An Observation on Multis

Swimming Bird · #1 03-18-2008, 11:31 AM

Is it just me, or have multi-effects gotten a lot better recently? Looking at this new generation of multis coming out, I find myself looking through feature sets and saying "Huh, I could actually buy this." I mean, I'm a staunch believer in not letting one company control your whole sound, but the TC G-System, Boss GT-10B and the Line6 M13 all look so... usable.

Usability's really the thing though, isn't it? It isn't any revolution in sound, it's letting you choose the order of effects and including loopers and allowing parallel chains and multiple of the same effect.

Lastly, any guesses as to what's next? I understand half of this generation hasn't even shipped yet, but I gotta wonder. So what, will each generation push floor units towards Eventide Harmonizers or what?

bongomania · #2 03-18-2008, 01:20 PM

I've observed the same improvements recently. I think it's that the consumer-goods manufacturing industry in general has been incubating a large supply of manufacturers of cheap fast processors, for everything from cars to missiles to blenders, and the musical gear segment is benefiting in turn. Also I think a lot of manufacturers are following the lean production models of Toyota, Behringer, etc. and thus are able to crank out more advanced products more cheaply.

The down side from a practical consumer standpoint (I'm not going to touch the political or artistic ramifications) is that when a multi has any sort of problem, no matter how small, it becomes a big deal to fix it. Also the planned obsolescence is frustrating- even if your model BZ-1200 works great two years after you bought it, it will be considered almost worthless in terms of resale since the BZ-2400 and later the UBZ-3200 Platinum Edition came out.

That's the main thing frustrating me about multi's right now, is the whole "gotta get the latest model" yet the latest models are late to be delivered and nearly always have bugs in the first generation.

theunknowndude · #3 03-19-2008, 04:45 AM

I like my zoom B2 pedal,...

awesome tuner and alot of decent preset patches,... however its annoying as heck to even edit ONE patch and ive found a few times (not very many tho) that I can't get all of the 'tone edit' I want on certain patches, so trying to recreate the sounds I love the best into a few stomp boxes...

what I wish could happen is that you could plug a multi fx straight into a computer via USB or however and edit the patches straight away... im impatient when it comes down to it and fiddling all day to get one patch right doesnt work for me

oh yeah the only other annoying thing I find, trying to press both switches at the same time to get to the tuning patch... whats with that! I would much rather they have a say press button down and hold for 3 seconds or something like my guitar multi fx does... (go oldskool korg toneworks? heh)

http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_...&category_id=6

ARGGGGG SOOOOO gassing for that,... its exactly what I want in a multi fx but so expensive

Nyarlathotep · #4 03-19-2008, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

Also the planned obsolescence is frustrating- even if your model BZ-1200 works great two years after you bought it, it will be considered almost worthless in terms of resale since the BZ-2400 and later the UBZ-3200 Platinum Edition came out.

That's the main thing frustrating me about multi's right now, is the whole "gotta get the latest model" yet the latest models are late to be delivered and nearly always have bugs in the first generation.

Agreed. Though they would have to come out with something FAR superior to the X3 before i would "upgrade". The only real bonus to the X3 is the fact that you can run 2 chains at once.

When they allow the user to change the pos of the wah effect, and put an onboard stereo looper into it (with separate controls so I can use the FBV to fully control a patch), id CONSIDER buying that POD.

Planet Boulder · #5 03-19-2008, 12:47 PM

They have gotten MUCH better! My Zoom B2 is one of my favorite pedals. Excellent sounds, easy to use, built like a tank - has exactly what I need.

Even the Korg AX3B has a lot of usable sounds.

Mark Olson · #6 03-19-2008, 01:08 PM

I'm always excited when musical technology is improving, but everything else aside, the problem I've always had with multis is that, even though they have a lot of tones in them, they just didn't have the tones I was looking for. I've spent many thousands of dollars searching for the tones I like, some of that on various multis, and for the most part the tones I could get with the multis, although cool, just weren't me.

nad · #7 03-19-2008, 01:38 PM

I've witnessed some pretty decent sounding ones over the past several years, in person and on recordings. Guitarist in an old band of mine used some multi unit thingy and got all kinds of killer sounds from it, and I am deeply in love with the plethora of recent Katatonia guitar tones.

I still don't like to use them though. Much prefer individual boxes that have the name of the effect (or reasonable facsimile thereof), a couple of knobs/sliders/switches that adjust exactly what I want when I want, with preferably some form of funky paintjob, and nothing more.

theunknowndude · #8 03-20-2008, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nad

I've witnessed some pretty decent sounding ones over the past several years, in person and on recordings. Guitarist in an old band of mine used some multi unit thingy and got all kinds of killer sounds from it, and I am deeply in love with the plethora of recent Katatonia guitar tones.

I still don't like to use them though. Much prefer individual boxes that have the name of the effect (or reasonable facsimile thereof), a couple of knobs/sliders/switches that adjust exactly what I want when I want, with preferably some form of funky paintjob, and nothing more.

yeah thats what im loving about my stomp boxes,... pretty much turn knobs, get desired effect in two seconds, leave and im done...

bassbrad · #9 03-20-2008, 04:25 PM

Multi efx are getting much better for the most part but there are so many things in those boxes that you really have to commit to learning what is there and how to control it to get your sound.

musicelectronix · #10 03-20-2008, 04:48 PM

Due to recent events and discussions, I purchased/borrowed most of the multi effects pedals available today, as well as fairly old ones. Not just bass ones, guitar effects too. Anyway, I am still testing/trying most of them and some of them are right on the money. Here is a short general observation:

1- as some of you mentioned, it is really hard to capture the soul without the knobs. Most of the time I failed to visualize how it would sound without hearing it. Digital numbers didn't really work for me.

2- I like guitar pedals better than bass. IMO bass Multi-FX pedals are mostly consists of weird effects. It's almost like companies produces guitar pedals and say "hey, we can do bass version of this and we can use the effects nicked from our guitar pedals. This way we do less R&D on bass pedals and they would be a lot cheaper". This is less of a case with Line 6 I guess.

3- I especially like the preamps of the earlier units and I especially like the DSP effects engines of the later units.

4- My personal favorite for guitar is Digitech 1101. Most of the stompbox models are very accurate, but it is not hard to feel lifeles-ness (for those I played extensively over the years and know how it should sound. The rest can fool anybody). I mean they simulated the sound, but somewhat failed to simulate the core.

5- Line 6 bass amp models sound good and it takes an effort to distinguish between them and the real thing.

as a conclusion, even though I ended up returning all bass multi-effects, I saw that there are some usable stuff out there. I also think, you can get a decent rig and a few effects (that you will really use as opposed to many that you won't use them all) for about the same money you may pay for them. I also can not fight the feeling "there is something missin here, but what? I don't know, but I am sure". I very well may be biased, or there really is something missing can not be explained with the sound quality or the accuracy.

Just my .02 cents