Thomastik Infeld Rondo Strings Review and Shootout vs T.I.

[@Firstinversion899]

Hey Rob, In case you have a moment, I’m hitting you up w/ a live looping pedalboard question. I’m looking for a pedal that is pretty much exactly like the 1176-modeled MXR Studio Compressor (or Bass Compressor - same thing), but with midi, preferably running at under 100 mA, and not larger than a standard boss pedal, so it will run on my Cioks4, power-cell powered board. It’s OK if it is boutique; I’m willing to spend some money for the right unit. I did find the Jackson audio Bloom V.2, which is close, & is Midi, but it is heavily voiced for guitar, including its EQ curves. I play fiddle and mandolin into a Grace design Bix, and I am guessing that the tight integration of this unit’s EQ would not be a great fit for my instruments. I do think an 1176 style pedal with midi implementation would allow me too incorporate different Compressor settings into my Morningstar MC8’s presets for different uses. For example: fiddle chop, fiddle bowing, fiddle strumming, & fiddle as bass through my EH Bass9 pedal - all of these want different dynamics, so using midi to create presets seems like the Way to go. Knowing your boutique petals as you do, and knowing the world of amplified fiddle, does this give you any ideas? It is also possible that wanting presets on a compressor pedal is more specific than is necessary.

[@RobFlaxMusic]

Hmm. That's a tall order! Off the top of my head I think the Jackson Audio Bloom V2 has midi, but it runs higher (300mA). It also has EQ and boost though, and my V1 has proved to be a super versatile pedal. Strymon Compadre is also midi and has a bonus boost, but slightly different shaped pedal. Just checked and it's 150mA. In general anything with midi will be digital (or at least have a digital component, as with the Bloom), and probably won't be under 100mA. Why are you looking for that?

[@Firstinversion899]

@@RobFlaxMusic thanks so much Rob! We are online at the same time, and I actually edited my post before you responded, talking about the Jackson Bloom pedal’s voicing for guitar. I am not sure it would fit as well for fiddle and mandolin. I had looked at the Compadre, but I hadn’t noticed that it was Midi, and I didn’t realize that its power consumption was very low. I am interested in lower power consumption because I am using a Cioks4 running off a power cell, so I can play anywhere I want, without AC access. I figure I can fit one more pedal on the board I am using, and a compressor sounds like a good bet. The Compadre might do the job! So I will ask, what are your thoughts on the following board/signal path: Grace Bix, Boss Eq200, EH Bass9, (insert Compadre) Gfi Specular tempus, Boss Rc500 looper, all controlled w/ a Morningstar MC8 midi pedal?

[@RobFlaxMusic]

@@Firstinversion899 With that setup I wonder what the purpose of the compressor would be. Are you attempting to use it as an effect, or for general level balancing, or as a limiter? TBH I wouldn't use one, or if I did it'd be a simpler analog circuit with no midi. (If you need to bring it in/out with midi, Morningstar makes the ML5...)

[@Firstinversion899]

@@RobFlaxMusic It's a fair question. I am thinking of all the layering work that went into your fantastic song, Photosynthesis. To make something like that, either via live looping, or even just in the studio, it seems to me that it really helps to have developed a reliable palette of sounds, each with their own compression, eq, reverb, delay, octave (if emulating bass or cello). Each of the following needs--and I haven't even gotten into the mandolin's possibilities--deserves it's own unique signal path: fiddle chop, fiddle bowing, fiddle strumming, & fiddle as bass or cello via octave pedal. I mean to use my pedalboard, especially controlled by the MC8's midi presets, as a collection of colors to paint with, as integral to songwriting and composing. So far I have found the level balancing needs of these different uses to vary widely, and I'd like to tame that dynamic range, hence the idea of using compression for this. For example, I love the sound of an octaver, but once amplified, it always seems to overwhelm the rest of the mix. That's why I got the EQ-200 pedal. It does both volume control and EQ, so I can dial in whatever the bass needs at the time. When I'm playing bluegrass, in my band or just jamming, all of this switching & level-balancing is done by ear, in the moment. It seems like once I start using effects, it would help to have a sense of calling up, for example, my fiddle strumming signal path, to accompany my singing, lay down those tracks, then to be able to switch, in a moment, to a trusty fiddle chop accompaniment patch, with dynamics already tamed, and so on, building loops, or laying down tracks. Carl Wockner has also talked about composing in this way, and I think of you two as similar in the sense of having an advanced understanding of how to plan out parts and roles of instruments when live looping. I guess I am thinking of lanes of frequency spectrum & effects, as an available palette, with the MC8 as the device that gets me in the ballpark each time I want a sound, rather than having to recreate it each time. It seems to me that it is the same thinking that went into the creation of synthesizer patches in the first place, rather than recreating a new single path each time. Both ways have their advantages, and patches can be overused. For now, I want to develop ease of contact with that palette, making more minor adjustments as each situation needs them. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there are no shortcuts, and the best sound path must be created in the moment, no matter what. So, to me, all of this feels more like an approach to composition than a question about gear, which is why I thought of you when I was trying to figure this out. Anyway, thanks for reading if you've gotten to this point, Rob!

[@RobFlaxMusic]

@@Firstinversion899 Makes sense! Given all that, probably what you want is an "always on" compressor, after your gain and pitch shifting, to help smooth stuff out. In my home studio setup I'm using the Crazy Tube Circuits Golden Ratio (and their new V2 is a small form factor). Highly recommend! Also check out the Empress Compressor mkii for similarly powerful tools. (To that end, the Bloom would work well for your needs, even if you don't use the EQ that much.) Part of the level balancing is the output stage-what are you plugging into? If you're using the same amp every time it might still vary from room to room. But if you're going direct into PA with subs then the bass response will vary wildly. That's part of the game! Thanks for the kind words about Photosynthesis! I didn't use a compressor at all in that live video-the signals are all just dialed in to taste over time. Embrace the limitations, and learn to play to the volume jumps, and you might just be happier than squashing the dynamics 🙂

[@fd-br6uw]

The background music is so disturbing that I had to stop that video.