Based on that 2nd image, the Boss is the absolute tightest I'd go to in terms of vertical spacing - I think QC is too tight. Ampero looks good.
Boss GT-1000 (and possibly other things Boss...)
- Thread starter Sascha Franck
- Start date
Based on that 2nd image, the Boss is the absolute tightest I'd go to in terms of vertical spacing - I think QC is too tight. Ampero looks good.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 17,159
I don't like Helix amps so I would just stick to the GT
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Possibly the same here. As said, no issues during the last gig. QC would be too small.
Fwiw, I have european size 46-47 (12-13 US size) feet and they're pretty wide, yet no issues.
God, you have truly accurate stomping abilities.
I've got a 45 size and in always afraid of switching what I shouldn't...
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Well, in fact, some of my shoes are still in 45, but for, say, Chucks, I need 46 and I recently had to buy new football shoes and defenitely needed 47 because all other sizes were so slim they'd hurt.
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
It's all written in this very thread, but in a nutshell: I want my amp sounds (and some other FX "items") to be global. The same throughout all patches I might use on a given gig. This is what the GT-1000 is providing, but unfortunately the dirt amps aren't anything to write home about. That's where the Stomp kicks in. And it's fitting absolutely well in my "amp sounds need to be global" concept as I will never ever switch a patch on the Stomp during a gig.
Correct.
No. The Stomp is one of the best choices for this very setup. I absolutely like the amp sounds, I can chose from a lot and also add some other funky things if needed. The Zoom is *way* too fiddly to operate and only supports MIDI through some hacks. The ToneX has a horrible UI and way less on offer (outside the amp stuff) than the Stomp. The Friedman was on my radar for a while but is way limited. Could as well just kept using my Amplifirebox.
Seriously, the Stomp seems to be *the* perfect companion for the GT.
So clean amps from Boss and Dirty amps from Stomp? Is that the setup?
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Precisely. Thought about slapping one half (the Stomp has sufficient CPU juice to run two completely separate amp paths) in each of the GT loops and use the Stomp cleans, too, but at my testgig the cleans were just fine. Which is great as I have more Stomp-juice for whatever things and can use the second loop for the MS-50.
- Messages
- 6,761
Yknow, I'm quite happy that we agree on this! The Boss modelling is just ... well it is a nothingness. A black void of misery and decay. They should've just not. The should've just noped out of it. They should've dove out the window like:
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Sometimes I think I'm just borderline crazy (or that I might even have crossed that line already...). I mean, it's 2024, I have decades of experience with all that nonsense on my belt and instead of finally buying, say, an FM9, I'm somehow cobbling together a setup based on two devices that both have very obvious shortcomings.
And as if that wasn't enough already, as both of these devices don't come with sufficient onboard controls for my usecase, I'm even hacking together an Android-based (Android, platform of cheapskating losers!) control thingy using Bluetooth (notoriously known as the most stable protocol in the world...).
To add to this, let me quote myself:
So, there's all that. And it's all still somewhat true.
And yet, that testgig was a blast already - and I can't remember the last time I had so much fun slapping some presets together as I had yesterday. Yes, the initial editing is quite cumbersome, but the reward is pretty much happening instantly. And once the patches are done, there's possibly no easier to "maintain" setup than this (I will have to keep track of how things interact, though, already created a doc with all relevant info, so I don't scratch my head when loading a patch some months after its creation).
Really, can't wait to slap it all onto my board - unfortunately, my Thomann order will only arrive tomorrow (or maybe even not...). At least for now my feeling is that the GT and Stomp have only been waiting for Mr. Franckenstein to bring it all together.
Once done and configured, I'll do a little video.
And as if that wasn't enough already, as both of these devices don't come with sufficient onboard controls for my usecase, I'm even hacking together an Android-based (Android, platform of cheapskating losers!) control thingy using Bluetooth (notoriously known as the most stable protocol in the world...).
To add to this, let me quote myself:
So, there's all that. And it's all still somewhat true.
