See this is why I love your videos, these kind of little optimizations and gems can only come from someone with years and years of experience. I would love if you'd make this an occasional series where you highlight some common producer minor headaches and introduce gear and workout arounds that you've come up with!
@@thomp9054 yup i do think benn is a good guy and i don't actualy want to make trouble here, sorry! (was drunk the night i made my initial post and my friend linked me a benn jordan tweet that threw me off.)
In terms of isolated power supplies I really like the Voodoo Labs stuff, but Truetone also makes a really good line of isolated power supplies for a bit cheaper, and I’ve used them successfully for a decade with about every pedal you can imagine - including stuff like the big box Moogerfoogers that need absurd current.
As a scrub tier hobbyist who needs to learn mixing, I still enjoy these yearly videos even though I have no use for gear. I would LOVE a vst version of this video though, especially with you streaming new/upcoming vst stuff regularly now!
Incredible list. Had my eye on the Minibay for a while but it has been out of stock. Didn't realize they were making a ver. 2 As a guitarist among others things, can confirm, iso brick is love, iso brick is life. Meanwhile I know somebody who doesn't know that they need the MRCC in their life and I'm pretty excited to tell them about it.
I own a MRCC. It is not short of an amazing products. The only problem is someone's imagination, you can do crazy MIDI things with this. I connected my Bluetooth MIDI receivers/senders and I connect multiple Bluetooth devices including my keyboard, iPad, jamstick guitar and my Mac can see all of that.
That MIDI system looks really interesting. I'll definitely look into that. My personal #1 forgotten studio gem is my old trusty cable tester. There are quite a few out there to buy but things like this are also pretty easy to build yourself with some basic electronic skills.
That stereo switcher is a little of my price range, but man that is a brilliant idea and the desktop patch bay is a great idea as well. One other thing to look out for when buying a pedal power supply is to make sure it can supply enough power for any higher current pedals you have. You will mostly need this for digital pedals.
maaan I have bought 3 DF Audio Minibays so far, they're freaking amazing. Everything in my studio -- modular, polysynths, mixers, recorders, laptop, stringed instruments, everything -- is routed through them. It's opened up a fantastic levels of creativity in how I route things around (and, as a result, of using pedals in all sorts of interesting ways.)
If you ignore the "Available at time of purchase" part, you can get a lot of fantastic, commercial grade, current or recently discontnued power conditioners new-in-box on eBay for $100 or less. Some sellers have literally dozens of them new in box. I've picked up a couple new-in-box Ametek PowerVar ABC830-11 conditioners over the past year for abour $220 total including shipping, where you'd easily pay four figures for a comparable conditioner marketed toward audio professionals. The medical grade models are a little harder to come by but also pretty common and might be worth it if you work a lot with tape or vintage analog gear that's especially sensitive, but the standard models are more than good enough for most purposes.
I've actually had the MRCC on my list for a while. I don't even have a particularly complicated synth rig, but there have been so many times where I'm like "well now I want to have both these things control these but now I need additional inputs going to this multi-thru box" and other situations like that, that I just feel like the MRCC is a necessity.
You might also consider a MOTU MIDI Express/ExpressXT. It doesn't have all the same front-panal controls, but it's a tidy rack mount MIDI interface and it works flawlessly with multiple instruments.
Awesome! We share all of these regular "problems" but I never pinned them down like this and a few of your solutions/tools I was not aware of. Exactly what a gear nerd needs, next to money 😁👍 subscribed. Thank you for your work and insights.
Tbh MRCC doesn't do the very first thing I need a midi device to do. Reference-counted-merging. (Admittedly I need it both for workflow and because no commercial midi device does it, so I built one a few years ago that does. Now covered in my studio.) Reference counting notes in merging allows single note-offs to *not* end notes that had multiple note-ons. Rather, the count of notes must hit 0 for it to stop. This is important in many cases. A simple example is playing by hand merged into a stream with an arpeggiator or sequencer. Without reference counting, the arp/seq will *end your held notes* if it coincides with them. With reference counting it does what you'd expect. No commercial device does it. If you want to do it for all channels, all notes, it does take a certain (small but not insignificant for a MCU) amount of memory, so they can't easily add it in most cases either. I asked a few places if they could add it before building mine. Generally can't.
I use a MOTU Midi Express XT as a standalone 8 in 8 out merge box. Mine’s got the old printer interface so it was really cheap. Doesn’t need connecting to a computer, just select ‘merge all’ and job done 😀
A cheaper alternative to the MRCC is the Blokas MIDIhub. 4 DIN ins, 4 DIN outs, usb. The editor (which you do have to access through a computer but the box can be used standalone after configuration) can make the MIDIhub do all the things you mentioned the MRCC can. Less connections but ideal for a small studio and comparatively cheap at €164.
+1 on the Midihub, I got one as a pre-launch supporter on Kickstarter and was so impressed on how useful and cheap it was that got a 2nd one after launch. Solved all my issues with MIDI routing and merging.
Thanks a ton for the Conductive Labs MRCC tip. I have a iConductivity mioXM and I could never get 100% functionality out of it. The USB hosting never worked quite right and the software for it is super clunky sometimes. If only the smaller 880 had a couple USB host ports but I guess I'll spring for the big brother.
