Z-Link w/ Strymon Pedals

[yayajohn]

dawman, i just wanted to let you know that I've got a Big Sky and Timeline on the way here.
I tried not to be a copycat but after searching through endless amounts of demos on You Tube, the Strymon has a noticable advantage.
So if you could kindly stop introducing me to way cool high pricey devices like this that I absolutely have to have, my wallet would appreciate it.

[dawman]

Sorry about that Chief...
Strymons are Monsters because the sheer amount of parameter modulations that can be done.
And wouldn’t you know those really slow Analog Device SHARC ADSP-21369.

I told myself after hearing UAD having the ADSP-21469, the newest SHARC, that I’m sick of waiting for these guys to add MIDI.
So since they don’t do jack shit other than have really high quality static FX I’d grab some Strymons and add them to my kick ass ScopeMixer set up, automated snapshots recallable via prgm chng messages.

Fuck UAD. For years I waited for MIDI and got stroked, but because I’ve got Scope they can kiss my ass.
Besides they got plenty of static guys buying them.
Compared to MIDI Controlled Strymons, those Dogs won’t hunt.

Sorry YaYa.
I promise to help out, even though Strymon has great PR, nice HR people and fast answers from the designer since they’re not that big of a company.

I don’t mind keeping these guys around regardless of the costs.

When I show up to the party, mah sound quality is Supreme, my MIDIControl..........Extreme.

Here’s the smallest size I use for gigs now.
Monitor attaches with a 360 degree VESA Monitor Arm, DIY Plywood/Mouse that also acts as a riser for the VESA Arm Clamp that is fixed in the rear of the ATAT Case.
I go to Home Depot and get scraps already cut laying there.
This time I got Finnish Birch Plywood.

Usually thin board wraps, but not this stuff.
You could make a Guitar width this shit.

0E662ECB-0D8D-4114-85E8-FF38AC336762.jpeg (381.36 KiB) Viewed 18731 times

2535CDA9-B77F-4F78-99DC-74BD4A6CE908.jpeg (367.55 KiB) Viewed 18731 times

B7D20E0E-B0A5-4123-A88B-D8A58E6988EA.jpeg (336.85 KiB) Viewed 18731 times

[yayajohn]

Your rig looks awesome. My pedals just showed up yesterday. The Big Sky is absolutely heavenly! The Timeline I set aside for the moment. One channel was cutting out and I thought it was a faulty unit but I think I might have a bad cable.
I decided to get the timeline as well after discovering a really neat looping function on it and I was looking at getting some sort of looper anyhow. Strange thing with the multiswitch I bought. Check it out, notice where the arrow is pointing to the TRS jack?

strymon multiswitch.jpg (5.66 MiB) Viewed 18725 times

I sent them the pic. So we will test out their customer support right away I guess.

[dawman]

Yeah they’re fast as greased lightning.

I use buttons for the looping function. I didn’t go very far as a I was consumed by other chores.
But demos I saw were pretty impressive.

Have fun.

Make sure to check the Linear option on Big Sky.
When you go to edit you’ll see reverse, gates, swoosh, etc.

You’ll play for days once you blend Timeline with Big Sky.

[yayajohn]

ok thanks for the tips. Gonna be a fun journey with these.
Glad to report the Timeline is fine and sounds awesome! Turns out it was a combination of a cable that only works part time and a very dusty 25 years never used mixer channel. I was also stupidly trying to use balanced TRS cables and it didn't really like that too much apparently.
Anywaze it all got worked out and is working good now.
Unfortunately I had to re-route the Strymon through the extra ADAT out and back into the mixer. Sucks
I wanted to use my A16U for all the effect pedals but I'm using 11 out of 16 outputs and 15 out of 16 inputs.
So I think no more pedals for a while.
Here's what I have:
Strymon Timeline
Strymon Big Sky
Mosfet Full Drive 2
Arion Chorus
DOD Overdrive Preamp/250
EHX Lester G
TC Helix
EHX Flanger Hoax
KMA Horizont

Racked:
Ibanex HD1000 Delay
TC Fireworx
Lexicon MX200
Digitech GSP2101

[t_tangent]

Sounds like a lot of fun.

Perhaps a patchbay would be useful for routing your inputs and outputs to your external fx. That way you could select whatever you need as the case arises. Just a thought.

Anyway, enjoy your new Strymon fx

[yayajohn]

Well I'm glad you think that's a great idea because that's exactly what I did
I have an A16U hooked into my Xite via Z-Link routed out to a Behringer PX3000 and back into my A16U.
I've saved all of the connections as external effect modules.
So I can pull up all of my external effects and use in parallel or series or even as inserts.
Probably some potential problems with doing this, one being latency but I've linked 3 together and I can't hear any noticable latency.
Doesn't mean ther isn't any though.
The patchbay is mostly static at least until I get around to labeling everything. Otherwise it would be chaos.

[t_tangent]

The PX3000 looks good. I got a couple of Samson S-Patch Plus several years back http://www.samsontech.com/samson/produc ... atch-plus/ which seem to have similar features. The switch to select between Normalled, Half-normalled or Through is handy as well.

