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

@AngelCrusher Even if the FI had polyphonic voicing, it probably still wouldn't track as well as a dedicated keys synth (but as previously mentioned, nothing really will). But I'd be quite interested to see how much (if any) difference adding even just 4-voice poly would have for the FI.

From what I recall (never tried it) triggering the FI with a MIDI keyboard works polyphonically. It's just the audio tracking engine that's mono.[/QUOTE]

No, it’s mono, even when triggered via a keyboard.
 
Polyphony is easier said than done, just by the nature of what it is. For me, the best polyphonic tracking I'm familiar with is in the Boss SY-300, but it doesn't sound like the FI. The tracking is great but the attack, etc. is just not as sharp, it always has an "airy" sound to it rather than a "tight" sound.
 
It has both mono and poly modes.

You have the inside track, this is confirmed? Because wow.

Right?! If that's the case, it will be quite interesting indeed to see how tracking compares to the FI. The teaser vid that Navarro/SA posted sounded killer, so if it has the upper hand in tracking, the FI might be getting some competition on my board... I love my FI, but just sayin.

5sg.
 
Polyphony is easier said than done, just by the nature of what it is. For me, the best polyphonic tracking I'm familiar with is in the Boss SY-300, but it doesn't sound like the FI. The tracking is great but the attack, etc. is just not as sharp, it always has an "airy" sound to it rather than a "tight" sound.

That's polyphonic tracking. Digital conversions take time. Granted it's not much--in the amounts of milliseconds. But it doesn't take many milliseconds for the human ear to perceive latency. That's personally why I've always liked listening to others use polyphonic (digital) octave pedals but they drive me nuts when I use them. Nature of the beast! Takes some mental adjustment.
 
That's polyphonic tracking. Digital conversions take time. Granted it's not much--in the amounts of milliseconds. But it doesn't take many milliseconds for the human ear to perceive latency. That's personally why I've always liked listening to others use polyphonic (digital) octave pedals but they drive me nuts when I use them. Nature of the beast! Takes some mental adjustment.
Well, the monophonic tracking of the FI is also a digital conversion. But a monophonic tracking algorithm and a polyphonic one will be different.
 
Someone asked on the SA facebook page if it was polyphonic, and SA responded "yes." So I think that's a confirmation!
Oh...I knew this. I wasn't following and thought it was being said that the FI update would have a polyphonic mode. However, I had heard about the SA pedal's polyphonic mode. I think it remains to be seen how good that will be. There are a lot of pedals with "polyphonic" modes out there that don't do a whole lot. Really I think the Digitech Drop and the Boss SY-300 are the only ones that are particularly impressive, and even they have their limits.

I thought the teaser of the SA synth by Navarro sounded just okay. Really hard to tell with only one sound and a pretty straightforward bass line.
 
I don't know anything about the guts of the FI. I'd personally be surprised if polyphony were added. I'd be happy too, of course! But I'm not personally expecting it to happen. I don't get the sense it has the juice to handle polyphony. No insider knowledge here though. Maybe it has a lot of processing headroom available that is untapped.
 
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I'm certainly not expecting it to have a polyphonic mode, I just got confused by flow of the conversation.
 
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

Really? Hm, this is interesting, because it does not sound "that" good for me... But I'm happy for you that you like the pedal as it is! :)

Are you referring to the tracking or the playing in general? Seems like it was a quick clip without too much attention payed to playing everything perfect or cleanly...but a representation of how the FI can keep up with a faster line.

In my experience, you can't really play too much faster than the clip without experiencing some amount of glitchiness or missed notes. The pedal tracks really well, but it will not keep up with extremely fast playing (as is the case with almost ANY pedal that has tracking). I have a few synth lead patches that I use for soloing and they won't keep up with my fastest playing, but I wouldn't expect it to sound good if it kept up as letting the effect ring out a bit gives you the sound of it. I have notice at times when I play fast with certain patches, that my notes will be grouped under the effect so if it is a pad like effect, I might be able to get a few notes in under the same swell.

I do think you need to provide a sample of what it is you are trying to accomplish so some others of us can give it a go to see if your dissatisfaction is with the pedal as a whole or if you have a faulty pedal or if even your playing just doesn't jive with the Future Impact. Many pedals require you to play to them to get the full benefits of the effect, you can't just click on and go, you actually have to play the pedal as its own instrument and to a certain extent I feel this way about ALL synth pedals. I wouldn't expect someone to kick on a synth pedal and then play Donna Lee and have everything ring out with perfect clarity.
 
Shared here before, but this video proves it can do some pretty great tracking with the appropriate technique. Not saying we should all strive to play like Nathan (wish I could though!). And I'd say that the stuff he does at the end is pretty legato and the pedal is keeping up just fine. But those aren't hard attack sounds either at the end.

