Quilter Elevate

[laxu]

I imagine both ways. It isn't totally obvious at first glance how easy it is to program and work with. Personally there was a small paradigm shift but once it clicked, it became crazy simple to get whatever tone I was after. But again, don't want to make an ad of this. The web browser will make things a little easier for some, but it is pretty intuitive as is. Okay, connectivity is as follows...
Inputs and outputs are:
1) Mono guitar input.
2) Bluetooth compatible Jamlink™ module supporting Apple Lossless and Android APDX codecs.
3) Stereo xlr out and stereo 1/4 inch out.
4) Stereo USB interface out for DAW connectivity.
5) Headphone output.
6) Expression pedal input.
7) Midi in/out.
It is not running a web server, parameters are passed via USB.
It boots up in 3 seconds.

Don't worry about making it seem like an ad. We are all interested in gear here and what better way to learn about it than from the makers themselves.

So if I understand it right, you connect e.g a mobile device or laptop to it via USB, then go to some website like quilterlabs.com/elevate/whatever, and the website then connects to the pedal and will sync whatever you do in the web app?

What are the things you feel this design solves vs other products on the market?

With not much more to go on than a pic from NAMM, this appears to be like a simplified modeler. But I really can't see anything here that I can't do on my Hotone Ampero 2 Stomp with its touchscreen, multiple knobs and 8 second boot time.

 

[Sascha Franck]

What are the things you feel this design solves vs other products on the market?

Excellent question!

 

[QuilterLabsCEO]

@QuilterLabsCEO can you expand on this? Is this an analog circuit for the amp tones? What kind of approach are you using?

It is digital but Brian has taken a novel approach to the setup and use. Probably too early to try to explain in great detail. (A video later would make it apparent in moments, but a long explanation over text might be more confusing. )

 

[ucnick]

View attachment 37059

Heh. I have a ZX81 (predecessor) sitting around somewhere, built it from a kit in 1981.

 

[QuilterLabsCEO]

Don't worry about making it seem like an ad. We are all interested in gear here and what better way to learn about it than from the makers themselves.

So if I understand it right, you connect e.g a mobile device or laptop to it via USB, then go to some website like quilterlabs.com/elevate/whatever, and the website then connects to the pedal and will sync whatever you do in the web app?

What are the things you feel this design solves vs other products on the market?

With not much more to go on than a pic from NAMM, this appears to be like a simplified modeler. But I really can't see anything here that I can't do on my Hotone Ampero 2 Stomp with its touchscreen, multiple knobs and 8 second boot time.

Well it has a 3 second boot time so there is that.
As far as what it solves vs. other products is that it takes a different approach; we like to call it the "Anti-Modeler."
Modelers have shown themselves to be complicated and difficult to get good results from. (Of course results may vary from one person to another.)
There is a steep learning curve, and they are quite expensive in most cases.
Rather than recreate what already exists, we focused on simplifying the use of digital technology so that anyone with a basic knowledge of guitar tone can quickly and easily get great results.
It might not be the perfect solution for everyone, but then again nothing really can fill that particular space. That's the cool thing about our market. We are spoiled for choice.
There are lots and lots of options. If your Hotone is good for you, then you are good and that is totally okay.
Of course, we really do think you would find it easier and appreciably more satisfying to use the Elevate.
If for nothing else than the Jamlink input which would let you practice to tracks natively in the unit. (Compatible with bluetooth.)
For us the goal is to build a very portable, usable, and reliable solution for the average guitarist to get professional results without the need to profile an amp, buy IRs, or go through a great learning curve. All while giving the flexibility to achieve pretty much everything the high dollar modelers can and perhaps more.
Our goal has always been to punch well above our weight class.
Hope all that rambling makes sense.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Rather than recreate what already exists, we focused on simplifying the use of digital technology so that anyone with a basic knowledge of guitar tone can quickly and easily get great results.

And if you really wanted to simplify and speed up the process, why couldn't you add a few more encoders so one could in fact edit things fast?
And yes, that is a very serious question and not just me being snarky.
I mean, just the simple task of editing a typical drive, level and BMT tonestack is getting super tedious once you have to select each of them over and over again before you can actually edit them. Some more encoders solve that in a heartbeat.
And while things might be all fine and dandy once you're using the editor app, this is nothing most people want to deal with at rehearsals or during soundchecks.

 

[DrewJD82]

So far as the onboard UI, no. As I mentioned in the post on the Gear Page, it will have real-time connectivity from a chrome browser. But that said, it is relatively simple to program even from the onboard interface. It would surprise you how easy it is to get exactly what you want. (But as I mentioned on TGP I want to respect the forum and not turn it into an ad, really I am here to clarify things if I can.)

Welcome to the forum!!

You're good to go with discussing your products, man! There's a world of difference between a drive-by product announcement and actually engaging with people and none of what I've read so far has been a drive-by announcement!

 

[Sascha Franck]

Oh yeah, sorry that I forgot to say so: While I see this thing pretty much critically, I absolutely appreciate it that company folks are directly answering in forums!

