Meris? Blade Runnery? Ottobit, Polymoon & Enzo!!

[polyslax]

Awww yissssss! ILF teamwork at its finest.

It may not come across in youtube videos and it may not have 50 different types of modes or a cheesy "Beer" setting

I think the Merc 7 sounds great from what I've heard... definitely want to try one out.

But I don't get the dig at Empress. Their Reverb pedal is really good imo, and while you may not like the Beer label (who cares, really?) the algos are pretty sweet.

[hotknife]

Thanks @Sasquatch. I've been meaning to ask for the factory settings too. It really does sound rad right out of the box.

Awww yissssss! ILF teamwork at its finest.

It may not come across in youtube videos and it may not have 50 different types of modes or a cheesy "Beer" setting

I think the Merc 7 sounds great from what I've heard... definitely want to try one out.

But I don't get the dig at Empress. Their Reverb pedal is really good imo, and while you may not like the Beer label (who cares, really?) the algos are pretty sweet.

I mean, it's cool if you dig the Empress - I personally thought the Empress algos were vanilla as hell. The mod and pitch effects were super weak too, especially after trying to match my PCM80 at the time. I'm coming at reverb from a particular place, so whether or not I like the Mercury7 or the Empress and their "Beer" setting shouldn't really matter to anyone anyway.

[UglyCasanova]

What are the factory 'alt functions' on the Mercury7 set to? Where are the dials set, I mean. I really want to start messing around with all that stuff, but I also love the way it sounds straight out of the box (minus the pitch mix, which I prefer to be a bit less prominent in the mix and tweaked accordingly).

Here you go:
Predelay: Knob at minimum
Mod Speed: Knob at 9 o'clock
Pitch Vector Mix: Knob at 1 o'clock
Density: Knob at maximum
Attack Time: Knob at 12 o'clock
Vibrato Depth: Knob at minimum

Also, thanks for the compliments and the comparisons to the hauntingly beautiful Vigeland Mausoleum clip. It truly means a lot to me!

Thanks!+you're welcome!

[Iommic Pope]

Thanks again to jwar for hooking me up!



Wow. Just. Wow. This is the best sounding reverb I've played, which includes the Eventide Space. I could even get it to sound pretty much exactly like the Vigeland Mausoleum. If that doesn't sell you on the pedal, I don't know what will.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_pjvwHic14[/youtube]

Well, that and the Vintage King demo just sold me.
By the time Knobs does one I'll be balls deep in credit card debt.
Again.

[polyslax]

I mean, it's cool if you dig the Empress - I personally thought the Empress algos were vanilla as hell. The mod and pitch effects were super weak too, especially after trying to match my PCM80 at the time. I'm coming at reverb from a particular place, so whether or not I like the Mercury7 or the Empress and their "Beer" setting shouldn't really matter to anyone anyway.

Ok, there's the info missing from your original comment on the Beer label. I'm completely cool with people not digging the gear I dig.

I'd love to know more about Angelo's work at Strymon?

[Jwar]

The video is great, but I still feel like I need a manual to make it work the way I want. I heard some sounds and was like "fuck how do you do that" and didn't understand really how by watching. So for me, while it's cool, I'd love some actual sample settings. I'm happy to find out the sequencer works the way it does though.

I still am wondering if there's something wrong with my pedal though. The hold feature does not work as easily as he was doing it in the video for me. This is on the Ottobit Jr. I have to try several times to get the pedal to respond that way. By the looks of it, it should be instant and simple. So, I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong in that respect.

[whoismarykelly]

You have to catch the stutters while they are happening to hold them. Hitting the hold switch while playing doesn't kick in the stutter. If you have the tap set slow the stutters can last a long time but if you have it fast for bleepier ones you'll pretty much never catch them with the hold switch. I'd love to see that feature work differently.

[Jwar]

Huh. Didn't know that.

Yea, I'd love to see it work different too.

[elevenstrings]

You have to catch the stutters while they are happening to hold them. Hitting the hold switch while playing doesn't kick in the stutter. If you have the tap set slow the stutters can last a long time but if you have it fast for bleepier ones you'll pretty much never catch them with the hold switch. I'd love to see that feature work differently.

Actually, you can hold down the tap stomp and it will catch the next stutter.

[whoismarykelly]

You have to catch the stutters while they are happening to hold them. Hitting the hold switch while playing doesn't kick in the stutter. If you have the tap set slow the stutters can last a long time but if you have it fast for bleepier ones you'll pretty much never catch them with the hold switch. I'd love to see that feature work differently.

