Midi floorboard controller features

[van Sinn]

I'm partly working with an upcoming manufacturer of new midi floorboard products.
First, do note I do not get any rebates; I do it to get it the way I want it - plus it's fun!
Second, this is meant as a feature poll, not for commercializing that specific product, so I've eluded the brand name, and suggest keeping it out of the scope of this poll.

The most important part is the first option; The rackmount controller part.
All midi floorboards I know of are all-in-one packages on the floor, meaning the board is programmed on the floor, using feets, or is lifted up for hand programming.
I personally find this annoying.

For this reason, we have ongoing discussions about creating a rackmountable version of the controller part, which is already quite likely to happen in a forseeable future.
Such a controller will most likely be a halfrack sized box, to be placed on an inexpensive and common available rack shelf, which will leave the remaining half space for other devices.

It's no secret the initial products are designed to work with Behringer FCB1010 floorboards. Other popular floorboards are being considered as future options.
The current products are very close to working with two FCB1010 boards, for at least 20 buttons, any of which are configurable for Program Change, Control Change, Set/Song mode Next/Previous and more..

I could list more features, but this is a poll for some specific features, so I'll just zip it    

[one4rich]

The features I want are a bit more basic than that. I want durable construction, buttons  and jacks that don't die, phantom power, and 10 patches per bank. I have no need for those large pedals on the end that everyone else seems to like. Call me a dinosaur if you must! I obviously don't care! [smiley=mooner.gif]

[Kim]

The features I want are a bit more basic than that. I want durable construction, buttons  and jacks that don't die, phantom power, and 10 patches per bank. I have no need for those large pedals on the end that everyone else seems to like. Call me a dinosaur if you must! I obviously don't care! [smiley=mooner.gif]

+1 to that.   I'm pretty basic on midi stuff as well.  I only require midi to change presets or patches.....

[van Sinn]

@one4rich && Kim: I hear and understand you, had it like that myself initially.

A couple of explanations about why I provide some conceptual work on those new devices:

I really dislike having to do channel select too much. From earlier programmable gear, I learned I ended up with a load of presets, mostly the same, except for a tew parameters, like level, distortion gain, chorous or not..

With the new design, I'll end up with 10 preset buttons and a nof stomp buttons.
One stomp will be a solo modifier, always configured to do the Right Thing for any preset, which will reduce the nof presets needed, so I can get by with using one bank for this kind of music, another bank for another style...

Three or four other stomps will be configures for my most-needed pitch transposes.
Two more for my most-needed 'manual' solo delays, and one or two more for tap-tempo delays.

If I weren't into utilizing a device like my TSR24, with it's complex algorithm and routing features (or had a TC 2290 + an Eventide), I would probably have been happy with a much smaller setup.

I'll end the poll sometime sunday and tell a Bit more about the upcoming products.
One or two of those you guys might really like, especialy for the nice size.

Have a real nice weekend  

[one4rich]

That's a *lot* more complicated than my setup is!  :crazy

[van Sinn]

Yeah, I guess..  when I decided to get back into music(k) late 2006, I quickly realized I wanted an MP-2, because it would provide me most of what I felt was needed. Mind ya, I used to have an MP-1 way back
All I needed would be some reverb, which I added with a Behringer DR100 in the loop, and some manual delay for solos..
I bought a Beringer FCB1010 to control it, and all was fine - until I realized which kinda music styles I was headed for, and did a lot of thinking and drawings on what's needed to build my sounds.
I realized this rather simple setup just wouldn't do - no pun intended towards less complex systems, or just amps'n'stomps, for that matter..

After I heard Kim (IMMSMR) in here unwinding his Eventide, I was sold, though this beast is outside my finacials.
The TSR24 is a nice complex mashine in a mere 2U suit, capable of what I need, with just a few more twists

How I described the setup (in the other post) is how I'm about implementing it. While it may sound complicated, in reality it won't be, well, for me, that is.

It'll be a little while before I can present pics, sound clips, and some description, but I will, of course..

[van Sinn]

The poll staying at 35 votes all saturday, I decided to lock it.  A Big Thanks to all participants  

I'll briefly describe the upcoming midi controller products a Bit more detailled:

All midi floorboards I know of are all-in-one packages on the floor, meaning the board is programmed on the floor, using feets, or is lifted up for hand programming, which I personally find annoying.
Also, I needed more flexibility than is generally available in affordable midi controllers.

For these reasons, I've had ongoing discussions with Xavier from http://www.gordius.be partly about features in his upcoming products, and partly about creating a halfrack mountable version of his controller part.
The rack controller is expected to be placed on an inexpensive and commonly available rack shelf, leaving the remaining half space for other devices.
 
The initial floor-based products are designed to work with one or two Behringer FCB1010 floorboards. Other popular floorboards are being considered.
This means at least 20 available buttons, any of which are configurable for Program Change, Control Change, Set/Song mode Next/Previous and more..
If only one FCB1010 is used and more buttons are needed, the controller can be used with traditional button pedals and also with additional swell pedals.
A future software release will implement non-liniar swell pedal response curves.
Programming and software updates can be done via USB and/or midi.

Apart from the traditional Program Change mode, the controllers can also be used in set/song mode, where presets are organized for songs, which are organized into sets.
Even when not using set/song mode, buttons can be configured for nested Program Change action, meaning the first click selects one preset, and succeding clicks select the next preset from a pre-programmed list of presets.
This allows mixing the traditional manual program select approach with prearranged preset lists for specific passages in songs.

