When We Could Only See Through A Stained Glass... Dimly

[cyoungnashville]

this was originally posted by the one man who has the whole gamechanger vision swimming around in his head. i thought this would be a good time to dig this up, and reintroduce it into the conversation. it is a very very important part of what makes this unparalleled technology so very exciting for me. (only to be outdone by the pure, face melting TONE you hear straight out of the box). i have A LOT of things that i want to do with the bass guitar, and the regular old sissy guitar, that just werent previous-leo-humanly possible to even comprehend... UNTIL NOW. trust me when i say... the lads aint even gotten warmed up yet! here's the quote from days gone by:


"What ****** (redacted to protect the ignorant) doesnt know is that the gamechanger will evolve into something that can control your effects rack, amp settings , recording set ups....it is an intuitive controller that leaves the tone alone.... it just unleashes it. Can you imagine a five way switch that each stop is programmed with everything from effects to amp settings....and then you use the push pull tone pot and there are 5 more? The great thing is that the guitar does not look different or intuitively perform differently....you dont have a mess of knobs or a special sequence...it act likes an old school guitar..." Sterling Ball / Summer 2010



please keep an open mind as you learn more about this brand new marvelous, historic, invention, and ask not "what can my gamechanger do for me, but... what kind of musically inspiring freaky deaky things can i do with my gamechanger?" amen. and now elton john will sing an inspirational song about a cartoon baby tiger.

 

[Elad_E]

awesome, I haven't thought about the effects,amp settings etc. idea.
will that mean we'll be taking a pc to every gig, a dedicated GC amp/effect pedals or will the GC itself contain the programable effects (which means introducing DSP into the analog circuit :-/ )?

btw, it was a lion cub not a tiger's.

 

[Psycho Ward]

There really should be a lefty.

 

[keko]

Well, I still don't get it one detail. On official page is shown next explanation:

"Combining any order of pickup coils in series, parallel, in or out of phase gives you access to the most extensive library of never-before-heard tones. Imagine having complete tonal control of your instrument, with over 250,000 pickup combinations, without manually rewiring anything! True to form, the audio signal is never digitized or modeled in any way, providing a transparent analog signal path for the absolute purist."

So, my question is:

-what about the preamp section? Could the preamp settings also be stored to one of the presets? What when I choose one preset and than touch and correct one of preamp pot knobs?

That's really bothers me!

 

[projectapollo]

awesome, I haven't thought about the effects,amp settings etc. idea.
will that mean we'll be taking a pc to every gig, a dedicated GC amp/effect pedals or will the GC itself contain the programable effects (which means introducing DSP into the analog circuit :-/ )?

btw, it was a lion cub not a tiger's.

I guess you only need the PC at home to set-up the presets in the instrument. Then take the bass to your gig and good-to-go.

As far as controlling other gear, it would not be a gigantic leap to add a midi interface internal to the GC instrument. EBMM would need to partner with a few pedal/amp companies to implement midi on their end -- and, presto, the guitar/bass GC preset controls it all -- sets the analog pick-up config, outputs a midi signal to the daisy chain of pedals and amps. Just a quick idea, sitting here drinking my morning coffee, of how this could work. Tone stays all-analog, control switching is digital. Of course, this arrangement would result in a midi cable dangling from the guitar.

 

[MadMatt]

EBMM would need to partner with a few pedal/amp companies to implement midi on their end

Actually, I think that would not be necessary. <speculation> In its simplest form the GC would only need to send a series of MIDI commands after being switched. The commands could be programed though the UI</speculation>

On the skinny string side, a lot of the pro grade rack effects are MIDI controlled. They all just receive MIDI... all you need to know what command to send. (Now if it was really only that easy )

-M@

 

[projectapollo]

Actually, I think that would not be necessary. <speculation> In its simplest form the GC would only need to send a series of MIDI commands after being switched. The commands could be programed though the UI</speculation>

On the skinny string side, a lot of the pro grade rack effects are MIDI controlled. They all just receive MIDI... all you need to know what command to send. (Now if it was really only that easy )

-M@

Cool. So the midi implementation in the GC would be a logical next step. I was thinking of the Tech 21 Bass Driver deluxe stomp box -- with the 4 pre-set foot switches. If they added a midi interface, the GC instrument could readily select any of those 4 presets that the user set in the Bass Driver.

The only problem with this -- as a keyboard player, too -- is that midi is way overly complicated in the keyboard world. If the manufacturers somehow kept it simple in the GC guitar/bass world, this could take-off.

