Guitar player here. I'll warn you that this could turn in to a very dark and deep rabbit hole Scott. But since you're in to synths, I'm sure you already know the dangers! 😎
@@patrickfitzgerald2861 theres two ways - the "Cheapness way" ala Behringer clones of Behringer clones of .... And the "Novelty, enginuity, finesse & craftmanship way" ala Meris , Empress, Walrus Audio, GFI etc. etc. 🙌🙏💥
That type of gear is indeed mostly popular with guitarists. But no reason why it can't be used with synths. - I have a Line6 Pod X3 Live, from back when I was mostly into guitar. Also a multi-effect. - I also have a Boss DR-880, which is technically a drum computer, but has built-in fx too. - And the Boss RC-505 looper is also somewhat similar. Just with more focus on the looper, and less on fx, but also with built-in drums. Fun stuff 😀
I sold my RC505 and bought the RC505 MKII when it came out. It was a little flakey at first, but with several firmware revisions under its belt, it's killer now! The FX in the MKII are amazing.
Seems reasonably affordable on their website ($129 tax included), but I'm really loving that my MODX doesn't need effects and my VST's don't need effects. One less thing to have to carry to gigs and hookup. I used to use 5 effects pedals in the 80s, 90s and earlier 2000s as a lot of my synths (including analogs) didn't have them built in. It was time consuming to hook them all up at shows. Even with easier ways to keep them all together guitarists use often today, it was another source of potential problems as wires could fail. We almost had to cancel one of our biggest shows because the guitarist had a bad wire in his effects chain and it wasn't easy to troubleshoot the problem. Certainly better with an all in one unit like this however for those that require them.
It honestly comes down to knowing them all very well, and picking the ones you want based on their capabilities and sound. I do have my favorites however! :)
As always a great video and you were fair and unbiased....!! As I struggle through laying out my MIDI routings before I wire up my "home studio", I thought man.... Scott could make a good $$$ offering MIDI Routing Design Services, Studio layout design focusing on a synth only studio, etc ...... (Because after watching your videos and experimenting before hookup, I now understand MIDI only USB, and why USB vs DIN, etc..... I would still be clueless in a way because no one explains it like you do......... Just a thought..... (As an example, and I'm not trying to "milk" a free answer out of you but I have 4 external HW drum machines that I want to record in Cubase.... I always want to record audio AND MIDI..... I'm struggling to find the best way using DIN MIDI to hook these up to a single DIN MIDI on my MioXL (or maybe 2 channels?)... I just don't want to dedicate DIN MIDI IN/OUT on my mioXL for every drum machine... I know there's got to be an ideal way to hook DIN MIDI IN/OUT of eacj of the 4 Drum Machines.... I'm just drawing blanks on the best way to do it to ensure I capture all DIN MIDI playback/record to CUBASE... (i.e the HW has to be present and hooked up to play back the sounds.... which is whay I desire for the studio).... I'd be happy to compensate you for any answer to this..... (and you should think about that consulting service thing.... LOL.... I'm too old and not as knowledgeable as you.... but I know I would try this myself with all the new media avenues for the world to see!! :) Thanks Scott!!! Always love your vidoes!!!
For sure, drum machines don't typically consume more than one MIDI channel. Just set the first one to receive on MIDI channel 1, the next one on 2, and so on. Run a single DIN MIDI line from the mioXL to the first drum machine. Then run another DIN MIDI cable from the MIDI out port of the first drum machine into the MIDI input of the second one, and so on. The last drum machine's OUT port goes to the MIDI IN on the mioXL. You may have to configure the drum machines to pass MIDI received on their IN port out their OUT ports if they don't do it by default. That way, you have them all on the same MIDI port, and you can control which drum machine is sounding by which MIDI channel you're sending to. If you're playing on one of them and generating MIDI data, it will flow through the others, and back to the mioXL and your DAW, where you can record it.
