Future Impact v3 and now V4

[AxelF]

I've finally managed to clear some time to upgrade to v3 and have a play through the presets now, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. I didn't want any preconceptions about the patches, so played through them all a couple of times without knowing the names or what they were going for etc, and while there are a few interesting patches, my clear favourites were 21, 23 and 26. I then had a look at the list online and realised they're 3 of the original Deep Impact sounds! 

The vast majority of sounds on the pedal, while interesting to play around with at home, I think a lot of people would struggle to find a use for live - especially those who are in the market for a bass synth pedal. Imo there are nowhere, near enough 'synth bass' patches. I want to be able to play synth bass lines on my bass that sound good enough to not have to buy a keyboard synth. There seems to be 50 or 60 very similar 'lead pad' tones, plus another 20 or so novelty patches which I guess show off some of the limits of what sounds the pedal is capable of making. 

To me it just feels like there's been too much desire to show off what a crazy range of tones and effects it can produce, and not enough effort put into producing and showcasing solid and convincing synth bass sounds. 

I know there's the editor to allow you to create whatever patches you desire, but having no experience with synth whatsoever it's all a bit overwhelming, and I just would have liked some more 'usable'/'traditional synth bass?' tones. 

Overall its a very very capable unit, I think I'm just disappointed that it's going to require so much work from my extremely novice position to get some usable sounds for what I need it to do. I'd have much preferred 10 great synth bass presets than 99 presets with the odd few scattered in amongst them. 

[GisserD]

I know everybody likes a moan now and then, but seriously!!!

Even if the present sounds aren't to your taste, There are hundreds maybe thousands of user published patches out there on the net so do yourself a favour and audition some, find some you DO like....Then load them into your unit. 

[HazBeen]

17 hours ago, GisserD said:

I know everybody likes a moan now and then, but seriously!!!

Even if the present sounds aren't to your taste, There are hundreds maybe thousands of user published patches out there on the net so do yourself a favour and audition some, find some you DO like....Then load them into your unit. 

This, I have to admit is exactly what I was thinking... comparing the FI to the Deep Impact is like comparing my Golf of 25 years ago to my current wheels. 

I am personally happy FI is now reaching it’s full potential, and there is zero point in keeping the DI patches at the forefront.

The editor is so much better as well.

Edited November 6, 2019 by HazBeen

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, AxelF said:

I've finally managed to clear some time to upgrade to v3 and have a play through the presets now, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. I didn't want any preconceptions about the patches, so played through them all a couple of times without knowing the names or what they were going for etc, and while there are a few interesting patches, my clear favourites were 21, 23 and 26. I then had a look at the list online and realised they're 3 of the original Deep Impact sounds! 

The vast majority of sounds on the pedal, while interesting to play around with at home, I think a lot of people would struggle to find a use for live - especially those who are in the market for a bass synth pedal. Imo there are nowhere, near enough 'synth bass' patches. I want to be able to play synth bass lines on my bass that sound good enough to not have to buy a keyboard synth. There seems to be 50 or 60 very similar 'lead pad' tones, plus another 20 or so novelty patches which I guess show off some of the limits of what sounds the pedal is capable of making. 

To me it just feels like there's been too much desire to show off what a crazy range of tones and effects it can produce, and not enough effort put into producing and showcasing solid and convincing synth bass sounds. 

I know there's the editor to allow you to create whatever patches you desire, but having no experience with synth whatsoever it's all a bit overwhelming, and I just would have liked some more 'usable'/'traditional synth bass?' tones. 

Overall its a very very capable unit, I think I'm just disappointed that it's going to require so much work from my extremely novice position to get some usable sounds for what I need it to do. I'd have much preferred 10 great synth bass presets than 99 presets with the odd few scattered in amongst them. 

Thanks for taking the time to share that. You make some very valid points. The FI is definitely not an off the shelf pedal, but does require considerable investment of time to get the most out of it.

Worth having a chat with @Quatschmacherabout what's available in terms of usable bass synth sounds, if anyone can point you in the right direction I'm sure he can! I'll be interested in what you end up getting. 

[Quatschmacher]

4 hours ago, AxelF said:

I've finally managed to clear some time to upgrade to v3 and have a play through the presets now, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. I didn't want any preconceptions about the patches, so played through them all a couple of times without knowing the names or what they were going for etc, and while there are a few interesting patches, my clear favourites were 21, 23 and 26. I then had a look at the list online and realised they're 3 of the original Deep Impact sounds! 

The vast majority of sounds on the pedal, while interesting to play around with at home, I think a lot of people would struggle to find a use for live - especially those who are in the market for a bass synth pedal. Imo there are nowhere, near enough 'synth bass' patches. I want to be able to play synth bass lines on my bass that sound good enough to not have to buy a keyboard synth. There seems to be 50 or 60 very similar 'lead pad' tones, plus another 20 or so novelty patches which I guess show off some of the limits of what sounds the pedal is capable of making. 

