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

[Andras Szalay]

I seem to be having difficulties with MIDI through with the V4. I have turned set the parameter to on, but it's still not getting through.

MIDI path: Morningstar MC Pro to FI to HX Stomp.

Could the FI be stripping out some of the information?

I also had a very difficult time trying to get my computer to talk to the FI through a Roland UM-One.

I tested this, and if MIDI THRU is ON, it works as it supposed to.

Andras Szalay

 

[Andras Szalay]

As we are preparing with our group (Panta Rhei) to our 50th anniversary concert in April, I got some first hand experience with my FI V4. I am using Rotosound strings with rather metallic sound (like Greg Lake), it has a nice bass sound in the lowest octave of the bass, but if I play higher then the bass range is thin. To solve that, I created a nice sub-octave bass sound with the FI V4, that fills the missing low range. I mix it about 50-50% with the original bass sound. When I started to use this, my first remark was that it was fine when I play loud, but when I picked softly it remained much louder than the bass. With some experimenting I figured out that if I use Accent as the source for a Flexi controller, and direct it to the VCF LOG volume of the main mixer, and additionally I select the first upwards bending curve then I get a very good matching of the synth volume with the bass volume. After that, I found that the only remaining problem is that if I play in the deeper range of the bass, then the sub-bass kills the loudspeakers without any useful purpose. So, I took a second Flexi with Pitch as the source, and feed it to the VCF LIN of the main mixer through an S-curve. Then the sub-bass nicely fades out in the deep range, and fills in only when I play high. Please note that I renamed the file extension to *.txt, otherwise TalkBass does not accept it. You have to rename it to *.pr4.
Andras Szalay

 

[Randy Ward]

As we are preparing with our group (Panta Rhei) to our 50th anniversary concert in April, I got some first hand experience with my FI V4. I am using Rotosound strings with rather metallic sound (like Greg Lake), it has a nice bass sound in the lowest octave of the bass, but if I play higher then the bass range is thin. To solve that, I created a nice sub-octave bass sound with the FI V4, that fills the missing low range. I mix it about 50-50% with the original bass sound. When I started to use this, my first remark was that it was fine when I play loud, but when I picked softly it remained much louder than the bass. With some experimenting I figured out that if I use Accent as the source for a Flexi controller, and direct it to the VCF LOG volume of the main mixer, and additionally I select the first upwards bending curve then I get a very good matching of the synth volume with the bass volume. After that, I found that the only remaining problem is that if I play in the deeper range of the bass, then the sub-bass kills the loudspeakers without any useful purpose. So, I took a second Flexi with Pitch as the source, and feed it to the VCF LIN of the main mixer through an S-curve. Then the sub-bass nicely fades out in the deep range, and fills in only when I play high. Please note that I renamed the file extension to *.txt, otherwise TalkBass does not accept it. You have to rename it to *.pr4.
Andras Szalay

Thank you for the preset Andras

Looking forward to seeing a video of the concert!

 

[edwinhurwitz]

I tested this, and if MIDI THRU is ON, it works as it supposed to.

Andras Szalay

Thanks for the reply. I will do some more testing later today.

 

[edwinhurwitz]

I tested this, and if MIDI THRU is ON, it works as it supposed to.

Andras Szalay

Hi,

I have tried this and it's not working. I also can't get the editor to communicate. Could it be a hardware issue?

 

[Kiwigrass]

Hi,

I have tried this and it's not working. I also can't get the editor to communicate. Could it be a hardware issue?

Just to troubleshoot, taking the fi out of the chain does mc to hx stomp work? You also could try putting the fi last with midi thru enabled on the stomp. But that really shouldn't be necessary if the midi routing is set correctly.

Regarding the roland midi to USB cable. All I can say is that I have used this and it worked for me. If it is a windows machine the order of operations can matters. Make sure no other apps are open that could be trying to grab the Roland's midi port.

 

[edwinhurwitz]

Just to troubleshoot, taking the fi out of the chain does mc to hx stomp work? You also could try putting the fi last with midi thru enabled on the stomp. But that really shouldn't be necessary if the midi routing is set correctly.

Regarding the roland midi to USB cable. All I can say is that I have used this and it worked for me. If it is a windows machine the order of operations can matters. Make sure no other apps are open that could be trying to grab the Roland's midi port.

Thanks for chiming in!

MC to HX Stomp works perfectly. I now have it set up with the HX Stomp using an alternative MIDI out from the MC 6 Pro.

I'm thinking that the MIDI out jack on the FI may have been stressed at one point, from stepping on the cable or the like.

Maybe touching up the solder points for the MIDI out jacks might help.

I'm on a Mac and had no problems in the past connecting to my FI v.3 and the v.4 when I initially got it.

 

[Kiwigrass]

Another check would be to turn the fi midi thru on and route the midi out from the fi back to the mc. Then send a test message from the mc and see (using a midi monitor - the mc editor has one) if the mc receives the message back.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you would want the fi midi thru turned off if you are using the usb adapter to connect to a PC for two-way communication. Otherwise, messages sent from the editor are going to go straight back to the editor. Personally, I avoid using midi thru as much as possible.

