M-Vave IR Box review

[stubbsonic]

The IR Box's capabilities as a HPF for bass probably deserve some extra attention.
As you know there are THREE independent places where the lows are tamed:

1. The LOW CUT knob (turn CW to raise cut-off of HPF). There's no visual indication, so this setting is all by ear.

2. The 9-Band EQ (EQ is enabled in the app, EQ is off in the factory presets) has HPF, Low Shelf as well as 5 peak/notch bands which all sweep from 30-18,000 Hz (!!!), +/- 12dB, and Q can go from absurdly narrow to absurdly wide. It's actually a fantastic EQ-- (you almost don't need the IR). With five bands, that's quite a bit of shaping & correction you can do.

3. The IR itself (when IR is enabled in the app) will impose its spectrum on the input signal, and will roll off lows and highs as the speaker does. In the app, you can enable/disable the IR section, which includes choosing an IR (or loading your own), and setting a volume level for the cab IR. With the IR off, the EQ and Cut knobs are still available.

Pressing both buttons to bypass will bypass everything but the volume knob.

In my experience, the IR Box can have a little noise, but not bad. Given its price, that shouldn't be a surprise. But on one of my passive guitars which is pretty noisy in most contexts, it was actually much quieter with the IR Box via XLR out.

 

[GPett]

Thank you very much for the response... so at what orientation are the high and low cut knows not affecting the output ? At 0 ? Also, if you go to bypass will the high and low pass filter be deactivated as well ? I'm really just using it a a HPF/LPF. Thanks for the help!!

Taken from a better version of the manual i found


4. LOW CUT knob: Adjust the frequency point of the global low frequency shear, adjust the whole 32 preset output timbre.
The shear range is 20 HZ-360 HZ (Turn the knob counterclockwise to the end of 20HZ, that is, the low frequency below
20HZ is cut. Turn the knob clockwise to the end of 360HZ, that is, the low frequency below 360HZ is cut out.)
5. HI CUT knob: Adjust the frequency point of the global high frequency shear, adjust the whole 32 preset output timbre. The
shear range is 18 kHZ-1 kHZ (Turn the knob counterclockwise to the end of 18kHZ, that is, high frequencies above 18kHZ
are cut. Turn the knob clockwise to the end of 1kHZ, that is, high frequencies above 1kHZ are cut.)

 

[ETJ]

Hey I’ve not been on in a while but wanted to note that it looks like some people have had success programming an inexpensive M-valve Chocolate Plus midi controller to control the IR box - so that’s a big improvement. We could theoretically change programs, bypass, or kick EQ on and off with separate buttons.

I’ve not gone deep down the rabbit hole since I don’t yet have a midi controller, but it looks like it is implemented via midi Sysex messages.

 

[NeilJazz]

Hey I’ve not been on in a while but wanted to note that it looks like some people have had success programming an inexpensive M-valve Chocolate Plus midi controller to control the IR box - so that’s a big improvement. We could theoretically change programs, bypass, or kick EQ on and off with separate buttons.

I’ve not gone deep down the rabbit hole since I don’t yet have a midi controller, but it looks like it is implemented via midi Sysex messages.

Interesting! I have an m-vave chocolate that is sitting in a drawer since getting a MC-6 to control ng HX stomp. I will look into this.

 

[ETJ]

Interesting! I have an m-vave chocolate that is sitting in a drawer since getting a MC-6 to control ng HX stomp. I will look into this.

From what I can tell you’ll probably need the cholocate plus because the non-plus doesn’t a usb host mode. Or you’ll need intervening hardware.

I ordered a plus this morning. It was like $30 on Temu. It seems like a versatile piece of kit on its own. Should be able to control my Tonex with it and/or use it as a Bluetooth page turner (or YouTube rewinder) if I don’t have luck with the IRbox.

I think you can plug an expression pedal into the controller and control things via midi too.

 

[ETJ]

Controlling the M-Vave IR BOX over Midi (USB midi): You'll need a controller than can send SYSEX messages as a host over USB to the IR Box. I used a M-VAVE Chocolate Plus, but anything that can send as a USB host should work (including your PC). There's probably gadgets to make non-host-mode USB things talk to each other but I have no way of testing that.

For whatever reason, M-VAVE didn't make this simple with Midi Program Change or Control Change messages. They buried their own format within Sysex messages. I figured these out by using Wireshark/USBPCap and watching the data sent across USB.

The first 32 are for memory slot selection. So you'd assign a Sysex message to a button (M-Vave sometimes calls these 'custom midi'). So to turn on Memory 5, you'd set your device to send the message/sysex: F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 04 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 04 24 00 F7

1 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 00 34 00 F7
2 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 01 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 01 30 00 F7
3 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 02 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 02 2C 00 F7
4 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 03 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 03 28 00 F7
5 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 04 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 04 24 00 F7
6 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 05 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 05 20 00 F7
7 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 06 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 06 1C 00 F7
8 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 07 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 07 18 00 F7
9 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 08 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 08 14 00 F7
10 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 09 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 09 10 00 F7
11 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 0A 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 0A 0C 00 F7
12 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 0B 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 0B 08 00 F7
13 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 0C 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 0C 04 00 F7
14 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 0D 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 0D 00 00 F7
15 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 0E 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 0E 7C 03 F7
16 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 0F 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 0F 78 03 F7
17 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 10 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 10 74 03 F7
18 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 11 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 11 70 03 F7
19 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 12 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 12 6C 03 F7
20 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 13 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 13 68 03 F7
21 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 14 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 14 64 03 F7
22 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 15 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 15 60 03 F7
23 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 16 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 16 5C 03 F7
24 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 17 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 17 58 03 F7
25 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 18 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 18 54 03 F7
26 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 19 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 19 50 03 F7
27 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 1A 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 1A 4C 03 F7
28 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 1B 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 1B 48 03 F7
29 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 1C 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 1C 44 03 F7
30 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 1D 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 1D 40 03 F7
31 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 1E 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 1E 3C 03 F7
32 F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 00 02 1F 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 1F 38 03 F7

The above seems to work reliably.

The following codes will turn the sliders for IR and EQ on and off (if you're monitoring with bluetooth and hit the sync) but don't seem to actually change the EQ or IR status. So more work needs to be figured out here. It may be something outside of Midi sysex, and perhaps not something we can control with MIDI. Meanwhile, if you need a bypass, I'd set one memory to have both EQ and IR turned off, and change to that program when you need to bypass. You could also fake a mute switch by having IR on, but volume set to zero on program.

IR ON F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 40 02 11 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 01 4E 03 F7
IR OFF F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 40 02 11 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 50 03 F7
EQ ON F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 40 02 12 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 01 4C 03 F7
EQ OFF F0 00 32 09 49 00 00 40 02 12 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 4E 03 F7