IK Multimedia TONEX

[Progressive_disclosure]

Just a note: when I first made V2 captures, I thought the gain mismatch issue was still there, where tonex needs extra gain compensation to match the source. Not sure if I did something wrong during the capture process with V2.

But now when I'm shooting V2 captures, the gain seems to be much closer compared to V1. I previously thought Kemper is more accurate for this. That no longer seems to be the case.

Both captures of Mesa IIC+ and Diezel VH4 come out with pretty much accurate levels of gain -- or at least much more accurate than before. Imperceptibly accurate to me right now.

I don't know if something changed in my own capture process or what. A friend shot VH4 captures -- and I shot captures of the captures, to test this, and still don't feel this "degradation". This seems improved, but absolutely don't take my word for it.

I still fudge around with the gain control a bit, but very small adjustments. Not like before, where I'd add bucket loads of gain to match the source.

I think I noticed this too. Some of my V1 captures were a bit undergained so I had to increase the trim but still it felt off. V2 caps felt like they came out closer from the start to me.

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

I managed to set things up with MainStage now. There’s probably much better ways of doing it but I could assign ”bypass” for five instances of Tonex to buttons, which I then mapped to CC messages from my MIDI footswitch. I also made a HX Native pre-FX channel and a HX Native post-FX channel and mapped snapshots 1-5 to the same buttons. With that I can switch between five Tonex amps and they have both pre and post fx available. Could set something up with other plugins as well but I like to keep it simple and mirror my hardware stuff.

I finally managed to also map an expression pedal to a wah with MainStage and get it to turn off on heel down! I remember that I got stuck on that earlier, and it’s pretty easy to do with hardware Helix. With the pre-FX Native I also mapped the Poly Capo for quick downtuning to a button and a knob, so that tool is present as well. Feels like I’m almost building an Archetype plugin based on Tonex! Some buttons for dirt boxes, cab selection and post-fx and then it’s basically that… No Tonex tweaking though! Very limited controls there.

All in all I’m gonna try this out tomorrow again and see what I think, but I’ll probably order one of these and try to set up basically the same thing but on hardware: https://github.com/Builty/TonexOneController/blob/main/HardwarePlatform_WaveshareZero.md

I’ll be limited to three snapshots for FX switching on the Stomp though…

 

[Sascha Franck]

So, scored a 2nd GT-1000 Core for €350. Not sensationally great but a decent price. Should arrive the next days.
Will show the setup once cobbled together.
Quite excited, for whatever reasons.

 

[Elric]

I like Amplutube, but I tend to default more to just using a saved template in Reaper to play. The ToneX + T-Racks combo tends to work better for general jamming. I can also add other plugins this way, and run the effects in parallel by having multiple tracks.

Yeah, they need a much better front to back integration to make it appealing. In the future Amplitube should be one product and ToneX is a piece of it. I use ToneX in Mainstage with Helix Native, etc.

 

[Shask]

Yeah, they need a much better front to back integration to make it appealing. In the future Amplitube should be one product and ToneX is a piece of it. I use ToneX in Mainstage with Helix Native, etc.

I have a feeling Amplitube 6 is right around the corner, and will be much more ToneX focused instead of it being bolted in later.

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

Waveshare Zero with presoldered headers ordered. Will report back how it goes when it arrives and if I manage to set it up! Also bought jumper wires so I hopefully won’t have to do more than slaughter and solder together some cables to get it working.

I’ll also try out having a couple of Ampero Switch footswitches wired up directly to it if I can finagle all the ground wires together.

Cost so far is less than 20 euros!

 

[Sascha Franck]

A little rant, as I just feel like (and it might be somewhat of interest for some other TXO owners).

My plans for a small GT-1000 Core (which arrived yesterday) setup are likely postponed. Reason: Boss.

I simply can't believe just how stupid things are in Boss land. I would've taken pretty much any bet that there would be a mode allowing me to access 3 presets with the 3 switches. But it's simply impossible.