To me it just feels like there's been too much desire to show off what a crazy range of tones and effects it can produce, and not enough effort put into producing and showcasing solid and convincing synth bass sounds. 

I know there's the editor to allow you to create whatever patches you desire, but having no experience with synth whatsoever it's all a bit overwhelming, and I just would have liked some more 'usable'/'traditional synth bass?' tones. 

Overall its a very very capable unit, I think I'm just disappointed that it's going to require so much work from my extremely novice position to get some usable sounds for what I need it to do. I'd have much preferred 10 great synth bass presets than 99 presets with the odd few scattered in amongst them. 

Worth bearing in mind that the FI is no longer solely a bass pedal so one cannot reasonably expect the factory set to be filled with only bass patches.

I’m also pretty sure there are at least 10 good synth bass presets in there. Please give some examples of what you mean. Have you played the patches that are labelled as “MIDI”? 

A lot of the basic analogue synth bass sounds are really not too difficult to create even if you’re new to synthesis. Have a read of the manual, there’s a section showing you how to build your own sounds from scratch.

As @GisserD said there are plenty of patches online; sign up to the online database (link in second post) and download and audition them and pick ones you do like. 

[Bass-Face]

Arrived

Edited November 6, 2019 by Bass-Face

[Quatschmacher]

4 minutes ago, Bass-Face said:

Little disappointed ordered a week ago still not been shipped.....pretty poor service

Do please bear in mind that it’s a very small company with one or two people doing all the work (assembling all the pedals, packing and posting out orders, fielding emails, bug fixing, etc). It may be that the orders have exhausted the initial fully-assembled stock or perhaps that they will post all the initial orders in one go. I’d suggest emailing them if you need an update.

I’ve never ordered directly so don’t know what the procedure is as regards confirmation emails, etc. @Andras Szalay would be able to tell you more.

[MacDaddy]

On 30/10/2019 at 19:59, Bass-Face said:

Well done can;t wait to get mine not sure on delivery time  probably being in Cornwall you'll get your first

hasn't arrived yet...

[Bass-Face]

2 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

Do please bear in mind that it’s a very small company with one or two people doing all the work (assembling all the pedals, packing and posting out orders, fielding emails, bug fixing, etc). It may be that the orders have exhausted the initial fully-assembled stock or perhaps that they will post all the initial orders in one go. I’d suggest emailing them if you need an update.

I’ve never ordered directly so don’t know what the procedure is as regards confirmation emails, etc. @Andras Szalay would be able to tell you more.

It's here

[Bass-Face]

1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

hasn't arrived yet...

Mine has

[MacDaddy]

2 minutes ago, Bass-Face said:

Mine has

i ordered mine the day after you, so maybe tomorrow for me 🤞

[Quatschmacher]

19 minutes ago, Bass-Face said:

Mine has

A little patience was all that was required. Hope you enjoy it.

Perhaps you may wish to amend your initial post of disappointment to reflect this. 

Edited November 6, 2019 by Quatschmacher

[Bass-Face]

41 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

A little patience was all that was required. Hope you enjoy it.

Perhaps you may wish to amend your initial post of disappointment to reflect this. 

Well the email they said they'd send would have helped too

 

First thoughts great and need some time with it and need to get my new amp sorted as at the moment playing through a small GK I use for small upright gigs. 

Edited November 6, 2019 by Bass-Face

[Quatschmacher]

27 minutes ago, Bass-Face said:

Well the email they said they'd send would have helped too

Did you check your spam folder? If they said they’d send a confirmation-of-postage email and none arrived, it is worth letting them know as there may well be a system fault they are unaware of (I’m not sure if shipping confirmation is a manual or automated process).

When I suggested amending your post, I meant to reflect the fact that, contrary to your statement, it had in fact been posted, but that you hadn’t received a confirmation of shipping. (Obviously you weren’t to know that until your pedal arrived, but it would be useful for others to have a fair representation of the facts.)

Edited November 6, 2019 by Quatschmacher

[Bass-Face]

1 hour ago, Quatschmacher said:

Did you check your spam folder? If they said they’d send a confirmation-of-postage email and none arrived, it is worth letting them know as there may well be a system fault they are unaware of (I’m not sure if shipping confirmation is a manual or automated process).

When I suggested amending your post, I meant to reflect the fact that, contrary to your statement, it had in fact been posted, but that you hadn’t received a confirmation of shipping. (Obviously you weren’t to know that until your pedal arrived, but it would be useful for others to have a fair representation of the facts.)

I messaged them earlier 

[MrTea]

Mine turned up today - got a good deal on a FI.v1 direct from Panda Audio after chatting with them via their website.

One quick question ... How do I know if it's v.3 firmware or not. Gabor at Panda had told me it would be upgraded to v.3 but when I power it up '1.33' flashes up briefly on the screen and from the manual I understand this should be the firmware version. 

Regardless first impressions seem very promising - I can imagine with some tweaking this will be a lot of fun! 

[HazBeen]

Just now, MrTea said:

Mine turned up today - got a good deal on a FI.v1 direct from Panda Audio after chatting with them via their website.