@@ScottsSynthStuff Man Thanks So much Scott!! (I literally had a mental block about the drum machines and how they would work via one mioXL DIN IN/OUT port pair ). It's so nice to have someone experienced to run these things by to make sure what I'm settting up will indeed work in the way I imagine in my home studio BEFORE wiring everything up and going OH NO.... I needed to do this and that LOL!! Thank you so much!! I have learned SO MUCH from you.... (especially the difference between USB MIDI and DIN MIDI connections and certain hardware).... Fo example, in your response about setting up the drum machine MIDI channel and MIDI passing control settings.... Can only be done via USB MIDI connection from drum machine to computer..... and using software editors for specific external devices...... USB MIDI only...... AND you warn us about the USB MIDI port data limitations on the mioXL!!!!!! That's SO VALUABLE..... and to search UA-cam, manuals, internet, etc you MAY NOT see or realize that (after banging your head off the wall LOL)..... Thank you again so much for your answer on this!! It is really appreciated!!! And as always, I look forward to more of your videos as they are extremely helpful in this crazy synthesizer world!!!! :)
Amazing how far your dollar goes these days. Recently received the Nux MG30 amazing interface with mic and effects positioning, a plethora of great sounds for guitar and synth too. Goodbye Helix etc.
Hi Scott, thank you. It seems the downside of this box for synth application is the mono input. Personally, I'm using the Zoom MS70CDR which is a bit cheaper but really powerful. Do you know it? More than 130 different effects in it, you can organize in up to 6 fx algorithms. There are some well done pc editors. You can even import adding fx from other Zoom stomp boxes. We can find many beautiful reverbs in it (to my opinion) like Eventide Black Hole simulation. I'd be great if you could try it in one video.
Great review and very fair! I have tons of effects for my instruments and almost a rackmount effect museum lol I would definitely give one of these a shot to keep on hand. I have learned that some effects work best with certain synths or instruments better an others and it helps to have a grab bag of them to try out to see what fits best. I do very little in the line of plug ins as I like to jam with the pc off. Great video Scott!
Youre a fine presenter - and im deff. subbing your channel , and i also like the zoom-podcast thing you got going with your pals - (i really liked the - was it the Korg rep. dude ? or Roland ? ... i dont remember , but it was a fun show " ;-) Thanks for a good review ,- 👍
I was going to...except I didn't remember how I found it! I just clicked around for ages until I found the page, so I included the linked page I found in the description.
Parallel for sure, that would be killer to be able to add parallel compression in the box. Or to be able to sidechain. I suppose there are always limits...
I own the MS50 but I thought maybe you can get pretty close with 9 FX slots to what you ca get with only 4 on the Zoom. Though I do understand the sound will highly depend on the DAC/ADC and the algorithms themselves.
This FX pedal has plenty of capacity to do some amazing stuff. However the spin dial select seems to have random hypey names that virtually no one would use (as is), and the names are very silly. I would love to see more equipment that just gave you all the control for parameters, in straight forward understandable layout, like say the early Yamaha analog delay E 105. that gave You control of length of the delay before it looped how much output feeds back into input, damping etc. Admittedly You would have to do a lot of screens to do that for each effect, but better to use the spin wheel to select specific definable processes,: like delay effects , (reverb, chorus, flange, etc), and the next select be: Overdrive, or amp emulation, or EQ settings, would make so much more sense. On this one virtually every amp select choice was just some inscrutable title thought up by a sales team ! You would have to try them all out, and do a lot of reading between the lines, to figure out what those silly names actually refer to . Great review! It is quite amazing what the capabilities of modern equipment is for $129.... but it is also such a formidable problem to have too many choices, and no way to think outside the box to do exactly what YOU YOURSELF have in mind to do with a device, and what to do with IT when some function (more like the whole unit) ceases to function, in what, 5 years,.. tops?
There are some clever names in there that I recognized straight away (EVH5150 for one). But this "silly preset name" I think is here to stay, it's pretty common in synths as well. Nothing saying however that you couldn't go into the thing and rename the presets to whatever you thought described them best. I think they did a reasonable job assigning the various controllers to usable parameters, and editing the values of the individual effects is not tough to get to (although probably not something you would do while playing).
@@ScottsSynthStuff Thanks for the reply,... sounds like a pretty usable pedal,... and amazing for the price. Thanks for clarifying the ease with witch parameters can be edited.
