Sonicake Pocket Master

[Lysander]

As mentioned in this thread, Sonicake recently had a sale on AliExpress and the likes for this device. I ended up impulse-buying one for €48, in semi-transparent black

10 days later, it's here. Will you look at this cute little thing!

I'll put it through its paces later tonight, but first impressions are good. The device feels surprisingly hefty and solid in the hand, controls are responsive and the display, while low contrast, is quite good. I even like how they leaned into this limitation making all graphics retro lo-res.

 

[Chocol8]

Got mine as well. The stock presets suck, so it is going to need some time to evaluate.

 

[Byrdman]

That's cool! I was thinking about picking one up but have not made up my mind yet. I'm on the fence whether to spend a little more and go the Tonex 1 route instead.

If anyone has a Stomp, let me know what it's like in the loop please. If you have time of course.

 

[bikescene]

I ordered one from Sonicake’s eBay page and should get it next week. Good to hear that it feels good. I’m going in with low expectations but am looking forward to trying out NAM full rigs with it. At $50, that’s less than what Amplugs go for nowadays.

 

[Lysander]

So, some preliminary impressions after noodling with this thing. tl;dr, for ~$50, it delivers a lot.

• Super easy to navigate, even with very basic physical controls. I was setting it up and editing patches within 10 minutes of first turning it in, with no manuals.
• @Sascha Franck , the headphone output is LOUD. I plugged in with a pair of 35Ω ATH-MSR7s, which were uncomfortably loud at 45% volume or so. You can crank it up to 100% with no distortion, and it will blow your eardrums off.
• Charges and operates perfectly from USB-C PD devices. This might sound like a given, but a lot of cheap gadgets with "fake" USB-C won't work with high-power chargers.
• Bluetooth and USB audio work as advertised The phone app (Android/iOS), however, is very spotty - it connects maybe 50% of the time. When it does connect, it's a nice little app you can edit everything through.
• You're right @Chocol8 , the stock presets do suck
• Much like other Sonicake/Valeton products, amp models go all the way from "meh" to "wow, that's very nice". I liked the Engl Powerball and Bassman models here, but the Vox AC30 was kinda crappy.
• Effects are surprisingly good! Delays, modulations and reverbs are all solid; i particularly liked the modulated "ambient" reverbs such as Ocean and Dream.
• Stock cabs are fine. There're 5 user slots for IRs and NAM captures available.

All in all, for the price, i think this is a keeper for portable practice: compact, battery powered, feature packed, and it can be fully operated on-device. It even comes with a nice belt clip which can be screwed in.

 

[Lysander]

PS, the phone app is crap, but the PC tool (Windows) worked flawlessly out of the box. I managed to upgrade firmware to 1.3.3 and upload a couple NAM captures in a matter of minutes.

I never really use NAM, so i can't give you any reference as to how accurate they reproduce, but i downloaded a bunch of captures from Tone3000, dropped them in, and they all sounded very good to my ears. The volume on these is very low compared to the stock amp models thou.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Thanks for the information!
Just to be sure: Can you load a NAM capture and an IR at the same time?

 

[Lysander]

Thanks for the information!
Just to be sure: Can you load a NAM capture and an IR at the same time?

EDIT: You get 5 NAM slots and 5 IR slots, all separate, but you can't run NAM and an IR at the same time I had to download captures with IRs backed in.

 

[Sascha Franck]

but you can't run NAM and an IR at the same time

Uh, no good, because most decent NAM profiles I've checked so far were amp only captures.
But hey, if I'd ever get this thing, it'd be strictly for casual stuff anyway, so that's possibly not much of an issue. If I really wanted, I'd just re-capture something. And maybe I wouldn't even need NAM files on the thing anyway.

Another question: Does it support MIDI over BT, would you happen to know? The manual shows the MIDI implementation only but not whether it'd work over BT.
And well, how fast do patches switch?
If it was switching patches reasonably fast via BT, this would be a great backup solution, possibly the best casual/jam/backup solution for that money you could find.

 

[Lysander]

But hey, if I'd ever get this thing, it'd be strictly for casual stuff anyway, so that's possibly not much of an issue. If I really wanted, I'd just re-capture something. And maybe I wouldn't even need NAM files on the thing anyway.

Yeah. I knew about this limitation beforehand, but i don't really plan to use captures.

Another question: Does it support MIDI over BT, would you happen to know? The manual shows the MIDI implementation only but not whether it'd work over BT.

I haven't tried it, but apparently this is supported as of fw v1.3.3. The manual lists a bunch of CC commands:

And well, how fast do patches switch?

It's fast, but not quite gapless.

 

[Chocol8]

but you can't run NAM and an IR at the same time I had to download captures with IRs backed in.

Yep, which means I have exactly zero NAM captures that work. Ugh!