One quick question ... How do I know if it's v.3 firmware or not. Gabor at Panda had told me it would be upgraded to v.3 but when I power it up '1.33' flashes up briefly on the screen and from the manual I understand this should be the firmware version. 

Regardless first impressions seem very promising - I can imagine with some tweaking this will be a lot of fun! 

If it says 1.33 you need to update the pedal. For this you need to connect it to your computer, with a midi to USB cable and then update (instructions on Panda website).

[Quatschmacher]

23 minutes ago, MrTea said:

Mine turned up today - got a good deal on a FI.v1 direct from Panda Audio after chatting with them via their website.

One quick question ... How do I know if it's v.3 firmware or not. Gabor at Panda had told me it would be upgraded to v.3 but when I power it up '1.33' flashes up briefly on the screen and from the manual I understand this should be the firmware version. 

Regardless first impressions seem very promising - I can imagine with some tweaking this will be a lot of fun! 

Go to the second post in this thread and just click on the link to the online updater.

Do you have a USB-to-MIDI interface already? If not, you’ll need to get one. I posted a link to a good deal on a Roland UM-One Mark 2 earlier in the thread.  

Edited November 6, 2019 by Quatschmacher

[MrTea]

Thanks for the quick response. I don't have a USB-to-MIDI interface but do have a USB Controller Keyboard that has MIDI in and out so hopefully I can use that. I'll try and dig out the MIDI cables later tonight and let you know how I get on. 

[Quatschmacher]

4 hours ago, MrTea said:

Thanks for the quick response. I don't have a USB-to-MIDI interface but do have a USB Controller Keyboard that has MIDI in and out so hopefully I can use that. I'll try and dig out the MIDI cables later tonight and let you know how I get on. 

That may work but it’s possible it won’t. 

[SICbass]

Hi All, hi Peter,

 

so, I've installed the Firmware update and the new sounds, but for some reason The new editor crashes whenever I try to start it,

I'm running Catalina (the newest OS) on my Mac but the Panda website says that that's compatible with the FIEditor 3.

Initially my Mac didn't want to open software from an "unknown developer" but that was easily resolved in my Security and Privacy settings. However, the problem remains that it crashes on start-up.

Any suggestions BC collective?...... or more accurately, let's be honest here ..Peter? 😬

[lee650]

Peter's already come to my rescue!! He'll sort you out 😁

[Quatschmacher]

On 04/11/2019 at 18:55, Andras Szalay said:

I have good news for you. Zsolt Rammer, our expert for both PC and MAC programs has investigated the problem with the Catalina OS, and he found that our editor works fine under Catalina. There are just a few things you should take care of. Since I am not familiar with the MAC world, I rather cite his investigation result exactly:

I checked the editor on the latest version of Catalina (10.15.1) and everything works fine. The application is compatible with the latest macOS. But users can't run the app in the latest macOS, because the file attributes are changed in the zipped archive somehow. I think the error was caused by the wetransfer service. Because of this we are going to publish on the pandamidi web page the version that was not going through wetransfer. The new version will be available there by noon tomorrow CET.

Otherwise, Catalina users can change the file attributes manually. The solution is to use the "chmod -R 755 <filepath of FIEditor.app>" command in the console. For Catalina users, my installation advice is to change the downloaded FIEditor.app attributes to number 755 and follow the instructions in the FI user manual. Furthermore, if the editor doesn't start, delete the "FIEditor" directory under path "Users/Username/Library/Application Support". Until a new release is available, I suggest this workaround.

Andras Szalay

 

 

 

1 hour ago, SICbass said:

Hi All, hi Peter,

 

so, I've installed the Firmware update and the new sounds, but for some reason The new editor crashes whenever I try to start it,

I'm running Catalina (the newest OS) on my Mac but the Panda website says that that's compatible with the FIEditor 3.

Initially my Mac didn't want to open software from an "unknown developer" but that was easily resolved in my Security and Privacy settings. However, the problem remains that it crashes on start-up.

Any suggestions BC collective?...... or more accurately, let's be honest here ..Peter? 😬

When did you download the editor? A corrected version was posted to the website a couple of days ago. Try downloading from the site again and see if that helps. Otherwise there’s a fix outlined above from an earlier post. I don’t have a Mac so I can’t really talk you through these steps but perhaps another Mac user might be able to. There are a few Catalina users on Talkbass FI thread but since the fix was issued they haven’t posted further. 

Edited November 7, 2019 by Quatschmacher

[MacDaddy]

On 06/11/2019 at 10:44, MacDaddy said:

i ordered mine the day after you, so maybe tomorrow for me 🤞

nope  

[SICbass]

7 hours ago, Quatschmacher said:

 

When did you download the editor? A corrected version was posted to the website a couple of days ago. Try downloading from the site again and see if that helps. Otherwise there’s a fix outlined above from an earlier post. 

I downloaded yesterday afternoon. The file was explicitly labeled Catalina compatible. I‘ll check out the workaround you mentioned.