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Future Impact now available!! WAS: deep impact reissue!!! interested?

#4,621
Leocapri said:
Hi @all. I just don't get the FI to track well for me. It doesn't matter what bass I use: Precision neck-pickup with flatwounds, tone rolled off, Precision with bridge pickup with tone rolled off, Stingray with EQ cut, roundwound strings... It is exactly the pedal I was looking for, but the tracking is really glitchy and the notes are always jumping from the note played before to the note played afterwards. For a recording situation it would simply not be usable for me right now. Changing the "note on"/"note off" parameters or pulling up the AR.DIST-Fader, doesn't do anything. I am an experienced player and able to play clean and without resting harmonics etc. What do you do? Right now, I don't understand, why everyone is so blown away by the performance of this pedal? AAAARGH. :-D
Click to expand...
Sorry your having a tough time with it. I haven’t had tracking problems myself and use it at pretty much every gig so there’s got to be something going on. I’m far from an expert but a couple things worth checking may be the input level to the pedal. And also, do you play pretty hard? I’ve noticed for mine if I have the input level at a decent level and play lightly I really don’t run into tracking issues. But if I get overly excited and start pulling harder the tracking gets pretty whacky. Hope you get it worked out.
 
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#4,622
Leocapri said:
Hi @all. I just don't get the FI to track well for me. It doesn't matter what bass I use: Precision neck-pickup with flatwounds, tone rolled off, Precision with bridge pickup with tone rolled off, Stingray with EQ cut, roundwound strings... It is exactly the pedal I was looking for, but the tracking is really glitchy and the notes are always jumping from the note played before to the note played afterwards. For a recording situation it would simply not be usable for me right now. Changing the "note on"/"note off" parameters or pulling up the AR.DIST-Fader, doesn't do anything. I am an experienced player and able to play clean and without resting harmonics etc. What do you do? Right now, I don't understand, why everyone is so blown away by the performance of this pedal? AAAARGH. :-D
Click to expand...

I’d suggest not rolling the tone off at all. I rarely do when using the FI.
 
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#4,623
Quatschmacher said:
I’d suggest not rolling the tone off at all. I rarely do when using the FI.
Click to expand...

I was going to say this. I haven't even started goofing with mine, but I think like other synth pedals or octave pedals they want something above the deep lows to 'latch on' to...tuners do that too. If you're only feeding them deep lows they have a hard time 'reading' the notes.
 
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#4,624
Jonny5bass said:
Sorry your having a tough time with it. I haven’t had tracking problems myself and use it at pretty much every gig so there’s got to be something going on. I’m far from an expert but a couple things worth checking may be the input level to the pedal. And also, do you play pretty hard? I’ve noticed for mine if I have the input level at a decent level and play lightly I really don’t run into tracking issues. But if I get overly excited and start pulling harder the tracking gets pretty whacky. Hope you get it worked out.
Click to expand...

THIS ^

Once you get your gain stage set properly you should be buzzing through outter space. Took a few mins to dial in the pedal right for the way I play, but since I've had no issues beyond the occasional glitch which is usually based on the patch selected.
 
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#4,626
cosmicevan said:
THIS ^

Once you get your gain stage set properly you should be buzzing through outter space. Took a few mins to dial in the pedal right for the way I play, but since I've had no issues beyond the occasional glitch which is usually based on the patch selected.
Click to expand...

I usually get the input level to where it's hitting Red on notes that I hit pretty hard. One thing I noticed was that tracking seemed to be not so great, to me, until I started tweaking the Attack and Decay. The PC editor is great and all, but there are too many parameters to tweak (IMO), so I do it on the pedal itself. I usually set the attack to 1, so I get an immediate reaction to my playing, and set decay to taste, usually also 1, or pretty low, which works well with staccato playing, but also allows you to hold a note, and have it die as soon as you let it off, like a synth keyboard. Once I figured that out, this pedal became invaluable.
 
