Dimehead NAM Player

[laxu]

How much will a pedalboard cost with the upcoming NAM player? adding compressor, delays, drives, reverbs etc, a minimal signal chain that could tackle a 1 hour gig of 80, 90 and 2000 music.

Lets say that Line6 M5 ($169.99) takes care of post NAM pedal stuff. A Suhr woodshed compressor($149) and a Friedman Buxom boost ($199) takes care of the pre NAM pedal part. NAM pedal $499.99

That is a cost of $1,017.98 on pedals alone, assuming you already have a pedalboard and power supply.

Just get a Fractal FM3 and enjoy way better FXs, routing options, audio interface, best in class Amp and cab modeling etc.

I don't think that's a good way to think about it.

If you want a specific version of a specific effect, and you want it with dedicated controls you can adjust with ease, a FM3 is not going to do it for you. I see something like a NAM player, Tonex, Kemper Player, Strymon Iridium, UA pedals more as a replacement for your amp/cab and that's it. If they are compact enough you build a pedalboard around them, which can be as simple or complex as you'd like.

FM3 also can't create captures of your favorite amps, or some obscure gear that will never get modeled.

While I agree a FM3 is generally much better value for money, you do get a number of pros and cons in the "one device does everything" concept.

 

[nicolasrivera]

I don't think that's a good way to think about it.

If you want a specific version of a specific effect, and you want it with dedicated controls you can adjust with ease, a FM3 is not going to do it for you. I see something like a NAM player, Tonex, Kemper Player, Strymon Iridium, UA pedals more as a replacement for your amp/cab and that's it. If they are compact enough you build a pedalboard around them, which can be as simple or complex as you'd like.

FM3 also can't create captures of your favorite amps, or some obscure gear that will never get modeled.

While I agree a FM3 is generally much better value for money, you do get a number of pros and cons in the "one device does everything" concept.

Sure. But take the Kemper Player... comes with NO capturing software, if you do not own the Kemper unit that profiles, you are stock with buying the profiles of other people. Kemper Player lest you put 2 fx before and after the profiles and that is great! it also works as an audio interface. So it is a better choice than Tonex and NAM player to the NO MIDI UA failed pedals.

 

[Mike Oliphant]

MOD does it, but the Latency is remarkable. Needs more DPS power (more cost)

MOD's current devices can just barely handle nano NAM models.

My point is that any device capable of really running NAM well should also be able do those extra effects. Most typical effects (delay, chorus, etc.) add a trivial amount of CPU compared to what NAM requires.

 

[laxu]

Sure. But take the Kemper Player... comes with NO capturing software, if you do not own the Kemper unit that profiles, you are stock with buying the profiles of other people. Kemper Player lest you put 2 fx before and after the profiles and that is great! it also works as an audio interface. So it is a better choice than Tonex and NAM player to the NO MIDI UA failed pedals.

Is it? It's a lot more expensive than the Tonex, and with the Tonex software you can make your own captures using a half-decent audio interface. I mean I hate the Tonex app very much, but it's hard to argue that the Kemper Player is good value for money, when you have e.g a HX Stomp in a similar price bracket, a cheaper Tonex and so on.

I do agree that if this NAM player pedal is $500, that's not probably a good buy either - banking on an open source tech that was someone's hobby project that kinda blew up. NAM profile playing capability on something like a Poly Beebo is nice as that pedal does so many other things.

It comes down to what a pedal like this should be - is it just an amp/cab sim pedal, or is it something that does more? IMO if a compact pedal is preferred, then to me it doesn't need to do anything more than amp, cab and a decent room reverb for headphones use. To me these kind of pedals don't need to be a whole rig in themselves but augmented with other pedals.

 

[nicolasrivera]

MOD's current devices can just barely handle nano NAM models.

My point is that any device capable of really running NAM well should also be able do those extra effects. Most typical effects (delay, chorus, etc.) add a trivial amount of CPU compared to what NAM requires.