I gotta give another Shout out to Voodoo Labs. I have a Pedal Power Mondo that suddenly had some problems with some of the outputs. I had bought it almost 6 years prior and it was the middle of the Pandemic so I didn't think Voodoo Labs would help me out but to their credit they still honored the warranty and I had it back within 3 weeks after I sent it. Those guys are class acts.
The most important audio gear is the friends we made along the way and that DF Audio Minibay might become my new best friend. Have hit capacity on my Bored Patchulator and for all its convenience and stereo-ness it can be tough to parse. Looking forward to trying that Empress EQ too
Settin' up a patchbay No longer wastin' time in studio "A" Also, the cost of cables if you are going to go with more hardware, or even DAWless. I have spent more on cables to patch things into a used A&H mixer than I did on the mixer itself.
The pedal power supply tip is so important. As a guitarist I quickly found out that daisy chaining is absolutely terrible. Luckily Thomann has a "cheap" 10 output isolated AC power supply called the Harley Benton Powerplant ISO-10AC Pro. It has 10 outputs, 4 of which can be switched between 9V-12V-18V and a USB output as well. It's 110 euros, but compared to other brands that's dirt cheap and it's definitely cheaper than buying 10 wall warts.
In my experience, if you have a good isolated PSU like that Voodoo labs and then you dasy chain 2 or 3 simple pedals, like two drives or a boost and a fuzz, you can get away with it pretty good. What you need to watch out specially are digital pedals, not only are they generally more power hungry but they are also more sensitive to power drops.
For anyone using Reason there’s a great Rack Extension with very similar functions to the MRCC within a daw environment called Delta MIDI Compute. Wanna split your notes by velocity/note value? Sure! Wanna randomise where each midi notes go? Sure! Add some delay (like, a pause, not the effect) to the each 7th note? Sure! Wanna add randomised strum to each chord you play? Sure!! What I’m trying to say is Delta is pretty nuts… Admittedly you are stuck to using the Reason environment BUT with a few instances of midi out device you can easily use it to control hardware :)
iConnectivity MioXM and MioXL can also do a lot of the same stuff, including networked MIDI. The MRCC looks a bit more desktop friendly though. The iC stuff needs to be programmed using their desktop software.
And even if you really want to use an iOS app as your sequencer like his example in the video, there's similar apps on iOS too that can do all that, midiflow for example.
I supported this in their Indiegogo campaign, but given that my instruments are either boxed or scattered about the house due to my laziness of getting a dedicated corner set up as a "studio" I still haven't really taken this for a proper spin yet. It has lots of interesting ins and outs and any combo in between.
The MRCC has all MIDI connectors on the TOP which would cause total cable mayhem on my studio desk, which is why I bought the Mio XL. The setup (on my Mac) was more or less painless, it just works and comes in a near 1U rack format with tons of connectors ON THE BACK where they belong. I wanted to buy the Kenton Interchanger as it doesn't need an app for configuration, but it has less USB ports, it has been delayed for over 2 years and is now announced for next spring.
The large Truetone power supply’s (not one spots lol) are also great and affordable, you can get the large one for about $200 and power a whole bunch of stuff. I have a pedalboard with like 18 pedals currently running on mine and it’s just always worked.
Great list! It really got me curious for the EQ pedal. However... even though the Minibay is much cheaper I would go for the Erica Synth Matrix Mixer. The most flexible mixer/patchbay solution I have ever had.
got myself a voodoo lab pedal power 3 plus as a result of this video's mention of their iso-5 unit... it's Great. powers my whole darn current live soundscape/improv rig. clean and noise-free.
A similar "fix things" pedal that I have are a pair of original TC Electronic Sustain + Parametric Equalizer. Kind of weird units, but there's something special about them.
Speaking of audio gear nobody ever talks about. It be cool to see you do a deep dive on the bomebox and/or MIDI Translator Pro. With as much MIDI stuff you tinker with I feel like you must already have one lying around.
Hi Benn love your channel, have followed you for a long time and been inspired by the music you make. I do feel that I must pull you up on the SS-6 with this term “hand built”, I’ll use your term “pause the video and look around your studio” and you’ll realise every piece of hardware you own was hand built, granted most PCBs nowadays are populated with pick n place machines rather than thru hole however the rest of device is still built by hand, every device you mentioned on this video was hand built not just the SS-6, I’ve seen a lot of youtubers use this hand built quote to the extent I believe there are people outhere who think Moog hand built their synths and behringer just have a machine where they press a button and a synth drops out, but the reality is both company’s hand built their synths the same just the latter can do it at a larger scale, sorry my rant is over, keep up the good work. PS you’ve actually got me very interested in that SS-6.
Cioks PSUs are really great too, especially if you have lots of digital pedals with high current requirements. That midi filter looks great by the way. I have an iconnectivity hub which has been a real boon, but I don't think it can do what that does...
I almost worked for VooDoo once and I've been to their facility in California - I actually saw the room where they do the assembly! A friend was their in-house repair person for awhile as well.
I just wanted to say that while gear is amazing, it’s funny you use a midi filter to filter off midi you can literally straight up filter from iOS lmao. Now, I’m not 100% obnoxious though - I could really use an actual hardware filter too - so like I understand your point entirely anyway… But realistically, an iPad is sometimes a ton to work with already. Been doing my midi filtering even dynamically (programming “procedural” music) and the iPad is my favorite tool for all that stuff. Anyway, great video as always!