My plan was to use these 3 presets and have variations of each via CurNum and a lead variation of each using an external switch (and still being able to enter manual mode.
With two presets only (which is what's possible), this won't work anymore. I mean, it's a pretty reduced featureset already anyway, any less and I won't be able to play the gigs this board is intended to be used for.
Sure, there's preset cycling including limited cycling ranges and I could use up/down for that - but as I have to focus on some other things for the show this is supposed to be used for, I just don't want to go there, as there's room for erratic operation.

I could possibly find another way to make things work if there was a "go to preset" option in the assignment section. But there isn't (fwiw, this is working just great on the HX Stomp).

And I could do with another way of patch management if there was an option to toggle between two Tonex patches using one switch within a single patch. But that's not possible, either (again, the HXS does that just fine).

And as if all that wasn't bad enough already, the "dual-switch-press" functions to access manual mode or the tuner are hardwired into the thing.
Given that I have fairly wide feet, this is allowing for erratic things to happen any time. In fact, it's possibly the worst aspect of the entire episode.

It's completely beyond me how this very Boss product - allowing you to do pretty much anything with the switch assignments, "internal" and "Wave Pedal" functions, also allowing you to access tons of things globally - fails so miserably on these things. Heck, give me a global option to sort things in banks of 3 patches each (while disabling the utterly stupid dual-switch actions) and I'm a happy camper already.

In a nutshell: It seems as if the only option to give me a really usable setup would be adding a small MIDI controller (if at all, it'd likely be the Hotone Ampero Control, even all downsides considered...). And at that point, things would be so large that I could as well just grab the big GT and build a small sidecar (containing the Tonex and an RC clone on top, PSU and Pirate MIDI Pico below).
Alternatively, I could cobble together a small HX Stomp setup, but that'd come with other limitations.

Now, you folks may say I could've known all this beforehand - but no, not really. I mean, try studying any Boss manual (which I did) without actually having the unit in front of you and you'll know it's completely impossible to really be aware of what's possible and what not.

So, for the upcoming shows (starting next week), I may just grab the big GT because I know it'll just work.

And I'll very likely be selling the Core (unless some genius ideas cross my mind). Thanks for nothing, Boss, really.

 

[laxu]

A little rant, as I just feel like (and it might be somewhat of interest for some other TXO owners).

My plans for a small GT-1000 Core (which arrived yesterday) setup are likely postponed. Reason: Boss.

I simply can't believe just how stupid things are in Boss land. I would've taken pretty much any bet that there would be a mode allowing me to access 3 presets with the 3 switches. But it's simply impossible.

My plan was to use these 3 presets and have variations of each via CurNum and a lead variation of each using an external switch (and still being able to enter manual mode.
With two presets only (which is what's possible), this won't work anymore. I mean, it's a pretty reduced featureset already anyway, any less and I won't be able to play the gigs this board is intended to be used for.
Sure, there's preset cycling including limited cycling ranges and I could use up/down for that - but as I have to focus on some other things for the show this is supposed to be used for, I just don't want to go there, as there's room for erratic operation.

I could possibly find another way to make things work if there was a "go to preset" option in the assignment section. But there isn't (fwiw, this is working just great on the HX Stomp).

And I could do with another way of patch management if there was an option to toggle between two Tonex patches using one switch within a single patch. But that's not possible, either (again, the HXS does that just fine).

And as if all that wasn't bad enough already, the "dual-switch-press" functions to access manual mode or the tuner are hardwired into the thing.
Given that I have fairly wide feet, this is allowing for erratic things to happen any time. In fact, it's possibly the worst aspect of the entire episode.

It's completely beyond me how this very Boss product - allowing you to do pretty much anything with the switch assignments, "internal" and "Wave Pedal" functions, also allowing you to access tons of things globally - fails so miserably on these things. Heck, give me a global option to sort things in banks of 3 patches each (while disabling the utterly stupid dual-switch actions) and I'm a happy camper already.