And yet, that testgig was a blast already - and I can't remember the last time I had so much fun slapping some presets together as I had yesterday. Yes, the initial editing is quite cumbersome, but the reward is pretty much happening instantly. And once the patches are done, there's possibly no easier to "maintain" setup than this (I will have to keep track of how things interact, though, already created a doc with all relevant info, so I don't scratch my head when loading a patch some months after its creation).
Really, can't wait to slap it all onto my board - unfortunately, my Thomann order will only arrive tomorrow (or maybe even not...). At least for now my feeling is that the GT and Stomp have only been waiting for Mr. Franckenstein to bring it all together.
Once done and configured, I'll do a little video.
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Thomann delivery! Preliminary test-setup:
What could I possibly say? This is an incredibly flexible and very likely fun to work with board. Sound quality is absolutely pristine, as little noise as it gets for all those gain stages.
Not particularly happy with the location of the PSU, but it'll all be hidden nicely later on (sawing and cable management first...) . And in case this stands the test of time (hence around some months of testgigs), I will likely slap together a custom DIY kit board.
Will also have to figure out the CME WIDI thing and then TouchOSC. Good things still don't come for free - but I could already gig this board for the rest of my life without running into any serious shortcomings.
What could I possibly say? This is an incredibly flexible and very likely fun to work with board. Sound quality is absolutely pristine, as little noise as it gets for all those gain stages.
Not particularly happy with the location of the PSU, but it'll all be hidden nicely later on (sawing and cable management first...) . And in case this stands the test of time (hence around some months of testgigs), I will likely slap together a custom DIY kit board.
Will also have to figure out the CME WIDI thing and then TouchOSC. Good things still don't come for free - but I could already gig this board for the rest of my life without running into any serious shortcomings.
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Got it. Location services were switched off (stupid idea that these are required).
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Ok, now that this is sorted, some more annoyances. Just the common stuff when slapping pedalboards together. Wanted to have the WIDI Jack sitting on the GT, so it's nicely hidden, but then realized, that my angled MIDI cable wouldn't work along with either the WIDI plug or the USB plug. Well, getting along with it somehow, until a new MIDI cable arrives, I'll run the WIDI Jack into the Stomp. Next issue: I was quite happy to see that the WIDI Jack would work with bus power from either device. Just that I can't use it because I need the output to run from the Stomp to the GT.
All a big "GRR!".
---
Anyhow, and that's the main thing: It really seems as if everything would be working. Had two testpatches, could control anything I'd ever want via some "MIDI controller" tablet app (something pretty simple, had no time to get into TouchOSC yet). Incredible, you should've seen my big grin.
Whatever, setting up MIDI controls for the GT is the definition of a nightmare (in fact, setting up any assignments is). With something such as the HX devices around, with synths featuring way easier controller assign since almost decades, it's completely beyond me how Boss hasn't changed their stupid assign paradigm in ages.
For a start, 16 assignments per patch are very little if you really want to control most of your global blocks. 5-7 of them are used up in each patch already anyway (for switching duties), add amp gain, volume, BMT and you're left with pretty little headroom. No idea how this is so crippled when the HX allows for 64 assignments per patch.
I also wish that global blocks would have an option for global assignments. As is, you gotta repeat it for each patch - fortunately, my current 5 main patches are just a variation of one basic patch, so I can do it for that basic patch and re-save it with variations, but this certainly isn't anything you want to do "after the fact".
Then, why isn't there any MIDI learn? It's 2024, FFS!
---
And oh, (/Cordy headline) Boss: We need to talk about the encoders!
Seriously, they seem to be high quality, both rotating and clicking supply a very solid feel. Fine. But: In both preset and manual mode, the click-switches serve *zero* other purposes than shifting in/decrements to +/-10. What the f***?!? Not only could they have stolen Zoom's acceleration scheme (which works very well), no, in both preset and manual mode, you usually don't even need large value changes. All I usually want to do is finetunings. For the main "homework", I'm using edit mode.
And now, if those encoders weren't wasted, just imagine how wonderful navigation could be if they could be assigned to call up one block each. Click encoder and *bam* there's your drive block.
