Source Audio SB2 MIDI Hub

[rsmith601]

The HUB works great with the Gecko!

No problems, works as advertised out-of-the-gate. Instantly went from 2 presets with my SB2 pedals to over 100. I guess I'm gonna have to start carting around the Gecko and Expression pedal as well. The HUB is small enough to fit under my board. I love that you can set up different preset scenes with the expression pedal controlling different functions and/or different pedals.

HUB control over the Programmable EQ works, but is limited. Basically, midi programs 0,1,2 and 3 access the 4 presets and midi program 5 bypasses the EQ. It would be nice if the Programmable EQ could be updated to act like the SB2 pedals in terms of scenes?

Yes, it would be ideal....but it requires hardware changes. Not going to happen soon.

 

[scotch]

Yes, it would be ideal....but it requires hardware changes. Not going to happen soon.

Well,.. not a big deal! I can live without it.

 

[scotch]

I'm going deep into this HUB stuff! So many useful preset options...

Installing the HUB, Dual Expression pedal and the Gecko is just unrealistic on my already cramped pedalboard. Going larger just gets silly in terms of portability, so I came up with an alternative solution. I put together a simple 'satellite' controller board. The HUB, Gecko and Exprsssion mounted ona piece of luann plywood. Power is supplied from a tap on my pedalboard. All I need to hook up is the power and 2 sensor leads. No audio ever goes through the satellite controller board.

Using the expression pedal along with the HUB lets me have seperate presets to control reverb tails, OFD mix or gain settings and morphing between my 2 favorite OFD sounds (TS9000 with mids scooped out a little and BigMuff with extra mids). So many possibilities!

 

[nshuman]

I'm going deep into this HUB stuff! So many useful preset options...

Installing the HUB, Dual Expression pedal and the Gecko is just unrealistic on my already cramped pedalboard. Going larger just gets silly in terms of portability, so I came up with an alternative solution. I put together a simple 'satellite' controller board. The HUB, Gecko and Exprsssion mounted ona piece of luann plywood. Power is supplied from a tap on my pedalboard. All I need to hook up is the power and 2 sensor leads. No audio ever goes through the satellite controller board.

Using the expression pedal along with the HUB lets me have seperate presets to control reverb tails, OFD mix or gain settings and morphing between my 2 favorite OFD sounds (TS9000 with mids scooped out a little and BigMuff with extra mids). So many possibilities!

Whoa! That is a real nice setup!

 

[Smallequestrian]

I'm going deep into this HUB stuff! So many useful preset options...

Installing the HUB, Dual Expression pedal and the Gecko is just unrealistic on my already cramped pedalboard. Going larger just gets silly in terms of portability, so I came up with an alternative solution. I put together a simple 'satellite' controller board. The HUB, Gecko and Exprsssion mounted ona piece of luann plywood. Power is supplied from a tap on my pedalboard. All I need to hook up is the power and 2 sensor leads. No audio ever goes through the satellite controller board.

Nice! I'm having a custom board made myself, but I'm still trying to decide between having the expression pedal on board or not. Leaning towards no as I don't really fancy the extra 4 inches of width required.

 

[aledeville]

What can I say, the OFD now works great with the FC-200. Except that it can only be programmed until Switch 8, 9 and 10 do not work. But that's way more than enough for noodling at home

I'll try to manage things with my TC G-System next time.

How is the Hub-System working with different Midi-Controllers? I mean, does the hub "recognise" the board and uses the scenes that were saved with that particular controller or is Scene2 always Scene2 no matter with which controller I choose this scene?


@scotch
That is a great setup. I'm really digging that "remote" control board!

 

[gastric]

How is the Hub-System working with different Midi-Controllers? I mean, does the hub "recognise" the board and uses the scenes that were saved with that particular controller or is Scene2 always Scene2 no matter with which controller I choose this scene?

Scene2 is always Scene2. It doesn't matter what controller you use to recall it. It should work with any controller that can send MIDI PC.

 

[aledeville]

Makes sense. Thank you very much!

 

[aledeville]

Okay, I now configured it with the TC G-System. What can I say... it was really easy and works like a champ.

I chose the cc 1, 2 and 3 but that wouldn't even have been necessary. Just press a footswitch, dial in the wanted setting on the OFD and then the long press at the store button.

This is good. From 3x dirt to 1x dirt.

Damn this is good.

 

[adamaarts]

I already have a couple combo settings of the OFD and Mana I'd like this for. Gotta save up!!!

 

[rsmith601]

I know I am supposed to answer the questions....not ask them...but, the Gecko seems like it always forces you to make the program change message active after you go up or down. In other words, if I go from 3 to 4, I must ALWAYS hit the "active" button to send the program change MIDI message to the Hub. This is different from the MIDI Mouse, where you can put it in a mode where it ALWAYS sends the program change code when you go up or down. Am I right about this? The Gecko and MIDI Mouse are different in this regard? I kind of like being in the mode where the output is always active when going up or down. As Gecko owners know, the manual is a bit hard to follow! Any input welcome.