No Bypass? Just use the footswitches to turn on / off. There you have it, Bypass. You can always use a Reverb IR in the cabinet - mode. I mean an IR is an IR...
The footswitches will only switch on and off specific FX in the chain. On some of the presets they might turn everything off and switch it into bypass - but in most of the presets, this is not the case.
I am definitely following. So far. Big announcements are not typically done on the first day, so we shall see. But it's not looking good. At the very least, they do have a Montage on display there, so the rumors about it being discontinued are likely false.
Oops whole lot of menu diving, laptop controls, nice for music programmers and daw freaks, not for peope who make music and want direct control i guess…
Software is the ONLY way to have complete control of this pedal? Why would people buy hardware that requires software to program it? What happens when your new operating system doesn't allow the matribox software to function because of no updates? My studio is 100% hardware including recording, I buy hardware so computers are not in the way of my creative process requiring constant updates and troubleshooting before I can begin my song writing/performing/recording workflow. An audio creation and recording workflow perfected over the last 40 years. *(I have used computers since 1988 for my graphic design business, and I repair and maintain my own and for clients)
No, you CAN have complete control over the pedal from the front panel of it. But the software makes it much, MUCH easier to work with configuring the presets. There is nothing that the software does that you can't also do directly on the pedal.
Hey Scott. That was a great series, really educational and fun to watch. The Kiwi upgrade is impressively featured. So, having watched the recent video about the System-8 update on the 106 model, I'm wondering when you would use the emulation and when you'd use the actual 106? You're lucky to have both options.
Link to this effects pedal on Amazon: amzn.to/3GBG55K
Link to page with documentation and software: www.sonicake.com/products/matribox
Guitar player here. I'll warn you that this could turn in to a very dark and deep rabbit hole Scott. But since you're in to synths, I'm sure you already know the dangers! 😎
I've been to Sweetwater, I've seen their pedal store. It's crazy!! :)
@@ScottsSynthStuff I wonder how all those companies stay in business . . . yikes! 🤔
@@patrickfitzgerald2861 theres two ways - the "Cheapness way" ala Behringer clones of Behringer clones of .... And the "Novelty, enginuity, finesse & craftmanship way" ala Meris , Empress, Walrus Audio, GFI etc. etc. 🙌🙏💥
The price is really impressive for what it can do. Also an expression pedal and included power supply is a huge bonus.
This seems like a great fit for people with modular setups since it's cheap, has a lot of effects, and a tuner.
There is a lot of competition for mono-input floor multi-effects. What there isn't a lot of options for is budget stereo-input floor multi-FX units.
That type of gear is indeed mostly popular with guitarists. But no reason why it can't be used with synths.
- I have a Line6 Pod X3 Live, from back when I was mostly into guitar. Also a multi-effect.
- I also have a Boss DR-880, which is technically a drum computer, but has built-in fx too.
- And the Boss RC-505 looper is also somewhat similar. Just with more focus on the looper, and less on fx, but also with built-in drums.
Fun stuff 😀
I sold my RC505 and bought the RC505 MKII when it came out. It was a little flakey at first, but with several firmware revisions under its belt, it's killer now! The FX in the MKII are amazing.
I liked what was in the box
This was a well done review
Seems reasonably affordable on their website ($129 tax included), but I'm really loving that my MODX doesn't need effects and my VST's don't need effects. One less thing to have to carry to gigs and hookup.
I used to use 5 effects pedals in the 80s, 90s and earlier 2000s as a lot of my synths (including analogs) didn't have them built in. It was time consuming to hook them all up at shows. Even with easier ways to keep them all together guitarists use often today, it was another source of potential problems as wires could fail. We almost had to cancel one of our biggest shows because the guitarist had a bad wire in his effects chain and it wasn't easy to troubleshoot the problem. Certainly better with an all in one unit like this however for those that require them.
I cannot imagine having all those synths. I would feel overwhelmed with all the options. But it is really cool to see. :)
It honestly comes down to knowing them all very well, and picking the ones you want based on their capabilities and sound. I do have my favorites however! :)
Pretty darn hard to not like it at that price! As long as it has a clean signal, I would buy one just for fun.