I'd likely assign my global blocks there and be done with adjusting things in a heartbeat.
Really, as much as I'm absolutely excited, I could easily torture someone at Boss a bit.
All a big "GRR!".
---
Anyhow, and that's the main thing: It really seems as if everything would be working. Had two testpatches, could control anything I'd ever want via some "MIDI controller" tablet app (something pretty simple, had no time to get into TouchOSC yet). Incredible, you should've seen my big grin.
Whatever, setting up MIDI controls for the GT is the definition of a nightmare (in fact, setting up any assignments is). With something such as the HX devices around, with synths featuring way easier controller assign since almost decades, it's completely beyond me how Boss hasn't changed their stupid assign paradigm in ages.
For a start, 16 assignments per patch are very little if you really want to control most of your global blocks. 5-7 of them are used up in each patch already anyway (for switching duties), add amp gain, volume, BMT and you're left with pretty little headroom. No idea how this is so crippled when the HX allows for 64 assignments per patch.
I also wish that global blocks would have an option for global assignments. As is, you gotta repeat it for each patch - fortunately, my current 5 main patches are just a variation of one basic patch, so I can do it for that basic patch and re-save it with variations, but this certainly isn't anything you want to do "after the fact".
Then, why isn't there any MIDI learn? It's 2024, FFS!
---
And oh, (/Cordy headline) Boss: We need to talk about the encoders!
Seriously, they seem to be high quality, both rotating and clicking supply a very solid feel. Fine. But: In both preset and manual mode, the click-switches serve *zero* other purposes than shifting in/decrements to +/-10. What the f***?!? Not only could they have stolen Zoom's acceleration scheme (which works very well), no, in both preset and manual mode, you usually don't even need large value changes. All I usually want to do is finetunings. For the main "homework", I'm using edit mode.
And now, if those encoders weren't wasted, just imagine how wonderful navigation could be if they could be assigned to call up one block each. Click encoder and *bam* there's your drive block.
I'd likely assign my global blocks there and be done with adjusting things in a heartbeat.
Really, as much as I'm absolutely excited, I could easily torture someone at Boss a bit.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 17,159
I think the GT1000 should have kept the golden orange fonts/screens and iconography of the GT100 
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Yeah, the GT is a real weirdo. I'm almost over it, though, simply because this very new setup is doing so much just in the way I like it - there's possibly no other setup that'd get me close (ok, maybe an Axe FX, but I don't want a rack at all).
And fwiw, I'm now gig-ready. Did a test packing and what not.
The PSU on the right will be properly covered tomorrow (no decent wood at home) and the I/O department might need a little bit more love as well.
In the end, while putting things together, I unfortunately noticed that this can't be the final thing. I just need somewhat more space. I actually need to be able to inspect everything instantly should there be issues - and that's pretty tough with this version. Couldn't do any serious cable management, so it's all just crammed in.
Anyhow, this will do for a bunch of test gigs. Absolute bummer: First sealed gig for the board will be in January - got quite some other gigs before, but on most of them the setup is provided by the production and all others require a smaller, suitcase compatible setup. Grr!
And fwiw, I'm now gig-ready. Did a test packing and what not.
The PSU on the right will be properly covered tomorrow (no decent wood at home) and the I/O department might need a little bit more love as well.
In the end, while putting things together, I unfortunately noticed that this can't be the final thing. I just need somewhat more space. I actually need to be able to inspect everything instantly should there be issues - and that's pretty tough with this version. Couldn't do any serious cable management, so it's all just crammed in.
Anyhow, this will do for a bunch of test gigs. Absolute bummer: First sealed gig for the board will be in January - got quite some other gigs before, but on most of them the setup is provided by the production and all others require a smaller, suitcase compatible setup. Grr!
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Competing for the Golden Raspberry (at least nobody will ever have to fear my mad video skillz), but hey, here we go:
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Got a call earlier, quick gig in a bar (small thing, nothing special, more or less just for fun, relaxed groovy stuff), spontaneous decision of the owners. Grabbed just the GT, slapped it into one side of the double gig bag and went there by bike (I knew the house monitoring would be ok).
