Re[2]: Live Real Time Guitar Effects

[MBiffle@svg.com (Mike Biffle)]

     To whoever started this thread as well as the rest of you real time 
     effects freaks... 
     
     Here's a couple of my favorite conventional (non-Vortex) dsp tricks. 
     One is a cloud looper to stay on topic. The other is a doppler 
     flange/delay. Both are non tempo specific.
     
     This assumes you have some form of programmable midi controller, or 
     non programmable but with several preset cc controller sockets like 
     the Roland FC-200 with it's dedicated pedal inputs. Being able to set 
     specific value ranges and reverse scaling is pretty important to fine 
     tuning this sort of patch. I use an old Digitech PMC-10 midi floor 
     controller (As does Kim) and you'll sometimes hear us sing the 
praises 
     of this unit. The only other units curretly in production which do 
     this sort of thing well are the Rocktron All Acess and possibly the 
     Custom Audio Electronics RSB 10, although they've got their own ideas 
     about how you will set your stuff up. they're both pretty pricey as 
     well... I don't know how deep the Roland FC-200 pedal goes, but it's 
     dedicated pedal inputs on the back (6 or 8?) could allow for some 
nice 
     tweaking assuming you can select the channel they transmit over 
     (hopefully being able to program them to send on different channels). 
     Someone just mentioned the Rolls Midi Wizard allows for a lot of 
pedal 
     inputs... don't know how programmable it is though with the cc's. 
     There's a new breed of controllers like the Korg KAOS and Phatman 
     which allow some fun looking hands-on creative tweaking of cc params, 
     but I'm not sure you can do much with them using your feet...
     
     Many dsps (Digitech IPS33b and Lexicon LXP15) have dedicated pedal 
     inputs on the rear of the units making this type of patching really 
     easy. Of course you need an expression pedal like the Boss/Roland 
     EV5... My Boss GT-5 is especially nice for this sort of thing as well 
     although they mysteriously don't have a patch available for delay 
     input level! Curses for this!!!
     
     Trick number 1. Patch a cc (continuous controller) to the delay 
     time... you can set narrow limits (1ms - 20ms) with fairly high 
     feedback for real time flange sort of effects. Or wide sweeps (1ms - 
     500ms) for wild doppler type effects... on these I usually also patch 
     to delay output level AND feedback or regen to balance the short 
delay 
     runaway sounds with the longer delays with lower regen rates. My most 
     usefull versions usually have a longer delay with a few repeats and 
     lower delay level for a fairly friendly conventional delay which 
turns 
     into a scary near-runaway death flange in a drainpipe. Slightly 
moving 
     the pedal gives some faux lfo type action to whatever range your 
in... 
     theres often many useful points along the way with these patches as 
     well. Sneaking a pedal movement in while pausing allows you to change 
     delays/sounds without the doppler action...
     
     Number 2. For looping or cloud like pads, use a long delay with high 
     regen, patch a cc to delay input level and swell notes into the delay 
     momentarily... you can back off and still play around the new cloud. 
     The trick is to have another reverse scaled cc patched to regen on 
the 
     same pedal and have it back the regen off slightly as you pedal in a 
     new note. I always have a volume pedal inserted between my main 
guitar 
     signal and the dsp so I can do smooth swells with my main signal as 
     well as the midi cc swells. If your unit can patch a LFO to a 
     parameter like delay time, panning, etc. then be controlled with 
     another patch varying the LFO speed or depth, then you can get really 
     wild with what happens to the cloud AFTER you've swelled in a note... 
     Usually two expeds are a basic requirement for getting complex with 
     multiple mutations... Then you could have a pitch shift which mutates 
     the whole mess as well...
     
     It's amazing how different these types of patches sound with various 
     distortions and clean sounds. You'll probably find that certain types 
     will work better with your creation than others... Knowing what your 
     starting sound is sometimes helps guide you in your param tweaking.
     
     Good luck and have fun!
     -Miko