uhhhhh…….MIDI?

[Titleist]

Well I decided I needed pitch control and found youtubes telling me all about them. I didn’t find the one I needed to explain that the Micropitch Delay is far more than a simple effect pedal but rather more like a studio level device in a pedal. So now that I’ve had it for a while there’s a few things I can do with it. Like plug it in, rotate knobs and press switches so I can play with it. Other than that I’m lost with this thing. I can only assume that the Micropitch Delay pedal was geared towards professionals that already know what they’re doing with it because the reference card in the box is the only user manual there is for it. Nowhere is there a complete user guide for the device so I have to assume it’s for pros that know everything about the device. It took me 2 days to figure out how they could put 2 functions into the knobs but yet not lose either level of functions until you move a knob. Woulda been nice to know even before buying that the effects from the knob positions remain so after shifting to the lower functions. Until I saw that i didn’t know I could get pitch AND delay on top of each other. But I digress, I haven’t been around this stuff for 40 years now and I don’t have a clue so I’m here to ask what’s probably a stupid question.

To extract the relevant part from ET’s website:

“the USB interface is MIDI class-compliant for use with your computer sequencer or DAW”

MIDI was around when I was a kid. Back then it was used to hook up a keyboard to a computer. From what that previous sentence from the website says, the Micropitch has a MIDI interface to connect to a DAW. I have a DAW on my computer but obviously it doesn’t see the device.

This is where the question comes in. Does the USB MIDI compliant interface on the MicroPitch allow me to plug a guitar into the MP, then hook the MP to the computer so that my DAW sees the MP and accepts incoming signals from my guitar via the MP?

 

If so, is this there were one would use the software to set a MIDI channel etc?  It’s not marketed as an interface as such but it seems one of the functions is to allow MIDI control through USB. Unless the MIDI functions available in the MP don’t include sending audio into my DAW…?

 

Anyone?

[Titleist]

since a previous post can’t be deleted I’ll just have to leave it.

 

What I don’t know about MIDI could choke a horse. Not that I’ve found anything that answers the question, but from what I’ve been able to find it looks like the MIDI for this is solely for changing presets, no audio information is outbound from the Micropitch.

Must be why they sell an I/O device

 

Mods you can delete both posts if you have a moment.

[apalazzolo]

Titleist wrote:

….  I’m lost with this thing. I can only assume that the Micropitch Delay pedal was geared towards professionals that already know what they’re doing with it because the reference card in the box is the only user manual there is for it. Nowhere is there a complete user guide for the device so I have to assume it’s for pros that know everything about the device.  ….

https://cdn.eventideaudio.com/uploads/2021/10/MicroPitchDelay-QRG-Web.pdf

 

[Titleist]

Thanks for the reply apalazzolo, that’s the same quick reference guide that came with the pedal. After spending more time with the unit I still believe this pedal was made for studio musicians who already know everything about every switch, and know what the use of MIDI is for in this pedal and have the time to make necessary knob adjustments before recording.

I have no current experience with new pedals. When I had them it was one pedal for one effect you could bring into the chain or not. With a device like this where two effects are built into one device it seems to serve a better purpose in a studio than a live performance. While having 5 presets is nice, it doesn’t get me all the way there. I understand I can have up to 127 presets. But again I know next to nothing about MIDI so knowing I can have 127 presets for the pedal doesn’t mean anything to me because I have no idea how to get to those presets into the device, nor do I know how to switch between those presets live.

I kind of liken this type of pedal to a modeling amp. As an example, a Katana has a ton of built in digital pedal effects much of which can be used at the same time. While having a boatload of effects built into an amp is nice for studio work where you have time to play with the amp before you record, once again it’s useless for those who play live as during a show I can’t sit there and mess around with knobs and switches to make sure I get the sounds I need for the song I need to play. If I don’t have access to multiple presets to cover an entire performance so I don’t have to play with a device in real time then the device is useless to me.

If I only can choose between 5 effects on stage then I need to sell this pedal and get something else. Really to me the simplest thing to do and best for live performances us one effect per pedal so one effect can be brought online and back out again without taking anything else out with it.

 

For me to use this pedal that means PRESETS. So using the ET quick reference guide, how to I set this device up to let me access 127 presets on stage?

[brock]

There’s a lot to unpack here.  I can understand the familiarity with 1 pedal = 1 effect.  You can approach modern effects in a similar way; one step (or effect) at a time.

I don’t know if you’ve found Eventide’s dedicated MicroPitch page.  Towards the middle, you’ll fund Joe Cozzi’s excellent Tutorial videos.  Best resource to walk you through the knobs & switches.

https://www.eventideaudio.com/pedals/micropitch/

At the page bottom,  you can download the Eventide Device Manager [EDM].  That is the way to manage & arrange all 127 presets.  You will need an external MIDI controller to access all of them, using MIDI Program Change messages.

Those controllers range from simple to complex (inexpensive to pricey).  And yes, it would require a separate audio interface to connect MicroPitch’s audio outs to a computer.  MIDI will cover ‘remote control’ features only.