Ok, didn't need much dirt sounds for rhythm guitars, but when I used them, it turned out quite well. Possibly not ready for rock'n'roll primetime but defenitely working just fine for pretty much anything else. Same observation for the clean sounds as on the last gig, even if rather lackluster on their own, in context they just work, feel good under your fingers and don't get lost.
Didn't have time to set up the wireless control thing just for the GT in advance, so I had to use the editor on my phone and bend down once or twice because the editor was too slow. That really sucked. Onboard editing with the GT is scaringly bad. It's not even complicated, just incredibly slow as you need to scroll between blocks like a mad man. Ever since the GT-100, the Boss folks completely lost it on the UI side of things. What a miserable affair - and if that was the only way to deal with the unit, I'd trashed it yesterday already. I defenitely need to prepare some patches to be controlled via tablet. Otherwise, I'm quite happy, form factor is ace, I really made use of the various switching options quite a bit.
Ok, didn't need much dirt sounds for rhythm guitars, but when I used them, it turned out quite well. Possibly not ready for rock'n'roll primetime but defenitely working just fine for pretty much anything else. Same observation for the clean sounds as on the last gig, even if rather lackluster on their own, in context they just work, feel good under your fingers and don't get lost.
Didn't have time to set up the wireless control thing just for the GT in advance, so I had to use the editor on my phone and bend down once or twice because the editor was too slow. That really sucked. Onboard editing with the GT is scaringly bad. It's not even complicated, just incredibly slow as you need to scroll between blocks like a mad man. Ever since the GT-100, the Boss folks completely lost it on the UI side of things. What a miserable affair - and if that was the only way to deal with the unit, I'd trashed it yesterday already. I defenitely need to prepare some patches to be controlled via tablet. Otherwise, I'm quite happy, form factor is ace, I really made use of the various switching options quite a bit.
Last edited:
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
- Messages
- 6,640
Ok, perhaps this would deserve a dedicated thread because I think it's really, really cool (may create one when my setup is more or less complete).
So, I'm making progress with TouchOSC. Found a script that'd send all fader values at once, which is pretty much a key function to synchronize TouchOSC and the controlled device in case there's no feedback between the app and the controlled device (which there isn't - and I doubt you could even make it work with either the GT or the Stomp). That's why I'm sending out all values from the app and then have a WYSIWYG scenario. Once I had this sorted (at first I wasn't sure it'd be working...), I knew I could go all in.
The kickass thing about TouchOSC is that you can very easily (!) connect your desktop computer and the mobile device, the latter will then automatically update it's performance screen so you can instantly see things and test them out. Sure, you can as well do all editing on the mobile device, but compared to working with the desktop editor, it's a royal PITA.
Really, IMO it can't be stressed enough, the amazing thing is that all this worked instantly. Install TO, install TO bridge (taking care of the communication duties), tell desktop version to be the server and in case you're on the same network, it'll instantly show up in the mobile version.
I'm now trying to figure out the best way to deal with a multi-page setup in TO, unfortunately standard swiping between pages isn't an option, but clickable page buttons seem to be quite cool as well (and they don't require too much space).
I should possibly add that the TouchOSC faders respond incredibly well on both my cheap Samsung phone and tablet (A55 and Tab A9+). Way, way better than any of the various IEM mixer remote controls and also way, way better than all the freebie MIDI controlling apps I've tried. No idea how they're doing it, but it's a remarkable difference. Add to this that I'll scale the fader range as well - I'll never have the need for any amp's gain to be adjustable from 0 to 127 in a live setup, so something between, say, 30 and 80 will pretty much be suitable, which will again make the faders easier to operate, even on a small smartphone screen.
Once done, the initial setup of both the GT and the Stomp will take some time, but at least for the time being, for the GT I will only have to do that once on one base preset covering all the "global blocks" (Stompbox presets in Boss lingo), of which I will only be using one preset per item (anything else would possibly drive me mad). That preset will also serve as a soundcheck preset. For now I think 11 assigned parameters will do, leaving me up to 5 more for further assignments (no idea why Boss is limiting the parameter amount to 16 per patch).