 

[QuilterLabsCEO]

And if you really wanted to simplify and speed up the process, why couldn't you add a few more encoders so one could in fact edit things fast?
And yes, that is a very serious question and not just me being snarky.
I mean, just the simple task of editing a typical drive, level and BMT tonestack is getting super tedious once you have to select each of them over and over again before you can actually edit them. Some more encoders solve that in a pinch.
And while things might be all fine and dandy once you're using the editor app, this is nothing most people want to deal with at rehearsals or during soundchecks.

Totally fair question. Having just made about 60 presets myself and being a user of most every modeler out there I feel reasonably qualified to answer this.
One goal was to have the fewest possible failure points in the design. By using capacitive touch sense buttons and a single rotary encoder we eliminate one of the worst problems. Component failure. All of this goes out the window when a knob or button breaks off and/or goes bad.
The more knobs and buttons, the more you increase the odds that something is going to break. Which really sucks. I say that as a gigging guitarist myself. Ask me how much my expensive reverb pedal knob (I won't say which brand) cost me to replace when a stray mic stand fell and decapitated it? Alot. Almost as much as the pedal. I wound up fixing it myself.

All that said, you can get where you want to remarkably fast. It may seem like having to touch EQ and then use the rotary encoder to choose and make changes is complicated or takes too much time, but all things considered it isn't really that difficult or time consuming. Definitely hear you on rehearsals and soundchecks, but then again that really isn't the best time for you to be editing anyways, knobs or not. When using a modeler, I personally just make notes and edit later unless something is really egregious. But if total stage flexibility is your priority, I would probably not recommend any digital product really. At that point an amp and pedals is your friend. This aims to be a solution to be able to load up lots of songs, put them into a setlist and easily go play or just enjoy jamming at home. It is meant to simplify the entire process, but not eliminate every possible use case. (Which nothing could really do that if we are being honest.)

I venture to say that if you gave it a try, it would be surprisingly intuitive, and within a few minutes you could pretty much dial in anything you could imagine. I dialed up a pretty complicated sound for Vernon Reid in the airstream at NAMM in less than a minute. He was blown away, and he wants one.
All that said, I have used most of the modelers out there. (I own pretty much all of them.) This is definitely not any more difficult than any other and in some respects, it is easier.

 

[QuilterLabsCEO]

Welcome to the forum!!

You're good to go with discussing your products, man! There's a world of difference between a drive-by product announcement and actually engaging with people and none of what I've read so far has been a drive-by announcement!

As a guitarist I hate that. So I try to be overly cautious and not a marketer.

 

[Sascha Franck]

One goal was to have the fewest possible failure points in the design. By using capacitive touch sense buttons and a single rotary encoder we eliminate one of the worst problems. Component failure. All of this goes out the window when a knob or button breaks off and/or goes bad.
The more knobs and buttons, the more you increase the odds that something is going to break. Which really sucks. I say that as a gigging guitarist myself. Ask me how much my expensive reverb pedal knob (I won't say which brand) cost me to replace when a stray mic stand fell and decapitated it? Alot. Almost as much as the pedal. I wound up fixing it myself.

Point only halfway taken.
1) I hardly ever had knobs fail. And I'm doing this kinda thing professionally since some decades already. And yes, there's been plenty of mic stands falling back in my rock'n'roll days. Plus drunken stagedivers. And flying beer bottles. Chances that things break because of any of that certainly exist, but it's usually anecdotal evidence and defenitely not the norm.
2) The single knob on the Elevate could fail as well. Which would leave you with no knobs.

but all things considered it isn't really that difficult or time consuming.

On this I absolutely disagree. I went from a Helix Floor (6 encoders) to an HX Stomp (3 encoders) and the differences in editing speed are simply staggering.

Definitely hear you on rehearsals and soundchecks, but then again that really isn't the best time for you to be editing anyways, knobs or not.

And *exactly* because it's not the best time to edit things, it's even more important that it goes fast.

When using a modeler, I personally just make notes and edit later unless something is really egregious.

I do small edits on each and every gig, even on well rehearsed ones. Most people I know do so as well.
Note: I'm playing lots of unrehearsed telephone band gigs, so being able to adjust things to accomodate the situation is even more important.

But if total stage flexibility is your priority, I would probably not recommend any digital product really.

Why not? It's not about digital or analog but about accessibility. If you want to look at my current setup and some extremely detailed descriptions of why and how I'm doing things the way I'm doing them, feel free to look here (or rather don't, it's a really, really long read...).
For myself, given that pretty much all modeling (or "anti-modeling") units these days are delivering sufficient sound quality for live, UI accessibility has become *the* key factor.

I venture to say that if you gave it a try, it would be surprisingly intuitive

As you're new here, you might not know it, so here goes: I said so quite sometimes already, it's not exactly about editing being intuitive or easy. It's about editing being as fast as it gets. The setup I'm using right now is as far away from being intuitive as it gets. But I can edit things in a live situation faster than ever before. Even faster than on most analog setups.

