Al Krow

Which one of those are you spending the most time with? Any more details you can share (e.g. line up / how often you're out gigging / how long the band has been going etc. ?)

Haha, you and me both! I guess having owned and tried really hard to love the FI multiple times (I've had five attempts from v1 onwards!) over the years and never quite managing it, there's definitely an element of "if they could just do that" e.g. decent tracking, form factor, make it accessible by loading with popular 'known' patches, replace the numerical display with something that displays words (Boss 200 series, many midi pedals do this). But András and crew, to their credit, are definitely getting there and there's been more progress with the FI than a lot of the competition - remember the Markbass Super Synth anyone?! Getting us back on topic: the trouble for FI/C4/Boss et al. / good news for us bass players is that MXR Synth has arrived on the scene and is already providing a great deal of what we want in a synth pedal and is rightly causing a stir.

Sure. I guess my angle is coming at this from an accessibility / marketing stand point. Having popular synth bass patches in 1-10 or 1-20 is going to be a great start. 20 such patches => already 12 more presets than the MXR. But then making it clear that: Bank 3 is for delays / choruses and reverbs?? Bank 4 for octaver, pitch shift?? Bank 5 for arpeggiator & more esoteric fx?? Banks 6-10 free for 49 user created patches (which is more than enough for 95% of bass players methinks?) Now that v4 has apparently cracked the tracking and glitching that plagued so many of us with the earlier iterations, and which is very much one of the MXR's selling point, the rest of the FI's capabilities should make it really shine, not least given it's a similar price point: FI "synth-multifx" vs MXR "synth". Multifx users are very used to getting their hands dirty when it comes to PC patch editing. For sure, there are some who are content to grips with the FI editor on a standalone basis, but the moment you label the FI a "mutlifx", it's suddenly then emotionally worth investing the time for whole additional bunch of potential users, because there are a plethora of different usable patches rather than it being just about tweaking a few usable synth bass sounds? I've mentioned having a better display elsewhere (e.g. Boss 200 Series type) to display patch names rather than numbers (who want's to have to take a notebook with reference numbers to a gig: "damn, which number was the MJ patch again?") - which they've been doing for a few years now on their pedals. That would also set the FI apart from the MXR and C4 competition. Just a few thoughts - I'll leave that all with you!

Well the FI is the much more home-grown product over here and vice versa for the C4? 😊

I've added in midi to the FI additional capabilities list on my earlier above.

Sounds good! I think where I'm heading is that the FI with 99 presets is capable of being much more than "just" an excellent synth pedal. Why not have banks dedicated to some of the commonly used fx that the FI does well e.g. Bank 2 modulation - chorus, delay etc. Bank 3 octave and pitch shift etc.? It then becomes a synth / multifx.

Maybe a complete non-starter, but was thinking that given that synth pedals have to track pitch, would pitch shifting, which a lot of pedals struggle to do well (even dedicated pitch shift pedals!) be something they could be set up to do? Basic pitch shift would be excellent in itself, but there's then maybe the possibility of chords too?

The other obvious advantages of the FI over the MXR: - input gain - 99 presets, in banks of 10 (sure, I get that is overkill for many) - two stomp switches - display - midi The FI v4 VIP has a pedal-board friendly format not too far off what the MXR delivers My tuppence worth, if I may, if Andreas wants to stay in the game with the advent of the MXR Two obvious improvements to suggest: - improved display. Boss stole a lead on this some while ago - please check their 200 series => can label patches with words and not just numbers. "Chaka Khan" is so much easier to remember than "#06"! - load patches 1 - 10 with popular cover band patches Marketing: Why aren't there any decent YT clips of bass-players using the FI v4 VIP live in a band in the way that Paddy has just posted?

The thing about a live clip with a band, which is partly why @knicknack / Paddy's clip is a really excellent demo of this pedal's potential, is that you get to hear it in the context of the rest of the instruments and vox, which is what many of us are hoping to use it for, but also (and here's the rub!): you get one take to nail it. I loved Nate Navarro's honesty when he reviewed the Boss GM-800 saying that he'd had to do multiple takes to get some decent recordings (and he made it sound seriously lush btw). If anyone tells me that was because he's got poor synth bass playing technique...

Yes, I agree, Paddy's clip was a perfect demo. I can't easily recall clips of other bass synth pedals being put to such effortless good use in a band setting? But if any BC'ers do have any such clips to hand, please do share them? Btw when you decide to go all-in-one (again) with the latest multi (or head back to the comfort of the excellent GT1000 Core?) you know exactly who to contact to pass on your second hand "rubbish" at a knock down price 😅

Always a huge treat to be playing at the London 10k and we couldn't believe our luck with the change of location we found ourselves moved to for this one! We'd had a late one at a function gig the night before, so an early morning start to arrive to set up at 8pm meant just 4 hours sleep, but it was one of those gigs that the adrenaline gets you through! In some ways our own mini marathon - playing for two hours solid with no break, but we all loved it. A sweet moment for me right at the close when a local London lady, who had an ice cream van set up behind us, thanked us all for providing the music and offered us each a free ice-cream! A little clip from the race: LA Mixtrax - London 10k

Damn, that sounds good! Nicely played & classy band! A live clip like that is worth a thousand words, and puts to bed any lingering doubts for me at least!

Great basses! My Elrick Expat Evo 5 quickly became my goto gigging bass after I acquired it from @Sibob of this parish (who is a far more capable bassist than me!) back in 2021. Not sure I would have had the confidence to acquire one new back then, given the cost, but was keen to try one out as, on paper, it ticked so many boxes for me and being able to buy one used was a godsend! I've been really delighted with it and won't be parting company with mine any time soon! Little clip of the bass in action at a recent outdoor gig - set on neck pup in active mode with tone knobs flat, with preamp EQ duties being handled by my GT1000 Core pedal: LA Mixtrax - Bletchley Park

Oooh what have you got in your 9 block chain? Someone needs to be first up in the BC collective, looking like this one could be you (I was very quick out the block with the Zoom B1-4, Valeton OC-10 and Boss SY-1 so I've done my bit!) 😅

Yeah, thank goodness eh!? 😅