Reducing tapdancing without losing flexibility.

[WhoopingHonky]

Ahoy.

I've come to a weird space in my effects journey where I think it's time to look into MIDI for my setup. I've run into scenarios where I need to switch three effects on my board in the span of a quarter note, and while it's doable, I hate it and am willing to burn money to make it go away.

I''ve done some reading on MIDI and understand the overall function, but I run into the challenge where most guides talk about having to set up specific presets for "here's everything that's on and off", but I like to have a bit more flexibility than that. Especially considering I have some non-midi pedals I want to use, I'm not sure how to integrate those into MIDI without losing the flexibility. IE, sometimes I want my Attack Decay and analog reverb on at the same time, sometimes I just want the reverb, most of the time I want none. Would I need two switches to do that, or am I missing some dark magic that can make that work easier?

For reference, here is what I am planning for the board:
HX Stomp
Hologram Microcosm
Chase Bliss Gen Loss mkII
Empress Bass Compressor
Polytune Mini
Earthquaker Dispatch Master
EHX Attack Decay
Wampler Belle
(If I go bigger, add in a Vaderin Radio Dirtman, a Source Audio C4, and an expression pedal)
Midi controller I was looking at was the Morningstar MC6 Pro.

Am I missing something on how to set this up for more flexibility than "This is my preset for this section, and I'll need to write a new one for each new song"? How else should I be thinking about this?

 

[Derek Williams]

Ahoy.

I've come to a weird space in my effects journey where I think it's time to look into MIDI for my setup. I've run into scenarios where I need to switch three effects on my board in the span of a quarter note, and while it's doable, I hate it and am willing to burn money to make it go away.

I''ve done some reading on MIDI and understand the overall function, but I run into the challenge where most guides talk about having to set up specific presets for "here's everything that's on and off", but I like to have a bit more flexibility than that. Especially considering I have some non-midi pedals I want to use, I'm not sure how to integrate those into MIDI without losing the flexibility. IE, sometimes I want my Attack Decay and analog reverb on at the same time, sometimes I just want the reverb, most of the time I want none. Would I need two switches to do that, or am I missing some dark magic that can make that work easier?

For reference, here is what I am planning for the board:
HX Stomp
Hologram Microcosm
Chase Bliss Gen Loss mkII
Empress Bass Compressor
Polytune Mini
Earthquaker Dispatch Master
EHX Attack Decay
Wampler Belle
(If I go bigger, add in a Vaderin Radio Dirtman, a Source Audio C4, and an expression pedal)
Midi controller I was looking at was the Morningstar MC6 Pro.

Am I missing something on how to set this up for more flexibility than "This is my preset for this section, and I'll need to write a new one for each new song"? How else should I be thinking about this?

A Morningstar ML5 or ML10X will let you put all your pedals in loops that you can switch on/off with MIDI. The ML10X will also let you change pedal order and routing. Both are in high demand and sold out often, but the next batch of ML10Xs should be out soon.

 

[Alien8]

Boss ES-5 is a good option too.

 

[Nighttrain1127]

Or Boss ES-8 with 8 loops instead of 5

 

[WhoopingHonky]

I think I found a video that gave me a concept I hadn't before, creating a home screen with sub pages for pedal commands, presets, and snapshots. It looks like that, combined with the ML5 mentioned above might give me the flexibility I was looking for.