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

[Charlie Tuna]

Stupid question: Is it possible to hear sounds from the FI Editor without having the pedal attached? I see a keyboard at the bottom but if I click on a note no sound occurs. I bought an FI but will not be able to have it in hand for at least a couple months so just trying to get grips on the editor. Also, I understand the sound will be quite different using an actual bass. TIA

 

[Chace90]

Stupid question: Is it possible to hear sounds from the FI Editor without having the pedal attached? I see a keyboard at the bottom but if I click on a note no sound occurs. I bought an FI but will not be able to have it in hand for at least a couple months so just trying to get grips on the editor. Also, I understand the sound will be quite different using an actual bass. TIA

Nope. Need the pedal.

 

[BurningSkies]

Stupid question: Is it possible to hear sounds from the FI Editor without having the pedal attached? I see a keyboard at the bottom but if I click on a note no sound occurs. I bought an FI but will not be able to have it in hand for at least a couple months so just trying to get grips on the editor. Also, I understand the sound will be quite different using an actual bass. TIA

Nope, as has been said, you need the hardware. Remember that the interface is just controlling what the hardware is doing rather than your computer pretending it's the synth.

 

[Charlie Tuna]

Nope. Need the pedal.

Dang it and thank you!

 

[Chace90]

...while the FI has more flexibility and control over ADSR settings, pending update not withstanding...

I'm totally confused by this. There isn't currently ADSR controls on the FI. I know it's coming. Best I have been able to figure, the most control you get over that type of thing is changing the Note On and Note Off settings on the pedal to tailor the sensitivity to your bass/playing.

 

[cosmicevan]

With all the C4 chatter, I find my willpower waning and am really hoping the Impact update gets here soon. Has there been any news on a possible release date? Getting a bit antsy!

5sg.

So much this...
...and the fact that I can no longer get my FI to connect to the editor (yet) has not helped.

 

[SirTarquin]

I'm totally confused by this. There isn't currently ADSR controls on the FI. I know it's coming. Best I have been able to figure, the most control you get over that type of thing is changing the Note On and Note Off settings on the pedal to tailor the sensitivity to your bass/playing.

You can still control the attack and decay separately in the editor. The C4 just has presets with one slider (I’m not including sensitivity and gate controls) that controls whatever peramiter set in the preset which isn’t always clear. It’s much harder to set something that has no attack time and no decay (other than the natural decay of the instrument) than it is with the FI. This was a point of frustration for me with the C4.

EDIT: I forgot, the attack and decay times can be edited separately on the pedal itself. The range is just more limited than in the editor.

 

[Chace90]

You can still control the attack and decay separately in the editor. The C4 just has presets with one slider (I’m not including sensitivity and gate controls) that controls whatever peramiter set in the preset which isn’t always clear. It’s much harder to set something that has no attack time and no decay (other than the natural decay of the instrument) than it is with the FI. This was a point of frustration for me with the C4.

No argument from me on the C4's ADSR stuff. I didn't bring it up in this case. Hoping they release a list of what the different options in the dropdown menu translate to at some point.

 

[fivestringgecko]

You can still control the attack and decay separately in the editor.

The Attack and Decay controls you're seeing in the current FI editor are for the are for the Noise generator, not the attack and decay parts of ADSR.

I think you're referring to the VCA Attack / Release sliders, which are the ones that are more like the AD in ADSR. (controlling the oscillators and how fast the note attacks and how long it takes to fade out when you release. Though, I don't have any experience with actual ADSR synth controls, so someone with more expertise can correct me here if I'm off!).

5sg.

 

[AngelCrusher]

You can still control the attack and decay separately in the editor. The C4 just has presets with one slider (I’m not including sensitivity and gate controls) that controls whatever peramiter set in the preset which isn’t always clear. It’s much harder to set something that has no attack time and no decay (other than the natural decay of the instrument) than it is with the FI. This was a point of frustration for me with the C4.

EDIT: I forgot, the attack and decay times can be edited separately on the pedal itself. The range is just more limited than in the editor.

