Strymon Volante and Empress Echosystem - WTF???

  • Thread starter Thread starter italoop
  • Start date Start date
italoop

italoop

Active member
I wanted to add some delay pedals to my array of processing devices for which I write presets libraries.
The only pedal I have added to my racks is the Strymon TimeLine and I think it's pretty cool. If they would release a rack version truly working at line levels... it would be awesome... but that's another story...
Well I have all TC pedals... I mean the original first series analog ones from the '80s... and that's another story too.
So.. I investigated in the Volante and Echosystem... which I both find amazing.
Volante is very creative... not so much for the limited algorithms available; mostly for the "hands action" on the controls that really deliver a lot of very imaginative sounds. I don't really care about tape emulation as I don't believe in this madness. I have used tape echoes in my teens in the '70s and all this new stuff claiming to do that... it's BS. But the point to me is that the Volante delivers in terms of creativity and nice tones.
The Echosystem is spectacular! 42 algorithms!! No pedal offers all of that and tone is nice on most of them.
Now...among the basic requirements of any professional product supporting MIDI is the ability to do single and whole presets MIDI SysEx dumps so that one could backup everything, upload/download anything to/from the unit. Imagine a professional musician on tour or even any amateur who has the same rights to good design anyway... if something goes wrong and the pedal dies... just get a replacement anywhere and send it the whole SysEx bulk in 10 seconds and BAM... you're set and ready to go.
Been there and done that with many pro players in my Eventide days, inclusing John Petrucci SysEx transfer to his DSP7000... on the fly ON STAGE with him!!!
It turns out these two pedals... do not support MIDI SysEx transfers! Really? How on earth one could even imagine to engineer a 300 presets device without this simple MIDI feature?
What's even worst it the Echosystem! It has a memory card slot that only supports 35 presets storage/recall. WTF???
In this day and age, with memory being so cheap, one could easily put hundreds of presets on a card and use them, right?
Like I travel to another country, go to a shop and get an Echosystem. Plug my card in... and bam... it works exactly like mine at home.
No MIDI SysEx transfer available.
I mean... these are products in the 500$/€ zone and cutting on MIDI SyseEx is really, really cheap of their companies.
I just can't believe how one would manage these things without a basic proper tool as MIDI SysEx.

How do you cope with such serious shortcomings?

Strymon...Empress
are you reading this?
Are YOU out of your minds?
Come on, you can't be serious! Add MIDI SysEx tranfers for bulk AND single preset and I will get your products right away at full price, and write libraries and you'll sell more than you do, for sure.

It's 2021... and I used to backup my works with MIDI SysEx in 1985!
:shocked: :shocked: :shocked:
 
I guess I'm missing something. Why have MIDI ports if it can't take MIDI? Then after a quick Google search, I learned that they have their own computer software to interface with their pedals. Then it all makes sense. Most modern companies would rather use their own software to manage their devices. After all, anyone doing any complicated MIDI work live these days is using a fucking laptop. It is 2021 after all. Asking tech to do what MIDI did in the 80s is kinda dated. Now a days, that USB port is far more useful, not just for the transfer of preset data, but in firmware updates (Firmware updates being something you don't want to happen through MIDI), than MIDI can be. Not to mention, some of these companies have editing software that is easier to use than the products themselves. My guitarist has his helix backed up on his computer. If something happened, he wouldn't use MIDI to program settings, he would restore his whole device at once using their proprietary software. That's just how things are these days.

Really, there has been discussion of MIDI 2.0 recently. If everyone at NAMM can sit down and agree on the interface of the future, that would be the next thing. Good luck with that!
 
BeZo said:
I guess I'm missing something. Why have MIDI ports if it can't take MIDI? Then after a quick Google search, I learned that they have their own computer software to interface with their pedals. Then it all makes sense. Most modern companies would rather use their own software to manage their devices. After all, anyone doing any complicated MIDI work live these days is using a fucking laptop. It is 2021 after all. Asking tech to do what MIDI did in the 80s is kinda dated. Now a days, that USB port is far more useful, not just for the transfer of preset data, but in firmware updates (Firmware updates being something you don't want to happen through MIDI), than MIDI can be. Not to mention, some of these companies have editing software that is easier to use than the products themselves. My guitarist has his helix backed up on his computer. If something happened, he wouldn't use MIDI to program settings, he would restore his whole device at once using their proprietary software. That's just how things are these days.

Really, there has been discussion of MIDI 2.0 recently. If everyone at NAMM can sit down and agree on the interface of the future, that would be the next thing. Good luck with that!
Click to expand...

You are confusing different things.
MIDI ports are there because you need them for presets recall on a stage using a MIDI controller, not a laptop, because you can generate MIDI CCs and send them out off the MIDI OUT port which can also be configured as MIDI THRU to repeat MIDI commands received at the MIDI IN across a whole MIDI system (pedalboard or rack).
When it comes to presets storage/backup/dumps it doesn't matter which port you are using, the code is always MIDI SYSEX and it works great.
Take any professional rack device and you find MIDI SysEx, take any synth... same thing. So, if you think you're smarter than the '80s because you are probably younger... well you're wrong. Code is still the same and SysEx is actually a great tool.
The problem with these pedals I mentioned is that they do NOT support MIDI SYSEX at all, it doesn't matter the port being implemented, be it MIDI or USB. And no... if you are still using a laptop for presets transfer to a modern device via USB... you're ancient! I do that with my smartphone and an USB cable. You know why a laptop or smart phone can do that? Because the companies implement MIDI SysEx in theri products. Now you know something.
If you look at the Strymon TimeLine, Mobius and BigSky, they all support MIDI SYSEX. You can use the MIDI ports or the USB ports for that, You can use their applications or much smarter ones that work with any gear/rand, like MIDIOX (Windows) and SYSEX LIBRARIAN (Mac). All of them work MIDI SyEx. You have other possible formats, VERY rarely used, mostly used for flash memory supports like cards. An example is the EVENTIDE Eclipse which uses a proprietary format .PGM to store presets on a CFCard. That happened before USB ports were buit on fx devices and smart phones weren't around. Still... MIDI SYsEx is fully supported as it's the lightest, fastest and easiest way to handle any system exclusive information we have to this day.
You do not need a computer on stage for a system failure. That's cumbersome.
Just a memory support (card) if the hardware uses it or a smart phone and free apps handling MIDI SysEx.
No need for anything proprietary!
 
Empress is typically very responsive to improvement requests, have you contacted them?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top