GFI SYSTEM ORCA DELAY & SKYLAR REVERB | Secret Weapons Demo & Review

[@bodyminusMe]

You answered my question regarding these new GFI offerings and the Tempus. 😆 You always squeeze out every ounce of sonic goodness from the pedals you demo👌

[@thrg6278]

Man this channel is amazing in every way thankyou so much man

[@LoVeAmBiEnT]

Mark has the best demos straight up. I have enough reverb, but I bought both of these petals anyways. The place is insane and also the orca I got strictly for the very wide ping-pong delay.

[@mikeharris896]

Great demo, truly wonderful sound.

[@DaveAndStuff]

Excellent review. I recently got a Spec Temp, and am thinking about getting another one to pair it with (so I can get those ping-pongy analog delays in front of the plate/Spatium). The Orca is a contender, but I totally agree with you that the Analog or multi-tap would've been better than the Diffused! I'm still not sure what I'll supplement my ST with. Definitely something with wide stereo (also considering the Brig, and....? we shall see). Edit: or maybe I need a Skylar to put after the ST! maybe that's the answer....

[@Pstaines439]

Great work Mark. I’m awaiting delivery of my Skylar.

[@vondoom2876]

Great demo and explanation of the sounds you like to use. Very cool thanks

[@davidwilliamson8029]

That price point is smart good for entry into gfi ecosystem. i love your extended reviews. your great tone has help sell me a couple of pedals (cali76! Iridium) and let's me picture how id use the pedal on my board. Thanks Mark

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Totally agree. I actually didn’t know what the street price was on these when I put the video together; I just kind of assumed it was gonna be around 250. Finding out they’re at 199 is earnestly wild to me. Stereo, presets, and global configuration stuff at that price is pretty sweet

[@alexfletcher9915]

Gorgeous opener followed by tons of thoughtful insight. Your deep dives are really next level!

[@markjohnstonofficial]

❤️❤️ thanks homie

[@monkoosbob0]

Might have to pick one or both of these up

[@WhatsUpWhitey]

Love your take on stuff! Thanks for sharing your insights and wonderful skill set!!!

[@zipporaid]

Just saw how much some of these are going used and will have to try one or both. Only kinda meh thing is having power on side instead of top. We all need power, but not everyone uses exp. Put it on the top!

[@TheMrMulligans]

Man, this was great!!!! Nice work for sure.

[@AnonymSuperhero]

Great demo and you're right on point. The new compact series targets everyone where the full Specular Tempus might be too much as well as the difference in price. For us super users, we'll have to wait for the successor of the Specular Tempus, which could be the end-all reverb/delay pedal :)

[@EdgeofBreakup]

So great, Mark.

[@rhcpschipper]

Incredible video! Awesome tones you’re getting out of these new GFI pedals. I’m really digging the Skylar a lot! May I ask why you use a DI box with this setup? What is the advantage? Really interested in this.

[@winstonsmith8236]

Beautiful playing man!

[@codyrathman]

Dang. These sound great. Dunno if I want to replace my Bigsky/Timeline with these cause I like having three footswitches, but these would be incredible and affordable for a secondary/touring board!

[@LoVeAmBiEnT]

Also, for an ambient player, the infinite function on the big sky is irreplaceable, and there’s nothing like the cloud algorithm yet.

[@drewroze4168]

That’s a damn good pedal-release video, brotha! Great stuff, as always!

[@gonebowling]

On the Skylar, when you switch from preset A to B, does A trail into B? Also, the exact opposite, if you are on B, and say it’s your HUGE verb for swells and what not, and you go back to A for normal reverb sound, does it trail into A? That was always a big complaint for me with the Strymon bluesky and it’s favorite switch. You could set the favorite as a huge reverb but when you switched the favorite off, it was instantly cut off!

[@tubingforever]

If I’m always running delay and reverb at the same time and my amp doesn’t have reverb, would it make more sense to buy the skylar+orca instead of only the Specular tempus?

[@drewroze4168]

15 seconds in, already stoked.

[@Pstaines439]

I can live without midi but I struggle with just 2 presets on the Skylar. Would it have been too hard to have 4?

[@tiepviet9977]

A lite version of Specular V3 and Clockwork 😅😅😅. But is has a display monitor.

[@goatedsapien]

Mark where are your setting usually for your washy station reverb tones?

[@john808welk]

I think this was a really smart move. The more people that can experience the plate and tape from GFI the better. Still want my dual algo tempus v2 with full control though. Also I'm really happy the spatium joke reared it's head again, it's been awhile!

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Every. Stupid. Time. Eventually I’ll learn how to pronounce it. But not today.

