It was bound to happen ...again

AlanRatcliffe

As others predicted... (smart arses, the lot of 'em)

...it looks like I'm going (going... gone) rack again. ?

[cue: wavy lines and harp glissandi in the diminished scale]
Many moons ago, when dinosaur rockers walked the earth, I started with a guitar and an amp, and it was good. Then I added in an overdrive pedal and it was better. Now, being somewhat prone to the influences of those musicians known as "space rockers", and armed with the theory that if one pedal is better than none, then two would be much more better, I soon started adding effects to taste. The thing was, as those tastes go, I turned out to be something of a glutton, and my pedalboard grew rapidly (I think I was wholly and solely responsible for a kick of few percentage points in Japan's GDP in the late '80s).

So, faced with a choice of either going solo (with a pedalboard that left no space on stage for anyone else), or finding a more compact alternative, I started moving to rack-mounted effects units, which at the time were more studio gear than live. This meant a lot more power, programmability, more sonic possibilities and quite a jump in sound quality too. It also let me add in a guitar to MIDI converter and a few sound modules for guitar synth. Then some fancy MIDI tools to split the streams; others to merge them; and a rack mixer to blend the audio; and... (you should have the picture at this point).

Somewhere around 18 rack units and what felt like 100 kgs (at least it did while carrying it to the car after a gig), I realised that things were once again getting a tad out of hand. So I started casting around for solutions to downsize without losing much in the capability and flexibility department. Modern multi-effects and guitar amp modellers were a serious step forwards, allowing me to pack a bunch of rack effects into a few rack spaces, but the really good ones were seriously expensive (and being a musician, I'm seriously cheap).

And lo, so it was that I discovered that there were clever little software elves around the world were able to pack the equivalent of an awful lot of sonic gadgetry goodness into software. This suited me perfectly at the time as I was doing more recording and very few gigs. It also came in real handy for workshops as I could hook up a projector to a laptop and show people exactly what I was doing to create those spaceship noises so beloved by every player </sarky_tone>. Unfortunately, while the software itself is great, laptop computers are made for portability more than they are for reliability and are not very trust inspiring in the context of gigging (and have you ever tried asking for a "beer and sweat proof laptop" at your favourite PC vendor? They think you're taking the piss - which reminds me, it's got to be resistant to that too, for the rock gigs).

So while I kept the software in the studio, when I started playing out (/acting out) again I went back to basics - a guitar and an amp. But I should have known when that overdrive appeared between my guitar and amp that it was an omen, a portent of things to come. Before I knew it, the damn thing had snuck out at night and brought back some of his friends to stay. So I built a little pedalboard as a home for them and they were happy. Then of course, with a footpedal's hold on the floor, they all started bringing in their families... and I ended up building an even bigger pedalboard. I said at the time that if I had added another pedal to the board, it would have gained sentience from sheer number of connections and gone all Skynet on my ass.

So serendipity being all... well... serendipitous, I happened to found a nice floor multieffect at a great price recently: the TC Electronic G-System which evicted most of the pedals squatting on my board and then booted the board itself. But of course, you can take the brain out of a G-System and rack mount it along with any looped pedals, connecting it to the floorboard with a simple network cable. While I haven't done this yet, I've just bought a GT-Pro (again) to handle the piezo side of my guitars (again), so it is going to happen... (you got it - again <sigh>).

Now I'm wondering if software is next. Am I the gormless guitar gear equivalent of Sisyphus, doomed to repeat myself again and again? Oh well - at least this time the quality of the gear is much better than last time. It's actually sounding quite good (and I'm hanging on to my Twin and an overdrive - just in case...).

And before my Eskom-hating, sandal- (and Croc-)wearing friends point to their acoustic guitars and laugh: yes, that's all very well ...but can you make spaceship noises? Can you have as much fun twiddling your knobs as I do (on second thoughts, don't answer that question)? I think not.

ActionArnie

As long as while going round the mountain you keep making your way to the top you'll be ok I guess.

With regards to laptops in a live situation. Surely that's well suited to a rack-mounted PC chassis with a solid-state drive? PC's are cheap, you could have a second as backup and a little LCD monitor somewhere to see what's going on. Haven't thought about it too much but I would guess that would be fairly reliable.

greetings

I know your pain ?

But, I must say that I loved the pedalboard that you're selling off now. It was awesome. Stompboxes for the win... For me, at least.

raithza

"forever evolving, never content" ? ?

AlanRatcliffe

I've looked into it at length (I build my own PCs anyway) and basically it is possible to make rackmount PCs that are more road-ready, but they will always be at a bit of a disadvantage compared to the purpose built boxes - the modular architecture of the PC is at a disadvantage thanks to plug-in cards and cables that are shaken loose relatively easily. The weight of CPU heatsinks (and the way they are attached) is a big problem, particularly with the larger coolers used for "quiet" computing. Anyway rackmount PCs work out really expensive. SSDs have made storage a lot more reliable, but they are not available at anywhere near the storage capacities needed (some of us would like to have huge sample libraries like VSL on tap ?) - or at least not at prices reachable for the average musician (and I am a very average musician ?).