 
I'm always learning new things about how to use my FI. Playing a live show last weekend, I switched on my 3Leaf Audio Chromatron (envelope filter) for a song. It sits before my FI on my board. The next song we played with 24k Magic, and I turned on my FI patch for that. But I forgot to turn off my Chromatron. But is sounded sooooo good I left it on. Definitely added a juice analog flavor to the patch and the tracking was spot on. Anyone else using effects (besides compressor) before their FI?

At my last gig a bad patch cable that was before the FI inadvertently made space robot battle sounds for a bit until I had to stop playing and swap cables:)
 
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Another thought. If you have a bass with single coils and use it in a noisy, interference-prone place, the noise could totally mess with the tracking. Any octave pedal would have this issue. I've experienced it on occasion. They can't differentiate from a bass signal and noise.
 
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Are you referring to the tracking or the playing in general? Seems like it was a quick clip without too much attention payed to playing everything perfect or cleanly...but a representation of how the FI can keep up with a faster line.

In my experience, you can't really play too much faster than the clip without experiencing some amount of glitchiness or missed notes. The pedal tracks really well, but it will not keep up with extremely fast playing (as is the case with almost ANY pedal that has tracking). I have a few synth lead patches that I use for soloing and they won't keep up with my fastest playing, but I wouldn't expect it to sound good if it kept up as letting the effect ring out a bit gives you the sound of it. I have notice at times when I play fast with certain patches, that my notes will be grouped under the effect so if it is a pad like effect, I might be able to get a few notes in under the same swell.

I do think you need to provide a sample of what it is you are trying to accomplish so some others of us can give it a go to see if your dissatisfaction is with the pedal as a whole or if you have a faulty pedal or if even your playing just doesn't jive with the Future Impact. Many pedals require you to play to them to get the full benefits of the effect, you can't just click on and go, you actually have to play the pedal as its own instrument and to a certain extent I feel this way about ALL synth pedals. I wouldn't expect someone to kick on a synth pedal and then play Donna Lee and have everything ring out with perfect clarity.

Yes I agree with the above as well.. Very well said.

Just to clarify in case I wasn't clear before. IIRC a TB member here was learning a song and said they couldn't play the octave line from the song with the FI. He stated it was glitching really bad and stated you cannot play octaves successfully with the FI. He asked me if I could try and emulate the sound of the song he was playing and the octave line. So that is what I was doing. Plain and simple. I listened to the clip and thought from my experience with the pedal that the FI could pull it off. So I programmed a sound close to the sound in the song (not exact), and played the line. It worked for me. I wasn't submitting an octave demo of the pedal, I was answering a request from a fellow member here. And believe me, I'm no synth programming guru for sure, and I'm not Jaco, Pattitucci, etc, LOL. Far from that too!! There are many here that have way more knowledge than I do when it comes to the technical aspects of programming synths. I have some knowledge, but I rely heavily on my ear, and experimentation with trial and error. I did learn small incremental moves in the editor can go along way and make drastic changes. So as for my octaves recording, some may hear things differently, but remember you cant feel what I recorded. I know how it felt under my fingers and it tracked very well. I consider myself a solid bass player, nothing special, and I have decades of experience playing. So yes, I feel if I can do it, I feel most, if not all here can accomplish great things with the pedal, and great tracking too. But that's my opinion. Perhaps I'm way off the mark.

Another note. We all need to remember here you need to pick the right tool for the job you are looking to accomplish. IMO, the FI wasn't created with the intent for soloists, while it can be used that way in some instances, I believe it was more for emulating synth bass grooves, or maybe just for creative purposes and experimentation. Or at the very least that is how I feel the pedal performs very well, emulating synth grooves. Maybe my conclusion is based on how it performs for me and my level of playing ability. Perhaps my findings are biased because of my experience with the pedal. I'm sure there are other real pro players that can make this pedal sing and probably can use it successfully in a solo capacity.

On the flip side I purchased the FretTrax system which I really enjoy as well. Me being primarily a groove player went in knowing the product was intended for soloists, desperately tried to make it work for me as a groove oriented player. It's still a work in progress. I have made some progress but I still prefer using the FI for grooving than my FretTrax. However, if I want to mess around soloing for Sh*ts and giggles, something I'm not very good at, I prefer the FretTrax system hands down.

Long story short. Choose the right tool for the job you are looking to accomplish. As of right now, the FI is never going to be able to track super fast lines. Who knows what the future will bring?? All I know is having the FI in my arsenal has turned the heads of fellow musicians and has helped me get gigs for sure because of the sounds I can create with it. :)