Thanks for your informative, fun, simply great videos :) For all of y’all looking for a power supply, also check out the Cioks DC7. It’ll power everything you need, is quiet and is pretty solid. They have nice cable selection and the thing is even expandable via a 24V DC outlet.
the Mr. CC looks amazing but has one giant flaw: the connection&psu placement makes it probably impossible to use in a rack, thus further cluttering up your table space
About half of the MRCC owners opted for Rack Ears, so I'd say a lot of people are using it in a rack. Its also got a much smaller footprint on the desktop than a typical pizza box formfactor.
MidiFlow on iOS does a lot of the filtering and mapping functions like that awesome all-in-one midi interface for those people who don't need hardware and/or USB or Bluetooth is good enough.
Thanks for this. I’ve read of later there is no support for this app and many have experienced crashes. Forums to ask for help are locked. Are you still using this app? What’s been your experience?
Walrus Audio Phoenix is a great option if you need an isolated power brick for large pedal collections. it has 12 and 18v options and plenty 300mah outs for digital delays and reverbs. Still fairly affordable too 👍
A powered USB hub + usb extension cable is great for synths with USB MIDI. I use one from RSH Tech to MIDI sequence my Korg, Novation, and Waldorf synths in my DAW. And I'm going to try out sending PC messages to them to quickly call up their presets remotely.
thanks for this, benn!! for isolated pedal power, there's a one-person operation, here in the US, out of ohio, called sweetfoot pedals. he hand makes isolated pedal power supplies to your requested specs--say, for instance, if you have some really power hungry pedals & such. he will make you power cables at your requested lengths. he will even put whatever image you send him on the enclosure. a 10 output supply cost me less than the 5 output voodoo lab jammy. & he's a really nice guy, from what I can tell. he even made me some cables to power korg volcas from the same supply. sweetfoot pedals. I highly recommend!! (& no, I'm not him. & no, I don't know him personally. I'm just a legitimately satisfied customer who likes promoting small, independent businesses. true story.)
I wish I was cool/creative/interesting enough to need that MRCC. Also I think I need that Australian one knob job. Also this is the first video of yours I've seen and I'm excited to see more :)
Hi Benn, i have been really enjoying your channel after your latest podcast with Mr.Bill and i just wanted you to know that you are fucking awesome, good comedy and actual scientific mentality are rare to come by, keep it up! ( as if you would keep it down because i didnt say keep it up :D ) Also, i don't know if at the time of making this video you already had the RME interface i have already seen in one of the most recent videos, but i wanted to ask if you still use or still find the DI Controller better and easier since you can do the same with totalmix Fx or their Remote Arc USB Controller. Thanks for the good times!
Gah. I've been using that OTraki power supply for over a year. I bought it because there were like a hundred reviews on Amazon saying "oh this is really actually isolated." I should have known better at that price.
I'd recommend the Cioks brand of pedal power supply, everything went quiet after switching to it, pushes high milliamps for hungry pedals and you can select voltage.
Great video! Love the Ronroco cameo (thats how I discovered your Flashbulb channel 8 years ago :) I have one too. Any tips on getting it to sound as nice as yours does?
I was talking with Empress about what I wanted in an update to their EQ pedal back around 2015. They made exactly what I asked for. I will definitely be picking that up! The patchbay idea for a pedalboard is great however the MiniBAY and the Boredbrain Patchulator still make things incredibly time consuming and messy. What would be better is a device like the FLOCK AUDIO studio patch bays, but for a guitar pedalboard, where you plug your pedals into a box and that box connects to your computer via USB and all of the patching is done using a software UI so you can route anything to anything else without the need for messy patch cables. That will be the future. Only a matter of time. If Darren doesn't make it, someone else will. Wanna go into business Ben? 😄
Ohhhh dear, really useful and GAS inducing nonetheless, but yes I was wondering why I always got noise from my pedals and I do have one of those blocks from a reputable company, and yes, I’ve just done a test to isolate the pedal and voila! Thanks!!!
Ah dangit i guess I really do have to bite the bullet and spend a ton on a decent power supply for my gigging rig. I really thought my cheap 40€ one was isolated. But I just spent 300€ on a goddamn flightcase for my amp so I guess I need to find the 250 or whatever a decent power supply will run me. Urgh.
Finally, the Bastl MIDI Looper is a bit of a knockoff of the MIDIsizer MIDIrex, whihc is a fantastic 4 track, MPE compatible MIDI looper (with a pattern based song mode) that has been around for 7-8 years. The DIY version is around $125-$150 depending on the current price of parts (mainly the display) and took me about an hour to build when I got it 6 years ago; the assembled one is $200, still a good price. Their MIDIpal clone is really good, also, and a MIDIpal (or ideally a few of them, I've got an original and a MIDIsizer variant and use both for all sorts of stuff, from troubleshooting to MIDI processing to clock analysis and stabilization) variant of some kind is one of the single best investments anyone who uses more than two or three pieces of hardware can make. Not saying the BASTL isn't good, but for almost $100 less (or $200 less if you can do DIY and source your parts efficiently) you can have the original.
I just discovered that Franklin DI and and I had never heard of it, quick google search led me here and I already respect your word so ya sold me on it. Thanks man!
