Who here does any amp channel swtching via MIDI?

[mars_hall]

When I ask this, I do not mean who sends MIDI commands that are decoded by the amp at the end of the path, but rather are decoded by a device that converts the command to discrete TRS or TR signal levels that are plugged into the amp's 1/4" footswitch jacks.

I know Voodoo Lab makes the Control Switcher for this function, but was hoping to find a less expensive alternative.

Disaster Area Design makes a solution more geared to signaling pedals via smaller TRS cables that are not footswitch output jacks but rather replacements for the much larger 5 pin DIN connector.  In other words, the same MIDI command is transmitted through a smaller physical interconnect yet it  is still undecoded from a footswitch input point.

I would be OK with a solution that did the decode and put the signal levels out on a 5 pin DIN connector, as this is what my Groove Tube Trio preamp can accept as an alternatie to the the normal 1/4" jacks.  See the 5 pin DIN foot switch connector below.

What I am working on...  The intellifex processors are gone with a TC Electroni G-Major/2 in their place.

 

What do you know and/or use?  Thanks in advance

 

[JeffB]

Sorry, I cant help.
That all looks really great. I want stuff like that.

The thought that I had while I was reading your post was - if I had that sort of question, I would ask mars_hall.

[DetroitBlues]

You lost me at Midi...I just plug a guitar cable into an amp.

[mars_hall]

1 hour ago, DetroitBlues said:

You lost me at Midi...I just plug a guitar cable into an amp.

That is the same end game for me.  Getting there, though, is a little more involved.

Did an Amp and MIDI controller for my Sr Design Project while in undergrad at Purdue.  Everything was designed, fabricated, and coded from scratch, so I had to get familiar with the entire system in order to get the grade. 

I was kind of really hoping to shorten that cycle a bit with something closer to ready-made/off the shelf.

[Genericmusic]

🤔

[TalismanRich]

If I want to change channels,  I have to unplug from the first and plug into the second.    No rack, no midi.  Just a pedal board and a chord to the amp.  I found the RP355 to be confusing... having a rack system would scamble my brain!

 

[bolero]

So you want to control everything in that rack with a MIDI controller? and the GT amp has no MIDI input?

try a MIDI to CV converter & hook it up between your controller & the GT amp

I'm assuming you want to save configurations on your main controller, then have it send commands to multiple rack units via MIDI

 

[mars_hall]

56 minutes ago, bolero said:

So you want to control everything in that rack with a MIDI controller? and the GT amp has no MIDI input?

try a MIDI to CV converter & hook it up between your controller & the GT amp

I'm assuming you want to save configurations on your main controller, then have it send commands to multiple rack units via MIDI

 

Have to look into this with concerns being cost of the convertor itself and an adaption to latch a TRS plug.  The Voodoo Lab Control switcher is about $180 and would do the job but this would be something like a $180 dollar single amp footswitch and that sounds a bit much to switch a single amp when I already have the non-MIDI footswitch to begin with.  Thanks for giving me something that might work.

[rwinking]

I use MIDI to switch preamps all of the time. However, the Egnater/Synergy stuff is already MIDI so it was not too tricky to set it up. In my acoustic rig I also use MIDI to switch IRs in my line 6 powercab. I use a really nice Martin D-28 IR and a Gibson Loar mando Ir.....I switch instruments hit a button and I get a different preset in the PC. I am an old guy and back in the 80s I stupidly thought MIDI was just for keyboards. I learned of quite a few applications for guitar and stubbornly learned how to set it up but in no way can I do all of the things I know it can do.

[mars_hall]

On a related note, I feel pretty happy I was able to get another rack setup going and share resources between them.

I used my Hughes & Kettner Access preamp (H&K's response to the Triaxis), which has great tone and feel.  I placed this into the effects loop of my Rocktron Prophesy allowing me to use the effects of the Prophesy, which are deeply configurable and sound great.  I used the built in responses to drive the front end of the Access (compression, wah, hush,...) and the output effects of the prophesy, very conparable to an Intellifex on steroids..   At the same time I disabled the Prophesy's presamp.  I knew this was possible years ago, but finally got around to figuring out the workable paths.  Both preamps can be switched in/out via MIDI so it is like an XOR situation.  Output goes into my Legacy III which drives a matching 4x12 cabinet with Greenbacks.

 

[LK155]

How about some audio clips so we can hear the results?

 

[rwinking]

I still love rack systems!

[mars_hall]

Looks like I will go with a Suhr microMIDI to do the conversion for a single amp two channel TRS switch.  Reverb has sold used ones in the $70-80 range and new are about $120 shipped

 

[rwinking]

I use a HOTONE Ampero for my Quad Cortex and I have no complaints.

[nuke]

I integrated all this stuff by using a Fender ToneMaster Pro.  You can use it as a modeling amp with a full-range speaker or just sending it to the PA board directly if you like. 

However it is also designed to work well as a pedal board, and it actually does that really well and you get your choice of hundreds of effect pedals and a huge number of presets you can build just by drag-and-dropping them on the screen. You can even change the impedance load the guitar sees, so it mimics stuff like old-vintage fuzz-faces that really load down the guitar (which alters the tone). 

The board also has two relay-contact outputs, so if you want to build presets that use the built-in tremolo effect in your old Fender amp, or turn the amp's reverb on and off, or operate channel switches from the Tone Master Pro itself. The Tone Master pro also processes MIDI commands and allows for two expression pedals too. 

I was building a new pedal board with the pedals I've been collecting since I was a teenage in the early 80's. Then I looked at how valuable they've become and how big and heavy the pedal board was becoming. It just made more sense to get the Tone Master Pro. 

It does a lot. It also can simultaneously accept a low-Z microphone and run a vocals chain with a preamp and compression/limiter at the same time. 

 

[bolero]

I'd buy that if it had an espresso machine too. A footswitch controllable espresso machine, with an arm that brings it up beside the microphone