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#4,627
NicJimBass said:
I usually get the input level to where it's hitting Red on notes that I hit pretty hard. One thing I noticed was that tracking seemed to be not so great, to me, until I started tweaking the Attack and Decay. The PC editor is great and all, but there are too many parameters to tweak (IMO), so I do it on the pedal itself. I usually set the attack to 1, so I get an immediate reaction to my playing, and set decay to taste (Usually also 1, or pretty low, which works well with staccato playing). Once I figured that out, this pedal became invaluable.
Click to expand...

The attack parameter on the pedal has nothing to do with tracking your input signal. It’s simply the parameter which adjusts how quickly the filter cutoff opens. Obviously it has an audible effect on the sound but not on how quickly your input notes get detected.

By contrast, the “note on level” and “note off level” global pedal settings (printed on yellow background) do affect tracking.
 
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#4,628
Leocapri said:
Hi @all. I just don't get the FI to track well for me. It doesn't matter what bass I use: Precision neck-pickup with flatwounds, tone rolled off, Precision with bridge pickup with tone rolled off, Stingray with EQ cut, roundwound strings... It is exactly the pedal I was looking for, but the tracking is really glitchy and the notes are always jumping from the note played before to the note played afterwards. For a recording situation it would simply not be usable for me right now. Changing the "note on"/"note off" parameters or pulling up the AR.DIST-Fader, doesn't do anything. I am an experienced player and able to play clean and without resting harmonics etc. What do you do? Right now, I don't understand, why everyone is so blown away by the performance of this pedal? AAAARGH. :-D
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why you are having problems. It tracks pretty flawlessly for me. Even with octaves and fast lines too. The main thing is to play clean and to control string vibrations with palm muting / fingers, etc. Other than that, I really don't do anything special at all. In fact, I favor my bridge pickup, even though favoring the neck pickup supposedly provides better tracking. Perhaps it does help but I never had a problem keeping my tone control up and favoring my bridge pickup.

Perhaps you aren't hitting the input stage of the pedal hard enough?
 
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#4,629
Someone a long while back stated that the FI has a hard time tracking octaves. I have not had this experience. He asked me to record a line demonstrating that it can track octaves well. It was from a song he was learning I guess. I don't know the name of the song. Here is a link to the audio snippet I recorded using the FI. I should note, I use a compressor before my FI. Just some very light compression. Perhaps that helps with lines like this.

Invalid Link Removed
 
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#4,630
maisbass said:
I should note, I use a compressor before my FI
Click to expand...

I do as well. Compression is first in my chain since I find my chain responds best with this setup. Future Impact is #2 in my chain before hitting a few other synth pedals and then off to the races with other noise.
 
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#4,632
maisbass said:
Someone a long while back stated that the FI has a hard time tracking octaves. I have not had this experience. He asked me to record a line demonstrating that it can track octaves well. It was from a song he was learning I guess. I don't know the name of the song. Here is a link to the audio snippet I recorded using the FI. I should note, I use a compressor before my FI. Just some very light compression. Perhaps that helps with lines like this.

Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

Pretty hard to argue with that tracking for an audio tracking bass synth pedal.
 
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#4,636
Nickels here. Also, I play passive basses if that matters. I think its safe to guess that there is something w how you have the gain stage or maybe your pedal? Do you have another instrument (guitar, keys, dif bass) that you can run through it? Maybe try different playing techniques...a pick, fingers...and see if you can get it to track right. Try a few things...pedal tracks better than most imo.
 
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#4,637
I struggled with tracking at first too, but have really gotten it going as I've dug further into the pedal.

Most importantly, I think @Jonny5bass has a strong point about aggressive attack. Tracking on the FI improved for me as I got used to settings that allowed me to play a little lighter. I set the input so that the red just starts to come on with some of my hardest plucked notes, then dial it back a bit.

Good tip on the compressor... I have yet to try my comp before the FI. I've got the FI first to get the cleanest, most direct bass signal I can. So far I've been quite happy with tracking, but switching order IS on the to-do list. Maybe that will help improve tracking even more. I've wanted to switch the order for a while anyway, to see if that also changes the sound of my octaver. Currently I have the compressor directly after the FI and have been quite happy.

