Boss ES-8 musings.

[rfurtkamp]

So I broke down and ordered one, I had enough to pay off my last big purchase on hand and....

...line of no interest credit can't say no.

Boss ES-8 inbound.

I'm honestly at a loss trying to figure out how to work it into my existing atrocity.

My GT-100 has one movable external loop in it - debating running the ES-8 in that loop for loopception. Or splitting it so the ES-8 feeds its loop and the rest of the master rack as well.

Then the question of "Do I need a H9 or other midiatrocity multifx that I couldn't be bothered with normally" kicks in as well.

And "what size board will I end up needing when it's all said and done."

And apparently it's nine loops (you can use the volume pedal one as its own loop, movable and all), not eight.

Parallel dirt insanity is going to be a thing, I can tell.

Oh, midweek, why are you not here yet?

[rfurtkamp]

I'll buttfuck the ad copy while I'm unboxing.

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, also a case of being able to control presets on some of the rack gear while doing so as well is an added bonus, as is total seamless integration to my main multifx if I so desire.

[AndyBassist]

Great pedal

For the parallel stuff and being able to move the loops it opens up a lot of new sounds!! I'm just starting to explore some of the midi options for my moog clusterflux.

And the fact that any switch can be anything it just makes it completely customiseable to how you want it!

[rfurtkamp]

Yep. I'm looking forward to screwing with it, even if some of the stuff I'm considering will be a month or two out and require a bit more investment in cabling (past the baseline function) to integrate how and where I want it in my home studio.

[sergiomunoz74]

Im really playing with the idea of a switcher system but with the smaller ES-5 but there is also the similarly price but much smaller Disaster area design DPC-5. It seems like a cool thing to be able to switch channels on an amp or other junk and and not have to tap dance too much but at the same time that is real estate spent on a damn expensive button box. I don't know I hope to hear how you use it and what you think of it. I can't go with the 8 because damn that is fucking huge but I definitely want a smaller one.

[rfurtkamp]

It's not about the size as much as "what it does."

The ability to move pedals around per patch is huge for me, as is the parallel routing (which I don't believe you get on the ES5). Disaster Area thing is a pure midi controller and oldschool 1-5 order switcher, which I just can't fathom paying that kind of cash for (and why I never bothered to get something similar previously).

[hotknife]

Grats! Looking forward to your thoughts. I just picked up a simple Saturnworks looper to get started. Really keen on investing in something like the Boss once I get my board settled.

[rfurtkamp]

Looking forward to it as well, the joke is the cable package I ordered to go with it (and a newer OneSpot to power the board since not sure if it'll go over the limit of the old Boss supply I'm using now)...is due a day after.

[peaches]

I've been thinking about getting one too, my only gripe is that you can't send parallel chains seperately to separate amps in stereo, they have to be mixed before being re-split. Otherwise I'd have one by now. Pretty niche I know.

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, that's one I'm not sure even I'd use, considering it's supposed to integrate into an existing board's single chain really.

I just run different chains for different amps as it is, usually wanting nothing but the amp out of one.

[Benn Roe]

I've had my eye on an ES-5 for a while, just waiting to find one at the right price. It does do parallel routing, but it seems like it might be limited to one loop parallel with some or all of the others? It isn't super clear from the manual.

[rfurtkamp]

Ah, wasn't aware that the 5 did parallel, well, that may make expansion cheaper as I do not likely need more than a 5 on top of the 8.

Looks like one parallel loop, can be put anywhere in the chain of stuff.

They note it on the screen and manual as 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 (same as the 8, just different # of stuff, etc) - you pull down on the relevant minus (-) sign and make the parallel chain. Looks limited to one parallel chain as well.

You can still use *any* of the other loops, in addition to that parallel one, so say if you wanted a clean phaser only you could put that outside the parallel (or by itself as the *only* thing in the parallel loop, and arrange or turn off the other loops as needed.

It's clear as can be given the complexity of options, but it took me more than a few minutes reading manuals and watching the quickstart guides to make sense of the 8, so I feel you!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stXfooKi5AU[/youtube]

[AndyBassist]

Ah, wasn't aware that the 5 did parallel, well, that may make expansion cheaper as I do not likely need more than a 5 on top of the 8.

Looks like one parallel loop, can be put anywhere in the chain of stuff.

They note it on the screen and manual as 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 (same as the 8, just different # of stuff, etc) - you pull down on the relevant minus (-) sign and make the parallel chain. Looks limited to one parallel chain as well.

You can still use *any* of the other loops, in addition to that parallel one, so say if you wanted a clean phaser only you could put that outside the parallel (or by itself as the *only* thing in the parallel loop, and arrange or turn off the other loops as needed.

It's clear as can be given the complexity of options, but it took me more than a few minutes reading manuals and watching the quickstart guides to make sense of the 8, so I feel you!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stXfooKi5AU[/youtube]

i watched the es8 series on henning paulys youtube before i got mine and apart from midi which im starting to try and use now most of the stuff isnt to bad to get simple patches and change the button functions etc.

i think the es-5 only has one mixer inside as oppose to the es-8's 2, i thought about grabbing a 5 and might actually get one for my smaller board which im thinking of putting together for small gigs where my pedaltrain pro is a pain.

Andy

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, looks like only one, and missing some of the control options (dedicated bank buttons, tap tempo, etc) if those things matter.

Midi stuff I'm not going to have to deal with much at the start (thankfully) but it'll be an eventual inclusion to get a few things rolling I've wanted for a while. Also might be useful to control some stuff if I can on the synth I'm using now as a parallel guitar toy (Roland System 1 controlled by either the GR-55 or the Guitar to MIDI in the GT-100).

Joke is by the time I'm done paying for a bigger board, wiring stuff, and the like, I'm going to have spent as much on the related stuff as on the ES-8 itself.