In a nutshell: It seems as if the only option to give me a really usable setup would be adding a small MIDI controller (if at all, it'd likely be the Hotone Ampero Control, even all downsides considered...). And at that point, things would be so large that I could as well just grab the big GT and build a small sidecar (containing the Tonex and an RC clone on top, PSU and Pirate MIDI Pico below).
Alternatively, I could cobble together a small HX Stomp setup, but that'd come with other limitations.

Now, you folks may say I could've known all this beforehand - but no, not really. I mean, try studying any Boss manual (which I did) without actually having the unit in front of you and you'll know it's completely impossible to really be aware of what's possible and what not.

So, for the upcoming shows (starting next week), I may just grab the big GT because I know it'll just work.

And I'll very likely be selling the Core (unless some genius ideas cross my mind). Thanks for nothing, Boss, really.

I'm not quite sure I understand the issue.

Boss Curnum is something like "press the currently selected switch again for something else" type deal, right? But this can't be mapped to the CTL1 switch or something?

 

[Sascha Franck]

I'm not quite sure I understand the issue.

The main issue is that I can't have 3 presets on the 3 switches. There's just no way to do that.

Boss Curnum is something like "press the currently selected switch again for something else" type deal, right?

Yes.

But this can't be mapped to the CTL1 switch or something?

Sure. But that's not really solving anything.

I thought I'd have 3 patches with a Curnum modification for each. 6 patches already - using 3 different Tonex patches.
As is, I can do that with 2 patches (on the left and middle switch). So that's 2 different Tonex patches only (I need a minimum of 3). Neither Curnum (which works for those two switches) or CTL1 can change anything with that as there's no way to send a PC within a patch (well, there is, but there's no way to toggle between two PCs).

And as said, the most annoying thing is the left/middle and right/middle switches being hard-coded to simultaneous-dual-switch actions. Which has been causing me troubles with the Stomp already (it's hard-coded to do dual-switch operations in snapshot mode, too). I just don't want to go there again, at least not as long as the most relevant switching operations are concerned. I want my main patch switching to be a single switch affair with no risks to accidentally trigger something else.

 

[laxu]

I want my main patch switching to be a single switch affair with no risks to accidentally trigger something else.

You need a proper MIDI controller in your life. Not a little Hotone, but something more substantially programmable and long term. Otherwise you'll be likely chasing "that one box that is made for thing A but I want to use for thing B except it does not do thing B just right".

Morningstar MC6 Pro, Luminite Graviton M2, or M1 + F6W/F10W footswitch would likely do the kind of switching you want to achieve.

 

[Sascha Franck]

You need a proper MIDI controller in your life.

No, I really don't - well, maybe I do, but not for this thing here. See, this is going to be a very compact setup. The board is ready to go, too (wait, let me take a pic...).

--- 5 minutes later ---

(TXO controller, PSU and DI box to go in below.)

The size is chosen deliberately, as it fits a) in one compartment of a double gigbag, b) in a pretty small backpack, c) in one of my utility cases, d) in a small (cabin luggage size) suitcase.
Anything else and it'd become too large already.
The best I could do to add a small MIDI controller would be to remove EQ and boost, move the GT up, the TXO to the right and sacrifice the dual external switch for a smaller single one. In that case, a Hotone Ampero Control would fit on the bottom end.
Getting rid of the boost wouldn't be an issue in this case (as it'd add some other options) and as the EQ basically only serves as a monitor volume control anyway (don't really need the EQ portion anymore), I could as well slap a supersmall passive volume control on there.

That'd allow me to add a Hotone Ampero Control.
According to Pedal Playground, it'd look like this:

As you can see, there's zero options to slap any of the contenders you've suggested on there (and believe me, I considered them all already).
The size of the board isn't subject to change anymore (in fact, I already made it a bit deeper than before). Any larger and I could as well just grab the big GT.

