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Replace your pedalboard with a tablet or phone?

Would you replace your pedalboard with a tablet or phone?

  • I already have, and it's great! Let me tell you all about it...

    Votes: 2 1.4%

  • I want to try that, soon. Nifty neato!

    Votes: 4 2.9%

  • It is the future. Resistance is futile.

    Votes: 2 1.4%

  • Maybe someday? I need to know more. Cute idea.

    Votes: 14 10.1%

  • Probably not, I already have a perfectly good pedalboard.

    Votes: 35 25.2%

  • Hell no, you can take my pedalboard from my cold dead hands!

    Votes: 70 50.4%

  • Other

    Votes: 12 8.6%
  • Total voters
    139
#63
Aric Bjorn said:
It seems to work pretty well on the guys iPad in the video, fwiw. I'm curious, and also curious what you all might think too. I've only recently started building my own pedalboard in the past year, and I'm relatively new to bass guitar as well, but I've definitely been bitten by the effects bug :) I'm not affiliated in any way with any of these products, btw.
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If it works for you, don't let me stop you. I have zero interest in using a general purpose computing device as a live performance device. As someone who has been in the technology field for 35 years, I don't regard these devices as reliable enough or even suitable for live performance, because they are not designed to be. And a Boss GT-1000Core costs less than an iPhone 16e.
 
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#64
amper said:
I don't regard these devices as reliable enough or even suitable for live performance
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Tell Herbie Hancock, who used multiple iPads hooked up to a MacBook Pro for his live performances over a decade ago ago. Here he is (not onstage) using one of the many iPad apps in his quiver.



Or Living Color's guitarist, who uses FX apps in his rig.

Or King Crimson, which used ThumbJam on an iPad onstage, and an iPad to trigger Mellotronics M3000. "We no longer take mellotrons on the road. Instead we take this iPad app."

Orbital uses iPads live as well. And The Flaming Lips too, creating manipulated vocal choir sounds on iPad and triggering them onstage with them.
 
#65
Musical expression is fundamentally a personal process and as such needs to come from within, I think we all use different means of achieving that. I completely respect that dicking around with an iPad is a horrific proposition for people.
 
#67
amper said:
If it works for you, don't let me stop you. I have zero interest in using a general purpose computing device as a live performance device. As someone who has been in the technology field for 35 years, I don't regard these devices as reliable enough or even suitable for live performance, because they are not designed to be. And a Boss GT-1000Core costs less than an iPhone 16e.
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I've used laptops for controlling lighting, backing visuals and tracks between numbers for more theatrical shows, with a backup, and it's been pretty reliable.

Before getting my Soundcraft Ui16 I did sound for two gigs using a laptop, Reaper and my little Zoom R16. EQ, compression, mixing, via Reaper. I could have just used it as a dumb mixer, though.

That's not on stage, though.
 
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#71
Pilgrim said:
At that point, my friend, you literally have a metal brick.
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There have been a few open source attempts for the 'computer in a pedal' type effects. That is, the pedal is an Arduino or some sort of programmable DSP plus connectors but they are either standard and/or the code to interact is on GitHub or something. In theory you can then always interact by writing your own app or someone else will write it. But if it's a niche pedal, good luck...

I don't have any links to such pedals right now.
 
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#72
Is any hardware/software combination foolproof and guaranteed to work perfectly for decades? Of course not, but there is a serious value proposition for gigging and amateur musicians today who regularly use tablets and smartphones with free-to-cheap DAWs, instruments and plugins. The example which started this thread (with video) is that plausibly the best looper in any format today is Loopy Pro, unmatched by any hardware looper and regularly used by pros onstage around the world. No amount of open source/Arduino hacking can reasonably be expected any time soon to match the years of development and refinement of this loopstation/DAW.

Not only are some people opposing the OP's question of using a tablet or phone, I see above people opposing the idea of hardware (examples include Source Audio to TC Electronic, or cheaper, near-no-name Chinese companies) that uses a connected app out of fear that maybe the app might not be supported some time in the future, and choosing to believe the worst-case scenario that hardware therefore automatically becomes "a brick"... when the hardware I see uses software as an adjunct and are not dependent on it.
 
#73
-Asdfgh- said:
There have been a few open source attempts for the 'computer in a pedal' type effects. That is, the pedal is an Arduino or some sort of programmable DSP plus connectors but they are either standard and/or the code to interact is on GitHub or something. In theory you can then always interact by writing your own app or someone else will write it. But if it's a niche pedal, good luck...

I don't have any links to such pedals right now.
Click to expand...
I once tried to use a raspberry pi with a USB interface to make a portable effects unit with guitarix. It was a raspberry pi 2 so not much processing power. Didn't work too well. I do wonder how well it would with with a newer pi and newer software.
 
#74
A mobile pedalboard could be interesting for portability, but when you start adding stuff (interface, cables, adaptors, controllers..) it's not practical anymore and I may be just as good with a distortion pedal into the gig bag.
 
#75
BassmanNate said:
I once tried to use a raspberry pi with a USB interface to make a portable effects unit with guitarix. It was a raspberry pi 2 so not much processing power. Didn't work too well. I do wonder how well it would with with a newer pi and newer software.
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The main challenge with any compute hardware is the latency. You need to optimise the linux system your using and then the AD/DA hardware to get you down to usable speeds. The Blokas and MOD folks did some great work on this but it requires a bit more engineering to achieve > 6ms. Darkglass have done this with their Anagram, basing it on Linux I believe.

I was very happy when I discovered I could get 3-5ms with an iPad and an RME Babyface or UCX interface.
 
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#76
triviani said:
A mobile pedalboard could be interesting for portability, but when you start adding stuff (interface, cables, adaptors, controllers..) it's not practical anymore and I may be just as good with a distortion pedal into the gig bag.
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If all you need is a distortion pedal then all this iPad shenanigans would be significant overkill :-)
 
#77
BassmanNate said:
I once tried to use a raspberry pi with a USB interface to make a portable effects unit with guitarix. It was a raspberry pi 2 so not much processing power. Didn't work too well. I do wonder how well it would with with a newer pi and newer software.
Click to expand...
Ditto, but a Pi 3. But you need a hi-z interface (which I have) and then add a little touch screen, footswitches. The issue was how to make it work as a robust unit that would survive going to gigs without something working loose. Plus GuitariX wasn't really producing the sounds I wanted, although maybe I could have persevered with it. The Pi3 is now serving audio and video files for the house.
 
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