Xavier's concept is about an affordable controller which won't limit creativity.
His controllers are built with enough storage space for implementing future ideas and functionality.
Many will know him as the creator of the UnO chip for the Beringer FCB1010.


I'd like to add this is not for advertizing those products, and I still won't get percentages
Just wanted to explain some features..

[HarleyHexxe]

Yeah, I guess..  when I decided to get back into music(k) late 2006, I quickly realized I wanted an MP-2, because it would provide me most of what I felt was needed. Mind ya, I used to have an MP-1 way back
All I needed would be some reverb, which I added with a Behringer DR100 in the loop, and some manual delay for solos..
I bought a Beringer FCB1010 to control it, and all was fine - until I realized which kinda music styles I was headed for, and did a lot of thinking and drawings on what's needed to build my sounds.
I realized this rather simple setup just wouldn't do - no pun intended towards less complex systems, or just amps'n'stomps, for that matter..

After I heard Kim (IMMSMR) in here unwinding his Eventide, I was sold, though this beast is outside my finacials.
The TSR24 is a nice complex mashine in a mere 2U suit, capable of what I need, with just a few more twists

How I described the setup (in the other post) is how I'm about implementing it. While it may sound complicated, in reality it won't be, well, for me, that is.

It'll be a little while before I can present pics, sound clips, and some description, but I will, of course..

Hi Van,
    No simple setups here, so I HAVE to have a good MIDI control system. Please feel free to check out this thread..
           http://www.adadepot.com/forum/index.php/topic,7125.0.html
   You can't rock if your rack won't roll


                          Harley

[van Sinn]

Yeah, I guess..  when I decided to get back into music(k) late 2006, I quickly realized I wanted an MP-2, because it would provide me most of what I felt was needed. Mind ya, I used to have an MP-1 way back
All I needed would be some reverb, which I added with a Behringer DR100 in the loop, and some manual delay for solos..
I bought a Beringer FCB1010 to control it, and all was fine - until I realized which kinda music styles I was headed for, and did a lot of thinking and drawings on what's needed to build my sounds.
I realized this rather simple setup just wouldn't do - no pun intended towards less complex systems, or just amps'n'stomps, for that matter..

After I heard Kim (IMMSMR) in here unwinding his Eventide, I was sold, though this beast is outside my finacials.
The TSR24 is a nice complex mashine in a mere 2U suit, capable of what I need, with just a few more twists

How I described the setup (in the other post) is how I'm about implementing it. While it may sound complicated, in reality it won't be, well, for me, that is.

It'll be a little while before I can present pics, sound clips, and some description, but I will, of course..

Hi Van,
    No simple setups here, so I HAVE to have a good MIDI control system. Please feel free to check out this thread..
           http://www.adadepot.com/forum/index.php/topic,7125.0.html
   You can't rock if your rack won't roll


                          Harley

Yup, real nice rig you got there. As I wrote, I thought I could get along with a pretty simple setup, but then I just needed.. and maybe also a... you get the picture..
I'm trying to limit it to a 6U rig, an even so, an FCB1010 floorboard with the UnO formware just won't do.
Much because of the complexity of the TSR-24S and the rather special, manually controlled Vortex, plus I need to manually blend in long swirling echoes for solos.
The Vortex and those echoes I want 'at-hand' without having to have them in presets; same goes with a few other effects.
Presets are nice for a complex setup at a button, but when I feel like doing something creatively, and don't have a preset for it.. no can't do..
That's where the more elaborate controller I'm working on comes in. Right now I'm just waiting on some new stuff to be finalized.
My current problem is controlling the Vortex from midi. It's programmable, but presets can only be stepped up in round-robin fashion, plus morphing is done with a manual swellpedal, so I'm looking for a DIY CC->CV controller project. I'll get around it somehow..

Anyways, I'm considering doing future effects using a MacBook with Logic Pro's MainStage software to build a virtual rack (see my short post about it in the Recording subforum).

[HarleyHexxe]

Hi Van Sinn,
     Sounds like an interesting puzzle you have there. You describe some of the things I wanted to do with my old live rig in the past when I was first putting it together. Having the ability to morph, or ramp effects, blend, and or separate effects as well as stereo imaging.
      When I was looking into getting these types of things, that was when I found out about the Sound Sculpture Switchblade units. It is a Mixer/MIDI Matrix all wrapped up in a 1U rack unit. Very expensive, but it seems to allow you to do things on the fly with the CV/CC pedals as you describe. I may get one of these in the future to use as an expansion to my Ground Control/GCX system.
      In fact, it was Kevin, ( The owner of Sound Sculpture ) who turned me on to the Ground Control/GCX system in the first place. He originally designed the Switchblade to interface with Ground Control.
      It sounds like you have a massive technical background though, and your ideas seem to go a step further than what the Switchblade does, and I'm very intrigued. When it comes to using an effects, or multiple effects controller, that allows me to get more more out of what I already have, then you have my full attention. I've used  one of my S-1000 delays for flanger, and another for Echo delays, and placed them inline with each other to create the swirling delay lead tones. Sometimes I'll cut the flanger in front of the delay and put another one after the delay to let the flange effect slighty modulate the echos and give the illusion of changing the pitch. That was always a cool effect for me.
    PLease, keep posting on this subject, I'll be watching this one.

                   Harley