Reply To: Alleged Issue With H9 MIDI Thru

[Given To Fly]

pureambient wrote:

Hello Brock, May I ask…what MIDI pedal you use, and what’s good about it, esp. for Eventide pedals, and what’s bad about is, esp. for Eventide pedals?? I was thinking that three per line is safe enough, doubt I would try more. I can’t try anything because I haven’t bought my MIDI pedal yet. I like the the look of the little Soleman from Source Audio because it has two MIDI outs, which could mean 2 chains of 3. But I don’t know if the Soleman unit is robust enough to handle five Eventide devices and a Whammy. And some unknown future pedals. Trying to decide which MIDI pedal to buy is a difficult task, but I do understand that there are some limitations that occur no matter how good your hardware is. I am not expecting perfection, my main goal, is to change programs on the three H9s – just change programs!

So, I feel like this is a safe place to ask questions concerning MIDI.

With analog pedals, you experience “tone suck.” With MIDI devices, do you experience “Information suck?” I hope that makes sense to someone. 

Is it safe to say one MIDI controller sending information to 1 MIDI device that can do many things will yield a better result than sending information to 5 MIDI devices that do fewer things? 

I was always under the impression MIDI was impervious to problems with the exception of user error. 

pureambient is running into a problem that I think many people have run into with MIDI (and expression pedals for that matter) which is being unable to “try before you buy.”  When it comes to MIDI foot controllers, there are 14 random companies you’ve never heard of and Behringer. Music stores (they do still exist) do not carry MIDI controllers (or expression pedals) because they do not sell. Fair enough. However, it is hard for a product to sell if a store never carries it. This type of self-fulfilling prophecy is not very helpful when a person actually needs a MIDI controller. Ironically, the only thing that is less helpful is the internet, specifically http://www.midi.org. 

Now, I know you (Eventide) have already thought of this, weighed the pros and cons, and made your decision, but an “Eventide MIDI Controller” might not be a bad idea. Judging by the number of  H9/MIDI troubleshooting threads on these Forums, I actually think it would be a really good idea. I doubt demand would be an issue. Perhaps this quote will sum everything up: “I am confident you know what you are doing, you should not be confident I know what I am doing.” (This does not apply to Brock, he knows what he is doing.) If an “Eventide MIDI Controller” came into existence, it would have a manual that would be read many times over leading to more people understanding how to use MIDI and have a high-quality MIDI controller to put their new found knowledge to use. 

However, like I said in the beginning, I know you have already thought of this, weighed the pros and cons, and made your decision. I am looking forward to NAMM 2017.