All that sounds more complex than it really is. You can go a long way by starting with the tutorial run-throughs, & creating a few targeted presets (with / without the EDM).  Say, a slapback delay, long delay, stereo bounce … one effect per preset.  Move on to pitch detuning only … light widening, extreme quarter-tone shifts.

You can still cycle through 5 presets on-board, like having 5 separate one-effect boxes in-line.  After some familiarity, move on up to multi-effects, such as ‘belltree’ pitch-shifting echoes.

[Titleist]

Going through the videos now. Looks like I’m going to need a MIDI pedal box to get what I’m looking for with this pedal. I need more than 5 presets when playing live. At the moment I’m having difficulty figuring out how to turn the volume down on the delay repeats. As of now the first repeat is the same volume as the dry signal and gets in the way too much. I was looking for just a decent 4peat delay with the delay effect volume about half what the dry signal is.

 

So now it looks like my decision to get this pitch delay is going to cost more than originally thought as I probably need a MIDI controller pedal to get live access to all 127 presets.

 

So now that I’m looking at MIDI pedals my wife walked by and saw I was looking at a modeling amp, which hopefully the MIDI pedal box can control both the MP delay and the AMP as well. That would be the goal, along with an expression pedal for controlling parameters and wah etc.

 

Now I just need to convince  her I need another amp and MIDI pedal. Thanks EvenTide 😉

[apalazzolo]

I’d add that I was in your shoes no so long ago: live player, single effect experience, looking at newer whiz bang effects. So I hear you loud and clear.

Brock has given you some solid advice, especially pointing you to the Joe Cozzi tutorial video. That should cover the non-midi side of things.  I believe Joe did tutorial videos for all the dot9 pedals.

When I gave in to midi there was a steep learning curve and much of it came from the particular midi controller I used.  I chose Morningstar Engineering.  I learned to control my H9 from their tutorial videos and forum.  That’s the way it is … some of the info you need comes from the slave device, but most comes from the master device.

I would suggest you research midi controllers.  Once you find one you like, you can look to their manual to learn to control pedals generally (every controller is different).  Once you learn that you basically plug in the Micropitch data you have to get this pedal up and running.

FWIW, although I did some nifty midi things, I eventually decided midi programming was too laborious.  I just decided to accept the limits of a non midi set up.   You can really do a lot with Eventide’s editor, five presets and an expression pedal.

Hope that helps.

 

 

 

 

[Titleist]

Thanks for staying with this apalazzolo. As of now I can’t use this pedal much live. I don’t play with my amps on stage, I don’t play with pedals while I’m working. Prior to this pedal and getting back into it I used ~3 pedals total and lived with the fact that my setup never got close to all the different setups required to produce an accurate tone. Hitting 3 switches and playing with the volume/tone knob was all we had. Nowadays the audience wants something authentic every time if playing covers. No one wants to listen to a Pretenders song while the guitars all sound like EVH at reduced volume.

 

I’m at a crossroads now. Stop where I am and go no further and live with it or start spending the cash to buy the tones people want to hear. From what it looks like I’ll need to pony up some serious cash to get to the point where I can get back to using nothing but foot switches and a expression pedal.

If I had to guess I’d say the reason all these companies are starting to put 12 effects into one box is because they’ve all written the code to produce the sounds they want. It doesn’t cost anything more to program a ROM with extra code to get a chorus, delay, reverb, compressor, distortion and overdrive. Since they have “multi control knobs” down pat now they can program in 50 functions per knob and recreate a whole studio for you. If you have the time.

 

If these things were made for complete ONSTAGE control of all functions I’m missing it because no one’s saying it.

 

Maybe it’s me. I haven’t had to “learn” anything for 40 years. Maybe youtube and forums are how people learn these days I don’t know.

 

Thanks much for your time sir. I’m closing this out and setting it aside until I make a decision on how much more money I’m going to spend for a hobby that’s not paying for itself.

 

Have a good one!

[apalazzolo]

If you go to THEGEARPAGE and look at any of the POST YOUR PEDALBOARD threads you’d prolly fall off your chair at what you see.  It happens to me all the time.  The IMMENSE time and money spent on doing what you are talking about (authentic recreation of a wide range of pop/rock tones) is on full display. So many of those spaceship boards run north of $5000.   Trying to cover the Edge one moment and EVH the next … then Hendrix … then Boston is an intractable technical problem.  If there is a cheap and easy way to do that, I don’t know it and neither do those guys.

A different class of players went the “modeller” route … Kemper, AxeFX, Quad Cortex, BluGuitar, etc.  There is something to be said for that but that costs too and there is a steep learning curve.  Plus, you have to learn to live without your tube amp.

I couldn’t (and I didn’t want to spend $5000 on a board) so my solution was the Eventide H90 and a couple of drives.  That doesn’t let me nail all every tone under the sun, but I can do a lot …  and if people want more they can go hear U2 for $600 instead of me for free.

Best of luck to you.

 

 

 

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