There is one (and as far as I know only one) cheap actually isolated pedal power supply. It's the Power Plant Jr by Harley Benton. Must be the Jr, as for some reason the bigger one isn't properly isolated?!?! I have a bunch of these, from when they were £25 on Thomman, so I can have pedals everywhere. They work perfectly for a cheap solution, though you will need something fancier for all your power-hungry/odd voltage/ac-sourced pedals
LOVE mine. It's a total beast of a unit. I can hook up my most power hungry digital pedals and the 40% load LED doesn't even come on. And it all sounds perfectly pristine.
Eventide makes a few power supplies that are rebranded Cioks models, sometimes they can be found on sale too. Keep an eye out this Black Friday if you’re in the market :)
How dare you say the sk-5 is the worst synth 😂😂 its responsible for an entire genre of music called champeta, from the caribbean coast of colombia. Also a lot of sonideros used it for the sampling, that and the vt1. I digress. Fun vid as always
Interesting about the power supply for the pedals there.. Since I'm somewhat new to powering my pedals correctly and wanted to reduce noise/static I've been using 1 Spot for my pedals, any experience or advice on these, they seem to work nicely but I wouldn't want to destroy my pedals... I'm only using four separate pedals though, BOSS OS-2, BOSS BD-2, RAT distortion and Mooer Black Secret, all for my Acid wannabe boxes..
I'm still on a quest for a portable interface/mixer to use with AUM, that has at least 4 stereo input, battery or usb powered, and that doesn't cost $1200. If only the bluebox was also an audio interface!
I've had my eye on a Keith McMillen K-Mix as a fit for exactly that scenario, although I fully admit that I have yet to even see a K-Mix IRL. My biggest hesitation is that it seems to fit that niche so well, that I don't understand why it seems to be largely under the radar.
@@michaelbodalski K-Mix is awesome if the number of ins/outs works for you. very flexible, like all their stuff. The new version won't melt on you either. I think people don't really like it mostly because of the touch strips, mini-USB and maybe the learning curve? I don't know..
Awesome choices, great video. For me, its the deq2496. Probably the most reliable and versatile/useful behringer 'thing' I own. The BBE282 'maximizer' is also a secret weapon haha
I am always learning something valuable from your videos. I've been using that True Tone 1 spot with daisy chains for my pedals for a few months now and I definitely want to get one of those voodoo labs power supplies.
I’m all about the Cioks DC7. I like it better than the vooodoolabs stuff because it’s got the whole expandable system and includes usb a on the main (dc7) unit as well as usb c on the smaller (cioks4) expansion. I keep them wired under my Holeyboard so I can essentially break half my rig off and let someone else play through it with fairly minimal effort.
WHOA. almost snapped my neck when i heard my name! Thanks for the shoutout Benn! Much love. That Mini patch bay looks pretty damn awesome.
Hey Ricky, if you wanna cover the Minibay (V2) on your channel, hit me up and I'll send you one over ;)
I've learned so much from both Benn and yourself. Always nice to see my synth dads giving each other shout-outs.
See this is why I love your videos, these kind of little optimizations and gems can only come from someone with years and years of experience. I would love if you'd make this an occasional series where you highlight some common producer minor headaches and introduce gear and workout arounds that you've come up with!
i love the videos, then i see his odd radical politics stuff and feel uncomfortable.
@@timvance3551"odd and radical"?
Lol
Watch out, your shadow's behind you
@@thomp9054 oh no , so scary, I care about the nuremberg code
@@timvance3551 what does that hafta do with any of his videos?
Seems like Benn's quite pro-human rights
@@thomp9054 yup i do think benn is a good guy and i don't actualy want to make trouble here, sorry! (was drunk the night i made my initial post and my friend linked me a benn jordan tweet that threw me off.)
Five Utilities of Highly Effective People
Right after 5 tales of studio ignorance 🤣🤣
that's why we live and learn (well, some of us..)
FUHEP?
In terms of isolated power supplies I really like the Voodoo Labs stuff, but Truetone also makes a really good line of isolated power supplies for a bit cheaper, and I’ve used them successfully for a decade with about every pedal you can imagine - including stuff like the big box Moogerfoogers that need absurd current.
As a scrub tier hobbyist who needs to learn mixing, I still enjoy these yearly videos even though I have no use for gear. I would LOVE a vst version of this video though, especially with you streaming new/upcoming vst stuff regularly now!
Incredible list.
Had my eye on the Minibay for a while but it has been out of stock. Didn't realize they were making a ver. 2
As a guitarist among others things, can confirm, iso brick is love, iso brick is life.
Meanwhile I know somebody who doesn't know that they need the MRCC in their life and I'm pretty excited to tell them about it.
I own a MRCC. It is not short of an amazing products. The only problem is someone's imagination, you can do crazy MIDI things with this. I connected my Bluetooth MIDI receivers/senders and I connect multiple Bluetooth devices including my keyboard, iPad, jamstick guitar and my Mac can see all of that.
Gosh, every part of this video makes me love working inside the box even more!
but... KNOBS!
That MIDI system looks really interesting. I'll definitely look into that. My personal #1 forgotten studio gem is my old trusty cable tester. There are quite a few out there to buy but things like this are also pretty easy to build yourself with some basic electronic skills.
The MRCC was a game changer for me and the guys who make it couldn't be nicer.
The multiple pedal supply actually has regulators on each output. It’s not truly isolated but it’s better than a daisy chain
That stereo switcher is a little of my price range, but man that is a brilliant idea and the desktop patch bay is a great idea as well. One other thing to look out for when buying a pedal power supply is to make sure it can supply enough power for any higher current pedals you have. You will mostly need this for digital pedals.
