Sonulab Stompstation Pro (NAM player pedal)

[Sascha Franck]

No word on the 2 parallel paths & how they can be leveraged just yet - the bottom one ought to allow repurposing as a FX Loop.

Then it basically just depends on whether you can freely place the loop and NAM/IR blocks - if that was possible, you could use it as a dual mono thing.

Currently not possible. We'll see what the future brings.

Hm, ok then...

If it holds up with the first unit (which I assume) we're at around 2-3ms.

That'd possibly be within an acceptable range.

Fwiw, just so that nobody is wondering, the reason I'm being a bit anal about latency is that any such a device will mainly not be used standalone but nested in a digital loop, possibly even with another digital loop added.
Right now I'm doing this with my GT-1000s and Tonex Ones, so the maxed out signal chain looks like:
Input -> FX loop 1 send -> analog pedals -> return -> FX loop 2 -> TXO -> return. So that's 4 full ADDA cycles. With the GTs and the TXO overall latency is still just around 3.5ms max (it's quite amazing, really). Given that I sometimes have to play gigs with whatever IEM systems, there might be some further latency added - and yes, I've already been running into situations where that became an issue. So I try to "fight" for every millisecond with my core setup already to gain as much "latency headroom" as possible.

 

[FrankyFire]

Then it basically just depends on whether you can freely place the loop and NAM/IR blocks - if that was possible, you could use it as a dual mono thing.

That is why I'm so curious about the news regarding the FX Loop/Second In- and Output.
It can load dual IRs already, but I think only mix them in Lane 1. I would think that a full Stereo/Dual Mono Setup could be possible. But we'll have to wait for the firmware update and how they implement the second path finally. It might also just be an insert.

 

[Sascha Franck]

But we'll have to wait for the firmware update and how they implement the second path finally. It might also just be an insert.

I think it only depends on whether you could freely place both send and return anywhere in the signal chain.

 

[2dor]

On FB Sonulab claim 1.2 ms of latency...

 

[ACSlater]

On the fence if I'm going to preorder the SSP. I can't find a list of the FX and from what I can find about the non-pro model, there are no pitch effects or wah included. Would've been nice to see a whammy, octaver or even a harmonizer included. With the Chocolate Plus it's easy to add an expression pedal via midi.
Looks like the perfect device though to get replace my ToneX pedal. Better captures and a UI that makes sense.

 

[Sascha Franck]

On FB Sonulab claim 1.2 ms of latency...

Oh, that'd be fantastic.

Still, if they stick with the regular price (I'm defenitely not pre-ordering), that'll be quite steep IMO.

 

[2dor]

Looks like the perfect device though to get replace my ToneX pedal. Better captures and a UI that makes sense.

I think that's really the main selling point IMHO.

 

[2dor]

Oh, that'd be fantastic.

Still, if they stick with the regular price (I'm defenitely not pre-ordering), that'll be quite steep IMO.

Definitely - the preorder price is solid. The list price though is too steep imho - throw in a bit more and you can get a used FM3, an AM4 etc. No NAM profiles, true, but legit units.

 

[2dor]

MIDI mapping (source)

 

[FrankyFire]

On the fence if I'm going to preorder the SSP. I can't find a list of the FX and from what I can find about the non-pro model, there are no pitch effects or wah included. Would've been nice to see a whammy, octaver or even a harmonizer included. With the Chocolate Plus it's easy to add an expression pedal via midi.
Looks like the perfect device though to get replace my ToneX pedal. Better captures and a UI that makes sense.

There are no Pitch Effects currently. Expect it to only have very basic effects that might not do the job for you. This unit has a long way to go. I've been using HX Stomp for the last 5 years and that one was far more complete than any Sonulab product. But it didn't handle NAM Profiles (and probably never will).

There's also currently no MIDI Expression implementation. You can turn off and on the FX Blocks and switch presets. That's it. I'm also missing (MIDI controllable) input and output volumes (especially for the second IOs). It does have an "External Control", but I guess it is just for external switches. Might change in the future, which I assume, as the icon indicates a "ramp" which leads me into thinking that an Expression Pedal could be added.
If it's only about being "better than ToneX" you can also go for the smaller unit.
BTW: I did a small write up of my experience with the device.

 

[Sascha Franck]

MIDI mapping (source)

Thanks.

Fwiw, one thing that is fantastic with my Tonex One setup: Using the Pirate MIDI Pico allows me to use both PCs and CCs to switch TXO presets. That's just excellent as I have quite some GT-1000 patches set up so I can switch TXO patches within a single GT patch. Wouldn't be possible if it only supported PCs - now, this is because the GT can't send PCs within a patch for whatever reasons, but as in general CCs are much more supported to do "within a patch" changes, I think this would be a nice addition for any such units nested in somewhat more complexed MIDI driven setups.

