Maybe a Boss GX-100 or the smaller GX-10 could fit your needs better: same Boss effects of the ME-90B with free to edit chain. You would give up the battery operation and the DI.
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BOSS ME 90B
- Thread starter Krisfield
- Start date
You could use the Delay in the Mod Section when you need Reverb, and then the only additional external pedal you might need would be a looper?
I still have my BIG pedalboard, but I rarely get it out when I'm playing at home.
As a home play/rehearsal option it could make a lot of sense.
I’m not sure about how I’d add a looper pedal in, though. If I want to use the direct out from the ME-90B it has to be last in the chain, so the looper would need to go in the FX loop. I think I can set where that comes in the chain using the editor, so could set it just before the amp section. Not sure if that works in manual mode or only with memory mode patches, though. I’ll need to give the docs a thorough read again on the Roland website.
I also know what I’m like, and think I’d eventually want to have my other drive pedals and the Whammy along for the ride if I was taking the multi out for shows
Yeah, it's kinda hard to move from a selection of the perfect pedals for the job, to a multi effects unit, requires a complete change of mindset.As a home play/rehearsal option it could make a lot of sense.
I’m not sure about how I’d add a looper pedal in, though. If I want to use the direct out from the ME-90B it has to be last in the chain, so the looper would need to go in the FX loop. I think I can set where that comes in the chain using the editor, so could set it just before the amp section. Not sure if that works in manual mode or only with memory mode patches, though. I’ll need to give the docs a thorough read again on the Roland website.
I also know what I’m like, and think I’d eventually want to have my other drive pedals and the Whammy along for the ride if I was taking the multi out for shows
I hoped I'd be able to move my pedals on when I got the ME-90B, I sold a couple but, I think having both options is better, so I'm keeping the separates and the ME-90B. I've been building and saving sounds on the unit however, and balanced copies for my different basses too, so I know I could totally use the unit for a proper rehearsal live show now, and given it's compact nature cost, compared to a bunch of separates, it would make way more sense to use live too.
They seem like very versatile and capable units, though I tend to like the more tactile interface of the ME-90B for on the fly, intuitive adjustments. Though, I suppose I could become accustomed to the menu based system of the GX units if I took the time.
ETA: the touch screen, drag and drop interface on the GX gets it some good points in the intuitive stakes, mind you.
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Had a pretty significant rethink of my plan…
Gone for a used TC Electronic Plethora X5 that will replace my tuner, chorus, trem, the Atlantic and the little looper. It should cover those jobs, as well as allowing me to introduce other things as I fancy them. Think I’ll set up the first virtual board as my ‘go to’ then can add others specific to certain songs. Did a deep dive on some of the features and available tones and think I’ll dig this unit. I don’t think the ME-90B was ever going to oust the Jam pedals or Darkglass for dirt, nor the Whammy for the sort of thing I tend to use it for.
Might revisit the Boss as a convenient, all-in-one home practice box in the future, but reckon the TC combined with some of my existing board will work better for me in a gigging context.
D
I am finally close to getting one. Have to trade in a few things, but I can't wait. It solves my problems playing. Im old school I guess, I also just like the knobs. 
D
So, my car needs all new fuel injectors. Maybe by the time my birthday rolls around I can afford the Boss.I am finally close to getting one. Have to trade in a few things, but I can't wait. It solves my problems playing. Im old school I guess, I also just like the knobs.
Unexpected car bills are a real pain. I had to have a new steering rack fitted to my car towards the end of last year. Thankfully I was nearly at the kerbside when the old one gave up on me and didn’t fail slightly earlier when I had been navigating a roundabout!So, my car needs all new fuel injectors. Maybe by the time my birthday rolls around I can afford the Boss.
Thanks moles, but no
The GT-10B has MIDI In/Out ports. The ME-90B does not. My problem is not the physical interfacing, I happily drive other effects units that have MIDI In ports from Stage Traxx on an iPad. My problem is that Roland appear to have designed the ME-90B to be reliant on using their Windows/MacOS driver to generate a MIDI (and Audio) interface, so unless you have your ME-90B plugged into a Windows or MacOS machine, you appear to have no ability to send the ME-90B Program Change or other MIDI controllers.
I finally had some time to sit down and really try and nut this out... but came up empty, so I tend to agree that the MIDI implementation has been more designed for home studio use, than for live performance scenarios.
So, following up on my question about using MIDI to automate the ME-90B patch changes, etc., this is what I've found. Please note that I use a Windows PC but I'm going to assume the situation is similar on MacOS.