Your channel is so good Benn. I really appreciate your experince/wisdom over time and humor. You nail it every time.
Honestly, even though I probably won't buy any of this stuff, it's really informative and relaxing to just watch his videos.
maaan I have bought 3 DF Audio Minibays so far, they're freaking amazing. Everything in my studio -- modular, polysynths, mixers, recorders, laptop, stringed instruments, everything -- is routed through them. It's opened up a fantastic levels of creativity in how I route things around (and, as a result, of using pedals in all sorts of interesting ways.)
Hey Benn, thanks very much for mentioning the Minibay in your vid! Much appreciated :)
I’ve been thinking how awesome something like the MRCC would be if it existed, for a year. Need one in my life!
If you ignore the "Available at time of purchase" part, you can get a lot of fantastic, commercial grade, current or recently discontnued power conditioners new-in-box on eBay for $100 or less. Some sellers have literally dozens of them new in box. I've picked up a couple new-in-box Ametek PowerVar ABC830-11 conditioners over the past year for abour $220 total including shipping, where you'd easily pay four figures for a comparable conditioner marketed toward audio professionals. The medical grade models are a little harder to come by but also pretty common and might be worth it if you work a lot with tape or vintage analog gear that's especially sensitive, but the standard models are more than good enough for most purposes.
MRCC! why is the first time I’ve ever seen this mentioned! Thanks Ben!
I've actually had the MRCC on my list for a while. I don't even have a particularly complicated synth rig, but there have been so many times where I'm like "well now I want to have both these things control these but now I need additional inputs going to this multi-thru box" and other situations like that, that I just feel like the MRCC is a necessity.
You might also consider a MOTU MIDI Express/ExpressXT. It doesn't have all the same front-panal controls, but it's a tidy rack mount MIDI interface and it works flawlessly with multiple instruments.
I was very happy to see MRCC as the first recommendation. I have two in my studio and it is fantastic
Awesome! We share all of these regular "problems" but I never pinned them down like this and a few of your solutions/tools I was not aware of. Exactly what a gear nerd needs, next to money 😁👍 subscribed. Thank you for your work and insights.
Tbh MRCC doesn't do the very first thing I need a midi device to do. Reference-counted-merging.
(Admittedly I need it both for workflow and because no commercial midi device does it, so I built one a few years ago that does. Now covered in my studio.)
Reference counting notes in merging allows single note-offs to *not* end notes that had multiple note-ons. Rather, the count of notes must hit 0 for it to stop.
This is important in many cases. A simple example is playing by hand merged into a stream with an arpeggiator or sequencer.
Without reference counting, the arp/seq will *end your held notes* if it coincides with them.
With reference counting it does what you'd expect.
No commercial device does it.
If you want to do it for all channels, all notes, it does take a certain (small but not insignificant for a MCU) amount of memory, so they can't easily add it in most cases either.
I asked a few places if they could add it before building mine. Generally can't.
I use a MOTU Midi Express XT as a standalone 8 in 8 out merge box. Mine’s got the old printer interface so it was really cheap.
Doesn’t need connecting to a computer, just select ‘merge all’ and job done 😀
A cheaper alternative to the MRCC is the Blokas MIDIhub. 4 DIN ins, 4 DIN outs, usb. The editor (which you do have to access through a computer but the box can be used standalone after configuration) can make the MIDIhub do all the things you mentioned the MRCC can. Less connections but ideal for a small studio and comparatively cheap at €164.
+1 on the Midihub, I got one as a pre-launch supporter on Kickstarter and was so impressed on how useful and cheap it was that got a 2nd one after launch. Solved all my issues with MIDI routing and merging.
one more MIDIhubby here 🙂
Thanks a ton for the Conductive Labs MRCC tip. I have a iConductivity mioXM and I could never get 100% functionality out of it. The USB hosting never worked quite right and the software for it is super clunky sometimes. If only the smaller 880 had a couple USB host ports but I guess I'll spring for the big brother.
those empress demos kinda blew my mind! beautiful sounds
I gotta give another Shout out to Voodoo Labs. I have a Pedal Power Mondo that suddenly had some problems with some of the outputs. I had bought it almost 6 years prior and it was the middle of the Pandemic so I didn't think Voodoo Labs would help me out but to their credit they still honored the warranty and I had it back within 3 weeks after I sent it. Those guys are class acts.
The most important audio gear is the friends we made along the way and that DF Audio Minibay might become my new best friend. Have hit capacity on my Bored Patchulator and for all its convenience and stereo-ness it can be tough to parse. Looking forward to trying that Empress EQ too
Settin' up a patchbay
No longer wastin' time in studio "A"
Also, the cost of cables if you are going to go with more hardware, or even DAWless. I have spent more on cables to patch things into a used A&H mixer than I did on the mixer itself.
Cables, the hidden cost of audio production!
I am soooooooo excited Empress released the ParaEq MkII! Ive been wanting the MkI for a while now, but wasnt willing to pay the high prices for one.
Holy shit that MRCC 😍 That's on my list... a little bummed the smaller one doesn't have USB ports, though. Thanks for sharing!
It does have USB midi
@@IsraelFerrerCamacho im referring to the USB A ports the big one has, not the B it uses to connect to a computer.