Turning Note On/Off levels down helped quite a bit. Thanks to those that mentioned it here... I was fairly oblivious to that until I read people talking about it. Derp!

Unlike @Quatschmacher and @BurningSkies mention, I actually DO have (much) better luck with tracking by turning the tone/treble down. But I'm also using bright nickel rounds, so that may have something to do with my experience. I've also noticed that a good setup with minimal fret buzz and clank helps as well. I found this out when I did a neck adjustment on one of my main basses... (Not-so)Mysteriously, tracking improved! :thumbsup:

I will also mention (and no offense meant to anyone) that even though you may think your technique is good/clean...... it may be that a little focus on this area could help. I thought I had good technique, but the more time I've spent with the FI for the 80's band I sub with, the more I've found that focusing on this helped tracking and helped my overall left hand technique to boot. Another key technique to focus on is good string muting. The Impact isn't polyphonic, so residual string noise from other strings can impact tracking as well. (Sidenote here: I do advocate having good technique of course, but a FretWrap can also be a huge help in muting.)

As with anything on Talkbass... These are just things that have worked for me, and your mileage may vary. We all have different gear and play styles, so different things may work better (or worse) for different people.

5sg.
 
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#4,638
And let's talk polyphony!

Maybe I missed mention of it when I was catching up, but am I the only one really crossing my fingers that the next update could possibly add polyphonic tracking? I know there's been talk that the next firmware will help tracking, I feel like that would be the icing on the FI cake. Even 4 note polyphony like some of the smaller keys synths have would be HUGE, IMO.

5sg.
 
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#4,639
AngelCrusher said:
Do you guys use flats or rounds or does it matter much? Ive been using flats and i have clean technique but now im curious if there is a difference.

The compressor is also interesting as well.
Click to expand...
I used both successfully with the FI but I primarily use nickels now. I used to use flats on my PJ bass but it started to feel too weird for me to change between basses during a gig playing flats and nickels. So I decided to stick with nickels.
 
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#4,640
fivestringgecko said:
I struggled with tracking at first too, but have really gotten it going as I've dug further into the pedal.

Most importantly, I think @Jonny5bass has a strong point about aggressive attack. Tracking on the FI improved for me as I got used to settings that allowed me to play a little lighter. I set the input so that the red just starts to come on with some of my hardest plucked notes, then dial it back a bit.

Good tip on the compressor... I have yet to try my comp before the FI to get the cleanest bass signal I can. So far I've been quite happy with tracking, but switching order IS on the to-do list. Maybe that will help improve tracking even more. I've wanted to switch the order for a while anyway, to see if that also changes the sound of my octaver. Currently I have the compressor directly after the FI and have been quite happy.

Turning Note On/Off levels down helped quite a bit. Thanks to those that mentioned it here... I was fairly oblivious to that until I read people talking about it. Derp!

Unlike @Quatschmacher and @BurningSkies mention, I actually DO have (much) better luck with tracking by turning the tone/treble down. But I'm also using bright nickel rounds, so that may have something to do with my experience. I've also noticed that a good setup with minimal fret buzz and clank helps as well. I found this out when I did a neck adjustment on one of my main basses... (Not-so)Mysteriously, tracking improved! :thumbsup:

I will also mention (and no offense meant to anyone) that even though you may think your technique is good/clean...... it may be that a little focus on this area could help. I thought I had good technique, but the more time I've spent with the FI for the 80's band I sub with, the more I've found that focusing on this helped tracking and helped my overall left hand technique to boot. Another key technique to focus on is good string muting. The Impact isn't polyphonic, so residual string noise from other strings can impact tracking as well. (Sidenote here: I do advocate having good technique of course, but a FretWrap can also be a huge help in muting.)

As with anything on Talkbass... These are just things that have worked for me, and your mileage may vary. We all have different gear and play styles, so different things may work better (or worse) for different people.

5sg.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. I used to think I had great technique until I purchased my Fodera back in 2006. You cannot hide on that bass. Every nuance of your playing jumps out, which means the flaws too lol. It really helped me work on my technique and get to where I am today. And I still have much work to do in that department:)
 
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