I'm hopelessly confused. I've got an Ezno coming and want a preset switch box. Meris sells a 4 button "Preset Switch" as well as a "MIDI/IO." Will the Preset Switch work without the MIDI/IO or do I need both? Thanks in advance.
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Meris Enzo Synth Pedal
- Thread starter Phagor
- Start date
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- Tags
- synth pedal
- May 16, 2007
- 3,395
- 4,869
- Disclosures
- Volunteer developer/beta tester with Source Audio, Morningstar Engineering & MORTRIX
@_Angelo_ , I noticed the TRS sockets on the MIDI I/O have an up and down arrow - does that just indicate two-way communication? Or, what I’d really like to know is, is it possible to plug an expression pedal into one of the MIDI I/O TRS sockets to control parameters on the Enzo?
- May 16, 2007
- 3,395
- 4,869
- Disclosures
- Volunteer developer/beta tester with Source Audio, Morningstar Engineering & MORTRIX
As I understand it, you can use just the Enzo and the 4-button box to access 4 of the internal preset slots. If you want access to all 16 internal presets then you’ll need the MIDI I/O box and a further device which can send MIDI Program Change messages to it (but won’t need the 4-button box).
I also have and use a Future Impact on gigs. It has 99 presets. On gigs I use, at most, 3. So 4 on the Meris should be fine.
I got my midi io. Bringing out my 2 row pedal train jr so i can let my noble power everything with its iso power.
Top row will just be the midi io and noble and my new chain will be tu2 - octavbre- meris- spring reverb. Plenty of space for each pedal.
Should be killer. Keeps everything simple and all the pedals im going to use on the bottom row.
The midi io will fit under the jr but it will not fit under a pedal train nano, just in case anyone is wondering.
The midi io is a very small and clean little box. Thats all i can say until the enzo arrives and i can use it. It does come with an 11inch trs Cable as well.
Top row will just be the midi io and noble and my new chain will be tu2 - octavbre- meris- spring reverb. Plenty of space for each pedal.
Should be killer. Keeps everything simple and all the pedals im going to use on the bottom row.
The midi io will fit under the jr but it will not fit under a pedal train nano, just in case anyone is wondering.
The midi io is a very small and clean little box. Thats all i can say until the enzo arrives and i can use it. It does come with an 11inch trs Cable as well.
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Seems interesting enough, personally, if I were to chose a synth pedal for my bass though, based on the demos I have seen of the respective pedals, I'd rather chose Meris's Ottobit pedal, which I really love everything about from what I've heard and seen and definitely am going to buy at some point if I ever get the spare money, unlike this pedal.
And, yes, I am aware that it is kind of like comparing carrots to oranges, still, this pedal doesn't really blow me away like the Ottobit.
And, yes, I am aware that it is kind of like comparing carrots to oranges, still, this pedal doesn't really blow me away like the Ottobit.
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_Angelo_
Commercial User
You really just need one.
The Preset Switch gives you access to the first 4 presets inside the Enzo. The MIDI I/O gives you access to 16 presets and MIDI control over all the parameters. If you already have a midi foot controller like the Morningstar MC6, then I would recommend the MIDI I/O. If you don't want to bother with MIDI, then I would recommend our Preset Switch.
_Angelo_
Commercial User
The arrows indicate that we do both MIDI In and MIDI Out. While you can't connect an expression pedal directly to the Meris MIDI I/O, most midi foot controllers are able to convert expression pedals into MIDI data. Our favorite MIDI controller is the Morningstar MC6.
If you liked prog you'd need three or four presets just for each part of a seven part composition.
From the demo, there are some great sound options, especially that arpegiator (more early NIN than prog).
@_Angelo_
We all massively appreciate your engagement with this thread, thank you very much - it makes all the difference.
For an analogue pedal to have presets is just fantastic. 16 presets is more than plenty for live use.
No issue whatsoever with tweaking these presets off-line via PC editor / midi, but there is no way that I want to faff around trying to get the sounds I'm looking for in the middle of a live set.
Besides, I'd really prefer not to have to get a bespoke midi I/O that is going to work with some of my pedals (e.g. the Enzo) and not others (e.g. my Source Audio pedals). In fact, I'd prefer not to have an additional midi pedal on my pedal board at all (more cost and real estate); and having the midi under the pedal board obviously makes it inaccessible for live use.
If you could have made those 16 presets accessible on the pedal itself via a stomp switch and a small LED display to show which preset we were accessing, you would have a killer product. That's the top of my wish list for version 2 (the "Enzo Live") - I'd happily pay an additional $$ to have that feature, and you could sign me up for a pre-order for that v2 model right away
We all massively appreciate your engagement with this thread, thank you very much - it makes all the difference.
For an analogue pedal to have presets is just fantastic. 16 presets is more than plenty for live use.