After you install the BOSS ME-90B Windows drivers (BOSS - Support - ME-90B - Updates & Drivers) your DAW will now be presented with some new Audio and MIDI Ins/Outs. It installs an ASIO driver and a small driver configuration app which lets you set Sample Rate (44.1/48/96Khz), Buffer Size, etc.
Audio Playback/Recording devices:
[Playback devices]
MIX IN (ME-90B)
INPUT (ME-90B)
[Recording devices]
OUTPUT (ME-90B)
DRY OUT (ME-90B)
MIDI input/output device:
[MIDI OUT devices]
ME-90B
ME-90B DAW CTRL
[MIDI IN devices]
ME-90B
ME-90B DAW CTRL
This is all documented in the driver package README.
Once I had my DAW set to use the MIDI Output device "ME-90B DAW CTRL" then I was able to send MIDI Program Change (PC) messages to my ME-90B. No CC#0 or CC#32 (for those with experience with other MIDI devices) needed before the PC message. It seems to ignore any Bank Select type messages. Just send PC0 and you get User patch U1-1. Send PC5 and you get User patch U2-2. All the way through to PC35 gets you User patch U9-4. After that, you run into the Preset patches, e.g. PC36 gets you Preset patch P1-1 all the way through to PC71 gets you Preset patch P9-4.
Then, as per p13 of the ME-90B Reference Guide, you can send CC#80 with a value of 127 to turn on the CTL pedal, and a value of 0 to turn it off. I don't use the Pedal Effect (CC#82) or Expression Pedal (CC#11) so I didn't test these.
So, great if you are using a Windows or MacOS based DAW to drive your MIDI automation; you can at least do Program Change, CTL Pedal, Pedal Effect and Expression Pedal automation. No ability to go deeper and automate effects parameters (e.g. change a Chorus modulation depth) but at this price point, I certainly wasn't expecting that capability. I guess if you can map a parameter to the Expression Pedal, then you can automate a change that way.
The problem is if you are wanting to do any MIDI change/automation via other tools, e.g. a MIDI controller foot switch (e.g. Luminite FX) or an iPad based backing track player app that supports MIDI automation (e.g. Stage Traxx). Because Roland relies on the Windows/MacOS driver to 'create' the MIDI interface, it appears (at least to me at this stage) to be impossible to do any MIDI automation outside of Windows/MacOS.
There is possibly a question to be asked about whether Roland have been misleading with their language around the ME-90B's MIDI capabilities. I don't see anything that is an out and out lie, but they leave certain claims suitably vague that it is easy to make incorrect assumptions. E.g. p13 of the ME-90B Reference Guide states "The current memory on the ME-90B changes at the same time that this unit receives a program change message from DAW software or another source.". "other source" is the vague and somewhat misleading (IMHO) phrase. Technically, a non-DAW app on a Windows or MacOS machine that has the ME-90B driver loaded would constitute an "other source". Is that what most people would reasonably assume? I don't think so, but hey, it is what it is. As I stated in my original post, at this price point, I'm not expecting more but it would've been nice! I genuinely wonder what the extra cost would've been to put a TRS MIDI input port (heck, there's enough space for a 5-pin DIN MIDI port!) and whatever controller chip is required for local native MIDI processing.
If anyone finds a way to send MIDI Program Change messages WITHOUT using a Windows/MacOS device with the driver installed, I would LOVE to be proven wrong! I use Stage Traxx 3 on an iPad to run my band's backing tracks and automate my guitarists' Hotone Ampero II Stage and Live 6 Helix LT effects units. I still have to hit a damn pedal to change patches... how 1990's
Just for clarity - when I say I sent midi CC/PC changes to/ from the GT-10B, this was done over USB. With a now 9 year old Android tablet. The MIDI ports were not in play here.I finally had some time to sit down and really try and nut this out... but came up empty, so I tend to agree that the MIDI implementation has been more designed for home studio use, than for live performance scenarios.
So, following up on my question about using MIDI to automate the ME-90B patch changes, etc., this is what I've found. Please note that I use a Windows PC but I'm going to assume the situation is similar on MacOS.
After you install the BOSS ME-90B Windows drivers (BOSS - Support - ME-90B - Updates & Drivers) your DAW will now be presented with some new Audio and MIDI Ins/Outs. It installs an ASIO driver and a small driver configuration app which lets you set Sample Rate (44.1/48/96Khz), Buffer Size, etc.
Audio Playback/Recording devices:
[Playback devices]
MIX IN (ME-90B)
INPUT (ME-90B)
[Recording devices]
OUTPUT (ME-90B)
DRY OUT (ME-90B)
MIDI input/output device:
[MIDI OUT devices]
ME-90B
ME-90B DAW CTRL
[MIDI IN devices]
ME-90B
ME-90B DAW CTRL
This is all documented in the driver package README.