Actually, you can hold down the tap stomp and it will catch the next stutter.

I have tried that and it seemed very awkward to work with in practice if I was trying to do it within a riff. The delay until the stutter started with tempos that worked with what I was playing made it tricky. It was like I had to set it up for playing or set it up to try and catch the stutter.

[FretNoMore]

Anyone here know if it's compatible with the Empress Midibox?

If it is an older one, it might work with some resistor changes, but I don't know for sure.

Disaster Area Amps is making an updated version of the Empress Midibox that works: http://www.disasterareaamps.com/shop/midibox

Thanks! Mine is the older version, jury is out then. I hope it can be made to work.

Please let us know how this goes. I want to go midi when my Ottobit Jr arrives (and use it with an inbound Empress Echo System), but the Disaster Area midi box doesn't seem to be available in the UK (without import charges), whereas the Empress midibox is...

OK ... first finding is that the first version Midibox does not work with the Ottobit, even though Empress thought it should.

Next step, I'll try modifying one of the ports as per Meris' suggestion, though it'll have to wait until tomorrow as I don't have the right value resistor.

[Sasquatch]

The video is great, but I still feel like I need a manual to make it work the way I want. I heard some sounds and was like "fuck how do you do that" and didn't understand really how by watching. So for me, while it's cool, I'd love some actual sample settings. I'm happy to find out the sequencer works the way it does though.

I still am wondering if there's something wrong with my pedal though. The hold feature does not work as easily as he was doing it in the video for me. This is on the Ottobit Jr. I have to try several times to get the pedal to respond that way. By the looks of it, it should be instant and simple. So, I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong in that respect.

Glad you liked the video jwar! Let me know what you need the sample settings for, I'll be happy to provide them (Most of the sounds I used for the sounds samples are included as presets in the pedal if you have a compatible MIDI device.)

Here are some Stutter tips:
The Stutter is linked to the tapped tempo and works by listening for a pick attack. Once it detects a pick attack, the Ottobit Jr. will Stutter at the tempo you've tapped in. The "Stutter" knob gives you 23 different repeat length / repeat number options (including off).

To keep things easy, set Sample Rate to Max, Filter to Max, Bits to Max and Sequencer to Min. This keeps those elements at a neutral setting so you can just focus on learning about the Stutter. Then plug something into the Ottobit Jr. that will play itself so you can have both hands free to turn the Stutter knob and press the Tap button. I suggest using a looper (Ditto/DL4/etc..) or a drum machine (tons of free drum machines for your phone) to drive it, or even just route in audio from a youtube clip. Keeping your hands free is a great way to explore the Ottobit Jr.

[Jwar]

Awesome info! Thank you!

So I find that messing with the settings creates very cool textures, but it will start out in one sequence then jump to another or start out a sequence, and then not repeat it until like a minute or more later. I think it has to do with all the knob turning. LOL!!

Do you have any just general step sequence settings? Like an arpeggiator setting? Maybe something rythmic that follows in a faster sequence.

Do I need to be more specific or is that ok??

[Sasquatch]

Awesome info! Thank you!

So I find that messing with the settings creates very cool textures, but it will start out in one sequence then jump to another or start out a sequence, and then not repeat it until like a minute or more later. I think it has to do with all the knob turning. LOL!!

Do you have any just general step sequence settings? Like an arpeggiator setting? Maybe something rythmic that follows in a faster sequence.

Do I need to be more specific or is that ok??

Similar advice.
If you are having trouble getting a handle on the sequencer, turn all the top knobs to max (so they aren't affecting the sound). Then turn Stutter off (knob at min). Turn "Sequencer Mult" to 1x, this means you will change steps on quarter notes (one step per blink). And turn "Stutter" to max for infinity, this means the sequencer will ignore your pick attack and just keep repeating over and over again at the tap tempo rate. Now while holding "Alt", set steps 3,4,5, and 6 to min, which means the sequencer will only go between step 1 and step 2. With a 2 step sequencer you can get a good handle on things and then add more steps as you feel comfortable.

As I mentioned before, maybe try connecting a looper pedal to the input, and have it do a simple loop. This will leave you both hands free to explore different settings.

[FretNoMore]

Mod of Empress Midibox (v.1) for Ottobit Jr

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7SRd4Whvuk[/youtube]