Thanks for the reminder! Indeed, we are very busy right now with new projects. In particular our new Loopa mic (it went down really well at NAMM). I hoped you liked the video.
Some answers for you...
1) My suggestion is: long press on hi/lo to swap the parameters being edited and long press on hi/lo + control button to swap all the parameters of the effect being edited, like your example all the parameters of LFO, or volume, but not both at the same time. Yes, same functions on the editor would be great. Such as a swap button between each hi/lo parameter and a global swap button on each effect page tab...
This seems to be a solution that will work.
4) I tested the tap tempo with a metronome and found out that the pedal runs faster than the tapped tempo. Is there a bug or do I do something wrong? It captures the tempo from heel all the way down to toe all the way down, correct? If it is not all the way down, but it captures somewhere in the middle, this may be the source of the problem, since my ankle movement may not be consistent between the heel down and toe down positions
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The "switch" for tap-tempo is when the pedal crosses over the middle position (approximately). So you don't need to go right to the heel-down or toe-down position. It actually averages a few measurements to get a better estimate of the tempo. It needs at least 2 "taps" before it will change, then it averages the last 4 "taps". Maybe you aren't doing enough taps?
5) I also tested the LFO tempo with a metronome and found out that the LFO runs slower than a metronome. It is more obvious at slower rates. For instance try 60 bpm and compare it with a metronome at 60 bpm. This slowness is very dramatic when the bpm is slower, but it is multiplied by a larger division. For instance try 10 bpm tempo and x 6 division, then compare it with a 60 bpm metronome. You will see a big difference. Is this a bug?
I will check this.
6) It would be interesting to have other divisions for LFO, such as 9, 7, 5, 8/3, 3/2, 4/3, 3/4, 2/3, 3/8, 1/3, 1/5, 1/6, 1/7, 1/9, etc in order to obtain dotted-eighth pattern, complex time signatures and syncopations. You can even add phi (golden ratio) and 1/phi for fun. For instance Pigtronix Echolution has this.
There was a reason for limiting the available ranges. I believe it was for efficiency reasons (faster calculations) and for MIDI Sync. But the code has changed a lot since the first version we'd need to go through it carefully to work out how much of a change this is.
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7) I like to max the tempo to 999 bpm and choose x 16 division, in order to obtain results similar to a ring modulator. For me this is more musical than a ring modulator, because we don't lose the carrier signal. It would be good to have higher tempo rates in order to obtain divergent sum, carrier, difference frequencies. Can you increase the upper limit of tempo and or division to something larger?
The division (i.e., multiplier) needs to be increased. But the hardware is capable of fast modulation (a few kHz). However, the LFO itself is limited in how fast it can move to ensure it is very smooth and there are no clicks if the LFO is moving quickly. It can be a problem with LFO shapes with sharp edges (not a problem with sine waveforms for example). This would need to be changed to allow the fast speeds. Maybe if it only works for sine waves that would be ok. It would need to be tested.
8) When the tempo is increased from fast to very fast there is a volume drop. What is the reason of this volume drop? Loss of high frequencies? You can also observe a volume drop at 999 bpm x 16 when you change the LFO wave shape to Saw Down from Saw Up. Is this the same reason?
It is probably the speed limit on the LFO. If "optical mode" is on, the effect will be more obvious too. Eventually the LFO can't move much in the available time so the level will then be somewhere between the low and hi values, and you'll get a level drop. (You always get a level change with an LFO because it is modulating the level, but above a certain speed it should remain constant unless speed-limiting like this is done.)
9) Although the inharmonic output of a very fast fixed modulator is interesting, I would like to see the result of a non-fixed modulator correlated to the carrier. For instance, the pitch of the input signal could be tracked, then the frequency of the modulator could be related to the frequency of the input signal. So, the sum, carrier and difference signals could be harmonically related. As you know, if the carrier and the modulator are both X Hz, the result should be an octave up effect. If the carrier is X and the modulator is X/2, the result should be an octave down + 3rd harmonic. I don't know how it would sound in practice, but in theory this should be like an analog Whammy
. This would be a great addition to the Voluum, although it is already a fantastic pedal.
Actually, I experimented with this early during the development of the Voluum. You can get some nice sounds, especially nice sub-bass octaver effects. However, it was deemed to be getting too complex for most users, so it was not included in the firmware. Also, as the effects got more CPU-intensive, the available CPU time for the pitch-processing got less, so it wasn't possible to do both at the same time (all effects and pitch-tracking) without compromises. The tuner works, but no other effects are running at the same time to do this. So it might be possible to get it back in, but it's not trivial.
10) If I first define parameters, next I select a control either pedal or envelope, I lose the settings that I've defined and that can be controlled. This may be useful for some cases, but usually annoying for me
. Is this done by purpose?
It's partly of on purpose, partly due to how the parameters work. Each parameter has a "not-controller" and a "hi" and "lo" value. So when you enable control, you get the "hi" and "lo" versions, when you disable control, you get the "not-controlled" version. It can be useful because you don't loose any values when you toggle control on and off. What else could it do? If it modified the parameters when you toggle in and out of control it might be worse! Your suggestions are welcome.
11) It would be useful to start the LFO pattern at a different position rather than its absolute beginning. Is it possible to make the LFO phase adjustment available when the retriggering is not on? When it is being edited it should function like this : If we adjust the phase when the effect is engaged, it does nothing. However, if the effect is bypassed and engaged again, the LFO starts from the selected point.
This makes sense. We did add a change so the LFO would start at the same position each time the effect was enabled. Making it take account of phase might not be a big change. I need to look at it.
12) It would be useful to see the tempo clock (value before div multiplication), either parameter or tap tempo, blinking somewhere. This would function like a visual metronome to help the player for confusing tempos that I asked for above (6th suggestion, e.g. x 4/3 division). If the division is set to x 1, it would be useful as well to mark the start point of the LFO if you could evaluate the above 11th suggestion
. So, LED tempo should restart each time the effect is engaged.
Could this be done as an option to change how the 5 LEDs that show the tremolo operate? Instead of showing the actual volume position, it could show the position at the non-divided BPM, regardless of other tremolo settings and volume setting?
13) With fast attack and fast release settings on the compressor, there is some buzzing/clicking, and also some tremolo effect. This is more obvious when chords or low notes are played. You can try 0 ms attack, 0.1 s release and high compression/low threshold in order to reproduce this issue. Is this caused by the automatic make up gain fighting back and forth between note beatings? Can this be improved by software or is this the physical limit?
I haven't seen this. I will try to reproduce it.
14) LFO LEDs seem a little bit out of sync when they blink fast (for instance F08 preset toe down position). Can this be improved somehow or is this caused by a limitation?
The LEDs are updated in real-time, and pretty quickly, but there is a limit to how fast this can be done, particularly when you take the various LED intensities into account. I'm sure at very fast LFO speeds there can be some interaction between the LED updates and the LFO position so although the LEDs are being updated correctly, you can get some optical effects that make it hard to see that's going on.
15) In tuner mode, note to midi out would be really great.
This can be done, but it wouldn't be the same as our pitch-to-MIDI products (a little slower). Is pitch-bend required?