SamIAm

I LOVED my HX Effects. ((Sadly destroyed in my recent fire) I've been blessed to obtain an HX Stomp XL and I must say it is rather awesome; it will be the heart of my pedalboard until I build BMFX S'manth x

I must admit to having seen none! Smartphones galore with cracks, but never a MFX unit. My experience here is weak, but I would suggest that the extrapolation of the technology of touch screen MFX would lead them to be more vulnerable. However, your insight has given me pause for thought! S'manth x

I feel a display is key. I like the idea of a touchscreen, but inherently they are delicate so I am planning a Perspex protected non touch screen driven by knobs and foot switches… beer and drummer proof! Lol S’manthx x

I'd like your post but ... my reaction ration is as empty as <insert your metaphor here> S'manth x

I see your point, but the numbner of smartphones I've seen that have cracked screens is ... high! S'manth x

Please excuse my crude title! BC has a LOT of posts, some I like, some I don't. But why oh WHY do I often get this!?!?!? It constrains my feedback for folks, to encourage, to support, to giggle at etc. BC interaction and feedback is (IMHO) is key to the community we have here! Please do not muzzle my support of other members! What is the reason for this and how can we get it changed!? S'manth x

For sure ... short scale are the way to go (IMHO)

Sad face x

Awesome! x

We gals are good at dealing with PITA!!! And blokey, these days with supposed gender equality ... !?!?!? Anyway I will bash my bass till the cows come home ... an I love it! S'manth x

I read a post the other day about blogs, is there a facility to do so on BC? S'manth xx

The sound of lovely relaxing silence! S'manth xx

Might be worth having a read of Dream bass multi f/x ... what would you want?, lots of views there. Also perhaps https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/461666-boss-gx-100/ I loved the HX Effects (Sold an HX Stomp to get it) but sadly it went pear shaped in my recent fire. I've just been able to obtain an HX Stomp XL, which I must say is definitely going to be my choice till I build BMFX - A bass oriented DIY multi effects pedal S'manth x

OMG that looks amazing! S'manth x

Nods nods nods! I actually have been blessed to been able to obtain in an affordable way a HX Stomp XL (A bit large, but the space is needed for ther 8 switches ... which makes it giggable for me! Sounds are fab, tho bass side is not as strong. It is close to perfect for me **) ),my pedalboard is going to now be: HX Stomp XL - need to spend some (LOTS) to tweak the sounds away from the rather lame presets it comes with. Leveline Volume pedal Expline Expression pedal Line 6 Relay wireless system (TB516G+G75) which was gifted to me by a saint here on BC Battery Power - All of the units in my chain "can" be battery powered but, this is a wee challenge, I need both 9v and 5v at various amperages. I'm in the process of designing 'adapters' to leverage one of the really affordable PD based USB power blocks to power this rig puppy, I might even be able to power the amp too! And I need to find a pedalboard to lug it all around with me. My Pedaltrain Metro 16 survived the fire, but is too small. I also really like those board setups that are like a flightcase, where you remove the thick padded lid and have a thin base with the pedals on it, a bit like this BOSS BCB-1000, but not so big (or expensive!!). I might end up making one myself. ** So, why am I still looking at a DIY BMFX HX Stomp XL - I really like it but Their software release cycle is slow. No built in WiFi, Bluetooth (Specifically MIDI over BLE) or Ethernet connectivity (I want this to allow maximum flexibility for Phone/Tablet/Laptop remote control) - I also want to be able to produce some wee hand held motion sensing midi controllers or buttons on my bass to trigger some f/x generation (see next point too) No synths (as far as I've read, could be wrong). I do not mean Bass Synths, I mean "proper synths" like http://www.fluidsynth.org, HX Edit is nice, but is a closed system and does not play well with Linux. Power draw is on the high side. No mini midi, just the old skool ports. Only two signal chains (As compared to the Mod dwarf which can have as many as you want, limited only by DSP power.) Only 8 f/x blocks and no way to upgrade it's engine when they release the next model. No support for non Helix f/x Display is a wee bit small for my eyes. ZOOM Units (To be fair I only tried the MS-60B, B1On & B1Four) - Affordable! Run on batteries! F/X are fair for the price. Tonelib Zoom makes setting them up nice and easy ... but Only 4 or 5 F/X blocks Not sure ZOOM are doing an more work on them given their new range of products Ungiggible (for me) with one or two footswitches, I did start down the route of building a multi switch control unit that would have allowed me to chain a couple of the devices together and foot control them ... but then the HX Stomp came my way No support for non ZOOM F/X Mod Dwarf - I quite quite like it, their mostly OSS ethos is fab!, the ability to assign most everything to a switch/midi/cv event is wonderful! Hass a huge range of MIDI F/X synths and even sequencer plugins... but Only 3 footswitches, so not giggable for me Their web pedalboard editor is very cool, but cumbersome, they really need to revisit their UX Design. No way to connect expression pedals (Well you can use their CC interface if you fancy building an arduino convertor, but their own brand pedal has been on the drawing board for, well on there forum people have been asking about when it will be shipped since 2017!) No way to configure a pedalboard (you can tweak individual pedals) without the web UI!!! Thy only support LV2 plugins (Of which there are many, but there are loads more that only come in other formats) I had a chance to play with one for a week or so and found that sometimes when switching effects on/off there was audio pop in the output. Switching from one pedalboard to another takes seconds (Tho this might be something that is only required between songs. I think their tech has amazing potential and being OSS this can be helped out by loads of geeks, in fact there are at least three DIY projects I can think of (Not including the one I started) that use their OSS software. But (and I am no expert here and really hope I'm wrong!) the company recently collapsed and was saved only with the greatest of efforts, many of the original funders who chose to relieve financial pressures (I guess) decided to defer receipt of their units and now seem to being asked to contribute more money to get them, this despite the Dwarfs beuing distributed/sold via several retails chains! I don't think I'm particularly cynical but this does not strike me as fair and I am also not sure how they will do things differently enough to make this recent round of rescue funding help the company (The new company that is) survive. Too high a risk for my liking. OK, but there are other MFX units out there so why build one yourself!? I think a unit combining the many strengths of the various units I've tried, but in a single device will be a killer and I want one! I suspect that something like the Neural DSP might tick most of my boxes, but it is just way to expensive for me. I reckon (ignoring the time I put into this project) that the cost of all the parts will run in the £150-£200 range and I already have many of them ... so it is not going to cost me much dosh. Perhaps naively or arrogantly, I think I can do better, nearly 30 years of IT covering a range of roles has left me with the necessary skills. A lot of the system is being produced using OSS or COTS h/w and I hope that when it gains some traction others will come and join the OSS build gang. Using OSS means it can evolve at a pace. Using cheap COTS H/W means it can be easily upgraded. I intend to incorporate some features that are very bass specific (Like high speed AI pitch to midi conversion for those ultra low notes we bash out at times) The challenge ... can I do it and will it be any good, only time (and feedback from testers) will tell! The satisfaction of gigging with a BMFX that "I made"! I'm building my own bass, hope to build my own amp/cab combo at some point; it is a bit of a goal to be able to play with all S'manth made gear! It is a relaxing and creative way for me to get away from the intense environment where I work (NHS Intensive Care Nurse). The icing on the cake would be if others wanted to build one and I could see them used here and there in the pedalboards of others! S'manth x PS To be fair, using OSS there are hundreds of F/X plugins that generally come preinstalled, some are fab ... some not so much! Mod came close, but I think their business model was the failure. Check out these, which are not totally commercial but are popular https://zynthian.org https://www.treefallsound.com/wiki/doku.php?id=pi-stomp_core https://blokas.io/ (Patchbox OS & MODEP are basically a Mod Dwarf on a Pi)

