose some of the immediacy of the change in sounds as well as the natural differences in pedal volumes and their positioning options (i.e. comp after or before drive etc.)

I'm a pedal man now that it's all about getting the best sound, I gig very little and usually use just one/two sounds...but I used to love midi control systems.

 

[TheMadCap]

Thanks for the input guys.

I will only have ~ 10 patches or so I need to switch from. The idea is to do this on the cheap, I think I can get a ART X-11 for under 50 bucks to use as the controller switch.

One of the biggest issues is that the quadraverb has some nice built-in channel effects, but some of the presets are different volumes. That is kind of a pain, but I believe I can get around it with customizing them.

The quadraverb is also really, really noisy! Probably not enough to be noticed easily when playing out, but still it sounds really bad in my basement when I'm practicing. It is really noticable.

I also am using it in the effects loop of my amp, so if it dies on me, I don't think the entire rig will go down. I can also shut it off and use pedals for songs where only one effect is needed. All I need to do now is figure out how to control the by-pass (hopefully not another separate pedal switch) and I think I'll be ok.