 

[edwinhurwitz]

Good point! I'll check that out.

 

[Andras Szalay]

Hi,

I have tried this and it's not working. I also can't get the editor to communicate. Could it be a hardware issue?

Boot up the FI V4 in factory test mode: keep the encoder knob pressed while connecting the power. Then if you connect a MIDI cable between MIDI OUT and MIDI IN the middle display will show 8 (all LEDs on). If this is the case then you can be sure that both MIDI IN and MIDI OUT functions are OK, the error must be outside of the FI.
Andras Szalay

 

[edwinhurwitz]

Boot up the FI V4 in factory test mode: keep the encoder knob pressed while connecting the power. Then if you connect a MIDI cable between MIDI OUT and MIDI IN the middle display will show 8 (all LEDs on). If this is the case then you can be sure that both MIDI IN and MIDI OUT functions are OK, the error must be outside of the FI.
Andras Szalay

Thanks so much, Andras!

OK, I did this and after powering up with the encoder pressed while starting up, I got a 3 on the right display. Plugging in the MIDI cable gave me an 8 in the middle display. So, it looks like it's functioning properly.

More things to try!

Step two: I swapped out an older MC 6 MkII and the MIDI signals are getting through. Looks like it's a Morningstar issue.

 

[edwinhurwitz]

Well, not so fast. I discovered that when I'm in the Global Settings mode, the MIDI passes through, but when I exit and go back to the play mode, all of a sudden, it doesn't pass MIDI. When I go back to Global and check the MIDI Thru settings, it's still listed as on.

 

[Andras Szalay]

Well, not so fast. I discovered that when I'm in the Global Settings mode, the MIDI passes through, but when I exit and go back to the play mode, all of a sudden, it doesn't pass MIDI. When I go back to Global and check the MIDI Thru settings, it's still listed as on.

What is your software version, and what kind of MIDI information do you want to pass?
Andras Szalay

 

[edwinhurwitz]

4.11 and I want to pass program changes.

 

[jsixties]

I'm going to order a Future Impact V4, and I was wondering if any of its presets include a classic octave effect for clean sounds, with both a lower and upper octave, similar to the Boss OC-2/OC-5, or if they're mostly tied to synth sounds, meaning I won't find that in the Future Impact.
If I can avoid buying a separate octave pedal, that would be ideal.

 

[sunbeast]

I'm going to order a Future Impact V4, and I was wondering if any of its presets include a classic octave effect for clean sounds, with both a lower and upper octave, similar to the Boss OC-2/OC-5, or if they're mostly tied to synth sounds, meaning I won't find that in the Future Impact.
If I can avoid buying a separate octave pedal, that would be ideal.

OC-2 creates a lower octave that sounds like a filtered square wave (why it is so popular for bassists trying to emulate synth sounds), so in the Future Impact you can certainly dial in an octave effect using an actual square wave oscillator pitched down an octave into the filter that can fill a similar sonic space- or experiment with any number of waves into filter to dial in even more complex octave sounds. Unlike the Source Audio Spectrum/C4 there isn’t specifically a voice designed to emulate an analog octave sound though- you’ll have to create it using actual synth oscillators. Whether or not it will feel enough like an analog Octaver to you is subjective. A big advantage of something like the OC-2 is how immediately it responds to playing and it does have a relatively organic voice to it- an OC-2 is ultimately sound created using your signal as the sound source in real-time unlike a triggered synth waveform in the Future Impact. I have a C4 and it’s octave sounds definitely feel more like an analog Octaver than the synth approximation in a Future Impact, but I still vastly prefer the feel of my actual analog octavers over even the C4 (I haven’t tried a Boss OC-5 FWIW). For me personally, I prefer the OC-2 feel enough that I keep one on my board even if using a Future Impact or C4- that said, either could fill that role just fine depending on your needs.

 

[jsixties]

Great reply, Sunbeast. Thank you so much!

 

[edwinhurwitz]

What is your software version, and what kind of MIDI information do you want to pass?
Andras Szalay

Any thougts?

 

[Andras Szalay]

4.11 and I want to pass program changes.

I tried with 4.11 and passed program changes. It works. However, if the program what you select has active MIDI synthesizer program, then the number what will be sent out is not what you sent in, but the number of the MIDI patch in the program. Read the appropriate section in the manual.
Andras Szalay

 

[Andras Szalay]

I'm going to order a Future Impact V4, and I was wondering if any of its presets include a classic octave effect for clean sounds, with both a lower and upper octave, similar to the Boss OC-2/OC-5, or if they're mostly tied to synth sounds, meaning I won't find that in the Future Impact.
If I can avoid buying a separate octave pedal, that would be ideal.

The sound what I uploaded here a few days ago contains a sub octave bass sound that is a mixture of a fat synthesizer sound and a version of the bass guitar transposed down by an octave in the internal harmonizer of the Future Impact.
Andras Szalay