BOSS has done great implementation with its new amp modeling pedal in its standard form factor.

NAM processing is heavier and great quality delays, reverbs, drive etc also requiere juice and great algorithms.

This upcoming pedal is from a guy starting up, $500 better have exceptional latency and quality I/O converters. IF not it will not last.

 

[wharf rat]

This stuff is too much to keep track of anymore.

 

[Mike Oliphant]

NAM processing is heavier and great quality delays, reverbs, drive etc also requiere juice and great algorithms.

Ideally, drives would also be done using NAM. Delay is trivial compared to NAM. Reverb is also comparatively very cheap unless it is convolution.

This upcoming pedal is from a guy starting up, $500 better have exceptional latency and quality I/O converters. IF not it will not last.

I'm not defending this specific pedal - at that price point, and coming from a small player, it is unlikely to have widespread appeal. On the small player front, I'm more interested in the upcoming v3 version of the pi-Stomp. Or a faster device from the MOD guys.

I expect one of the budget Chinese companies to come out with something at some point. From a software perspective, it would be very easy for them to add NAM to their existing suite of effects. The only issue is they need to power it with a faster chip.

I'm thinking something like the Hotone Ampero Mini with a processor fast enough to handle NAM.

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

I've just seen the latest post over at the Dimehead facebook page.
Things are looking good!

 

[Sascha Franck]

Poly Effects BeeBo already does this as of the last firmware and much more for less money.

From all I know, the Beebo isn't exactly coming along with low latencies...

 

[Aleksi]

Is it just me, or are those footswitches spaced unevenly?

It's probably the perspective and the numbers being between the two outer pairs and the middle being empty

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Is it just me, or are those footswitches spaced unevenly?

Haha - I'd say it looks fine to me, but I've not got one to measure.
Perhaps just slightly off centre camera perspective?

 

[JiveTurkey]

I find it funny that we get twisted up in interfaces 24x7 yet this thing is considered a viable option. No thanks.

 

[the-trooper]

I find it funny that we get twisted up in interfaces 24x7 yet this thing is considered a viable option. No thanks.

No 12" touchscreen?

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

No 12" touchscreen?

pfftt.... 8k high def 50 inch screen model, when?

 

[Sascha Franck]

Switches look as if they could be pretty close to each other. They could even be quite close to the encoders...
Then, as has been mentioned already: How do you navigate through things?
Is "Room" the only effect available (that'd be like with ToneX, hence not much use as a standalone unit)?

 

[2dor]

View attachment 19838

I've just seen the latest post over at the Dimehead facebook page.
Things are looking good!

Pretty curious to see / hear some demos of the thing. I see MIDI and "room" (reverb?) which is cool.
Guess switches 3 and 4 are used to navigate the menu; one of these should probably be a push or something to confirm selection?

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Yeah I think it'll have up to 60 seconds reverb IR loader, which is pretty uncommon!
I don't know the exact answer for how selecting / navigating / tweaking works, but I think it looks as though it'll be a fairly straight forward thing to operate as it's not got 100s of menus to dive into. . . edit: also midi input looks useful!

 

[laxu]

View attachment 19838

I've just seen the latest post over at the Dimehead facebook page.
Things are looking good!

These look a lot nicer than the prototype on the first page. I think there's a knob for most things you'd want to tweak too. Better fonts as well.

IMO the feature set of noise gate, amp sim, cab sim and room reverb is more than enough for this type of thing and helps keep the cost down.

Other effects quickly get into "eh, it doesn't sound as good as my favorite whatever pedal" territory so might as well keep it simple and let people pair it with pedals.

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

yeah I just asked Dirk over at Dimehead, and his reply was:

"param" is a rotary encoder with a button function to navigate through the menu. Most settings can be changed directly using the potentiometers"

 

[Sascha Franck]

From FB, answering my question:

""param" is a rotary encoder, with a button function to navigate through the menu."