"Vintage Revolution" digital control of analog effects

[jtn191]

I saw a review of this and thought it was cool. imo, this is the future: digital control of analog effects. pretty expensive though

gut shots here
http://www.vintage-revolution.com/products/pedalpro/pics/

[DutchMF]

This had to happen sometime.... But can we build it?

Paul

[RogerAxetrample]

I saw a review of this and thought it was cool. imo, this is the future: digital control of analog effects. pretty expensive though
...
gut shots here
http://www.vintage-revolution.com/products/pedalpro/pics/

This had to happen sometime.... But can we build it?

Paul

Hi jtn and Paul,

thanks! I'm the guy playing in the video. If you have any specific questions about how the PedalPro is built, let me know and i'll run it by the main designer.
In general, as i understand it, it's a complex and labour-intensive machine, there is both SMD and THT technology involved, and 4 processors for the digital control. But i guess you guys know much more about this then i do, even by seeing the inside pics.
Take care, best
Roger

[GrindCustoms]

I found it to be really nice until i heard that distortion........, nothing about it sounded natural to me, too much gating....even if no gate preset seemed to be active......sounded like the Digitech RP7 i used to have.....

If it can be used, using the 4 cable method to the amp it then can be really nice, otherwise.....better buy a midi switcher and a patchbay.....

@Roger, really liked your playing

[DutchMF]

I saw a review of this and thought it was cool. imo, this is the future: digital control of analog effects. pretty expensive though
...
gut shots here
http://www.vintage-revolution.com/products/pedalpro/pics/

This had to happen sometime.... But can we build it?

Paul

Hi jtn and Paul,

thanks! I'm the guy playing in the video. If you have any specific questions about how the PedalPro is built, let me know and i'll run it by the main designer.
In general, as i understand it, it's a complex and labour-intensive machine, there is both SMD and THT technology involved, and 4 processors for the digital control. But i guess you guys know much more about this then i do, even by seeing the inside pics.
Take care, best
Roger

Hey Roger, I was only joking, and even "joking" is an understatement This kind of device is well beyond the grasp of the average DIY-er on this forum. If you're smart enough to reverse-engineer and build a thing like this, you might as well design something new and produce it yourself! Still looks very interesting, it will be nice to see where this is going......

Paul

[RogerAxetrample]

I found it to be really nice until i heard that distortion........, nothing about it sounded natural to me, too much gating....even if no gate preset seemed to be active......sounded like the Digitech RP7 i used to have.....

If it can be used, using the 4 cable method to the amp it then can be really nice, otherwise.....better buy a midi switcher and a patchbay.....

@Roger, really liked your playing

Hi GrindCustoms,
thanks!
To me, the distortions/od's sound amazing. It's completely JFET and it's very dynamic. In this video you can hear how it cleans up with lower guitar volume and lighter picking, (listen from 3m15s on):

You'll not be able to clean up like that using digital distortion or something like the RP7 i think... Another thing i like, is the ability to put static filters in front and behind the od/dist section which gives tons of different voicings.
About the 4-cable method, this has just been implemented by using an optional hardware mod. That places the pre-loop after the od/dist section, so you can drive an amp's overdriven pre-amp and then run the signal back into the PedalPro for the mod/time effects. We'll probably do a little video about that mod soon.
Take care,
Roger

[RogerAxetrample]

I saw a review of this and thought it was cool. imo, this is the future: digital control of analog effects. pretty expensive though
...
gut shots here
http://www.vintage-revolution.com/products/pedalpro/pics/

This had to happen sometime.... But can we build it?

Paul

Hi jtn and Paul,

thanks! I'm the guy playing in the video. If you have any specific questions about how the PedalPro is built, let me know and i'll run it by the main designer.
In general, as i understand it, it's a complex and labour-intensive machine, there is both SMD and THT technology involved, and 4 processors for the digital control. But i guess you guys know much more about this then i do, even by seeing the inside pics.
Take care, best
Roger

Hey Roger, I was only joking, and even "joking" is an understatement This kind of device is well beyond the grasp of the average DIY-er on this forum. If you're smart enough to reverse-engineer and build a thing like this, you might as well design something new and produce it yourself! Still looks very interesting, it will be nice to see where this is going......