 

[laxu]

No, I really don't - well, maybe I do, but not for this thing here. See, this is going to be a very compact setup. The board is ready to go, too (wait, let me take a pic...).

--- 5 minutes later ---

View attachment 54734

(TXO controller, PSU and DI box to go in below.)

The size is chosen deliberately, as it fits a) in one compartment of a double gigbag, b) in a pretty small backpack, c) in one of my utility cases, d) in a small (cabin luggage size) suitcase.
Anything else and it'd become too large already.
The best I could do to add a small MIDI controller would be to remove EQ and boost, move the GT up, the TXO to the right and sacrifice the dual external switch for a smaller single one. In that case, a Hotone Ampero Control would fit on the bottom end.
Getting rid of the boost wouldn't be an issue in this case (as it'd add some other options) and as the EQ basically only serves as a monitor volume control anyway (don't really need the EQ portion anymore), I could as well slap a supersmall passive volume control on there.

That'd allow me to add a Hotone Ampero Control.
According to Pedal Playground, it'd look like this:

View attachment 54735

As you can see, there's zero options to slap any of the contenders you've suggested on there (and believe me, I considered them all already).
The size of the board isn't subject to change anymore (in fact, I already made it a bit deeper than before). Any larger and I could as well just grab the big GT.

Hard to tell the exact size of your board here, but how about going vertical with it:

Obviously you'd want to craft a new pedalboard for this so it's slanted differently, or use a flat board.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Hard to tell the exact size of your board here, but how about going vertical with it:

Already thought about it (the board isn't slanted anyway), but the width isn't sufficient. The board is 390mm x 220mm, so even the Gravitron M1 would possibly be tough to handle (the inner switches would be pretty close to the Hotone pedal - and fwiw, in your picture as well).

I could of course think of several other solutions and board sizes, but as said, I went for the current size deliberately, as it just fits in all possible transport "containers".

But in case you've seen my last post in the GT-1000 thread, you may by now imagine that this isn't exactly the unit really making me feel like adding some money at all.
I might in fact give the Hotone Ampero Control a try as its pretty cheap and as I could easily return it in case the editing app doesn't work (which it seems to do on both my Android devices and my Macbook), because there's still some aspects of the GT making it a pretty decent candidate for such a setup, but spending any more money absolutely isn't what I want. I'd rather use the big GT then.

 

[laxu]

Already thought about it (the board isn't slanted anyway), but the width isn't sufficient. The board is 390mm x 220mm, so even the Gravitron M1 would possibly be tough to handle (the inner switches would be pretty close to the Hotone pedal - and fwiw, in your picture as well).

I could of course think of several other solutions and board sizes, but as said, I went for the current size deliberately, as it just fits in all possible transport "containers".

But in case you've seen my last post in the GT-1000 thread, you may by now imagine that this isn't exactly the unit really making me feel like adding some money at all.
I might in fact give the Hotone Ampero Control a try as its pretty cheap and as I could easily return it in case the editing app doesn't work (which it seems to do on both my Android devices and my Macbook), because there's still some aspects of the GT making it a pretty decent candidate for such a setup, but spending any more money absolutely isn't what I want. I'd rather use the big GT then.

If I converted the board size correctly (15.35x8.66 inch) for PedalPlayground, M1 + F6W would just barely fit in there, though hitting that top left switch might be a bitch as it's so close to the GT-1000 Core's.

The switches on the F6W have different heights so the back row is taller. M1 5-pin MIDI jacks are on the left side and the F6W can be either wireless or connected with 1/4" TRS.

 

[JiveTurkey]

The whole POINT of the Core should be "hey; here's this amazingly compact full rig in a super small box that can do pretty much anything you need in a super small format". It's Boss so obviously they screwed that up.

 

[Sascha Franck]

If I converted the board size correctly (15.35x8.66 inch) for PedalPlayground

Apparently the conversion didn't work well. I can't fit the Luminite footswitch (it'd be too tight if it fitted as in your picture anyway).
And well, this would be quite a costly solution - the Ampero Switcher is €108 and would likely do anything I need right now.
Not gonna sink more money in that Core-turd.