[@jamescosgrove6680]

Yeah I def agree on the Tempus v2 idea. Kinda surprised they only offer 2 presets on these. Seems a bit limited to me considering both the Secular Reverb and Clockwork offered 8. I love my Tempus, which I currently use for reverb, but the delay algo's are so good that I'm wanting to get another reverb pedal so I can use the Tempus for delay. Still looking like getting another Tempus is the best option for me at the moment.

[@lukaszbohdal8749]

@@jamescosgrove6680 great to read this. I'm planning to buy Tempus with Synesthesia. It will be awesome

[@jamescosgrove6680]

@@lukaszbohdal8749 yeah the Tempus is amazing. The Synesthesia looks so good too!

[@lukaszbohdal8749]

@@jamescosgrove6680 I hope will be also amaizing with mono setup with my Marshall Jcm 2000 tsl 602 combo. I don't have possibility to plug it stereo

[@Wirus002]

What cable would I need If i had skylar at the start going to empress reverb(going for stereo). Do i need the TRS ''Y'' cable or just TRS(to connect skylar to empress reverb for stereo) Hopefully someone can help me out because im clueless!

[@Lodit24]

You'd need a TRS Y-cable, since the Empress Reverb has two Mono (TS) inputs, one for the left channel, one for the right. TS = Tip and Sleeve, Sleeve is for grounding, Tip is the audio signal. TRS just adds the Ring connection, allowing you to send one additional different audio signal with just one cable. A TRS-Y-cable just splits the Ring and Tip signals and puts them on different TS-cables. Hope that explanation helps :)

[@liquidlimbs]

Hello Mark! What camera use for this video? Thanks

[@emilianoibarra3537]

can you create presets with an app and use them with an expression pedal?

[@mehldaufif]

Hey Mark! Love your channel! I'm currently looking to move away from the Flint because I'm looking for some amount of modulation coming from my Reverb not just my Delays. I honestly bounce between Plate & Hall being a jazz guitar player (but with a fairly ambient-y sound). If it's just between the two settings, what are your thoughts between the Mercury 7 vs Skylar? Love the plate on the Skylar here and the Hall but I might like the Hall better on the Meris. Would love to know your thoughts! Thank you!

[@markjohnstonofficial]

It’s a tough question to try and parse. Nothing in the world strikes me quite like the cathedra on the Mercury 7. For “huge hall reverbs” there is none better IMO. But I do really like the spatium on this and find that it gets the job done super well. However, the plate on the m7 is pretty tight and focused, there doesn’t seem to be a huge width of sounds in it. Good for a more focused, small plate imo. Meanwhile the GFI reverbs have the BEST PLATE EVER in the 70’s plate reverb

[@mehldaufif]

@@markjohnstonofficial Hey Mark! Thanks so much for taking the time to reply! I think that matches my observations from the videos! I'm gonna try for the Meris first purely for resale value and being able to move it quicker if I need to (especially out here in NZ!) even though I'm loving the sound here! Hopefully I can get my hands on the Skylar out here - or maybe even a dual-algo Specular V2 down the road.... haha! Appreciate ya brother!

[@Tvaroh]

Interesting custom markers on the Flint, curious what do you use them for, fav settings?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

It’s a borrowed flint, those are go to references for his settings I would assume.

[@kevinmusso2397]

Glorious

[@johnjoy1318]

Great pedals but man your dry tone is always the best. The reverb and delay just makes it even more insane. Would you say the empress comp is the the go to right now ? I was debating between it and the bloom V2.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

When I’m REALLY feeling my totally dry tone or something like the DRV set clean the empress is the best for how transparent it is. I basically am evenly split between it and the Origin Cali76 compact. That’s way less transparent but has some of the best tonality of anything I use.

[@levijessegonzalez3629]

So is there anything that having both of these pedals can do that the tempus can't?

[@oatlertprasertkong5287]

How does the skylar compare to Flint?

[@adde65]

Don't know about US price point, but in Australia it's probably going to cost more to buy these 2 than the Specular Tempus, which has more sound and functionality in one pedal. And they'll be almost in direct competition with Specular Reverb V3 and Clockwork Delay. GFI seem to be going for the same market bracket again. They all sound amazing, of course.

[@jldkrank]

Cost me $250 each in Canada.

[@adde65]

@@jldkrank AU $299 each here, the Specular Tempus is AU $559. Either option has pros and cons, so it really comes down to personal preference.

