Digitech poised to make big moves

Back to Digitech.

I hope a resurgent Digitech stays out of amp modeling. We've got enough choices there. We need their boundary pushing effects. We need a new 1/4 inch polyphonic synth. Call it a Space Station II if you must. Just make it great and with some tasty effects. And don't forget a Slicer.
 
Jarick said:
Would definitely be interested to see what Digitech would do with 2023 technology.
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Considering what they were able to accomplish with 1992 technology, I'm inclined to agree. This thing was awesome.

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Old school it be (and need to like the 19" rack form), but the Digitech IPS-33b is one of the best mid-priced pitch-shifter/harmony machines I've used to this day. The tech in that thing back in the early 90's was amazing (designed by IVL in Canada, that done the WH1 from memory).
 
Desertdweller said:
Considering what they were able to accomplish with 1992 technology, I'm inclined to agree. This thing was awesome.

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First time I ever saw someone go direct to PA was with one of those, and it actually sounded good. It was at DisneyWorld, at their “Downtown Disney” thing, where they had different “clubs” to go in, and this was like an 80’s pop/rock place. I was amazed, because I had just started playing guitar, and I had no idea this was even possible.
 
I remember borrowing $100 from a GF in high school to buy a cheap RP-5 that turned up in a pawn shop. It might have been my first multi fx processor and I was so excited.

Ultimately I was more enamored with the flexibility and broad selection of fx. In the end the sounds always left me wanting though. It was tough to get a usable straight up crunch tone that could compare to even my crappy crate amp.

I think it was a year later that the POD came out and changed everything for me.

I did the think the RP-100 and higher stuff from the 2000s sounded much better than the older RP-5 era gear though. It would great to see the brains behind that gear back in the game. I wish them well and welcome seeing a continuation of all their previous knowledge and hard work.
 
I wonder if they will do amp modelling again I mean the Johnson millennium and mirage
I believe were early modelling amps but with tube preamps
Would be interesting to see that with the already amazing effects in a product
 
EOengineer said:
I remember borrowing $100 from a GF in high school to buy a cheap RP-5 that turned up in a pawn shop. It might have been my first multi fx processor and I was so excited.

Ultimately I was more enamored with the flexibility and broad selection of fx. In the end the sounds always left me wanting though. It was tough to get a usable straight up crunch tone that could compare to even my crappy crate amp.

I think it was a year later that the POD came out and changed everything for me.

I did the think the RP-100 and higher stuff from the 2000s sounded much better than the older RP-5 era gear though. It would great to see the brains behind that gear back in the game. I wish them well and welcome seeing a continuation of all their previous knowledge and hard work.
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POD amp tones killed the earliest Digitech units without question. However, Digitech effects were way better IMHO. I thought the J-Station was as good as the POD and once they rolled that back into the Digitech units around the GNX line I was on the Digitech train pretty much up to the end.
 
Will Chen said:
POD amp tones killed the earliest Digitech units without question. However, Digitech effects were way better IMHO. I thought the J-Station was as good as the POD and once they rolled that back into the Digitech units around the GNX line I was on the Digitech train pretty much up to the end.
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Yeah the L6 effects didn’t start getting interesting until the PODxt. I do remember thinking the GNX stuff represented a BIG corner turned for DigiTech at the time, particularly in the amp modeling.
 
Will Chen said:
POD amp tones killed the earliest Digitech units without question. However, Digitech effects were way better IMHO. I thought the J-Station was as good as the POD and once they rolled that back into the Digitech units around the GNX line I was on the Digitech train pretty much up to the end.
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There was a ton of excellent rack gear in the mid 90s that outclassed what the POD could do. However, the POD was little, easy to use, fit on a desktop, had a headphone jack, etc. It knocked off a lot of rack gear like the Boss rack preamps, the Rocktron preamps, Digitech, etc., because it was so much more convenient and easy to use.

2000s kids had this problem “Hey the guy in Godsmack uses a Rectifier, how do I get that sound?”
You could sit there for weeks working on the 3 EQs in a bulky Rocktron Chameleon rack preamp trying to get close to the sound, having to have an understanding of graphic EQs, parametric EQs, learn what a variac adjust is, and why the unit’s gain dial goes from 12 to 78 (not kidding, this is real).

Or just turn this one dial to “Treadplate” and there you are.
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That was the difference, from my recollection.

IMO this is the same problem Fractal has now. I love the depth in the Fractal units, but it is overwhelming for some people.
 
Desertdweller said:
IMO this is the same problem Fractal has now. I love the depth in the Fractal units, but it is overwhelming for some people.
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No, this is a very different problem IMHO. In terms of Amp parameters, Fractal throws the kitchen sink at you but there's absolutely no reason to dig deep unless you want to as they offer a Tone page offering something pretty close to what you'd get on the real amp (in many cases less complex as each amp channel is a separate model). So really, being overwhelmed by the Amp block is more a personality trait where some folks simply can't limit their focus to the more realistic/limited 1st page thinking that that they have to touch everything because it's there.

Now, I'd absolutely agree the UI needs some work for some of the effects blocks where Fractal takes a more old school rack effect approach vs Line 6 creating many models for differing flavors of the same effect but even then if one has even rudimentary experience with a pedal they should be able to figure things out (such as limiting one's focus to rate and depth for most modulation types).
 
Will Chen said:
No, this is a very different problem IMHO. In terms of Amp parameters, Fractal throws the kitchen sink at you but there's absolutely no reason to dig deep unless you want to as they offer a Tone page offering something pretty close to what you'd get on the real amp (in many cases less complex as each amp channel is a separate model). So really, being overwhelmed by the Amp block is more a personality trait where some folks simply can't limit their focus to the more realistic/limited 1st page thinking that that they have to touch everything because it's there.

Now, I'd absolutely agree the UI needs some work for some of the effects blocks where Fractal takes a more old school rack effect approach vs Line 6 creating many models for differing flavors of the same effect but even then if one has even rudimentary experience with a pedal they should be able to figure things out (such as limiting one's focus to rate and depth for most modulation types).
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It’s a real problem and something Fractal needs to work on. there may not be a ‘need’ to dig deeper, but it’s absolutely overwhelming for a large population of musicians. Case in point is Rhett Shull’s take on it:

 
Desertdweller said:
It’s a real problem and something Fractal needs to work on. there may not be a ‘need’ to dig deeper, but it’s absolutely overwhelming for a large population of musicians. Case in point is Rhett Shull’s take on it:

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Love his custom presets! I wish he would have worn the hat in this video though :(
 
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