 

[Sascha Franck]

The manual lists a bunch of CC commands:

Yeah, I've seen those. But there's no notion whether it's via BT, USB or both (my guess would actually be both, because it shouldn't be tough to add the other once one of them is there).

 

[Lysander]

Yeah, I've seen those. But there's no notion whether it's via BT, USB or both (my guess would actually be both, because it shouldn't be tough to add the other once one of them is there).

I've seen a bunch of videos of people controlling their Pocket Master with BT midi switchers, so yeah, it apparently works

 

[Chocol8]

So, I finally loaded a few NAM captures. Due to the need for full captures and the death of my old Windows laptop 18 months ago, I had to download free ones which is always a crapshoot. It seems the captures are at a MUCH lower volume level than the stock presets, and I had to crank the volume on the capture, add volume in the EQ block, and crank the preset volume to get them in the ballpark, and a couple I also added a boost block after the amp to bring the levels up!

Also, unless I am missing something, the Mac software is used for firmware upgrades and moving files like captures and IRs on and off the device, but you can't edit the presets with it. That is done on the device, or through the phone app. The software is usable, but not well designed, and a bit frustrating at times. As a whole, I would rank it on par with Tonex which is far from a compliment!

Sound wise it is OK. The effects range from usable to pretty bad. The fuzz is pretty bad, some of the reverbs and delays are OK. The default presets sound like 25 year old modeling tech, and while I have not played with them much, I am assuming even with adjustment the modeling is not going to impress. Three of the 5 NAM captures imported fine. Two sound like crap, not sure if that was the conversion, an issue with sample rate or other settings, or just bad captures, but it is a potential extra headache if all NAM files don't import equally well.

I think the name is appropriate. With the built in battery, small but usable screen, and form factor, it is a decent pocket practice solution for $50. If you are looking for a tool to use on a pedal board for home or to gig, the Tonex One is a significant step up based on my early impressions.

 

[Lysander]

It seems the captures are at a MUCH lower volume level than the stock presets

Yeah, that was my exact same experience. Apparently this is a thing with all cheap modelling devices importing/converting NAM captures these days; i have no idea why capture levels aren't being normalized.

Also, unless I am missing something, the Mac software is used for firmware upgrades and moving files like captures and IRs on and off the device, but you can't edit the presets with it.

Indeed. The computer app is equivalent to Line 6 Monkey or Fractal-Bot and, as far as i can tell, the only way to import captures/IRs onto the device.

 

[Chocol8]

Indeed. The computer app is equivalent to Line 6 Monkey or Fractal-Bot and, as far as i can tell, the only way to import captures/IRs onto the device.

On the iPhone app, if you click on the amp block of a preset and then chose the clone, you will have an option to import a NAM file from the phone. This is one of those things that makes me say the software is Tonex level. It works but it is clunky and annoying.

 

[Chocol8]

And for more clunkiness, IR loading is also available but works completely different. Click on the IR block, click the name of the selected IR, click User IR, click on one of your 5 slots, and then click the ... to the right, click import IR.

Click, click, click, click, click, click. Not well designed at all.

 

[Lysander]

It's very clear to me that IR and NAM loading is a complete afterthought on the Pocket Master. Sure, it works, but it's not what the device was intended for.

 

[mbenigni]

So, some preliminary impressions after noodling with this thing. tl;dr, for ~$50, it delivers a lot.

• Super easy to navigate, even with very basic physical controls. I was setting it up and editing patches within 10 minutes of first turning it in, with no manuals.
• @Sascha Franck , the headphone output is LOUD. I plugged in with a pair of 35Ω ATH-MSR7s, which were uncomfortably loud at 45% volume or so. You can crank it up to 100% with no distortion, and it will blow your eardrums off.
• Charges and operates perfectly from USB-C PD devices. This might sound like a given, but a lot of cheap gadgets with "fake" USB-C won't work with high-power chargers.
• Bluetooth and USB audio work as advertised The phone app (Android/iOS), however, is very spotty - it connects maybe 50% of the time. When it does connect, it's a nice little app you can edit everything through.
• You're right @Chocol8 , the stock presets do suck
• Much like other Sonicake/Valeton products, amp models go all the way from "meh" to "wow, that's very nice". I liked the Engl Powerball and Bassman models here, but the Vox AC30 was kinda crappy.
• Effects are surprisingly good! Delays, modulations and reverbs are all solid; i particularly liked the modulated "ambient" reverbs such as Ocean and Dream.
• Stock cabs are fine. There're 5 user slots for IRs and NAM captures available.

All in all, for the price, i think this is a keeper for portable practice: compact, battery powered, feature packed, and it can be fully operated on-device. It even comes with a nice belt clip which can be screwed in.

You're kind of making it sound like a $50 Nano Cortex killer. Which is... wow.

 

[Lysander]

Man, if the Nano Cortex didn't require a phone for everything, i'd already have one.