Once I had my DAW set to use the MIDI Output device "ME-90B DAW CTRL" then I was able to send MIDI Program Change (PC) messages to my ME-90B. No CC#0 or CC#32 (for those with experience with other MIDI devices) needed before the PC message. It seems to ignore any Bank Select type messages. Just send PC0 and you get User patch U1-1. Send PC5 and you get User patch U2-2. All the way through to PC35 gets you User patch U9-4. After that, you run into the Preset patches, e.g. PC36 gets you Preset patch P1-1 all the way through to PC71 gets you Preset patch P9-4.
Then, as per p13 of the ME-90B Reference Guide, you can send CC#80 with a value of 127 to turn on the CTL pedal, and a value of 0 to turn it off. I don't use the Pedal Effect (CC#82) or Expression Pedal (CC#11) so I didn't test these.
So, great if you are using a Windows or MacOS based DAW to drive your MIDI automation; you can at least do Program Change, CTL Pedal, Pedal Effect and Expression Pedal automation. No ability to go deeper and automate effects parameters (e.g. change a Chorus modulation depth) but at this price point, I certainly wasn't expecting that capability. I guess if you can map a parameter to the Expression Pedal, then you can automate a change that way.
The problem is if you are wanting to do any MIDI change/automation via other tools, e.g. a MIDI controller foot switch (e.g. Luminite FX) or an iPad based backing track player app that supports MIDI automation (e.g. Stage Traxx). Because Roland relies on the Windows/MacOS driver to 'create' the MIDI interface, it appears (at least to me at this stage) to be impossible to do any MIDI automation outside of Windows/MacOS.
There is possibly a question to be asked about whether Roland have been misleading with their language around the ME-90B's MIDI capabilities. I don't see anything that is an out and out lie, but they leave certain claims suitably vague that it is easy to make incorrect assumptions. E.g. p13 of the ME-90B Reference Guide states "The current memory on the ME-90B changes at the same time that this unit receives a program change message from DAW software or another source.". "other source" is the vague and somewhat misleading (IMHO) phrase. Technically, a non-DAW app on a Windows or MacOS machine that has the ME-90B driver loaded would constitute an "other source". Is that what most people would reasonably assume? I don't think so, but hey, it is what it is. As I stated in my original post, at this price point, I'm not expecting more but it would've been nice! I genuinely wonder what the extra cost would've been to put a TRS MIDI input port (heck, there's enough space for a 5-pin DIN MIDI port!) and whatever controller chip is required for local native MIDI processing.
If anyone finds a way to send MIDI Program Change messages WITHOUT using a Windows/MacOS device with the driver installed, I would LOVE to be proven wrong! I use Stage Traxx 3 on an iPad to run my band's backing tracks and automate my guitarists' Hotone Ampero II Stage and Live 6 Helix LT effects units. I still have to hit a damn pedal to change patches... how 1990's
If your can't sort out the settings to get it working, then Boss probably made a design choice here. Given that this is positioned as their "no-nonsense, turn the knobs and go" unit, I'm not sure we can fault them for that.
I was very doubtful when I got this unit and tested it at studio with a hartke 2500 amp connected via return.
I wasn't satisfied with the sound, there was a great lack at low ends. But last weekend I directly plugged it in to PA as DI at rehearsal.
That was good.
I use it as stompbox. I use drive bass or studio bass(markbass) as amp sim according to the song + D-comp as my main sound.
I use envelope filter, octave, overdrive, distortion, chorus, plate or shimmer reverb and delay whenever it's necessary.
Tuner is very accurate compared to stupid tuners attached directly to the keyboard of guitar.
I in fact bought that unit instead of b6 just because of dsp limit issue. But "there's no dsp limit in me90b" seems not to be true.
If you activate drive bass + flanger + d-comp + delay in the same time, sound immediately distorts.
In the end, me90b can sound really good according to your parameter settings. But you can blur everything and turn the sound into mood just with a slightly made settings change. It's very experimental and you need to make minor adjustments on the fly depends on the place you play.
I wasn't satisfied with the sound, there was a great lack at low ends. But last weekend I directly plugged it in to PA as DI at rehearsal.
That was good.
I use it as stompbox. I use drive bass or studio bass(markbass) as amp sim according to the song + D-comp as my main sound.
I use envelope filter, octave, overdrive, distortion, chorus, plate or shimmer reverb and delay whenever it's necessary.
Tuner is very accurate compared to stupid tuners attached directly to the keyboard of guitar.
