Source Audio Sorcerers Society (S.A.S.S) Part 3

[Quatschmacher]

Whhaaaattt??? You mean Source Audio has other customers than bassists???

Haha, yes, I have to keep reminding myself sometimes.

 

[Quatschmacher]

I think there's a lot more in the Source Audio R&D treasure chest to be leaked or announced. 2022 is looking like a fine year for Source Audio releases. The Reflex 2.0 is a pedal of particular interest to me. Plus what ever Mega Modulator they have in their coffers.

Yep, so much goodness to come…

 

[sunbeast]

Well it looks like a nice pedal that I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy. I was just hoping for something wild and new.
No, I don't really know what I mean by that. C4 is pretty wild. UltraWave is pretty cool. That's all I got.

This pedal seems very “off-brand” for Source Audio in a ton of ways (all-analog, minimal tweak ability, etc). Kinda surprised to see it from them, but still looks neat and I’d love to hear it!

 

[IronSpatula]

EQ2 might be more up your street for that purpose.

Great suggestion, and that's exactly what I would do for bass. For something to fill that niche on my guitar board, which I didn't mention was my real imagined purpose, I would prefer the types of tone-shaping on the ZIO.

Yeah, calling up different gain stages or preamp types on a per patch basis would be cool, then have the option to EQ the patch even further with the EQ2....that would be a cool combo.

This. For some reason I was expecting the pedal to have digital step controls or something. Maybe that was just someone speculating.

The pedal sounds great in the video and I hope it does well. I did recently move my Drybell Unit 67 to after my drives, so I may need something for the front of my guitar board... MIDI control would make the ZIO a no brainer but I may try it anyway.

 

[Adamixoye]

Years ago SA demoed a module that was intended to provide Hub integration for 3rd party analog pedals. The fact that there isn't that sort of digital control and Hub integration for an analog pedal of their own design indicates that project is truly dead.

 

[jam.majors]

Yep, so much goodness to come…

Well I'm gonna stay tuned! Wallet in hand...

 

[rsmith601]

Years ago SA demoed a module that was intended to provide Hub integration for 3rd party analog pedals. The fact that there isn't that sort of digital control and Hub integration for an analog pedal of their own design indicates that project is truly dead.

This is not necessarily so.
1) Yes, adding the module to 3rd party pedals was much more complex than expected. It worked on some, but not all.
2) I think with ZIO we wanted to take it in steps and see how it came out as an all-analog pedal. Also, we did cram 4 analog pedals into one, so its not like the box is empty.
3) If ZIO is a hit and there seems to be a market for a ZIO with MIDI/EXP/Presets, it would not be trivial, but we do have the know-how to pull it off.

 

[BunchyMutt]

Also, we did cram 4 analog pedals into one, so its not like the box is empty.

this

 

[Quatschmacher]

Years ago SA demoed a module that was intended to provide Hub integration for 3rd party analog pedals. The fact that there isn't that sort of digital control and Hub integration for an analog pedal of their own design indicates that project is truly dead.

You could easily do this by adding one of the Morningstar MIDI loop switchers. If you pick up the forthcoming one you’ll have five stereo loops to play with (order assignable per preset) each of which can be run as two mono loops. I’m beta testing it currently and have a few SA pedals in amongst the analogue ones and it works really well. I have it set up so I can choose what analogue pedals get inserted into my C4’s loop.

 

[Adamixoye]

You could easily do this by adding one of the Morningstar MIDI loop switchers. If you pick up the forthcoming one you’ll have five stereo loops to play with (order assignable per preset) each of which can be run as two mono loops. I’m beta testing it currently and have a few SA pedals in amongst the analogue ones and it works really well. I have it set up so I can choose what analogue pedals get inserted into my C4’s loop.

It was a lot more than on/off switching. It was full control of all the pots.

 

[rsmith601]

This pedal seems very “off-brand” for Source Audio in a ton of ways (all-analog, minimal tweak ability, etc). Kinda surprised to see it from them, but still looks neat and I’d love to hear it!

It's a problem with pedalboards and we got sick of dealing with it. Jesse was always frustrated and had a good idea for fixing it. Since we were friends with Christopher, all the stars aligned!

 

[sunbeast]

It's a problem with pedalboards and we got sick of dealing with it. Jesse was always frustrated and had a good idea for fixing it. Since we were friends with Christopher, all the stars aligned!

Honestly I dig a company that will throw the occasional curve-ball! And in an era where the trend is heading towards more complicated and digital solutions, a company that is great at complicated and digital went simple (well relatively so!) and analog. Hope it succeeds!

 

[Quatschmacher]

It was a lot more than on/off switching. It was full control of all the pots.

How did controlling the pots work then? I’ve only seen that done a couple of times. There’s a thing called the Gecko (I think) and a prototype that my friend @GisserD designed.

 

[bassbrad]

I'm interested to hear a bass demo of the Zio, I know that I like the way a jfet and ep sound on bass and the studio could be promising.

 

[rsmith601]

How did controlling the pots work then? I’ve only seen that done a couple of times. There’s a thing called the Gecko (I think) and a prototype that my friend @GisserD designed.

Here you go. A peek back into history.
I will note that we know digital: Nemesis, Ventris, C4, etc.
We know analog: ZIO
We know digital controlled analog: Neuro Module (well, we did get it to the demo stage!)

NAMM 2015 Countdown: Analog / MIDI Controlled Pedals - YouTube

 

[deepestend]

It's a problem with pedalboards and we got sick of dealing with it. Jesse was always frustrated and had a good idea for fixing it. Since we were friends with Christopher, all the stars aligned!

i agree. Getting the right boost is so hard and it’s when you compare this pedal to a 1 knob boost, it’s actually not that simple.

 

[LSMFT6]

Ordered one, couldn’t resist. The demo by Tri Pedal Reviews sold me, but I do have a soft spot for tone-sweeteners.

 

[equill]

This pedal seems very “off-brand” for Source Audio in a ton of ways (all-analog, minimal tweak ability, etc). Kinda surprised to see it from them, but still looks neat and I’d love to hear it!

I think it's actually very on-brand, just with an unexpected take - which is itself pretty on-brand.

It's a versatile pedal that elegantly addresses an entire class of problems. For a loose enough definition of "problem" that's exactly the trajectory they've been on with the 1-series, and that they seem to have committed to with the Ultrawave.

 

[rsmith601]

Honestly I dig a company that will throw the occasional curve-ball! And in an era where the trend is heading towards more complicated and digital solutions, a company that is great at complicated and digital went simple (well relatively so!) and analog. Hope it succeeds!

This is a key point. The analog domain is the efficient and elegant way to address this particular challenge. A good mixed signal circuit designer will always seek wise choices block by block in crafting a large system. Crafting a pedalboard is no different.

 

[rsmith601]

I think it's actually very on-brand, just with an unexpected take - which is itself pretty on-brand.

It's a versatile pedal that elegantly addresses an entire class of problems. For a loose enough definition of "problem" that's exactly the trajectory they've been on with the 1-series, and that they seem to have committed to with the Ultrawave.

Well said!