 

[QuilterLabsCEO]

Point only halfway taken.
1) I hardly ever had knobs fail. And I'm doing this kinda thing professionally since some decades already. And yes, there's been plenty of mic stands falling back in my rock'n'roll days. Plus drunken stagedivers. And flying beer bottles. Chances that things break because of any of that certainly exist, but it's usually anecdotal evidence and defenitely not the norm.
2) The single knob on the Elevate could fail as well. Which would leave you with no knobs.



On this I absolutely disagree. I went from a Helix Floor (6 encoders) to an HX Stomp (3 encoders) and the differences in editing speed are simply staggering.



And *exactly* because it's not the best time to edit things, it's even more important that it goes fast.



I do small edits on each and every gig, even on well rehearsed ones. Most people I know do so as well.
Note: I'm playing lots of unrehearsed telephone band gigs, so being able to adjust things to accomodate the situation is even more important.



Why not? It's not about digital or analog but about accessibility. If you want to look at my current setup and some extremely detailed descriptions of why and how I'm doing things the way I'm doing them, feel free to look here (or rather don't, it's a really, really long read...).
For myself, given that pretty much all modeling (or "anti-modeling") units these days are delivering sufficient sound quality for live, UI accessibility has become *the* key factor.



As you're new here, you might not know it, so here goes: I said so quite sometimes already, it's not exactly about editing being intuitive or easy. It's about editing being as fast as it gets. The setup I'm using right now is as far away from being intuitive as it gets. But I can edit things in a live situation faster than ever before. Even faster than on most analog setups.

This is a bit too long to reply to. (Sorry, I am kind of a busy fellow.) Edit: But I did read the whole thing.
That said, it is entirely possible that our goals for the product might not be consistent with your use case. Which is okay.
If you have a product that is right for you, stick with it. A brief run through your link definitely tells me we are very different in our approaches to the instrument and gear and that is totally cool too. Nothing really right or wrong with that either.
Although I do disagree that it is any more complicated or time taking than anything else out there.
I can have built entire patches in less time than it takes most serious units to boot up.
But it is okay for us to disagree too. The world is big. There are many options.
We are definitely not starved for choice.

 

[Enchilada Jones]

As much as I enjoyed poking fun at the look of it I know if it sounds great I’ll adapt.
If it was offered by a name I didn’t recognize and respect I’d dismiss it outright but since Quilter makes good sounding gear I know I need to keep an open mind to the possibility I’m going to end up liking the thing I made fun of.

If the user interface ends up being unusual but rewarding in some way I’ll adapt with pleasure.
I’d glad you did something with a twist to it instead of offer us yet another slight variation of what we all have had too many times already.

So, yea, it looks like it won’t be good, right up until you prove me wrong and I pay you to let me have one!

 

[QuilterLabsCEO]

As much as I enjoyed poking fun at the look of it I know if it sounds great I’ll adapt.
If it was offered by a name I didn’t recognize and respect I’d dismiss it outright but since Quilter makes good sounding gear I know I need to keep an open mind to the possibility I’m going to end up liking the thing I made fun of.

If the user interface ends up being unusual but rewarding in some way I’ll adapt with pleasure.
I’d glad you did something with a twist to it instead of offer us yet another slight variation of what we all have had too many times already.

So, yea, it looks like it won’t be good, right up until you prove me wrong and I pay you to let me have one!

I admit I got a laugh or two at the merciless comments. It's okay. We are grown ups so we can take it. I was just disappointed no one referenced those old 80s head to head games.

 

[Frodebro]

I admit I got a laugh or two at the merciless comments. It's okay. We are grown ups so we can take it. I was just disappointed no one referenced those old 80s head to head games.

I guess I was so caught up in the nostalgia of my parents circa 1981 RCA VHS recorder that I forgot all about the games. But then again, the original Kemper received a ton of shit for its appearance early on, and now “Toaster” is damn near its official name, so there might just be some genius behind this approach.

 

[norminal]

It needs more knobs.

Some crazy billionaire once said that “the best part is no part.”

 

[Sascha Franck]

Some crazy billionaire once said that “the best part is no part.”

That blasphemic statement would get him banned from any serious gear forum!
"More is..."

 

[Eagle]

Interfaces for on the fly tweaks are rarely going to please everyone but encoders that correspond to typical analog controls are usually preferred.

 

[the-trooper]

It's okay. We are grown ups so we can take it

What the hell, we don't need that kind of attitude here.
Reported!

 

[the swede]

Cool!

But....

As a user that got sick of modelers (option paralysis and my own shortcommings and whatnot) this looks very good to me. But unfortunately in my personal case it still is heavily leaning into being the box that gets me caught up in to many options and less playing. A Walrus ACS1 or TC Ampworx like box would have appealed to me more. Preferably one or max three amp models with three cab sims. I just need restriced no choices to stay focused on enjoying guitar playing.... unfortunately for me that is... and admitedly im one of thoose few extreme examples that just cant find a way back into the multipupose boxes.

But hey... well done Quilter! I like the thought of it, and the looks. And very cool youre here!

On the topic @QuilterLabsCEO
Is there Neunaber stuff... stuffed inside that box?