The pedal power supply tip is so important. As a guitarist I quickly found out that daisy chaining is absolutely terrible. Luckily Thomann has a "cheap" 10 output isolated AC power supply called the Harley Benton Powerplant ISO-10AC Pro. It has 10 outputs, 4 of which can be switched between 9V-12V-18V and a USB output as well. It's 110 euros, but compared to other brands that's dirt cheap and it's definitely cheaper than buying 10 wall warts.
In my experience, if you have a good isolated PSU like that Voodoo labs and then you dasy chain 2 or 3 simple pedals, like two drives or a boost and a fuzz, you can get away with it pretty good. What you need to watch out specially are digital pedals, not only are they generally more power hungry but they are also more sensitive to power drops.
For anyone using Reason there’s a great Rack Extension with very similar functions to the MRCC within a daw environment called Delta MIDI Compute.
Wanna split your notes by velocity/note value? Sure!
Wanna randomise where each midi notes go? Sure!
Add some delay (like, a pause, not the effect) to the each 7th note? Sure!
Wanna add randomised strum to each chord you play? Sure!!
What I’m trying to say is Delta is pretty nuts…
Admittedly you are stuck to using the Reason environment BUT with a few instances of midi out device you can easily use it to control hardware :)
iConnectivity MioXM and MioXL can also do a lot of the same stuff, including networked MIDI. The MRCC looks a bit more desktop friendly though. The iC stuff needs to be programmed using their desktop software.
And even if you really want to use an iOS app as your sequencer like his example in the video, there's similar apps on iOS too that can do all that, midiflow for example.
Ooh, that MRCC might just be exactly what I've been looking for.
I supported this in their Indiegogo campaign, but given that my instruments are either boxed or scattered about the house due to my laziness of getting a dedicated corner set up as a "studio" I still haven't really taken this for a proper spin yet. It has lots of interesting ins and outs and any combo in between.
The MRCC has all MIDI connectors on the TOP which would cause total cable mayhem on my studio desk, which is why I bought the Mio XL. The setup (on my Mac) was more or less painless, it just works and comes in a near 1U rack format with tons of connectors ON THE BACK where they belong. I wanted to buy the Kenton Interchanger as it doesn't need an app for configuration, but it has less USB ports, it has been delayed for over 2 years and is now announced for next spring.
I went with the iConnectivity mioXL instead. Very similar functionality, plus it can route MIDI over Ethernet (RTP) which is lovely.
These are the kinds of videos that make me love your channel Mr. Benn!
The large Truetone power supply’s (not one spots lol) are also great and affordable, you can get the large one for about $200 and power a whole bunch of stuff. I have a pedalboard with like 18 pedals currently running on mine and it’s just always worked.
Great list! It really got me curious for the EQ pedal. However... even though the Minibay is much cheaper I would go for the Erica Synth Matrix Mixer. The most flexible mixer/patchbay solution I have ever had.
got myself a voodoo lab pedal power 3 plus as a result of this video's mention of their iso-5 unit... it's Great. powers my whole darn current live soundscape/improv rig. clean and noise-free.
A similar "fix things" pedal that I have are a pair of original TC Electronic Sustain + Parametric Equalizer. Kind of weird units, but there's something special about them.
I really want the MRCC. And that direct box is really sick
Speaking of audio gear nobody ever talks about. It be cool to see you do a deep dive on the bomebox and/or MIDI Translator Pro. With as much MIDI stuff you tinker with I feel like you must already have one lying around.
Hi Benn love your channel, have followed you for a long time and been inspired by the music you make. I do feel that I must pull you up on the SS-6 with this term “hand built”, I’ll use your term “pause the video and look around your studio” and you’ll realise every piece of hardware you own was hand built, granted most PCBs nowadays are populated with pick n place machines rather than thru hole however the rest of device is still built by hand, every device you mentioned on this video was hand built not just the SS-6, I’ve seen a lot of youtubers use this hand built quote to the extent I believe there are people outhere who think Moog hand built their synths and behringer just have a machine where they press a button and a synth drops out, but the reality is both company’s hand built their synths the same just the latter can do it at a larger scale, sorry my rant is over, keep up the good work. PS you’ve actually got me very interested in that SS-6.
Cioks PSUs are really great too, especially if you have lots of digital pedals with high current requirements. That midi filter looks great by the way. I have an iconnectivity hub which has been a real boon, but I don't think it can do what that does...
I almost worked for VooDoo once and I've been to their facility in California - I actually saw the room where they do the assembly! A friend was their in-house repair person for awhile as well.
I just wanted to say that while gear is amazing, it’s funny you use a midi filter to filter off midi you can literally straight up filter from iOS lmao.
Now, I’m not 100% obnoxious though - I could really use an actual hardware filter too - so like I understand your point entirely anyway…
But realistically, an iPad is sometimes a ton to work with already. Been doing my midi filtering even dynamically (programming “procedural” music) and the iPad is my favorite tool for all that stuff.
Anyway, great video as always!
Thanks for your informative, fun, simply great videos :) For all of y’all looking for a power supply, also check out the Cioks DC7. It’ll power everything you need, is quiet and is pretty solid. They have nice cable selection and the thing is even expandable via a 24V DC outlet.
the Mr. CC looks amazing but has one giant flaw: the connection&psu placement makes it probably impossible to use in a rack, thus further cluttering up your table space
About half of the MRCC owners opted for Rack Ears, so I'd say a lot of people are using it in a rack. Its also got a much smaller footprint on the desktop than a typical pizza box formfactor.