Glad you posted this. I was watching a video on the SA C4 and I heard some nice sounds but nothing I would use on a record or live. The stuff I am drawn to most has no attack or decay and in an ideal world is very expressive. I design a lot of those sounds on a Bass Station 2, Juno or Prophet. I don't need a wind simulator or anything like that..lol. Just getting classic synth bass sounds that track well has been a challenge for pedal makers it seems. That said, I dig the C4's GUI and pedal layout. The Boss may have some more usable sounds, but the pedals and effects demo didn't really showcase them.

 

[Chace90]

I think this bit from the FI manual is worth posting here:

"FI has three envelope generators that control the Voltage Controlled Amplifier (VCA), the Voltage Controlled Filter (VCF) and the Noise Generator. All three of them are triggered with every picking of the bass, but there is an important difference between them: the envelope generator of the VCA is an Attack-Release envelope, while the other two are Attack-Decay envelopes. This means, the VCA envelope will start with an attack from zero, and when it reaches the maximum level this will be kept until the end of the sound; then it will fade out with a release time.

The other two envelopes will start from zero with an attack, and when they reach the maximum they immediately turn back and decay to zero. As a further twist, the VCA envelope works this way as described here only when it is driven from a keyboard or a computer; when it is driven from a bass, then the sound decays either with the release time of the envelope, or with the natural release of the bass sound as the sound is stopped, whichever is shorter. This allows much more natural sounds from the bass guitar. Please note that while the synthesizer sound is gated with the VCA envelope, the noise source is not; therefore, if you play short notes and the NOISE DECAY is long it can be sustained longer than the note itself."

Obviously I believe a lot of this is changing with the 3.0 firmware...

 

[Quatschmacher]

The Attack and Decay controls you're seeing in the current FI editor are for the are for the Noise generator, not the attack and decay parts of ADSR.

I think you're referring to the VCA Attack / Release sliders, which are the ones that are more like the AD in ADSR. (controlling the oscillators and how fast the note attacks and how long it takes to fade out when you release. Though, I don't have any experience with actual ADSR synth controls, so someone with more expertise can correct me here if I'm off!).

5sg.

View attachment 3502308

Not quite. If you look, you’ll see attack and decay sliders for the noise source. To the left, in orange on your picture, are the attack and decay controls for the VCF (voltage controlled filter).

 

[Quatschmacher]

Obviously I believe a lot of this is changing with the 3.0 firmware...

There’ll be an additional “mode” which has ADSR with exponential curves (similar to curves in a minimoog).

 

[fivestringgecko]

Not quite. If you look, you’ll see attack and decay sliders for the noise source. To the left, in orange on your picture, are the attack and decay controls for the VCF (voltage controlled filter).

Hmm... I was under the impression that that's the Attack and Decay control for the Filter/Modulation section, controlling the attack and decay of the filter itself, rather than the actual note...?

5sg.

 

[SirTarquin]

Not quite. If you look, you’ll see attack and decay sliders for the noise source. To the left, in orange on your picture, are the attack and decay controls for the VCF (voltage controlled filter).

This is precisely what I was referring to.

 

[Chace90]

This is precisely what I was referring to.

I agree though with @fivestringgecko, that's not the same as attack and decay for the VCA section. I believe if you didn't use the filter (VCF) section, then those controls wouldn't do anything. Right...?

The saw waves have a decay setting, that's for sure.

 

[fivestringgecko]

I guess this discussion just proves the idea that the UI on the FI editor (and manual?) could be better.

5sg.

 

[bruno40gr]

someone should put together a series of tutorial videos. I'd pay for it

 

[Chace90]

someone should put together a series of tutorial videos. I'd pay for it

Agree! Though I'm not kicking in any cash myself.

Better to wait though until the new firmware comes out.

 

[Quatschmacher]

I guess this discussion just proves the idea that the UI on the FI editor (and manual?) could be better.

5sg.

Hopefully the new manual will be (I’ve been asked to help with it).

Yes there are (currently only) attack and decay controls; one set for the amplifier and one for the filter. And yes, if the filter is bypassed then the filter attack and decay controls would have no effect.

However, for many synth sounds the volume envelope is simply set to a gate (on when key is pressed, off when key is released) and much of the volume control is carried out by the filter and its envelope shape. After all, a filter reduces the volume of frequencies around and above the specified cutoff point. The envelope shape determines the movement of that cutoff point over time and hence can also be used to control the volume over time.