MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

allochthon

New member
I recently become enlightened by the capabilities of MIDI for use with time-based effects. One of my favored effects is the Deja Vu, and I can get by pretty well with using tap tempo to match sequencers and synths that are all working off the same MIDI clock, however, there are times when it all falls apart and things get ugly.

Is there a way to mod the Deja Vu to accept an incoming MIDI clock as the tempo? I'm comfortable doing mods, and I'd like to keep using this pedal rather than switching to a certain other delay that accepts MIDI in.

Cheers
 
Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

Welcome to the forum.

This thread could do with moving to the Amplifier Central area of this forum.

What input sockets does the Déjà Vu device offer? CV? Gate? USB?
 
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Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

Welcome to the forum!

It looks like the Deja Vu doesn't have an input for the tap tempo, but if you are comfortable doing modifications, you should be able to wire into the tap tempo switch to control it externally. You could get an Arduino board and add a MIDI Shield and a little bit of code to implement a MIDI Clock --> Tap Tempo converter. You should be able to get everything you would need for the project for under $50.

EDIT: Make sure you read up about MIDI Time Code (aka "MTC") to understand how timing information is sent over MIDI.
 
Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

Since the Deja Vu is known for complete and total failure I don't know that I'd expend the time or money to mod it for much as you're likely to end up with a door stop sooner rather than later...

If I were you I'd start shopping for a different delay unit, surely there is one on the market with midi control.
 
Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

Interesting statement Christian. I'm not denying your accuracy there. Just a few questions:

How many total Deja Vu's were produced
How many Shipped?
How many sold?

Of those sold:

How many were returned to Duncan for Warranty?
How many of those were complete failure boxes?
Of those, what was the reason for the failure (such as "obviously dropped from a great height" "Partially melted from outside")
How many were "unique" returns - not from the scammers who return multiple items multiple times...

And then, after that is all said and done, what is the sampling error? COnsidering we are only hearing from some, but not all.

Got number based on something OTHER than internet beyotches or a few individuals you know who certainly would never lie and complain when it was their fault? Like the way Les PAul necks break all the time because Gibson makes defective guitars?

Again - QC issues with Duncan pedals SEEMS to be a fairly reasonable assertion. Just trying to make a reqasonable judgement between your "not worth doing becasue it will fail" statement and reality.

Have a Merry Christmas!
 
Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

Ace, as I am sure you know I do not have the answers to many of those questions...

What I do know is there have been well over a dozen threads about dead or not operating correctly Deja Vu pedals on this forum just this year...just Deja Vu pedals...not the threads about dead or broken TTC, Shape Shifters, Double Backs, etc.

Also worth making a note of is the most recent broken Duncan pedal thread that was starteds was in fact about a Deja Vu and at the end of the day the pedal couldn't be repaired and Since SD has discontinued them couldn't even be replaced...the owner of said dead Deja Vu got a free set of pickups!

Add to all of that, most retailers I know of and deal with won't even think about carrying SD pedals again due to all the returns they had with the first gen pedal line and it all becomes rather clear.

I didn't make my post to debate in any way the quality or lack of quality in SD Pedals...if they were worth a half a damn they'd still be building them!

I made my post in hopes of informing or maybe warning the OP that perhaps dropping the money into a Deja Vu for something like that might be better spent simply replacing the Deja Vu with a unit that was better built and already had the feature set he wanted.

I'd hate to see someone sink the money and time into making a Deja Vu midi ready only to get handed a set of pickups for it when it died.

As for the other comments in the thread directed at my reply let me ask one question...

Should I (or anyone else for that matter) not speak truthfully about the Deja Vu simply because it is a Duncan product?!

Thats not right ... part of the function of this forum is to inform people. I am simply informing someone as I would hope they would inform me. Truthfully and honestly.
 
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Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

What I do know is there have been well over a dozen threads about dead or not operating correctly Deja Vu pedals on this forum just this year...just Deja Vu pedals...not the threads about dead or broken TTC, Shape Shifters, Double Backs, etc.

Well I, for one, am shocked! Shocked that people would come to the Seymour Duncan User's Group Forum seeking technical support for Seymour Duncan products! But let's be honest. If you don't know how many pedals SD has sold, you have no way of knowing whether this is a high failure rate or not, do you?

Also worth making a note of is the most recent broken Duncan pedal thread that was starteds was in fact about a Deja Vu and at the end of the day the pedal couldn't be repaired and Since SD has discontinued them couldn't even be replaced...the owner of said dead Deja Vu got a free set of pickups!

Yes, I also saw that phenomenal example of outstanding customer service for a pedal that was apparently beyond its warranty period.

Add to all of that, most retailers I know of and deal with won't even think about...

So now you speak on behalf of the entire music retail community? Or do you mean "the guy at Guitar Center said..."

I'd hate to see someone sink the money and time into making a Deja Vu midi ready only to get handed a set of pickups for it when it died.

The modification I suggested could be used with any pedal that has a tap tempo switch. But I suppose in your judgement the OP would be better off spending money to buy a different pedal to modify?

Should I (or anyone else for that matter) not speak truthfully about the Deja Vu simply because it is a Duncan product?!

Thats not right ... part of the function of this forum is to inform people. I am simply informing someone as I would hope they would inform me. Truthfully and honestly.

Yes, assuming you are qualified to make the "truthful" statements. Otherwise you are just spreading misinformation. You've already acknowledged that you don't have the facts to back up your relentless bashing of the entire SD pedal line, so why don't you show a little respect?

Since the OP already owns the pedal, your warning not to buy it isn't really all that helpful, is it?
 
Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

Well I, for one, am shocked! Shocked that people would come to the Seymour Duncan User's Group Forum seeking technical support for Seymour Duncan products! But let's be honest. If you don't know how many pedals SD has sold, you have no way of knowing whether this is a high failure rate or not, do you?

No, I do not...I do know that there are more threads about broken SD pedals on this forum than there are threads on broken Boss pedals on their forum or broken ZVex pedals on their forum, etc...

Yes, I also saw that phenomenal example of outstanding customer service for a pedal that was apparently beyond its warranty period.

Why do you think Duncan is all about help after warranty?? Trust me when I tell you that every single person at SD knows that those damn pedals were poorly built...I was involved FAR too long with them on testing and so on and the issues were made known then ignored.

So now you speak on behalf of the entire music retail community? Or do you mean "the guy at Guitar Center said..."

I am only speaking for the places local to me...GC is included but so are several small music stores. None of them want to deal with SD pedals.

The modification I suggested could be used with any pedal that has a tap tempo switch. But I suppose in your judgement the OP would be better off spending money to buy a different pedal to modify?

No, not what I said at all. I know you can read so please read what I posted. I am simply saying that spending a lot of time and money to mod the Deja Vu might be a waster of said time and money. There are other delay pedals on the market that already do what he is asking so that might be a better choice.

Yes, assuming you are qualified to make the "truthful" statements. Otherwise you are just spreading misinformation. You've already acknowledged that you don't have the facts to back up your relentless bashing of the entire SD pedal line, so why don't you show a little respect?

First, how am I being disrespectful?? I am giving honest info on a product based on my beta testing of the units, real world experience with the units after the testing process and the experience of several other guys I know.

Second, What misinformation??


Since the OP already owns the pedal, your warning not to buy it isn't really all that helpful, is it?

I never told him not to buy it...please read my replies...that statement is not in there. I did urge not to spend big money or time on moding it. I'd hate to see somebody mod a pedal at great cost of both money and time to themselves then have the pedal stop working a few weeks later...I'd hate that if it was ANY pedal but in my experience it'd be far more likely to happen on an SD pedal than just about any other pedal.

Please understand...I am not simply spouting w/ no info. I was involved in the beta testing of several of these pedals and know that they almost all had issues from the word go and most of those issues were ignored.

I have been an SD user for years and continue to use their pickups but I will not blindly support a product simply because it says Seymour Duncan on it, that's not fair to anyone reading my post and frankly it's not fair to SD either. The guys at SD had the info early on to correct most if not all of these issues so whatever negative press they get at this point is well deserved...in fact the way I see it, they asked for it by not correcting the issues that surfaced during the beta testing process.

All this said, it doesn't matter....the majority of the members of this forum will blindly follow SD products, support and loudly tout how great they are lemming style simply because they are Duncan products and we are all a big happy family. That doesn't sit well with me...I know that most of what I say is falling on deaf ears and that most of the rest of it will be looked at as me simply bashing SD but that's not the case. I have been a supporter of SD stuff for a long time but when a company puts out junk, no matter what company I have no problem saying that they put out junk.
 
Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

Please understand...I am not simply spouting w/ no info. I was involved in the beta testing of several of these pedals and...

I have been an SD user for years and continue to use their pickups.

Wow, that's quite the set of qualifications. Again, none of that means that you have the facts to make the claims you do here. But you seem to feel that you are performing a public service by behaving like a donkey, so have at it.
 
Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

Since the Deja Vu is known for complete and total failure I don't know that I'd expend the time or money to mod it for much as you're likely to end up with a door stop sooner rather than later...

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Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

well, this isn't festive at all.

you ****s are all getting lumps of coal.

EDIT - except the OP, who i am most amused to note has only ever posted once.
 
Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

OP reporting in! After checking the posts that came in after my initial post, I quickly realized it wasn't something that anyone was familiar with modding. Cool. I got on to other things.. Fast forward six months later, and the DejaVu is really taking a crap on me. So I log in and see the lively discussion this started. Yikes!

It seems like valid points are being raised. But my pedal doesn't really work how it should anymore, so either I give up the ghost and replace it with a reliable delay, or... new puckups?!?
 
Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

I've had my share of delays, and the T Rex Replica or Strymon sounds like what you're looking for.

The Strymon Timeline seems like an amazing pedal, but for $450 the looping feature really should have external MIDI clock quantize, which it doesn't. Neither does the much cheaper TC Flashback X4.

It looks like the world's ugliest pedal ever built, the old Timeline which was part of Strymon's Damage Control series will quantize loops to an external MIDI clock, but it's a discontinued product, which worries me.

But I digress... looks like there are plenty of good delays that sync to MIDI - just gotta watch craigslist like a hawk.
 
Re: MIDI clock controlling the Deja Vu tap tempo?

The Strymon Timeline seems like an amazing pedal, but for $450 the looping feature really should have external MIDI clock quantize, which it doesn't. Neither does the much cheaper TC Flashback X4.

It looks like the world's ugliest pedal ever built, the old Timeline which was part of Strymon's Damage Control series will quantize loops to an external MIDI clock, but it's a discontinued product, which worries me.

But I digress... looks like there are plenty of good delays that sync to MIDI - just gotta watch craigslist like a hawk.
Really? This seems to imply it does.
http://www.strymon.net/support/faqs/will-the-timeline-send-midi-time-or-midi-beat-clock/
EDIT - Ah, I think I understand what you mean now.

Regardless, how does it work, syncing to MIDI clock? I see the Boomerang looper just released a new software update to fully sync to MIDI clock...
 
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