FiX! (and plug) Re: Adrenalinn MIDI noise

[Mark Sottilaro <sine@zerocrossing.net>]

Hey,

I just want to take the time to plug Rodger Linn's customer support.  I
sent an email about the midi noise on sunday night, and at 10 PM, there was
a response from their customer support.  Amazing.  It turns out to be a
known bug.  They're sending me a new chip set which I should have tomorrow.

So, I can't totally go into too much depth, as I just got the thing, but
I'll start with a few first impressions...

At first, I thought the distortions sounded a bit harsh in the upper
midrange and high end.  I was going direct into a SoundCraft F8 mixer and
using monitors, or headphones I was not happy with the overall tone.  I
then found that there's a setting for using a direct (as I was) imput or
going into a guitar amp.  Even though I wasn't going into a guitar amp, I
have to say it just sounds better in that setting.  I'm not sure if it will
replace my Digitech 2120 for distortion sounds, but I hope it might for
smaller gigs.

Second, the effects.  Wow.  The way they can be trigged via midi makes this
box amost limitless.  I wish it had a bit more delay time (you get 1
second) but the filters sound great.  Again, Ineed to delve in a bit deeper
and tailor the presets to my needs.  There are 100 presets (and 100 user
slots), and a lot of them are already great.  From subtle to weird.  Sure
would be nice if this box were stereo all the way, but at under $300, you
could always buy 2!  (yes, I'm already thinking about that....)

and then the drums.  I didn't have time to go through all of them... some
seem cool, others cheese.  I'm really not sure how I feel about tacking a
very limited beat box to a guitar effect processor.  I did a few things
were I had the drums route through a seperate imput and into the mixer, and
would occaisionally mix them in for a variation of the drum track I already
had going, and it seemed to work well.  Will I program my own drums into
this box?  I doubt it, but maybe.  My Roland MC-307 is such a nice
dedicated groove machine, and the Adrenalinn IS NOT.   However, if you
don't have a drum machine, or are looking to make a micro rig for easy
moving, this could probably be used to your advantage.

The user interface is clean and easy to use.  I was able to start tweaking
very quickly.  Pretty intuitive.

Missing?  Headphone jack.  This would be a great addition for those looking
to practice quietly.

Also missing?  There is NO way to step through presets.  You'll need a midi
controller, or tweak it's preset knobby by hand.  The foot switches control
beat start/stop and bypass/tempo.  That's it.  I thought that was kind of
weird.  I'll probably keep this on a table top.

I hope they do really well with this product.  It's a winner for sure.  I'd
like to see an Adrenalinn PRO in the future with better foot control and
stereo in and out, as well as dedicated drum outputs.  Put in a better
drum/bass sequencer, and this baby could save you a lot of back strain.

Mark Sottilaro



Mark Sottilaro wrote:

> Hey gang,
>
> I did a search on the archives, and came up blank, so I'll put this
> question out to you.  I'm checking out an Adrenalinn, and I must say,
> it's a fun little machine.  Sounds great... until I plug a midi clock
> into it.  Then I get this staticy clicking when ever I'm playing.  I
> assume it's always there and being gated out when there's no signal.  As
> soon as I unplug the midi, it's there again.   I tried all sorts of
> cable arraingments, but to no avail.  Any ideas?  Other than that, this
> box is a keeper.  (It's replacing a Roland EF303, which I felt sucks in
> all regards)  Though I wish it had a stereo input so it fit in my
> Repeater effects loop nicely.
>
> I know I can use  it as a clock source, but that's really a pain in the
> butt....
>
> Mark Sottilaro