Nope. Wanted to space things out a little more. Will make an alternate board out of the Metro.
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New: Zoom B3n Multi-Effects
- Thread starter CharlieC
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- b3n multi-effects zoom
Nope. Wanted to space things out a little more. Will make an alternate board out of the Metro.
I have been using B3s (still own them) for several years and have purchased 1 B3n recently. Yes it is worth it, just my opinion. I no longer need to extend the hardware for life use and more importantly the quality of the sounds is considerably improved.
Perhaps see also in this forum, lots to read, but often worth it.
Cheers,
Andreas flf
Props to Zoom for upping the quality of the Drives on this unit. The B3 drives were passable but on the B3n they are top notch. The Darkglass sims obviously aren't the real deal but they sound pretty close.
Greetings. I'm wondering if the B3n can output MIDI tempo information. So if I set some delays, could I use them to sync to a pigtronix looper through a Kenton USB-MIDI host?
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm sure this has been discussed here on this thread so apologies beforehand for not having read through 108 pages to look for the answer....
Is there a quick and easy way to ensure the volume levels of each default patch are the same prior to me stomping it on and then tweaking knobs?
I find a HUGE variance in default volumes between different patches and it's a pain in the arse .... especially when practicing in my apartment where my neighbors already hate having a bass player live above them
Thanks
Is there a quick and easy way to ensure the volume levels of each default patch are the same prior to me stomping it on and then tweaking knobs?
I find a HUGE variance in default volumes between different patches and it's a pain in the arse .... especially when practicing in my apartment where my neighbors already hate having a bass player live above them
Thanks
If ZOOM didn't take care of their default stock patch levels, there's no way it's going to happen by itself. You'll have to manually change the levels on a patch by patch basis until they're in line with each other, volume-wise. I suppose you could place an outboard high quality hard limiter after the pedal to somewhat do the job for you.
I've never understood why all multi-effect units ship this way. It would be nice if all preset patches were at the same level but the manufacturers seem to think that when you call up a patch with tons of delay chorus and overdrive it's more impressive to be ten times louder than a clean patch, it isn't. It's annoying and can take out a speaker.
Yeah. This is just how it is, even amongst the better modeler manufacturers. Another reason why I almost never give stock presets anything more than a quick, obligatory listen.
I think that they do it for demo purposes.
If people don't find something they like in the first few minutes, most won't buy.
The guys at the factory don't know whether a prospective customer will be plugging it into a combo amp, a big rig, a DAW, computer speakers, or a boombox. They also have to please everyone from cool jazz types to metalheads, but recognize that metal fans dominate the market at certain price points...
Thus, the wild swings in level and brightness.
1000% correct .... and unless you go in and manually alter every patch to be the same output volume, it's always going to be a mystery when you hit a patch as to what the volume of that patch is going to be. At high volume, it could easily trash a speaker or completely screw up a live situation even if momentarily. I just don't get it.
If you're correct, it's flawed logic on behalf of the manufacturer. Either way, in any of your scenarios, volumes will have to be adjusted up OR down as they are inconsistent unless manually altered beforehand.
It's not really flawed logic. Their job is to sell their products.
LOUD sells, for some stupid reason so they make it loud.
Just the same, they overly compress tones so if you have a weak bass it will still sound good.
They also make patches with V shaped EQ because effects are most often tested in a bedroom or alone in a shop.
Of course, as soon as you try them in a band you get lost in the mix.
It is IMHO the main reason why a lot of musicians dislike multis, but it is what sells.
LOUD sells, for some stupid reason so they make it loud.
Just the same, they overly compress tones so if you have a weak bass it will still sound good.
They also make patches with V shaped EQ because effects are most often tested in a bedroom or alone in a shop.
Of course, as soon as you try them in a band you get lost in the mix.
It is IMHO the main reason why a lot of musicians dislike multis, but it is what sells.
Then why not make ALL the patches "Loud"?
I can understand why the metal'esque patches would be set to be in an "in your face" volume but there's no logic (that I can figure out at least) why certain patches are MUCH louder then others ....
for instance Patch #25 "Rock Distortion" is the same default volume as many others but patch #24 "Larry Jet" (think Larry Graham) .... is DOUBLE the volume and will blow your shizz up if you're playing at an already high volume.
Personally I really like Multi's .... I have a B3N, a Boss ME50B and an ME80 and 2) Eventide H9 Max's .... With the exception of the 2 Boss Multi's, the others also have extremely considerable differences in stock patch volumes.
As soon as you do any tweaking (and even before that, because it can change based on the freq response and level of the input signal), the output levels will vary anyway. E.g., I turn up the gain to get a lot more distortion, level goes way up. What would be more useful, I think, is to provide tools to help you level-match manually. A decent output meter with options for VU, RMS, LUFS, etc. would be fantastic.
An auto-level matching mode across patches would even be possible to build, although not as useful as it might seem in many cases, as your playing style and volume often varies a lot between patches (e.g., picking vs slapping).
That drives me nuts .... when you can't hear the full on effect parameters / designs if you're playing at a low volume or with a light attack... like for those of us who can't practice at full volume due to living conditions. The "auto wah's" are especially touch sensitive (IMO)
Quick reality check .....
First World prob·lem
noun
informal
plural noun: First World problems
First World prob·lem
noun
informal
plural noun: First World problems
- a relatively trivial or minor problem or frustration (implying a contrast with serious problems such as those that may be experienced in the developing world).
Fractal Audio did exactly this with the AxeFxII for the exact reason discussed here now: level matching. I can't remember what type of metering they technically implemented (Average, RMS, Peak, etc.), but it works pretty well for getting clean and dirty sounds in the same volume ballpark. Of course, you'd also need to adjust the sounds to allow for rolling back the instrument volume or adding a solo boost (so that you don't overload the output), but in general I found it to be an excellent tool and big time saver. Of course, at the time, the AxeFxII was going for over $2k, so likely we'll not see this implemented meaningfully in a $200 ZOOM product.