 

[Elad_E]

it would not be a gigantic leap to add a midi interface internal to the GC instrument. EBMM would need to partner with a few pedal/amp companies to implement midi on their end -- and, presto, the guitar/bass GC preset controls it all

that's the simple plan??

 

[projectapollo]

that's the simple plan??

Would not be surprised to see 2012 NAMM introduce an alliance with MarkBass to produce GC-compatible pedals and amps. Just wild speculation. Like wondering what will be in the iPhone 5....

 

[cyoungnashville]

who said anything about midi??? maybe its not. i could care less. dont get lost in the details, (unless you really want to be a programmer) all i care about is simplicity, and tone. after seeing what drew and dudley and the whole gang are capable of implementing with the gamechanger design, i have no doubt it will be rock solid, and easy to use as a cartoon midi tigerlion.

 

[projectapollo]

who said anything about midi??? maybe its not.

Or perhaps a midi-like system. Midi is well established, so its not that much of a stretch. I agree -- whatever it is, it needs to be simple. Something that Midi is definitely not -- at least the way the keyboard folks have implemented it.

 

[Lax]

Since there is no midi port on the guitar, I would speculate on a necessary part of gear.

Currently we use a midi pedalboard, linked to a switcher that manage our effects and channels.

If it were to be on the guitar :
-The guitar works like a midi pedalboard and is linked to the switcher (usb switcher ?)
-The guitar is linked to the computer via USB and the computer is acting like a pedalboard to a switcher
-We only talk about virtual effects, the computer does the preamp and effects and is controlled by usb
-Pedals and rack stuff made to fit GC (that seems inapropriate to me, how to wire them ?)

I like this topic

 

[projectapollo]

-We only talk about virtual effects, the computer does the preamp and effects and is controlled by usb
-Pedals and rack stuff made to fit GC (that seems inapropriate to me, how to wire them ?)

Since we are speculating, I'll speculate that a design assumption at EBMM is to keep the instrument signal analog the entire way. So, I'm thinking that virtual effects in the GC scheme are not the approach they are thinking about.

I'm also speculating that the GC guitar/bass remains in control of the switching and saving of the presets for the pick-ups and effects/amps. It is The Controller -- the Game Changer -- never the slave to some other outboard controller.

I'm just making this all up as I type..... so, its not even worth 2 cents, as they say here in the US. Just fun to wonder out-load. The engineer in me.

 

[Lax]

EBMM is to keep the instrument signal analog the entire way. So, I'm thinking that virtual effects in the GC scheme are not the approach they are thinking about.

I fully agree to that

I'm also speculating that the GC guitar/bass remains in control of the switching and saving of the presets for the pick-ups and effects/amps. It is The Controller -- the Game Changer -- never the slave to some other outboard controller.

I don't agree to that
Even if there are enough selectors on the guitar, if there is no switcher on the way, you have to plug an outrageous number of cables to the guitar :/

 

[Big Poppa]

I think that Craig is trying to tell you guys to try not to have technophopia, try to not overthink it and enjoy the ride...I can tell you that it will be able to also send your signal to up to 6 different amps.

 

[lowliferumble]

I think that Craig is trying to tell you guys to try not to have technophopia, try to not overthink it and enjoy the ride...I can tell you that it will be able to also send your signal to up to 6 different amps.

Is this the part where you tell us to ignore the man behind the curtain? And Elton's cartoon tiger song comes up in the mix? ....... I personally can not wait to see what the next leap of the GC will be. So simple , so straitforward, so intuitive ! I gotta' say to BP and all of the amazing crew at EBMM... That ball ain't never coming down . It is going so much further than a country mile!!! HOMERUN! Kinda' like the Bambino pointing to the bleachers and hitting the ball right to them. Only you are pointing to the stars! Nice!

 

[sloshep]

Being a person who supports technology for a living, I had a feeling that this was just the beginning. I finally sat down yesterday and watched all the GC videos. Wow, I now get it. My new SR5 seems so yesterday now. I can't stop thinking about all the coil combination's there are. Make it stop . I will be ordering a case of these.

 

[projectapollo]

I think that Craig is trying to tell you guys to try not to have technophopia, try to not overthink it and enjoy the ride...

Overthinking is fun. I make a good living doing it so I can buy more balls.

 

[oli@bass]

Overthinking is fun. I make a good living doing it so I can buy more balls.

+1

That said, I don't think MIDI is over complicated at all. It's actually a very simple protocol. The main problem (as almost always), is to implement a user interface that makes dealing with the programming of control commands as simple as slicing bread.

 

[Big Poppa]

there is no midi interface.