JHS Colourbox II is absolutely wort it as a workhorse mic preamp/DI/semiparametric EQ/distortion box. A little more than the Empress but worth it.
MidiFlow on iOS does a lot of the filtering and mapping functions like that awesome all-in-one midi interface for those people who don't need hardware and/or USB or Bluetooth is good enough.
Thanks for this. I’ve read of later there is no support for this app and many have experienced crashes. Forums to ask for help are locked. Are you still using this app? What’s been your experience?
@@krazywabbit idk, yeah, it works for me just fine.
You might also look into another midi routing app like AUM.
@@kioarthurdane thanks. Big user of AUM.
If you want an electron microscope, i’d recommend getting an SEM rather than TEM. They’re much more practical for a home studio.
Cool list! Thanks for sharing 😁
Man, this is great - more content like this - love learning about shit I’d never know to search for :)
I was scrolling RUclips wondering what to watch, and I saw Benn and audibly with excitement said "Oh! Benn Jordan!" Hell yeah
Great video
Walrus Audio Phoenix is a great option if you need an isolated power brick for large pedal collections. it has 12 and 18v options and plenty 300mah outs for digital delays and reverbs. Still fairly affordable too 👍
A powered USB hub + usb extension cable is great for synths with USB MIDI. I use one from RSH Tech to MIDI sequence my Korg, Novation, and Waldorf synths in my DAW. And I'm going to try out sending PC messages to them to quickly call up their presets remotely.
thanks for this, benn!! for isolated pedal power, there's a one-person operation, here in the US, out of ohio, called sweetfoot pedals. he hand makes isolated pedal power supplies to your requested specs--say, for instance, if you have some really power hungry pedals & such. he will make you power cables at your requested lengths. he will even put whatever image you send him on the enclosure. a 10 output supply cost me less than the 5 output voodoo lab jammy. & he's a really nice guy, from what I can tell. he even made me some cables to power korg volcas from the same supply. sweetfoot pedals. I highly recommend!! (& no, I'm not him. & no, I don't know him personally. I'm just a legitimately satisfied customer who likes promoting small, independent businesses. true story.)
Super helpful. Didn’t even know about the power supply issue. Thanks, Benn.
Thanks Benn. Just got me a strymon zuma power supply. Should be useful for the four strymon pedals I have and maybe other centre positive gear.
I wish I was cool/creative/interesting enough to need that MRCC. Also I think I need that Australian one knob job. Also this is the first video of yours I've seen and I'm excited to see more :)
Hi Benn, i have been really enjoying your channel after your latest podcast with Mr.Bill and i just wanted you to know that you are fucking awesome, good comedy and actual scientific mentality are rare to come by, keep it up! ( as if you would keep it down because i didnt say keep it up :D )
Also, i don't know if at the time of making this video you already had the RME interface i have already seen in one of the most recent videos, but i wanted to ask if you still use or still find the DI Controller better and easier since you can do the same with totalmix Fx or their Remote Arc USB Controller. Thanks for the good times!
Man that Franklin SS-6 looks absolutely perfect. Great design. I'd love one someday but it's showing $450 on their site now. Someday!
Gah. I've been using that OTraki power supply for over a year. I bought it because there were like a hundred reviews on Amazon saying "oh this is really actually isolated." I should have known better at that price.
Can’t Fugue Machine send individual play heads to different sources natively?
Either way, HOLY SHIT the MRCC looks amazing.
I'd recommend the Cioks brand of pedal power supply, everything went quiet after switching to it, pushes high milliamps for hungry pedals and you can select voltage.
The MRCC is definitely indispensable if you have multiple synthesizers. Never daisy chain THRU outputs again!
Great video! Love the Ronroco cameo (thats how I discovered your Flashbulb channel 8 years ago :) I have one too. Any tips on getting it to sound as nice as yours does?
I was talking with Empress about what I wanted in an update to their EQ pedal back around 2015. They made exactly what I asked for. I will definitely be picking that up! The patchbay idea for a pedalboard is great however the MiniBAY and the Boredbrain Patchulator still make things incredibly time consuming and messy. What would be better is a device like the FLOCK AUDIO studio patch bays, but for a guitar pedalboard, where you plug your pedals into a box and that box connects to your computer via USB and all of the patching is done using a software UI so you can route anything to anything else without the need for messy patch cables. That will be the future. Only a matter of time. If Darren doesn't make it, someone else will. Wanna go into business Ben? 😄
flock patch is the best purchase i ever made…
Made a casio keyboard sound good....I'm sold! Also I have a daisy chain power supply and it has no noise at all.
damn, those di-boxes would save me a lot of headaches as a live audio engineer for sure
Great list Benn! Im really intrigued by that DF Audio Minibay
+1 for the Voodoo Iso 5. But, as others have pointed out, it isn't rated for the more power hungry digital pedals like the plethora (600mA)
Ohhhh dear, really useful and GAS inducing nonetheless, but yes I was wondering why I always got noise from my pedals and I do have one of those blocks from a reputable company, and yes, I’ve just done a test to isolate the pedal and voila! Thanks!!!
Ah dangit i guess I really do have to bite the bullet and spend a ton on a decent power supply for my gigging rig. I really thought my cheap 40€ one was isolated. But I just spent 300€ on a goddamn flightcase for my amp so I guess I need to find the 250 or whatever a decent power supply will run me. Urgh.