I in fact bought that unit instead of b6 just because of dsp limit issue. But "there's no dsp limit in me90b" seems not to be true.
If you activate drive bass + flanger + d-comp + delay in the same time, sound immediately distorts.
In the end, me90b can sound really good according to your parameter settings. But you can blur everything and turn the sound into mood just with a slightly made settings change. It's very experimental and you need to make minor adjustments on the fly depends on the place you play.
Thinking about picking one of these up again. I tried one about a year ago (as an upgrade to my trusty old ME-50B) and I didn't like the no aux/BT issue, nor did I understand that there was a toggle that prevented the value changes between manual and memory modes, and I got frustrated with that not working they way I wanted it to.
While I love my Zoom MS-60B+ and b2four, I worry about their stage durability and lightness. I don't need 57 subtle varieties of choruses, I just need one or two that work, you know? I'm very much a "set and forget" player, and menu diving into overwhelming choice paralysis is getting old.
While I love my Zoom MS-60B+ and b2four, I worry about their stage durability and lightness. I don't need 57 subtle varieties of choruses, I just need one or two that work, you know? I'm very much a "set and forget" player, and menu diving into overwhelming choice paralysis is getting old.
Question: when the unit turns on, it’s in P1 memory mode, so I switch it to manual.
When I do, it’s oddly quiet unless I slightly twiddle an effect knob, then it seems to “wake up” and turn on that effect. (e.g. mcomp, natural amp and chorus). My old 50b was instant and didn’t have this issue. As I’m primarily a stage player, i need to rely on hitting the drive or phaser pedal and not have anything odd.
When I twiddle the amp level knob, the increase in volume is quite sudden.
I went into the parameters and switched the n1/n0 as suggested here.
When I do, it’s oddly quiet unless I slightly twiddle an effect knob, then it seems to “wake up” and turn on that effect. (e.g. mcomp, natural amp and chorus). My old 50b was instant and didn’t have this issue. As I’m primarily a stage player, i need to rely on hitting the drive or phaser pedal and not have anything odd.
When I twiddle the amp level knob, the increase in volume is quite sudden.
I went into the parameters and switched the n1/n0 as suggested here.
After reading through all of this, decided to try some IR cabs and downloaded the Shift Line pack as suggested by others in this thread. I thought I should use the "EQ" setting from the selectable table in the preamp/eq section thinking it would add a sweepable mid and not be stacking simulation on top of another simulation, but that apparently isn't an option? When I had the preamp/eq set on EQ and rotated through original and the 3 IRs I loaded, nothing changed. If I chose another preamp/eq from the list it will change the output. I guess it was always my assumption the built in amp models had built in cab sim, but that's not the case? With the IRs loaded I chose my amp from the preamp section and cab from the IRs loaded in the output section? I'm just trying not to overwhelm the process as I learn it, but if that's the way it is, that's the way it is!
I've been playing with for a couple of months right now, and one of the few gripes I got with it is.
The blend knob blends only the whole effected signal and dry, I wish they would give us a option to make It so It only blends after distortion or something.
The blend knob blends only the whole effected signal and dry, I wish they would give us a option to make It so It only blends after distortion or something.
I think so. At the beginning of a rehearsal or gig, I've learned to flip all the knobs around and then switch them back to where I want it to be for the next song. But the REALLY annoying thing is if I have to do DURING A SONG. There's a song we do where there's heavy Muffy distortion at the beginning of the song, then again half-way through the song. The effect will work fine for the beginning, but 10% of the time it doesn't back come on in the middle, until I turn the knob back and forth. That's a real problem. I'm taking to repair place to have them look at it.
Hi, is anyone using.a ME-90B with a DAW and outputting directing into interface? Do you have any tracks with it? Just wondering how it compares to sims?
I am getting an MB-90B pretty soon and I am looking forward to trying to emulate some of my favorite effects.
One I am starting to think through is trying to copy the EH Micro Bass Synth. It seems like using Octave in FX1 and Synth Sqr in Drive/Synth might be a good foundation to start on. Thankfully there’s a compressor option in the Mod block, should it be needed for this.
Also, has anyone on here shared any of their Live Sets in Tone Exchange? It would be great to see the live set library for the ME-90B grow.
One I am starting to think through is trying to copy the EH Micro Bass Synth. It seems like using Octave in FX1 and Synth Sqr in Drive/Synth might be a good foundation to start on. Thankfully there’s a compressor option in the Mod block, should it be needed for this.
Also, has anyone on here shared any of their Live Sets in Tone Exchange? It would be great to see the live set library for the ME-90B grow.
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