No issue whatsoever with tweaking these presets off-line via PC editor / midi, but there is no way that I want to faff around trying to get the sounds I'm looking for in the middle of a live set.
Besides, I'd really prefer not to have to get a bespoke midi I/O that is going to work with some of my pedals (e.g. the Enzo) and not others (e.g. my Source Audio pedals). In fact, I'd prefer not to have an additional midi pedal on my pedal board at all (more cost and real estate); and having the midi under the pedal board obviously makes it inaccessible for live use.
If you could have made those 16 presets accessible on the pedal itself via a stomp switch and a small LED display to show which preset we were accessing, you would have a killer product. That's the top of my wish list for version 2 (the "Enzo Live") - I'd happily pay an additional $$ to have that feature, and you could sign me up for a pre-order for that v2 model right away
@_Angelo_
We all massively appreciate your engagement with this thread, thank you very much - it makes all the difference.
For an analogue pedal to have presets is just fantastic. 16 presets is more than plenty for live use.
No issue whatsoever with tweaking these presets off-line via PC editor / midi, but there is no way that I want to faff around trying to get the sounds I'm looking for in the middle of a live set.
Besides, I'd really prefer not to have to get a bespoke midi I/O that is going to work with some of my pedals (e.g. the Enzo) and not others (e.g. my Source Audio pedals). In fact, I'd prefer not to have an additional midi pedal on my pedal board at all (more cost and real estate); and having the midi under the pedal board obviously makes it inaccessible for live use.
If you could have made those 16 presets accessible on the pedal itself via a stomp switch and a small LED display to show which preset we were accessing, you would have a killer product. That's the top of my wish list for version 2 (the "Enzo Live") - I'd happily pay an additional $$ to have that feature, and you could sign me up for a pre-order for that v2 model right away
I'm going to repeat that two 3.5mm MIDI connections seems to be the test option to me, or TRRS to two TRS and then to DIN if really needed, at the cost of just one extra 3.5mm socket, and it would work with any standard MIDI stuff. Needing an I/O box is a deal breaker for me. I'd need one to interface a B3n with it, which is bad enough.
So I'll carry on with the B3n and the Yamaha G50 and the Sonuus.
MIDI in/out suggestions aside, this pedal is out in the wild folks! I'm sure Meris spent a good amount of time and money developing the Enzo. And don't forget that it is based off the physical design of their other effects pedals, so its design clearly isn't an afterthought. Perhaps they'll change things up down the line but I wouldn't count on that happening anytime soon.
I'd note, as others have, that the TRS MIDI design they've settled on is being adopted by many other companies. Chase Bliss and Strymon (Sunset and Riverside) are two that come to mind. Strymon's larger pedals (Timeline, Mobius, Big Sky) have the traditional 5 pin, but they are also larger pedals that can fit that hardware more easily. I wouldn't be surprised if those were eventually updated/redesigned with TRS MIDI instead in the future. But what ain't broke, right?
This will only get easier over time. 5 PIN MIDI is ancient by todays' standards. When was it developed and deployed on a large scale? The 80s? Don't forget that many of these MIDI to TRS conversion boxes support more than one pedal with that format of MIDI. They're not 1-to-1. Meris' own option is 1-to-4, meaning you could MIDI control the Enzo and 3 other pedals with TRS MIDI with their adapter. I couldn't speak to their compatibility with other manufacturers, but surely there are resources for that question.
And I'm totally in the "this pedal really needs MIDI control to be useable live" boat myself. But I think we all need to accept that, for now, additional hardware is gonna be required to gain access to that feature.
I think it's awesome that @_Angelo_ is active on this forum and is clearly listening and responding to folks with an open ear. Lets move on and get back to discussing what this pedal can do now instead of inundating him with physical design requests that just aren't going to happen in the foreseeable future.
I'd note, as others have, that the TRS MIDI design they've settled on is being adopted by many other companies. Chase Bliss and Strymon (Sunset and Riverside) are two that come to mind. Strymon's larger pedals (Timeline, Mobius, Big Sky) have the traditional 5 pin, but they are also larger pedals that can fit that hardware more easily. I wouldn't be surprised if those were eventually updated/redesigned with TRS MIDI instead in the future. But what ain't broke, right?
This will only get easier over time. 5 PIN MIDI is ancient by todays' standards. When was it developed and deployed on a large scale? The 80s? Don't forget that many of these MIDI to TRS conversion boxes support more than one pedal with that format of MIDI. They're not 1-to-1. Meris' own option is 1-to-4, meaning you could MIDI control the Enzo and 3 other pedals with TRS MIDI with their adapter. I couldn't speak to their compatibility with other manufacturers, but surely there are resources for that question.