 

[ACSlater]

It does have an "External Control", but I guess it is just for external switches. Might change in the future, which I assume, as the icon indicates a "ramp" which leads me into thinking that an Expression Pedal could be added.
If it's only about being "better than ToneX" you can also go for the smaller unit.
BTW: I did a small write up of my experience with the device.

Totally missed the "External Control" when looking for specs. Im not using a lot of FX but a wah/volume option is something I would surely use. Basic chorus, (tap) delay and reverb are enough for me most of the time, and they're covered in the 'Pro'.
Reading my own post, it might look as if I find the Tonex captures lacking in quality, which is absolutely not the case. I really like the Tonex sound, it's the UI that makes me pull my hair out. I imagine the Sonulab is like a Tonex pedal with a screen that can actually show you the info you need and bluetooth phone/tablet app for quick parameter changes (instead of endless button pushing and turning to get to the parameters). Even if there was no app, it's probably pretty simple to adjust the settings on the device.

 

[Chocol8]

I imagine the Sonulab is like a Tonex pedal with a screen that can actually show you the info you need and bluetooth phone/tablet app for quick parameter changes (instead of endless button pushing and turning to get to the parameters).

You sound like a great candidate for the pirate midi or a DIY version. You get a phone app to control the Tonex, plus more foot switches and/or midi control if you want. You can also have a touchscreen on the box in addition to the phone app.

 

[ACSlater]

You sound like a great candidate for the pirate midi or a DIY version. You get a phone app to control the Tonex, plus more foot switches and/or midi control if you want. You can also have a touchscreen on the box in addition to the phone app.

Don't get your hopes up too high; I've been spoiled with the Helix UI and rather not go back to implementing (too much) midi into my setup. The time spent with configuring my Behringturd FCB1010 with a Rocktron Xpression/TC Electronic G-Major....Ugh! The Line6 M13 was a big improvement to those rack units.
I got my Quad Cortex last saturday as I wanted to go back to a all-in-one unit with captures. The Stomplab looks like a great addition to that. Even though I don't exactly need it as such. Might as well wait for the plethora of devices from Hotone, Mooer, Sonicake etc. that will come out in the near future with the newest NAM A2 standard. If only I could contain my 'buy-it-now-finger' that clicks the mouse button before I know it.

 

[Chocol8]

You don't need to use midi with the PM add on. It gives you the phone app control and if you want, a touchscreen without needing midi. Thats actually how I have been using it. I don't have midi on my boards right now, but I really like having the phone app to control the Tonex One.

But, QC mini is an even better solution. I would definitely skip this thing, or hold off to see how it fares in people's hands for a bit.

 

[Richard_G]

I'm tempted to give Sonulab the benefit of the doubt and preorder one, as I've wanted to have a hardware NAM player available...

Edit: And so I did…

 

[aaltool]

Looks great and very tempting. Just the right feature set for my use. How do these native NAM players fare with hyper accuracy captures that even some desktop computers struggle with? Are these pedals really able to play those captures as well without loss of quality?

 

[MachineAgainstTheRage]

Another video about it. It seems it has a pickup simulator as well... I wonder if it works as an acoustic sim too?

 

[FrankyFire]

Looks great and very tempting. Just the right feature set for my use. How do these native NAM players fare with hyper accuracy captures that even some desktop computers struggle with? Are these pedals really able to play those captures as well without loss of quality?

Obviously not. Even standard is almost impossible for most of them (not sure about Anagram though). A2 does offer the option to "scale" the profile according to processing power.
Also you can assume it will be very good. I don't get why some people seem to bother about hyper accuracy on a pedalboard. You're usually not recording with this. In a live situation nobody is going to notice those details when the fucked up sound of your bass player muffles all over your meticulously crafted tones. Usually there's also a drum in the room.

 

[2dor]

Looks great and very tempting. Just the right feature set for my use. How do these native NAM players fare with hyper accuracy captures that even some desktop computers struggle with? Are these pedals really able to play those captures as well without loss of quality?

IMHO, there's no such thing as hyper accuracy captures - NAM is infinitely tweakable.

What's "hyper accurate" now can be surpased the next minute by anybody with a good GPU and time on their hands but you're going into diminishing returns territory (inference demands / training power requirements vs accuracy gains).

AFAIK the Sonulab Stompstation Pro can run xSTD profiles (those are similar to the A1/Standard architecture as far as parameter count is concerned) but not sure how stable it is.