Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
- Thread starter jmcorey
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Artie
Peaveyologist
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
If they do, I pray they go back twenty years in time, and remember what they did right with the FX500 . . . and forget what they did wrong with the MagicStomp II. Good sounds . . . horrible user interface.
Thank God I have both . . . and only paid $80 for the MagicStomp II.
I'll go into details later if anyone is interested.
If they do, I pray they go back twenty years in time, and remember what they did right with the FX500 . . . and forget what they did wrong with the MagicStomp II. Good sounds . . . horrible user interface.
Thank God I have both . . . and only paid $80 for the MagicStomp II.
I'll go into details later if anyone is interested.
Animal
Well-known member
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
Although it doesn't have USB capability, the Yamaha DG-stomp is pretty much the same thing with superior effects and ease of use. I've had mine for years and you can't exactly find a more user friendly multi effects device with nice sounds inside on the cheap.
Although it doesn't have USB capability, the Yamaha DG-stomp is pretty much the same thing with superior effects and ease of use. I've had mine for years and you can't exactly find a more user friendly multi effects device with nice sounds inside on the cheap.
Artie
Peaveyologist
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
Ok, here's my gripes.
Both units have factory presets and user presets. On the old FX500, I can tell the unit to only switch the user banks. On the MSII, you have to sequence all the way through all 200 presets. Since the 1st 100 are "demo" presets, they aren't all that useful. Things like "AM radio in the bottom of a trashcan". That kind of crap that you'll never use. I can tell the old Yamaha to only cycle through 40 to 45 for example. Can't do that with the new one.
To make matters worse, the old one will allow you to slide through the presets at double speed by holding down the alternate button. Can't do that with the MSII. And it gets even worse. With the old unit, you can scan to the new preset, without selecting it. Say I'm at 32 and I want to go to 64. I can scan up to 64 while 32 continues to play. Once there, I "recall" 64 and it takes over. With the MSII, each sound "plays" as you sequence through it. Which means, you can't really sequence in real time.
The MSII does have one cool function that might sidestep that quirk. You can put it into "Performance Mode" and assign each of the three pushbuttons to an individual effect. Cool right? Not exactly. Each effect is mutually exclusive. If I assign reverb to one button, distortion to another, and chorus to the third, when I hit "distortion", the reverb turns off. Or if I hit "chorus", distortion turns off. One at a time only! The old FX500 will allow me to use all of the effects at once. At any preset, I can individually turn any effect on or off - compression, distortion, EQ, modulation, and/or reverb.
Don't get me wrong. The MagicStomp II has its good points. Its reverb is superb. Many of its effects are great . . . on there own. You have to think of it as a single pedal . . . that can morph to anything. But it can only be one thing at once. I set it to "plate reverb" and use it in the effects loop of my H & K to replace the cheapo "canned" reverb that came with it. In that application it works beautifully.
For $80 bucks it can be anything . . . but only one anything. They shouldn't call it "multi-effects". They should call it "morph-effects".
Ok, here's my gripes.
Both units have factory presets and user presets. On the old FX500, I can tell the unit to only switch the user banks. On the MSII, you have to sequence all the way through all 200 presets. Since the 1st 100 are "demo" presets, they aren't all that useful. Things like "AM radio in the bottom of a trashcan". That kind of crap that you'll never use. I can tell the old Yamaha to only cycle through 40 to 45 for example. Can't do that with the new one.
To make matters worse, the old one will allow you to slide through the presets at double speed by holding down the alternate button. Can't do that with the MSII. And it gets even worse. With the old unit, you can scan to the new preset, without selecting it. Say I'm at 32 and I want to go to 64. I can scan up to 64 while 32 continues to play. Once there, I "recall" 64 and it takes over. With the MSII, each sound "plays" as you sequence through it. Which means, you can't really sequence in real time.
The MSII does have one cool function that might sidestep that quirk. You can put it into "Performance Mode" and assign each of the three pushbuttons to an individual effect. Cool right? Not exactly. Each effect is mutually exclusive. If I assign reverb to one button, distortion to another, and chorus to the third, when I hit "distortion", the reverb turns off. Or if I hit "chorus", distortion turns off. One at a time only! The old FX500 will allow me to use all of the effects at once. At any preset, I can individually turn any effect on or off - compression, distortion, EQ, modulation, and/or reverb.
Don't get me wrong. The MagicStomp II has its good points. Its reverb is superb. Many of its effects are great . . . on there own. You have to think of it as a single pedal . . . that can morph to anything. But it can only be one thing at once. I set it to "plate reverb" and use it in the effects loop of my H & K to replace the cheapo "canned" reverb that came with it. In that application it works beautifully.
For $80 bucks it can be anything . . . but only one anything. They shouldn't call it "multi-effects". They should call it "morph-effects".
Bezmotivnik
New member
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
It literally takes thirty-three pages of fine print just to list -- not describe, but just name -- the adjustable parameters, and you have three knobs and a dinky, coarse LCD readout with which to program patches.
Never mind that the programming even with the software via USB is utterly inscrutable.
I have never in my life seen such a poor ratio of content to accessibility. It's too bad, as there are many really impressive effects in there...someplace! :scratchch
One of the interesting things about the Magicstomp is that it is just now -- after the device has been discontinued -- firmware/software upgradeable to v2.10, which contains ALL of the presets and capabilities of the three different models, guitar, bass and acoustic. Formerly, only the bass version was equipped with v2.10 firmware/software.
Interestingly, the factory bass presets sound worthless with bass but are very usable with guitar.
The guitar presets are just junk, though.
It's really a frustrating device. Eventually, I may get the presence of mind to really tackle it, as it certainly has promise, but I'm afraid it's probably going to wind up on the shelf. :no:
Isn't it just astonishingly awful?
