• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Future Impact - What's Up With This Pedal??

#41
i haven't had a chance to use my future impact yet but anyone who's looking into this pedal note that there are other things that you need to buy to use it. id think that for $500 it would come with everything you need to use it. nope. i had to buy a power supply and now it looks like to get the pc editing capabilities and stuff i need some other cables or equipment? sheesh....
 
#42
sadworld said:
i haven't had a chance to use my future impact yet but anyone who's looking into this pedal note that there are other things that you need to buy to use it. id think that for $500 it would come with everything you need to use it. nope. i had to buy a power supply and now it looks like to get the pc editing capabilities and stuff i need some other cables or equipment? sheesh....
Click to expand...

Lots of pedals, even expensive boutique ones, come without power supplies.

The USB-MIDI adapter is not necessary to use the pedal. It allows you to do updates and use the editor.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BIG97BEN and nshuman
#43
Yea, most pedals don't come with a power supply (Markbass Super Synth being a rare exception) and even fewer come with other connecting cables. I would wager that most of us are using/already have some kind of power supply on our board, right? Personally, I didn't see that as an issue. But to each their own, no harm in commenting. I think you'll find the FI well worth it and forget all about the extra midi cable once you start using it. :bassist:
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrentSimons
#45
Check that your PC recognizes your midi/usb interface. You may be missing a driver or something. I use the Roland um-one which has an led that lights up when it is being powered/recognized, check for something similar. Check the midi settings in the FI editor to see that your interface is recognized and selected there (midi menu in top left hand corner of editor). Then there are the "l'm an idiot" things to check like are your ins/outs connected to the right jacks, etc. (it happens to the best of us sometimes). See if any of this helps.
 
#46
I have tried the MB Super Synth, the Octavius Squeezer, EHX MicroSynth and the Future Impact.

The Super Synth sounds great but tracking leave a bit to desire for my playing style. The Microsynth is basic, I had it twice and got bored twice. The Octavius Squeezer is my fav pedal but not so much for pitch tracking Bass. I love it for it's amazing filter and envelop and fuzz (it contains my favorite envelope follower). The OS can get some nice acidic to Tron bass tones. I only use the pitch tracking VCO on glitching out drums lately (see the end of the video on my sig).

The Future Impact is the most versatile and best at pitch tracking off all I have tried. Best of all, when it glitches on mutes and ghost notes it sound appropriate and musical. This may not be a big deal to many but to me it means I can be myself around the bass neck with out piercing eardrums with nasty high pitched glitches. I would dig some sexier reverb, chorus and delay effects and the ability to use them and eq at the same time, but the effects on this thing are just a small bonus. Besides delay based FX, my only other criticism is envelope control. I wish we could have more control over the curves of the envelope and envelope follower.

Are they worth it:

Markbass Super Synth: ehh
EHX Microsynth: boring after a week
Chunk Systems Octavius: Yes, but more as a Fuzz-Filter-Envelope Follower with presets
Future Impact: Yes, absolutely!

Note: FI is still being developed, it should continue to get better and better. If they could get some better US import support to drive prices down I think this thing would fly off shelves under $400.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thumbslapper, Randy Ward, mr2xbass and 3 others
#49
mike o said:
Silly Question for you folks.
Can you use the FI pedal with standard guitar cables? And a wireless system?
Click to expand...

Why...wouldn't you? It's a normal guitar/bass pedal, it doesn't require a 13-pin MIDI input or anything like that. I assume that's what your question is, but I almost don't understand it.
 
#51
mike o said:
Thank you. Standard cables, no midi pickup or cable.
Click to expand...

Nope, not to use it and get audio out.

It does have MIDI in/out for MIDI communication and firmware updates. But you can use the pedal without those.
 
#52
I feel sorry for the guy here who borrowed one of these pedals and couldn’t figure out how to use it. The pedal is amazing.