 

[scotch]

With the Gecko, yes, it will not send the program change command until you stomp the activate button.

I like this for live performance applications as you don't have to hear unwanted sounds as you move to the next desired preset.

 

[rsmith601]

With the Gecko, yes, it will not send the program change command until you stomp the activate button.

I like this for live performance applications as you don't have to hear unwanted sounds as you move to the next desired preset.

That is a really valid point. You are thinking about practical use during a performance. I, on the other hand, just want to show off how cool it is to scroll through the presets and then watch all the SB2 pedal LEDs respond to scene changes.

I will also admit that I like the way that the Gecko looks on the board better than the MM. After all these years of discounting the impact of a pedal's visual design in the context of a pedal board collage, I am doing just that!

 

[gastric]

It looks like the Gecko does not provide any direct access to patches via directly pressing the Up / Down buttons.

In contrast the MIDI Mouse both provides two general modes of selecting your patches.

* Directly press the Up / Down button and MIDI PC is instantly sent with each Up / Down button press.
* Press Active/Search, you can now press the Up / Down button to scroll through the patch numbers (really quickly if you press-and-hold the Up / Down buttons). MIDI PC is not sent at all until you press the Active/Search button again. This is the only mode the Gecko appears to have.

The latter is extremely useful for instantly recalling the last patch/scene you were just using. For example:

* Activate patch 1
* Now bypass a couple of your SB2 pedals and/or switch to one of the two built-into-the-pedal patches
* Now press Active/Search twice (I'm assuming the Gecko will work the same, can someone confirm?)
* You haven't technically changed patches, instead you've just recalled patch 1 again which sets all of the SB2 pedals back to their original scene state (pedals you bypassed are no longer bypassed)

The Gecko adds the follow features:

* Preset mode allows you to save 8 presets from 0-127 and scroll through those 8 only.
* All I/O is on top which might work better for some boards. I'd probably prefer this since most MIDI cables have HUGE connectors which makes the MIDI Mouse's side I/O annoying.
* Gecko has a nicely sloped chassis which might make it easier to press the Up/Down buttons without accidentally stepping on the Active/Search at the same time.

Downside of the Gecko for some users is it doesn't work on batteries. But I'm not sure how many people use only battery power on their pedals these days. Likely a mostly irrelevant feature in our specific discussion where a bunch of other pedals the Gecko/Mouse will be controlling can only run on AC power, too.

 

[scotch]

I haven't been able to get my Gecko to work that way, Gastric. Whether in 'preset mode' (with the 8 yellow led presets) or 'manual mode', I still need to press the "active/mode" button to actually send the midi command.

The website suggests otherwise, but I haven't found a way to automatically send midi commands while scrolling. Am I missing something?

 

[gastric]

I haven't been able to get my Gecko to work that way, Gastric. Whether in 'preset mode' (with the 8 yellow led presets) or 'manual mode', I still need to press the "active/mode" button to actually send the midi command.

The website suggests otherwise, but I haven't found a way to automatically send midi commands while scrolling. Am I missing something?

Ouchie. Guess I used my MIDI Mouse experience caused my brain mis-read their website which clearly states: "Manual mode allows guitarists to scroll through midi programs one by one. Use the up or down switch to scroll through programs and once a desired program is reached, hit the select switch to choose the program. Hold down the up or down switch to quickly scroll through all of the programs from 0-127."

That's too, bad. I really like the way the MIDI Mouse provides both methods of accessing the presets.

I'm not sure I'd personally find it too useful to lock the Gecko down to just 8 presets. I'd be curious to find out if that's how you Gecko owners are using it.

 

[scotch]

I don't use the Gecko 'preset' mode at all. I just organize my programs logically from the get-go.

I have 6 presets right now (in addition to my on-pedal presets) for 2 SB2 pedals. I can't imagine having more than 10 sounds for practical use.

 

[nshuman]

Well, switching settings one by one instantly using just one click is nice, but then you probably need to be very careful to have all your scenes saved just in the right order so you don't have to resort to always be in search mode on the mouse.

The deal killer for me on the Mouse was the side jacks. I know you could just put it vertically and then you basically get something close to the form factor of the Gecko, but, then, the screen is sideways...

 

[gastric]

The deal killer for me on the Mouse was the side jacks. I know you could just put it vertically and then you basically get something close to the form factor of the Gecko, but, then, the screen is sideways...

Yeah, I agree that the side jacks for the MIDI is pretty annoying.

 

[nshuman]

I don't use the Gecko 'preset' mode at all. I just organize my programs logically from the get-go.

I have 6 presets right now (in addition to my on-pedal presets) for 2 SB2 pedals. I can't imagine having more than 10 sounds for practical use.

I don't have too many presets yet either. However, as I remove dirt pedals from my board, I will be adding more and more just for the OFD. I do have 2 presets right now that my daughter came up with. She calls one of them the "bird trapped in a box"