For a quick patchbay reference on the I/O routing I just created a simple Excel template which works ok for me, although I am sure there are other programs specifically designed for this. And for actually labelling the patchbay I have seen something called Mixer Tape which is easy to remove without leaving a sticky residue. While looking for a link online I couldn't find this off hand, but I watched a video on Mixers and it recommended Post It Label Roll which basically does the same job. That is probably too wide for labelling patchbays, but the Post It Cover Up rolls may be just the ticket, and I may try them myself

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Post-652R-2-Li ... 276&sr=1-2
or
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Post-Labeling- ... FGES3SD0M3

Cheers

[yayajohn]

the Samson looks great. I like that the switches are on the front and not on the top with the Behringer.
Thanks for the tip on the labeling. I may try that sometime.

[dawman]

YaYa why the Lester G?
The impedance of that is for Guitar.
Are you sure it’s not the K (keyboard) version you’ve got?

It’s true that the A16 is just fantastic for TS connections.
Z-Link works for me, I might use ADAT for this Tube Compressor I’m checking out.

I could stick it on AUX 1 so the FX could be post.
Then use AUX 2/3/4/ and 5 fir dNa Mobius, Timeline and Big Sky.

[yayajohn]

YaYa why the Lester G?
The impedance of that is for Guitar.
Are you sure it’s not the K (keyboard) version you’ve got?

It’s true that the A16 is just fantastic for TS connections.
Z-Link works for me, I might use ADAT for this Tube Compressor I’m checking out.

I could stick it on AUX 1 so the FX could be post.
Then use AUX 2/3/4/ and 5 fir dNa Mobius, Timeline and Big Sky.

Haha, yeah that is a bit of a question eh? I saw the exp pedal input for the Rotary and liked it better plus some extra crunch if I needed it. Since I have my A16U dip switches set to instrument level, it is in line with the other guitar pedals I have. The squash is kind of meh.
I have tried some different types of distortion on synths/organs and it varies. The best I have right now seems to be with my GSP2101 using the real tube effects. It would be interesting to get a Lester K and see how different it sounds compared to the G.
What Tube Compressor are you looking at?

[dawman]

An old modified Manley.
It’s like a big metal high quality plug in, no noise, quad side chain.
Very expensive but I got 30 days.

How’s the phaser pedal working out?
That thing sounds fantastic.
I’ve got one more free AUX. THE A16 dips sound great, never tried them.

Have you ever tried PRJ Project List via prgm cage messages?
It only works on MIDI Channel #1 but with Maus MIDI Router, some S|C MIDI Monitors, and pedals it becomes an automated multi routing multi FX System.

Live gigs are 2nd nature.
I just concentrate on my multiple zone splits and parts, everything else always works perfect.

[yayajohn]

Oh yeah Manley those are top shelf from what I hear. I've always wondered what it it like to hear the sound from the high end pro gear like that but way too expensive for what I do.
The KMA Horizont Phaser is pretty cool. The best phaser I've had by far.
The spurt feature is really cool, the only thing I wish it had was control of the max speed. Right now you can only control the min speed.
The envelope is cool. you can set it to come in as the signal fades or the opposite
Setting the waveshape to the last position is nice. It's random but produces smooth sweeps. (the best I can describe it)
I haven't tried the PRJ project device yet but sometime I think I will fool around with it. Haven't really gotten into automation yet but I plan on tackling that sometime in the future. Slowly starting to get comfortable with exp pedals and switches.
My goal is to have everything set so I can record each track live audio.
1 Track = 1 Take hahahahahha, yeah and unicorns and fairies are real too right?

[dawman]

Practice makes perfect.

Check this out.
I like big thick modulations and like AFT since I’m not sacrificing a hand for the wheel movement.

Take dNa Rack and pick modulation, select pitch shift.
Turn up AUX where effect is sent.
Use an Expression Pedal For rate. 0-127 most of the time.
Stomp on that bastard for that thick modulation.
I do this with Mobius too.

[yayajohn]

yeah that's nice and thick!. I went and added the Big Sky into the insert after the Modulate and it was monstrous.
Don't really care for the warp speed vibrato/modulation settings. I think SpaceF CC devices you can set max and min values so I should do that so i'm not using half pedal inputs.
Have you fiddled with the reverb on the dNa effects rack?
I've gotten a little more familiar with it the past couple months. Now that I have the Big Sky, i'm going to try and see if I can match some of the presets or at least come close.
I'm going to have to rig up the midi to the Strymon pedals too.

[dawman]

MIDI is the juice for those, realtime modulations on Decay with no zippers...thats like the Lexicon PCM70 or 224 or PCM41/42 and Prime Time.
Native plug ins dont do that, scope plugs dont either.

I like the sound of a big ass Concert Hall, but dont l;ike Gates too much for vocals, but on my Physis K4 I can use aftertouch or note on/note offs to decrease or increase decay.
for vocals decreased decay gives you the sound but doesnt carry over to muddy up next phrase.
actually TC Fireworx does that really well too.

[yayajohn]

I will probably use the FCB1010 pedals thru midi with the strymon pedals since you can and then I can save my exp pedals for other stuff.

[yayajohn]

Well that's going to work out really nice. Tried it today with the FCB1010 into Big Sky using CC15 for the mix level and it worked perfectly.
I think I might program the FCB pedals to some different CC's and save them as presets to control different parameters

[dawman]

Now you’re going to have fun.