It literally takes thirty-three pages of fine print just to list -- not describe, but just name -- the adjustable parameters, and you have three knobs and a dinky, coarse LCD readout with which to program patches.
Never mind that the programming even with the software via USB is utterly inscrutable.
I have never in my life seen such a poor ratio of content to accessibility. It's too bad, as there are many really impressive effects in there...someplace! :scratchch
One of the interesting things about the Magicstomp is that it is just now -- after the device has been discontinued -- firmware/software upgradeable to v2.10, which contains ALL of the presets and capabilities of the three different models, guitar, bass and acoustic. Formerly, only the bass version was equipped with v2.10 firmware/software.
Interestingly, the factory bass presets sound worthless with bass but are very usable with guitar.
The guitar presets are just junk, though.
It's really a frustrating device. Eventually, I may get the presence of mind to really tackle it, as it certainly has promise, but I'm afraid it's probably going to wind up on the shelf. :no:
Bezmotivnik
New member
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
The last firmware addressed a lot of problems...alas, too few and too late.
You can do multi-effects w/modeling, but it requires editing an existing preset of that profile.
Yes, it is an incredibly difficult sucker to use.
What firmware do you have? You can do this in v2.10, I believe.
The last firmware addressed a lot of problems...alas, too few and too late.
You can do multi-effects w/modeling, but it requires editing an existing preset of that profile.
Yes, it is an incredibly difficult sucker to use.
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Artie
Peaveyologist
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
I have v2.10, and it still doesn't do that. (Just checked to be sure.) It does include all the Acoustic Stomp and Bass Stomp stuff though.
btw - I just thought of one more thing that bugs me about this. Let me contrast it to my J-Station. Both the Yamaha and the J-Station have "soft" knobs. I can turn a knob to "10", store it, then turn it back to zero. If I recall that preset, the knob is electrically at "10", while physically at zero. So far, so good. On the J-Station, as soon as I touch the knob, (move it, that is), it "snaps" to the new position and takes over. On the Yamaha, you have to move the knob to its programmed position before it will take over. Since some of the knob functions are unclear, you generally have to wiggle the thing all the way back and forth to "catch" its setting.
Absolutely maddening.
Then again, having said all that, it does have some nice tones deep down within it, and its really not a bad deal at $80. Just make sure you know what you're getting into.
I have v2.10, and it still doesn't do that. (Just checked to be sure.) It does include all the Acoustic Stomp and Bass Stomp stuff though.
btw - I just thought of one more thing that bugs me about this. Let me contrast it to my J-Station. Both the Yamaha and the J-Station have "soft" knobs. I can turn a knob to "10", store it, then turn it back to zero. If I recall that preset, the knob is electrically at "10", while physically at zero. So far, so good. On the J-Station, as soon as I touch the knob, (move it, that is), it "snaps" to the new position and takes over. On the Yamaha, you have to move the knob to its programmed position before it will take over. Since some of the knob functions are unclear, you generally have to wiggle the thing all the way back and forth to "catch" its setting.
Absolutely maddening.
Then again, having said all that, it does have some nice tones deep down within it, and its really not a bad deal at $80. Just make sure you know what you're getting into.
Bezmotivnik
New member
Bezmotivnik
New member
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
Was this what you meant?
I think J-Edit and the J-Station it supports are probably the easiest and most intuitive of the modelers I've seen.
Perhaps we're talking about two different things. When I hold down the "up" switch on my MagicStomp EB, it fast forwards through the presets -- though that may be limited to the factory presets and not user patches (though I don't know why it would be different).
Was this what you meant?
I think J-Edit and the J-Station it supports are probably the easiest and most intuitive of the modelers I've seen.
Yep, I know -- though this is a minor annoyance compared to trying to actually program a patch.
I'd really like to have enough patience to mess with it. There are a handful of people on the Yahoo group for it who have spent some time on it and have apparently produced some useful patches.
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
Yamaha is getting out of the market for these? Really? No foot based effects devices for Yamaha anymore?
Yamaha is getting out of the market for these? Really? No foot based effects devices for Yamaha anymore?
Bezmotivnik
New member
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
Maybe something entrirely different with a better front end.
The MagicStomp is technically great -- it's just practically inaccessible. :no:
No MagicStomps, so no "new versions."
Maybe something entrirely different with a better front end.
The MagicStomp is technically great -- it's just practically inaccessible. :no:
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
Yes, but a GT-8 like device would be a vast improvement.
Yes, but a GT-8 like device would be a vast improvement.
Artie
Peaveyologist
Re: Successor to Yamaha Magicstomp?
Close, but not exactly. On both units, if you hold down the "up" or "down" buttons, it will speed through the presets at a faster rate, but on the old Yamaha it goes a step farther. While holding the "up" button, you can also press the "down" button, and it goes much faster still, (and vice-versa). It takes about 4 seconds to go through 99 presets on the old Yamaha, compared to around 12 - 13 seconds on the MagicStomp. Again, not a big deal, but they had the technology 20 years ago.
Well said. I still say the MS is not bad for $80. Put it on the "plate reverb" setting and leave it there. Killer reverb.
Close, but not exactly. On both units, if you hold down the "up" or "down" buttons, it will speed through the presets at a faster rate, but on the old Yamaha it goes a step farther. While holding the "up" button, you can also press the "down" button, and it goes much faster still, (and vice-versa). It takes about 4 seconds to go through 99 presets on the old Yamaha, compared to around 12 - 13 seconds on the MagicStomp. Again, not a big deal, but they had the technology 20 years ago.
Well said. I still say the MS is not bad for $80. Put it on the "plate reverb" setting and leave it there. Killer reverb.
