Custom Blender Pedal Spec: Comments Wanted (Windbag Post)

[Colonel Monk]

Hay ya'll

I've been looking for a pedal out there that can help me with my signal switching needs - and though I've found some that could satisfy part of the problem, there's nothing I've found that can do everything.

I'm using my Little Phatty synth in a sort of "moog taurus" mode in my current band. I need a way to run the LP signal into my amp (mesa M600) along with my bass. I also need a blender for my FX board as well as a blended loop for my Moog pedals. I also want to be able to choose which instrument signal is running thru the Moog loop. So here's a sketch of my custom blender:



Custom 2 Input Blender Specification

- 2 INPUTS: 1 for BASS which is always on, 2 for Moog Little Phatty which is switched.
- Little Phatty signal volume is mixed into main signal with mix control
- Footswitch for Little Phatty IN/OUT
- MAIN FX BLEND LOOP:
*Footswitch IN/OUT to bypass
*FX Blend controls for Blend 1 and 2
*Footswitch to choose between Blend Level 1 and 2
- 2nd FX BLEND LOOP for Foogertron 7000
*Footswitch IN/OUT to bypass
*FX Blend control
*3 position toggle switch to select which signal is routed thru Foogertron: BASS/NONE/Little Phatty
- MASTER BYPASS SWITCH: Mutes all signal to amp

**NOTE on 3 position toggle switch -- Foogertron contains oscillators of it's own, and therefore can make sound. With "NONE" selected, the blend knob on 2nd FX loop should control the amount of signal to be mixed into the main output even though there is NO signal present at SEND -- so if the moog is making it's own sound, the RECEIVE jack should be able to receive it and send it to the output.

I/O
- Bass IN
- Little Phatty IN
- FX Loop Send
- FX Loop Receive
- FX 2 Send
- FX 2 Receive
- OUT Amp

So what do you think? What am I missing?

I was thinking of sending it to Barge for a quote, but I thought some of you geniuses could offer some good suggestions first.

Thanks,

Col. Monk

[ehque]

Well your foogertron thing has it's own stomp switch, so i fail to see the point of adding the "NONE" option in the miniswitch. Maybe a "BOTH" option would be more useful.

This would be a very expensive blender. The twin-blend section on the left already cost someone 140, the fooger section is another 100 or so, and the mix another 100. The option to route either the phatty or the bass into the fooger, on the other hand, would be quite easy to implement, a 3PDT miniswitch should be able to do the job.

I estimate you'll be paying upwards of 400 if you get Geoff to build this. He's also quite backlogged from work on the Grinder.

[cheapbasslovin]

Ambitious.

Wow.

I wish I had advice, but you dun out-thought anything I'd have come up with .

Good luck.

[Colonel Monk]

Originally Posted by ehque

Well your foogertron thing has it's own stomp switch, so i fail to see the point of adding the "NONE" option in the miniswitch. Maybe a "BOTH" option would be more useful.
.......
I estimate you'll be paying upwards of 400 if you get Geoff to build this. He's also quite backlogged from work on the Grinder.

Thanks alot for the comments. One thing though, let's not discuss price - I know it will cost more than the typical blender but let's leave that to the experts. Truth hurts...

I'm willing to trim back a bit on the options if necessary - which means I could do without the second blend and just do Blend/100% on the footswitch if it's cost prohibitive.

To clarify, the NONE position is to allow the MoogerFoogers to be their own sound source. In this position, the MFers could be generating sound, while also the phatty, and bass at once.

I use it like this sometimes, but currently thru a cheap minimixer which works but I can't run it with my feet, and it's not doing my signal path any favors.

Thakns again

[Plank Spank]

Monk, I can build this for you. If enough people want something like this, we can keep the price down as well.

[bongomania]

I've done a lot of crazy signal routing with multiple types of devices and blend/mute needs. While a custom device would be very cool, there are some other options worth considering. The only downside to what I'm going to suggest is: no footswitches.

First, a proper mixing board. The muting is done via faders as well as mute buttons that are typically right by each fader. Blending is done via the faders as well as aux send knobs, typically two to four aux sends per channel. A good mixer will be able to handle the widest range of input signals and blend them cleanly, as well as having the most versatility as your rig changes over time.

Second, the Shure Auxpander. It's just a bank of aux sends/returns, eight channels in and eight (or summed to two) out. You use pots to determine the level of which signal is going in what amount to which output. No switches at all. It has the least obvious/intuitive interface at first, especially with no mute switches, but if you have a crazy array of signals to blend in infinite ways, the Auxpander is awesome. I used one for years in this sort of application. (A lesser version of the Auxpander is the Rane SM26.)

I know you were hoping for something more compact and which would have stomp control. But compactness also means limitation if you ever change your rig around; and I found in actual gig applications that I wanted any complex blending and signal routing to be way up off the floor so I could see the controls better in dim stage light. It may seem like you couldn't take your hands off your instrument, but I found I got better results by controlling the complex routing with my hands and eyes, and simply made space in my instrumental performance to allow occasional quick reaches over to the mixer.

[Colonel Monk]

Plank Spank, PM coming your way.

Bongo, thanks for the suggestions. I'll give it some serious thought, but as you can tell my rig is already too bloated.

So keeping it compact and sharing space with loop blenders (which is something I already badly need) seems to make sense.

But being able to expand is also important. Maybe I should add another 100% input (like the bass) to the rig to add a bit more flexibility... That would be three inputs, 2 normal + 1 "mixed".

Come to think of it, the Phatty doesn't really need a mix knob - it has a volume knob with a wild range of gain. The mix knob on that channel could be replaced with a simple pad if necessary.

Keep the ideas coming all.

out