Finally, the Bastl MIDI Looper is a bit of a knockoff of the MIDIsizer MIDIrex, whihc is a fantastic 4 track, MPE compatible MIDI looper (with a pattern based song mode) that has been around for 7-8 years. The DIY version is around $125-$150 depending on the current price of parts (mainly the display) and took me about an hour to build when I got it 6 years ago; the assembled one is $200, still a good price. Their MIDIpal clone is really good, also, and a MIDIpal (or ideally a few of them, I've got an original and a MIDIsizer variant and use both for all sorts of stuff, from troubleshooting to MIDI processing to clock analysis and stabilization) variant of some kind is one of the single best investments anyone who uses more than two or three pieces of hardware can make.
Not saying the BASTL isn't good, but for almost $100 less (or $200 less if you can do DIY and source your parts efficiently) you can have the original.
Thanks for all the youtube stuff Benn, much much appreciated, big fan of your music too.
I just discovered that Franklin DI and and I had never heard of it, quick google search led me here and I already respect your word so ya sold me on it. Thanks man!
5:27 Listening for the 12th time. Hope you release this piece.
Or maybe it is already out there and I missed it?
If this video taught me anything is that I don't know how to EQ.
Thanks for highlighting these, Benn Jordan Peterson! :D
Thank god I didn't get gassed... (well except for the iso power) oh and because I already have the BASTL midi looper. Good stuff as always Benn.
These videos (and the melda/phaseplant videos) are my favorites of yours. Not that the others aren't good. Just I like these a lot.
There is one (and as far as I know only one) cheap actually isolated pedal power supply. It's the Power Plant Jr by Harley Benton. Must be the Jr, as for some reason the bigger one isn't properly isolated?!?! I have a bunch of these, from when they were £25 on Thomman, so I can have pedals everywhere. They work perfectly for a cheap solution, though you will need something fancier for all your power-hungry/odd voltage/ac-sourced pedals
Wow, that MRCC is really cool! thanks for sharing.
if youre using any hardware/analog mrcc are need it especially if you don't know how to play the keys just make a midi file send it to your synth
Lebowski Fest shirt spotted! Those were the good ole days!
I use to rock that SK5 live on stage! 😂
Dang! Perfect Circuit is out there hustlin'. I love their Novation Circuit packs!
I've got three Cioks DC7s for pedal power - 9-18v range on each output, enough juice to power an OTO Bam or Bim, nice form factor.
LOVE mine. It's a total beast of a unit. I can hook up my most power hungry digital pedals and the 40% load LED doesn't even come on. And it all sounds perfectly pristine.
Eventide makes a few power supplies that are rebranded Cioks models, sometimes they can be found on sale too. Keep an eye out this Black Friday if you’re in the market :)
How dare you say the sk-5 is the worst synth 😂😂 its responsible for an entire genre of music called champeta, from the caribbean coast of colombia. Also a lot of sonideros used it for the sampling, that and the vt1. I digress. Fun vid as always
That Para EQ is looking mighty fine
Interesting about the power supply for the pedals there.. Since I'm somewhat new to powering my pedals correctly and wanted to reduce noise/static I've been using 1 Spot for my pedals, any experience or advice on these, they seem to work nicely but I wouldn't want to destroy my pedals... I'm only using four separate pedals though, BOSS OS-2, BOSS BD-2, RAT distortion and Mooer Black Secret, all for my Acid wannabe boxes..
1 Spot from Truetone that is...
wondering this too
Dude, you're like Andrew Huberman for musicians. Well spoken, funny and helpful. Cheers. ❤
The palmer power supplies for guitar pedals are really good
I’m looking forward to your video on the Elektron Mikroskop someday
I've had an MRCC for a while, just wish the screen was bigger, or that it had a web interface.
I'm still on a quest for a portable interface/mixer to use with AUM, that has at least 4 stereo input, battery or usb powered, and that doesn't cost $1200. If only the bluebox was also an audio interface!
TC Blender?
I've had my eye on a Keith McMillen K-Mix as a fit for exactly that scenario, although I fully admit that I have yet to even see a K-Mix IRL. My biggest hesitation is that it seems to fit that niche so well, that I don't understand why it seems to be largely under the radar.
@@michaelbodalski K-Mix is awesome if the number of ins/outs works for you. very flexible, like all their stuff. The new version won't melt on you either. I think people don't really like it mostly because of the touch strips, mini-USB and maybe the learning curve? I don't know..
really unique gear and prospective. thank you did not know some of this gear existed! : D
Awesome choices, great video. For me, its the deq2496. Probably the most reliable and versatile/useful behringer 'thing' I own. The BBE282 'maximizer' is also a secret weapon haha
I am always learning something valuable from your videos. I've been using that True Tone 1 spot with daisy chains for my pedals for a few months now and I definitely want to get one of those voodoo labs power supplies.
I’m all about the Cioks DC7. I like it better than the vooodoolabs stuff because it’s got the whole expandable system and includes usb a on the main (dc7) unit as well as usb c on the smaller (cioks4) expansion.
I keep them wired under my Holeyboard so I can essentially break half my rig off and let someone else play through it with fairly minimal effort.
I would like to add the blokas midi hub as a cheaper alternative for the mrcc. It has not as much connections but a lot of similar features