And I'm totally in the "this pedal really needs MIDI control to be useable live" boat myself. But I think we all need to accept that, for now, additional hardware is gonna be required to gain access to that feature.
I think it's awesome that @_Angelo_ is active on this forum and is clearly listening and responding to folks with an open ear. Lets move on and get back to discussing what this pedal can do now instead of inundating him with physical design requests that just aren't going to happen in the foreseeable future.
_Angelo_
Commercial User
@_Angelo_
We all massively appreciate your engagement with this thread, thank you very much - it makes all the difference.
For an analogue pedal to have presets is just fantastic. 16 presets is more than plenty for live use.
No issue whatsoever with tweaking these presets off-line via PC editor / midi, but there is no way that I want to faff around trying to get the sounds I'm looking for in the middle of a live set.
Besides, I'd really prefer not to have to get a bespoke midi I/O that is going to work with some of my pedals (e.g. the Enzo) and not others (e.g. my Source Audio pedals). In fact, I'd prefer not to have an additional midi pedal on my pedal board at all (more cost and real estate); and having the midi under the pedal board obviously makes it inaccessible for live use.
If you could have made those 16 presets accessible on the pedal itself via a stomp switch and a small LED display to show which preset we were accessing, you would have a killer product. That's the top of my wish list for version 2 (the "Enzo Live") - I'd happily pay an additional $$ to have that feature, and you could sign me up for a pre-order for that v2 model right away
Thank you, and I appreciate the feedback. I love hearing from musicians using our instruments. We are definitely kindred spirits. My favorite is hearing the amazing Enzo sounds samples by the community, thanks *Tempest* and ilansgroove ! I can't express how happy it makes me to hear the different sounds you come up with.
**Warning boring wall of text
**The Meris MIDI I/O (and our pedals) do MIDI In and MIDI Out, our pedals pass along messages to each other in a chain. Since the messages are preserved and passed through our pedals, you can easily connect a Source Audio pedal to the MIDI I/O using 5 pin DIN jacks. The Meris MIDI I/O is compatible with Empress and most other companies who are doing TRS MIDI with midi in on the tip of the jack. The only outlier in the world of TRS midi (that I know of) is Chase Bliss who do midi in on the ring, but even for that we have a solution. Terry has created a cable drawing that not only allows the Chase Bliss work with our MIDI I/O, Terry's drawing also creates a hardware MIDI thru to allow a Chase Bliss to pass along messages in the chain. (Just email us at [email protected] and we will pass it along)
It sounds like you are well versed in MIDI, but for those reading this who are just learning, having both MIDI In and MIDI Out (which our pedals have and not many other pedals do at this size and price) can be vitally important for your particular setup. Think of MIDI data as a river flowing from a source and out to devices. If those devices don't have a MIDI Out, then the river stops there. If the device has a MIDI Out, then the river of data can keep flowing down stream to other devices in the chain, which can greatly simply your setup. We paid careful attention to this with our pedals and our MIDI I/O. Also, having both in and out allows you to send and receive presets with a tablet or PC, to share presets with other users, or to backup presets for safe keeping.
Another note about the MIDI I/O, we designed it to fit underneath most pedal boards freeing up valuable pedalboard real estate. Along those lines of space savings, we chose top mounted jacks to allow you to have zero space in between pedals. We also recommend these right angle flat cables [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] which we include with our accessories to further keep things compact. Side mounted jacks on pedals and regular 5 pin DIN cables are notorious consumers of space on pedalboards. Just giving more insights into our thinking.
One last thing, for DIY experimenters only, if you watch the last few moments of our youtube video on the Meris Preset Switch, Terry shows a peak inside at the circuit board. Terry smartly included a header to allow you add an arduino microcontroller which can turn the Preset Switch into basically anything you want, like a midi controller custom designed for you. That is a steep climb, but I know the hardcore DIY makers would be into it.
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_Angelo_
Commercial User
Good catch, the Enzo is digital. The Enzo does feature a digitally controlled analog mix, but the synth is indeed created algorithmically inside of an ARM processor.
_Angelo_
Commercial User
From my perspective having an additional unit at additional expense that can also work with three additional things I'm not going to get doesn't do much for me. Something capable of working with the 35 year old standard that is on 99.9% of gear that doesn't use USB would be much better, especially given that further adoption of TRS isn't assured. If the TRS can be broken out, using a cable to DIN, which my Circuit seems to be able to do, then I'd be fine with that. It would be nice to know if it can without additional gear.
Hey, I thought a bunch of posts ago you were okay using what you had? Why are you still trying to create an argument about what has been answered and decided. We heard you. Have you heard the Enzo demos? Maybe I'm opening Pandora's box of trolls here, but how do you think it sounds? I wasnt much of a fan of the newest Sonuus unit, since it didnt track well, but this pedal seems to do a good job no?