Totally a headphone out is a must. Bluetooth headphone, not sure about ... I've found that they have a latency that is too high, perhaps this is not the case with high end devices tho. S'manth x

Very Interesting! My plan is to do an initial build with a Rock 4 SE (Which also has a Pi compatible 40 pin GPIO)and a HIFIBERRY DAC+ ADC PRO mostly as I have one of each already ... a big plus point! I did own an Odroid N2+ (I was running the Home Assistant system on it) but the USB ports died, which I gather is not uncommon The Odroid does seem to have more CPU power, but the Rock has integrated WiFi & Bluetooth, which I intend to use. Having said that, the Mod Dwarf is quite capable in the f/x arena and only runs a quad core @ 1.3 GHz with 1Gb of RAM, it's lack of footswitches and inability to configure pedalboards on the unit itself took it off my list of potential devices. S'manth x

It is an amazing unit, especially for a nurse with a bad back!! Would love to see the build specx S'manth x

Having built one bass (which was taken by a fire) and about to start my next I see only one pitfall ... Not doing it! S'manth x

+10 for this!!! And is it wrong that I really fancy her!? S'manth x

Fair point, I feel that the physical elements of a touchscreen are incompatible with the physical rigours a pedal needs, but that is just my view. Thoughts from anyone? S'manth x

I am blessed to currently have an HX Stom XL, which is amazing! Why the bmfx? Cost Some folks like to build thir own to enable their choice of layout, number of foot switches, size of display. Also the Line 6 series (Whilst having a rather grand rnage of f/x) is a closed ecosystem. THEY decide which units to model, the release cycle and do not leverage the vast range of VST/LV2/Etc range of F/X plugins that exist. And this does not take into account the technical feasible possibility of ... ahem ... using plugins from other systems, not a commercially viable scenario but for a FOSS system ... it can be done! S'manth x

Nods! The initially open brief is to garner ideas ... brainstorm wise (I have some ideas but I'm a baby bass player and getting a view of what other more accomplished players would like is a good way to start, some ideas will be brilliant ... other not so much) S'manth x