 

[Chocol8]

Waveshare Zero with presoldered headers ordered. Will report back how it goes when it arrives and if I manage to set it up! Also bought jumper wires so I hopefully won’t have to do more than slaughter and solder together some cables to get it working.

I’ll also try out having a couple of Ampero Switch footswitches wired up directly to it if I can finagle all the ground wires together.

Cost so far is less than 20 euros!

I just picked up a slightly used 4.3" touch screen unit from a pile of parts someone was trying to use for a completely different project that did not work out for him. It looks super easy to build if you don't need wired midi or a bunch of foot switches, and I am probably going to build it with neither, and just use it as a touch screen controller and maybe BT midi.

I need to dry some filament and then print a case so I probably won't get to it before the weekend, but it looks like a very simple project. If it works well, I could see getting a couple zeros to put under a board to allow phone control and BT midi.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Found a guy who will be building me a 4.3" touchscreen controller with 2 switches for around €130. Currently waiting for the Aliexpress parts.
That one will go onto my big board, but I'll try to mount it with the TXO on a kinda module that I can easily pull out for standalone usage.

The small board is coming along nicely, too. Hotone Ampero Control arrived today, testrun successfully absolved, cabling and stuff tomorrow, should only take half an hour or so. Here's it without any cables:

In case this does the upcoming gigs well, I'll exchange the Soulpress II with a Hotone Ampero Press II (EXP with toeswitch).

Coincidentally and possibly interestingly enough, this fits in a pedalboard bag along with the (now super reduced) Stomp "board", so the emergency backup is taken care off nicely, too.

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

What timing with both of you posting about doing 4,3 inch versions! I got the Zero home tonight and swiftly got a power cable sorted. Was pretty easy to follow instructions and flash the unit (had a Windows computer available) with the .exe provided from the project. I messed up the WiFi settings (didn’t change to ”Station”) so had to turn off my home WiFi to correct it…

After that I managed to connect my BOSS FS-1-WL by typing in the ”custom name” on the BT tab on the web UI. Everything works and it was really straight forward so I’d totally recommend this project to anyone with a BT MIDI controller.

The mobile interface is of course a bit crude UI wise but totally workable, pretty responsive and quick. No complaints!

I’ve set up my BT controller like this using cable to HX Stomp:

FS1-3: Tonex preset 1-3, HX Snapshot 1-3
FS4-5: Tonex preset 4-5

With that I have 3 different amp+post FX Snapshots and can enable/disable FX directly on the Stomp to suit my flavor of the day. Then I’ve got two additional Tonex amps on FS 4+5 when I’d like a different flavor. I think I’ll be happy with this, and both the Stomp and Tonex pedals are off the floor as well in my setup. Plus with the mobile web UI it’s super easy to set up the Tonex pedal for stand-alone mode if I want to switch rooms and just do a super light, battery-powered solution. Or to change how the presets are numbered.

I’ll probably look into 3D-printing a small case for the Zero to protect it. Can easily see this being a great solution to stick underneath a pedalboard!

 

[Sascha Franck]

So, you can't polish a turd they say.
Just that sometimes you can.
Quick demo of how this setup works, it's really just about 2 things:

1) Even with the GT-1000 Core controlled from the Hotone Ampero Control, then passing MIDI to the Pirate MIDI Pico, which will then convert the message to be suitable for the Tonex One, switching is incredibly fast and gapless (you can see that I'm even switching inmidst of a held chord).

2) There's delay and reverb spillover.

You'll also be able to see how I can easily manipulate patch 1 to become a lead variation.



Waiting for a bunch of patch cables to replace the ugly yellow/white ones (will likely take until tomorrow, grr...), then everything will be secured with cable ties, some rubber feet will be added and then on to some rehearsals and shows. Should be great.