[@winstonsmith8236]

How's that new Empress? You were rocking a Keeley before right? As boring a subject as it can be, compressors are just SO SO important in playing ambient stuff. I've tried the Cali76's but I don't like their buffer, I'm using a Thory Fat General now but am super curious of the Empress.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

The empress is excellent. Very transparent. Subtle when it needs to be and can compress without feeling too squishy. I’ve never used the Keeley compressors in my rig, though. I was on a Diamond Comp for years (still highly recommend) and now I flip between this and the Origin 76 compact. That one DOES squish and feels very preampy. Which I love for certain applications. Totally agree on the high value of compressors in ambient playing

[@steveestrada8347]

What’s your thoughts on R1 compared to Skylar

[@DevonBlueWhitaker]

dope!!!!!!!!!

[@dougc84]

The Skylar and Orca seem awesome. Near about perfect. But, as someone who loves MIDI... I dunno. It seems hard to justify a digital pedal with a bunch of different parameters without the ability to quickly switch them in a larger board scenario. I might have to give the Skylar a go against my Immerse, but I think I'll hold on to my History Lesson.

[@AnonymSuperhero]

If you require MIDI and preset banks there're always the flagship units to go for. These are directly targeted towards people who want a simple to use, but still powerful pedal without much fuzz. For everyone else we'll have to wait for a new release of the Specular Tempus which will definitely cover everything else.

[@dougc84]

@@AnonymSuperhero Of course. But we also have pedals like the Walrus D1 and R1 that are in the same ballpark, but both have MIDI, and don't sport the massive form factor of the larger boxes. The History Lesson V3 is similar - 6 delay algorithms, a bunch of configuration, and MIDI. It just seems like such a missed opportunity to not load it in.

[@zechbohlen6484]

Any vids on that acs1?

[@zechbohlen6484]

I had an iridium, but was not very happy with the live sound on stage. How does it compare?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Like half my Instagram feed is ACS1 samples. Hopefully doing a video with a little more focus but there’s a lot of content on it on my socials for now.

[@zechbohlen6484]

@@markjohnstonofficial ahh, I will check that out. Thank you!

[@Calle565]

@@zechbohlen6484 You should check out the DSM & Humboldt Simplifier DLX. It is outstanding!!!

[@wethehails]

Why do you have your compressor after the DRV?

[@markjohnstonofficial]

DRV is top tier first in chain

[@wethehails]

@@markjohnstonofficial What does that mean "top tier"? I've always seen drives after compressors, so I'm real curious as to this setup, and love the sounds!!

[@markjohnstonofficial]

@@wethehails it means it sounds its best first

[@wethehails]

@@markjohnstonofficial Gotcha. Thanks for taking the time to clarify. Really appreciate it. Love what you're doing!!

[@gonebowling]

@@wethehails Compressor at the end of a chain sounds reallyyyyy dope also.

[@TheShadowvaultAwaits]

Its cool that there are people that like this implementation but to be honest its a huge letdown for me. I was really hopping for a tempus v2 or seperate modules with complete control. GFI could have easily solved the MIDI stuff. Being able to change extra parameters without the use of a pc, with midi or hold button would be endgame. I would have gladly bought two.

[@markjohnstonofficial]

I get it. MIDI is pretty clutch for me for almost everything these days. I anxiously await a theoretical STv2. But not every release is for everyone and this is a very smart play for those who aren’t ready to dive into the big box game.

[@TheShadowvaultAwaits]

@@markjohnstonofficial that is also true. I hope they bring something for everyone till the end of the year 😊

[@markjohnstonofficial]

Man I would be thrilled to see them bring a STv2 to market this year.

[@kimstep3153]

Its like goku and vegeta fuzion and becomes specular tempus ...

[@waggy4703]

WHAT

[@Ubi-o]

Surprised this isn’t on every church worship board in America

[@mouthmw]

Strymon holds that position firmly.

[@Ubi-o]

@ why is that? Ever worship gear run down has all the strymon stuff. I have the timeline and the big sky and I’m not that impressed. My gfi specular tempus is way better to me.

[@mouthmw]

@@Ubi-o god loves rich pedalbords. Lol I dunno, seems like they all gravitate towards that signature Strymon sound. GFI is a small builder in comparison and not as known. I love my El Cap but wanna grab Orca for comparison to simplify my delay needs. I don’t want “worship pedal” label either.

[@robertsiskaii5111]

El Capistan Tape is WAAAAYYYYYYYYYY better..........

[@markjohnstonofficial]

El Cap has great tone. But I could not like the feature set and usability of the el cap less.

[@robertsiskaii5111]

​@@markjohnstonofficial For that reason, I don't own one! Lol But I know you've never been a fan so sometimes it's just fun to mess. Great videos as always