Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what cont

[BluesGuyJ]

Well, I am looking to go MIDI with my Eventide units because I am legally blind and tap dancing on my pedal board is extremely difficult. This way, I can control and direct both units at the exact same time. I thought about getting a MIDI/amp controlling unit like the Decible 11 Switch Doctor, but want my pedal board to be as universal as possible. While it would be cool to setup patches that would control my amp channels and MIDI effects at the same time, I do not believe that specific applications would apply to other amps I may need to use at a gig or a show where I can not bring my own amp.

I have a Pedal Train PT2 and am looking to house my Time Factor , Mod Factor, my Dunlop JB Wah, a TC Electronic Poly mini and then am looking at some sort of MIDI Controler, the two mechanical 2 button switches for the amp and perhaps some sort of mini OD pedal. When I have to use another amp, I will pull out the channel switching boxes and will throw down my Suhr Riot clone and that should just about do it.

What would folks recommend for a good MIDI controller that is not too complicated to setup/program?

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

I can highly recommend Disaster Area Designs. I got their DMC-3 Gen2 to control my Strymon Timeline and Mobius and it is fantastic. It's only about half an inch wider, longer, and taller than a Phase 90 but it has 3 switches and a screen. And best of all, they are the closest to plug and play MIDI control that you can get. It took me only 10 minutes to set mine up, and that was just because my MIDI settings on my Strymon units were wonky. Additionally, Matt (the owner of Disaster Area) is a very nice guy and is happy to help you out with any issues or questions you may have. Plus, his units look awesome and they have such a nice selection of custom colors. Here's the website: http://www.disasterareaamps.com/

 

[dystrust]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

Could you explain the type of interaction you'd like to have with the controller? Something like a Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro or Fractal Audio MFC-101 would allow you to control both units bypass / program / tap tempo with the push of a single footswitch, and the Fractal even has color-coded switches. The downside is that you'd need to be able to hit the correct switch on the board, and you'd need to read a roughly 1" tall screen to program it.

I'm not 100% familiar with how the Disaster Area controller works, so I can't comment on it. Something like a Tech 21 Midi Mouse would probably be a poor choice because you'd need to be able to read a small screen to tell what pressing a button would do.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

Disaster area does make larger controllers (in the 5-8 button range, but they're still quite small for how many switches they have) that will let you call up presets on multiple devices with one tap.

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

I should be more clear, I am indeed legally blind, but have no real ability to read text..... I use screen reading software on my computer, the screen is just a mass of colors to me. I will most likely end up creating and saving patches on my Eventide boxes with my good friend/drummer in the band. It's going to be a complicated process, but a doable one.

My goal is to be able to control both devices with one control unit:

patch 1: tape delay
patch 2: digital dual delay with chorus effect

So on and so forth, with the ability to kill the effect being ran with one press of a button as well, via MIDI. Amp channel switching would be done with the actual actual footswitches that come with the amp. However, I do know that there are some units which can send MIDI signalsand triggers to operate some amp switching functions, which I am considering, but that's a heck of a process. Again, that would end up being customized for one amp, rather than having a pedal board that is a bit more universal, as I mentioned I would pull off the amp foot switches and throw down an OD pedal or two if I had to go through a HRD or something similar. I will most likely not be using any dirt pedals with my main amp as it is a boutique Dumble style amp that already sounds amazing and has foot switchable tone bypass functions for volume/lead boosts.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

Understood, but I have another question. You'll have multiple patches for different settings, but how would you prefer to switch between them?

Would you rather have a small controller with few buttons and likely some scrolling or bank switching or would you prefer a larger controller with dedicated buttons for multiple presets?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

The Behringer FCB1010 is a big controller that can switch amp channels too...it is surprisingly robust too. There is expanded firmware that allows all sorts of commands to be sent to multiple devices. I have used one for 10 years with my guitar/guitar synth/looping rig.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

The Behringer FCB1010 is a big controller that can switch amp channels too...it is surprisingly robust too. There is expanded firmware that allows all sorts of commands to be sent to multiple devices. I have used one for 10 years with my guitar/guitar synth/looping rig.

I've always been a Ground Control Pro fan, but I've heard the Behringer is a nice controller at an amazing price.

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

As for exactly how I would like to turn on and off patches/presets via MIDI, I guess I could use some schooling on this. However, this is what I think would work best for me:

I think having multiple banks with their own list of limited presets/patches would work best for me.

Example:
Bank 1
Patch 1: Digital delay preset from time factor
Patch 2: Phase from mod factor
Patch 3: Chorus and tape delay

so on and so forth, but I think having a number of banks with patches would work best and would help me keep things more concise with turning off and on effects. Having something like 10 banks with 10 patches would work best, as if I got lost in 1 bank, I ould only have a few patches to scroll thorugh to find the right one, but if I just had something like 2 banks with 50 patches, I would have to scroll thorugh things much longer to find the right one. I know that I am going to have some troubles, so I am also trying to find a system of control that will be the easiest to remedy when issues arise.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

I'll describe the Ground Control Pro since I'm most familiar with it. The Ground Control Pro has 20 banks of 10 presets each that you can recall by pressing a single button. It also has an alternate mode with only 4 presets in each bank; the additional buttons are then able to turn individual effects within a preset on and off. It sounds like you want a controller similar to the Ground Control Pro in its default 10 preset mode.

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

Aren't those crazy expensive?

 

[dystrust]

Re: Looking to control my Eventide boxes via MIDI: totally ne territory for me, what

They run $399 new, and I've seen them as low as $150 used but that's unusual. Not too bad compared to something like a Liquidfoot or Fractal MFC, both of which are well over $600 new. I'm sure the Behringer is less expensive, but I've never been able to trust their build quality.