There are also some purpose built boxes (like the Muse Receptor) which allow you to run VST effects and instruments from a road-ready box, but they usually have one or two limitations that are deal-breakers for me.

ActionArnie

Yeh I can imagine the cables being an issue, but the SATA clip-ons should be pretty secure.

We've been shipping 100 PC chassis's a month all around the world for years with the heat sink and a PCI card installed and we've never seen a problem with either of them coming loose. Having said that, they are shipped in a box with lots of this special bubble protection plastic stuff. This is with a stock cooler no, not one of them fancy cool 'n quiet jobbies.

AlanRatcliffe

ActionArnie wrote We've been shipping 100 PC chassis's a month all around the world for years with the heat sink and a PCI card installed and we've never seen a problem with either of them coming loose. Having said that, they are shipped in a box with lots of this special bubble protection plastic stuff. This is with a stock cooler no, not one of them fancy cool 'n quiet jobbies.

My Ultra120 eXtreme weighs in at 790g without a 120mm fan, if that gives you an idea - it's also quite tall so can exert quite a lot of pressure on the mobo. You are supposed to remove it if you transport the PC. To be fair, there are some good low profile, relatively low weight coolers too though. But still, gear gets manhandled, knocked and transported a lot during the normal course of things and rack cases rarely have shockmounting.

Nicholas-L

I'm so sorry I ever showed you that add :'( ? :sorry: :rolleyes: lol

AlanRatcliffe

Nicholas L wrote I'm so sorry I ever showed you that add :'( ? :sorry: :rolleyes: lol

Well, it worked out a bit more complicated and expensive a deal in the long run anyway. It was dead when the previous owner tested it just before he sent it. He had to have the whole main board replaced, which cost nearly as much as he was selling it for, so I had to throw in my TimeFactor to make it worth his while. Still a good deal though (and I now know the guts are all brand new).

Gearhead

Enough non rack talk already ? What is going in besides the G-System, how big is it going to be, what casing do you have in mind, how do you keep the midi fast enough, what power rail are you planning on using, etc etc...

DonovanB

Dear Alan,
If you're thinking of selling the G-system. I want it. In fact, I'll evoke the time honoured tradition and yell "SHOTGUN" to make it official...

Kind Regards,
Your biggest fan (only if you're selling it... ? )

Back to your original post, in short, you have GAS?

AlanRatcliffe

Gearhead wrote Enough non rack talk already ? What is going in besides the G-System, how big is it going to be, what casing do you have in mind, how do you keep the midi fast enough, what power rail are you planning on using, etc etc...

Whew! Gearhead is excited... ?

It's not all planned out yet, but what I have so far:

Case: SKB (I have a few 4Us around already, but will probably have to get at least a 6U).
Magnetic: G-System, TC NovaDrive (Loop), Tech 21 Blonde (Insert).
Piezo: Boss GT-Pro (more than enough for what I do with piezos, but I suspect Boss will have a new rack unit in the next year).
Line mixer: I have a Behringer RX1602 lurking - alright as long as you keep everything at line level with no gain. No-one else is currently making anything better in a 1U format. Would love to find an old Roland M12 in good condition.

Will probably get a Furman or Samson Line conditioner fairly soon. Might take another look at rack amp modellers sometime too - possible options include the Tech 21 PSA1.1 and the Eleven Rack. Don't have to go all-out as this is more of my gigging rig - if I want to do anything hairy in studio, I'll still reach for Guitar rig and some good plugs.

MIDI I'll try and keep it pretty straightforward using it just for patch switching, utilising throughs and patch mapping - don't want to have to start pulling in parallel and merge units. Up to three units in a chain is usually an acceptable delay in my experience.

Guitar synth will stay on the floor - the GR-55 is just so convenient as an all in one. I've done a few gigs with just that and the Carvin Nylon and pulled off everything from bass, electric guitar and synth parts.

Donovan Banks wrote If you're thinking of selling the G-system. I want it. In fact, I'll evoke the time honoured tradition and yell "SHOTGUN" to make it official...

Dagnab it - I've only just got it for Pete's sake. ? If I ever do sell it, it might be in my best interest to auction it off to the highest bidder.

Back to your original post, in short, you have GAS?

Well, that just cut right through the crap didn't it? ? I still prefer my take on it though.

flatfourfan

Please note that the future thread (show your rack) - should not be confused with that other website.

?

Post edited as that link was NSFW and contains information in violation of GFSA policies. Moderator Matta