A manual or preset tap tempo generator..does it exist?

[DRC]

First off, I want to apologize if you have run across this post in another forum. I wanted to reach as many people as possible who may have found something like this. Or perhaps, a builder might come across this post and propose making something like this.

I dig my rack effects. I really do. But after having a Nova Delay, after trying out an El Capistan, a Diamond and with EHX making my beloved DMM with tap tempo I realize I can have a lot more tonal options with a pedal tray taking up two spaces than my rack effects can provide. That, and I'd actually like to get my effects in a larger pedalboard as opposed to hauling a small pedalboard and a 10 space rack.

The thing is, when I jam with new people I love having tap tempo available. But for songs where I know the set tempo, having the BPM stored in a preset and MIDI accessible is the shit. The thing I wish the Nova Delay had was MIDI just to store delay times more so that subdivisions or modulations. It's what kinda makes the Eventide Timefactor such a cool unit and the upcoming Strymon Timeline desirable. Even though I'm sonically satisfied with my Nova Delay, I'm actually thinking of selling it to get funds for one of these units.

What would be the best of both worlds would be to have a device that can generate tap tempo to all these devices. You can either use it as a manual tap or have it generate tap from preset BPM/ms. You could mount the thing in a rack or on a pedalboard. It could have a series of master outputs and secondary or slave outputs/tap switch in case you want to adjust say tremolo mid song but leave your delay tempo alone. It could have jacks for latching switches as well as momentary.

Jack Vaughn is making me a master/slave tap switch right now. Just from talking to the guy and feeling his enthusiasm I can tell it is going to work well. But it is only a manual tap. If someone made a unit with stored presets now that would be the answer to a lot of my problems.

 

[mboogman]

I think the issue that you're going to run in to is that you need all of your tap-able delays to be able to receive midi clock. There are tons of devices out there that can have a preset BPM programmed into each patch. The Lexicon MPXG2 is one such device. For my rig, anything that has midi in, gets its clock from my MPXG2, so all my effects units share the same tap tempo.

 

[DRC]

I'm really talking about syncing devices that have no MIDI functions at all. Just tap tempo. I'm talking about a box that would send a pulse to sync them all together. Like a mechanical master tap tempo footswitch but instead of just the tap switch you could also program preset tempos before each song. Like say there is a manual mode which is just like a standard tap on a foot pedal that feeds a bunch of 1/4" jacks. Then there is a preset mode where you pick your preset (say quarter notes at 160bpm, or say a pulse every 450ms.) and you let it feed all of your delays, tremolos, rotary, etc. for a second till they are synced then you disengage the pulse since they are all now set. A preset mode would essentially do the tapping for you be at an exact tempo as opposed to manually getting close to the exact time.

I think this is hard to explain because obviously nothing like this has been made since it would just be easier to use rack mount delays that can be programmed. Now that I re-read what I originally posted, no MIDI even needs to be involved. The box wouldn't need MIDI. It would just have presets.

 

[protoplasma]

My new MIDI floor controller, the M/21 will handle tempo just as you like. It has a stored tempo value for each preset that can be set via the menu to a specific BPM or tapped in. An LED blinks to indicate the tempo and the OLED display shows the tempo value.

Now, for the important part -- the tempo value can be output up to 3 different ways, in any combination or all:

1. Global MIDI Clock
2. MIDI CC (on / off to control a relay connected to a manual tap input)
3. Loop (a native way to control any one of the loop relays in my loop switcher to tap the tempo into another device)

If you were to use one of my rack mount switching units, such as the B/8, to switch all your pedals and processors, then you'd simply sacrifice one of the loops as a tap tempo output. You'd connect that loop in a contact closure fashion to the tap input on all of your pedals.

If you'd rather use another contact closure device, that is fine too. You'd simply use the CC output mode on the M/21 to control a relay output that is connected to the tap inputs on your pedals. This could be any MIDI CC controllable device with a relay contact closure output.

For your MIDI enabled effects the global clock feature will obviously take care of everything needed.

In the M/21 you can configure the tap output options preset by preset. Within each preset's menu you can set the tempo to output via any one or all of the tempo options. This allows you to not update the tempo on a particular device for certain presets, if desired.

I'm currently building the production prototype of the M/21 based on some custom jobs I've finished in the past. It's an expanded version with a huge amount of preset storage memory and boat loads of features. It's target pricing is on par with other high-end devices, but reasonable IMO given the quality and feature set. I will also tweak the firmware for your specific needs at little to no charge, within reason of course.

Here are some pictures of previous projects and the renderings of the new M/21. I have the sheet metal in hand, just waiting on the new PCBs to be delivered next week. Given that, the new unit and firmware should be ready by May.

 

[mboogman]

That's a pretty sweet system man. If you're willing to divulge, how much would something like that run?

 

[protoplasma]

That's a pretty sweet system man. If you're willing to divulge, how much would something like that run?

Thanks! The final price isn't set in stone yet, but retail should be no more than $1.25k. If I'm selling it direct/artist price than around $1k.

It's also important to note that all the buttons and indicators are hand wired. There are no PCB mounted foot switches like in a lot of the production units out there.

 

[Ryanbaucom]

I just developed a tap BPM sync with presets. Check it out.

Tapestryaudio.com
https://youtu.be/ALiZTcEOO3E