If you can operate a basic software synth, and by operate, i mean load patches and scroll through them, then you can use this pedal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Adamixoye
#53
How do you switch between presets live? I only see one stomp for scrolling. If you have 3-4 patches you use, how do you get to them quickly, without bending over to use a knob? Many videos seem to show some sort of extra MIDI pedal that has numerous buttons to jump between patches.

I am going to try a friends soon - it's in the mail - and can't seem to figure this out. Most videos show all the greta sounds and editing, but not the practical switch on the fly operation.
 
#54
SteveC said:
How do you switch between presets live? I only see one stomp for scrolling. If you have 3-4 patches you use, how do you get to them quickly, without bending over to use a knob? Many videos seem to show some sort of extra MIDI pedal that has numerous buttons to jump between patches.

I am going to try a friends soon - it's in the mail - and can't seem to figure this out. Most videos show all the greta sounds and editing, but not the practical switch on the fly operation.
Click to expand...
There's 10 banks, each bank has 10 programs (except bank 0, which has 9).

The Edit/Bank knob is both a rotary knob and a pushbutton switch. Pressing down on it switches up to the next bank.

Press on the Program switch to go up to the next program. Quickly double-tap to go down.

When you switch between banks/programs, the digital readout blinks, showing the banks/program selected, but it doesn't actually change it yet. Press the on/off switch to actually change to the selected bank/program.
 
#55
SteveC said:
How do you switch between presets live? I only see one stomp for scrolling. If you have 3-4 patches you use, how do you get to them quickly, without bending over to use a knob? Many videos seem to show some sort of extra MIDI pedal that has numerous buttons to jump between patches.

I am going to try a friends soon - it's in the mail - and can't seem to figure this out. Most videos show all the greta sounds and editing, but not the practical switch on the fly operation.
Click to expand...

Yeah, as described above. If you put your patches all in a cluster it's easier to navigate to them, but for me, I decided that scrolling and/or presets would take some outboard stuff if I wanted to use it regularly. I'm using a Disaster Area DMC 3-XL to scroll midi-pedal patchest/settings (I have three Midi pedals), and I'm using a Boss ES-5 to create preset patches across MIDI pedals & regular audio effects pedals.
 
#56
I've played with it a bit. In my short trial, I find I have to do as much "menu diving" for this as I do with my Korg microKorg synth. I'm still going to take a look for a Sub 37 to try when I go to "the big city" again tomorrow. Ideally, I'd like to be able to adjust parameters without a lot of menus. One knob, one effect. This is why I am leaning to a sub 37 - even though it's expensive.
 
#57
SteveC said:
I've played with it a bit. In my short trial, I find I have to do as much "menu diving" for this as I do with my Korg microKorg synth. I'm still going to take a look for a Sub 37 to try when I go to "the big city" again tomorrow. Ideally, I'd like to be able to adjust parameters without a lot of menus. One knob, one effect. This is why I am leaning to a sub 37 - even though it's expensive.
Click to expand...

Once you've picked your patch, the adjustment part is pretty easy...most of the stuff that you'd want to tweak is on that single function knob (Pick the function) then twist the edit knob to adjust, push it to save.

The idea really being that if you're using it live you'll set up your patches and not have much adjustment to do. If you're looking for something that you can go all Moog Voyager on and twist knobs for your epic synth odyssey solo, it's not really designed for that.

For me, I found the click switch once for up twice for down just didn't work. I'd rather have one switch up, one down.
 
#59
SteveC said:
This as well. I don’t like that at all.
Click to expand...


I found the better work around for me was to use one switch for 'up' then use the bank-up button (the edit knob doubles as bank up)...to come back around to where I needed to be. Now I'm using the DMC 3XL for these functions...it's got one up, one down and the middle is a on/off bypass. Also has a roller expression with the ability for additional expression for other parameters if I wanted.

My FI (rehoused, center) and the DMC (orange, bottom corner)
IMG_5912.jpg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_5911.jpg
    IMG_5911.jpg
    67.4 KB · Views: 121
  • Like
Reactions: Randy Ward and BrentSimons

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back