Ideas-mixing/splitting signals from guitar pedals

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BKK-OZ
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Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:01 pm
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Ideas-mixing/splitting signals from guitar pedals

Post by BKK-OZ »

Hello all, hoping for some insight from the friendly MOTUnation crowd on ways to mix/split guitar signals.

Recently I decided to buy a few new toys. First I got myself a Gretsch Lap Steel. Then I bought myself a Liquid Blues pedal from Damage Control (the lappy seemed lonely). Then I got a T-Rex compressor. Then I decided I wanted to use my Eventide Timefactor with the lap steel, so I ripped it out of my patch-bay/project studio rack and plugged that in too. Then I got a Timebender. I also recently acquired a little, hand made boutiquey guitar amp (Oz-made, Valvetone 'Impact').

I know, I know, I don't need this stuff, but hey, I work hard, and I like to play!

Anywaze, up until now I have been content to just use my Pod X3 Live for recording - because I can get a clean signal, and an effected signal out of it, and if I later want to re-amp my guitar, I can. What I find myself wishing for though is someway to have the following all coming in as separate channels into my patchbay/Tascam FW-1884:
  • clean (just amped) signal
  • compressed (T-Rex, as well as the Liquid Blues)
  • Delay (stereo X2 - one signal path coming out of the Timebender, one out of the Timefactor)
I want to be able to separately track/record all of these different flavors of my guitar sound so that I can manipulate/re-amp/effect them in DP.

I have looked at all of the loopers that are out there, and while they would let me switch between pedals and pedal combinations, I wouldn't be able to control the levels/panning etc. of the outputs of the pedals. Loopers also won't give me separate returns/outs from the pedals - they are all pretty much designed to work in series, not in parallel.

I have looked at mixers, but I don't think I have found any that would be happy with the signal level coming out of the pedals, and I'm not sure of what impedance matching and phase issues I might end up with. I have thought about using the effects sends/returns on my FW-1884, but I dunno if I want to tie up all my channels on that board with pedal output signals (and I'm not sure about the levels/impedance/phase issues).

I have thought about this too much in fact, and now I'm just plain confused.

I hope this post isn't too confused sounding too! And I'm hoping that I'm just missing something obvious - surely I'm not the first person to ever want to do this...

Anywaze, thanx in advance for any insights you might have, all advice much appreciated.
Cheers,
BK

…string theory says that all subatomic particles of the universe are nothing but musical notes. A, B-flat, C-sharp, correspond to electrons, neutrinos, quarks, and what have you. Therefore, physics is nothing but the laws of harmony of these strings. Chemistry is nothing but the melodies we can play on these strings. The universe is a symphony of strings and the mind of God… it is cosmic music resonating through 11 dimensional hyperspace.
- M Kaku
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User avatar
BKK-OZ
Posts: 1977
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Oztrailia
Contact:
Contact BKK-OZ

Re: Ideas-mixing/splitting signals from guitar pedals

Post by BKK-OZ »

Well, after much head-scratching, I finally found exactly what I need.
Now all I have to do is save up the $$$.

The X-Patch from SSL solves my problem and more...
"X-Patch is designed to deliver the flexibility of plug-in style routing to boutique analogue processing...

...X-Patch is also a powerful stage or studio live performance tool for guitarists... "
If you are interested, more information here, at SSL's site and here is a .jpg of my new set up! :)
Cheers,
BK

…string theory says that all subatomic particles of the universe are nothing but musical notes. A, B-flat, C-sharp, correspond to electrons, neutrinos, quarks, and what have you. Therefore, physics is nothing but the laws of harmony of these strings. Chemistry is nothing but the melodies we can play on these strings. The universe is a symphony of strings and the mind of God… it is cosmic music resonating through 11 dimensional hyperspace.
- M Kaku
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