Paul

Hi Paul,
yeah i'm no builder and can not even comprehend how they managed to come up with something this intricate, technically. But what i got sofar from the designer is that the philosophy was one of no compromise to tone and flexibility. All the components are topnotch, and there's so many option to tweak the sound, so many parameters that you get.
And there's some nice software updates coming still, to further enhance the useability. I keep you guys updated!
all the best,
Roger

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

That's quite the device there! I enjoyed most of the sounds name-ably the wah sound.

[RogerAxetrample]

That's quite the device there! I enjoyed most of the sounds name-ably the wah sound.

Hi bigmufffuzzwizz,
thanks, yeah the wah is really nice, i like that you can set the exact freq range and put it before or after the distortion.
R

[centraleuropean]

My ultimate DIY fantasy is a stompbox with a dozen of digitally controlled drive or modulation circuits.

It would feature a LCD screen with a big pot to select the model you want and a bunch of digital pots to control the currently selected circuit.

Imagine having 10 pedals in a not-so-big enclosure... without too many pots.

And why not implement a memory of your favorite preset for each of your circuit ? Or even a second set of knob and an A/B switch ? And patches memory ....

You could swap circuits...change it the way you want without be forced to rearrange your pedalboard or to buy a new enclosure/knobs/etc etc

I'm dreaming...

[RogerAxetrample]

My ultimate DIY fantasy is a stompbox with a dozen of digitally controlled drive or modulation circuits.

It would feature a LCD screen with a big pot to select the model you want and a bunch of digital pots to control the currently selected circuit.

Imagine having 10 pedals in a not-so-big enclosure... without too many pots.

And why not implement a memory of your favorite preset for each of your circuit ? Or even a second set of knob and an A/B switch ? And patches memory ....

You could swap circuits...change it the way you want without be forced to rearrange your pedalboard or to buy a new enclosure/knobs/etc etc

I'm dreaming...

Hey centraleuropean,

i guess that the PedalPro is the thing that comes closest to that dream at this point...
Would you like it better if the PedalPro had more pots? Right now there is one big, continuous, parameter value dial, and the parameters are selected with knobs.
R

[raulduke]

That is an impressive piece of work there!

Must have taken the designer an age.

I can see it being a 'niche' product. From the pictures it looks very well made and engineered.

For me personally though, part of the beauty of stompboxes is being able to twiddle the controls without any 'menu diving', and also being able to swap pedals/circuits in and out of the chain easily.

Its kind of like Analogue Synths vs Digital; part of the appeal of analogue synths is having all the controls there at your disposal.

[RogerAxetrample]

That is an impressive piece of work there!

Must have taken the designer an age.

I can see it being a 'niche' product. From the pictures it looks very well made and engineered.

For me personally though, part of the beauty of stompboxes is being able to twiddle the controls without any 'menu diving', and also being able to swap pedals/circuits in and out of the chain easily.

Its kind of like Analogue Synths vs Digital; part of the appeal of analogue synths is having all the controls there at your disposal.

Hey Raulduke,

thanks! Yes it took the designer 7 years, from the initial idea to the finished product which came out this year. There has been a LOT of problem-solving along the way he told me. Some of the technology hadn't been done in this way before so it had to be patented.
I totally see your point about the controls. The designer is thinking about some way to also allow for this feature. Maybe there could be some external small unit with a row of parameter knobs?
By the way, there is a software update coming up called 'Virtual Board', which makes it possible to load a single preset, and then switching single on and off using the pressure pads, as you would do using a regular stompbox pedalboard.

ciao, best
Roger

[raulduke]

Yeah some 'hands on' control is always a good thing IMO.

I can see this unit appealing to producers/studios as much as anyone; stompboxes have long been a 'secret weapon' of many a producer for processing non-guitar tracks, and this looks like a neat way to integrate a load of analogue effects into a small rack space.

Have you/the designer tried showing this to the guys over at GearSlutz etc.?

[RogerAxetrample]

Yeah some 'hands on' control is always a good thing IMO.

I can see this unit appealing to producers/studios as much as anyone; stompboxes have long been a 'secret weapon' of many a producer for processing non-guitar tracks, and this looks like a neat way to integrate a load of analogue effects into a small rack space.

Have you/the designer tried showing this to the guys over at GearSlutz etc.?

Hi, yes they're mostly aiming at guitar players but it will certainly be of use in studios, given the sound quality.
I remember posting something at Gearslutz, but will that again, thanks!
Right now we're just thinking about getting a endorser, preferably a known guitar player who's big on using effects and could give us some feedback.
Best,
Roger