For the Stomp, I will unfortunately have to repeat the MIDI mapping process for each and every preset, but as I'll only be using one preset per gig anyway, I can start with something fundamental and expand from there whenever I feel like. Also, MIDI learn works a treat, so the mapping is way less of a pain than through Boss' assignment dungeon.
I also already fooled around with the XY pads in TO, mapping various Stomp parameters - this could provide quite some wicked fun. As I really only "need" one amp and cab from the Stomp, I could ditch the internal drives (there's enough analog ones in front) whenever I feel like and have quite some DSP juice free for funky stuff. And the XY-pads feel pretty much as great as the faders, so I could just leave a single screen pad opened all the time and start whatever weird stuff there. Like holding a chord and fading it into some wobbly delay madness gradually.
Seriously, now that I have pretty much all of the initial issues sorted, this could become an incredible setup. Still some finetuning to do, but the core stuff is already finished and working, could already use all that on a gig.
So, I'm making progress with TouchOSC. Found a script that'd send all fader values at once, which is pretty much a key function to synchronize TouchOSC and the controlled device in case there's no feedback between the app and the controlled device (which there isn't - and I doubt you could even make it work with either the GT or the Stomp). That's why I'm sending out all values from the app and then have a WYSIWYG scenario. Once I had this sorted (at first I wasn't sure it'd be working...), I knew I could go all in.
The kickass thing about TouchOSC is that you can very easily (!) connect your desktop computer and the mobile device, the latter will then automatically update it's performance screen so you can instantly see things and test them out. Sure, you can as well do all editing on the mobile device, but compared to working with the desktop editor, it's a royal PITA.
Really, IMO it can't be stressed enough, the amazing thing is that all this worked instantly. Install TO, install TO bridge (taking care of the communication duties), tell desktop version to be the server and in case you're on the same network, it'll instantly show up in the mobile version.
I'm now trying to figure out the best way to deal with a multi-page setup in TO, unfortunately standard swiping between pages isn't an option, but clickable page buttons seem to be quite cool as well (and they don't require too much space).
I should possibly add that the TouchOSC faders respond incredibly well on both my cheap Samsung phone and tablet (A55 and Tab A9+). Way, way better than any of the various IEM mixer remote controls and also way, way better than all the freebie MIDI controlling apps I've tried. No idea how they're doing it, but it's a remarkable difference. Add to this that I'll scale the fader range as well - I'll never have the need for any amp's gain to be adjustable from 0 to 127 in a live setup, so something between, say, 30 and 80 will pretty much be suitable, which will again make the faders easier to operate, even on a small smartphone screen.
Once done, the initial setup of both the GT and the Stomp will take some time, but at least for the time being, for the GT I will only have to do that once on one base preset covering all the "global blocks" (Stompbox presets in Boss lingo), of which I will only be using one preset per item (anything else would possibly drive me mad). That preset will also serve as a soundcheck preset. For now I think 11 assigned parameters will do, leaving me up to 5 more for further assignments (no idea why Boss is limiting the parameter amount to 16 per patch).
For the Stomp, I will unfortunately have to repeat the MIDI mapping process for each and every preset, but as I'll only be using one preset per gig anyway, I can start with something fundamental and expand from there whenever I feel like. Also, MIDI learn works a treat, so the mapping is way less of a pain than through Boss' assignment dungeon.
I also already fooled around with the XY pads in TO, mapping various Stomp parameters - this could provide quite some wicked fun. As I really only "need" one amp and cab from the Stomp, I could ditch the internal drives (there's enough analog ones in front) whenever I feel like and have quite some DSP juice free for funky stuff. And the XY-pads feel pretty much as great as the faders, so I could just leave a single screen pad opened all the time and start whatever weird stuff there. Like holding a chord and fading it into some wobbly delay madness gradually.
Seriously, now that I have pretty much all of the initial issues sorted, this could become an incredible setup. Still some finetuning to do, but the core stuff is already finished and working, could already use all that on a gig.