Hi Scott! Great review. Looks like a fun little pedal. Keep 'em coming! New sub. 😉
Thanks for the demo. I just wished you'd of played a couple of Lead sounds through it but, I'm sure it be pretty cool.
As always a great video and you were fair and unbiased....!! As I struggle through laying out my MIDI routings before I wire up my "home studio", I thought man.... Scott could make a good $$$ offering MIDI Routing Design Services, Studio layout design focusing on a synth only studio, etc ...... (Because after watching your videos and experimenting before hookup, I now understand MIDI only USB, and why USB vs DIN, etc..... I would still be clueless in a way because no one explains it like you do......... Just a thought..... (As an example, and I'm not trying to "milk" a free answer out of you but I have 4 external HW drum machines that I want to record in Cubase.... I always want to record audio AND MIDI..... I'm struggling to find the best way using DIN MIDI to hook these up to a single DIN MIDI on my MioXL (or maybe 2 channels?)... I just don't want to dedicate DIN MIDI IN/OUT on my mioXL for every drum machine... I know there's got to be an ideal way to hook DIN MIDI IN/OUT of eacj of the 4 Drum Machines.... I'm just drawing blanks on the best way to do it to ensure I capture all DIN MIDI playback/record to CUBASE... (i.e the HW has to be present and hooked up to play back the sounds.... which is whay I desire for the studio).... I'd be happy to compensate you for any answer to this..... (and you should think about that consulting service thing.... LOL.... I'm too old and not as knowledgeable as you.... but I know I would try this myself with all the new media avenues for the world to see!! :) Thanks Scott!!! Always love your vidoes!!!
For sure, drum machines don't typically consume more than one MIDI channel. Just set the first one to receive on MIDI channel 1, the next one on 2, and so on. Run a single DIN MIDI line from the mioXL to the first drum machine. Then run another DIN MIDI cable from the MIDI out port of the first drum machine into the MIDI input of the second one, and so on. The last drum machine's OUT port goes to the MIDI IN on the mioXL. You may have to configure the drum machines to pass MIDI received on their IN port out their OUT ports if they don't do it by default.
That way, you have them all on the same MIDI port, and you can control which drum machine is sounding by which MIDI channel you're sending to. If you're playing on one of them and generating MIDI data, it will flow through the others, and back to the mioXL and your DAW, where you can record it.
@@ScottsSynthStuff Man Thanks So much Scott!! (I literally had a mental block about the drum machines and how they would work via one mioXL DIN IN/OUT port pair ). It's so nice to have someone experienced to run these things by to make sure what I'm settting up will indeed work in the way I imagine in my home studio BEFORE wiring everything up and going OH NO.... I needed to do this and that LOL!! Thank you so much!! I have learned SO MUCH from you.... (especially the difference between USB MIDI and DIN MIDI connections and certain hardware).... Fo example, in your response about setting up the drum machine MIDI channel and MIDI passing control settings.... Can only be done via USB MIDI connection from drum machine to computer..... and using software editors for specific external devices...... USB MIDI only...... AND you warn us about the USB MIDI port data limitations on the mioXL!!!!!! That's SO VALUABLE..... and to search UA-cam, manuals, internet, etc you MAY NOT see or realize that (after banging your head off the wall LOL)..... Thank you again so much for your answer on this!! It is really appreciated!!! And as always, I look forward to more of your videos as they are extremely helpful in this crazy synthesizer world!!!! :)
Thanks.. i want to watch only that kind of vidéo ‼️‼️
Wish it had midi in for synching to a clock.
Amazing how far your dollar goes these days. Recently received the Nux MG30 amazing interface with mic and effects positioning, a plethora of great sounds for guitar and synth too.
Goodbye Helix etc.
Hi Scott, thank you.
It seems the downside of this box for synth application is the mono input.
Personally, I'm using the Zoom MS70CDR which is a bit cheaper but really powerful.
Do you know it?
More than 130 different effects in it, you can organize in up to 6 fx algorithms.
There are some well done pc editors. You can even import adding fx from other Zoom stomp boxes.
We can find many beautiful reverbs in it (to my opinion) like Eventide Black Hole simulation.
I'd be great if you could try it in one video.
Oooff id stick with the zoom cdr70 for the same price, the led is nice tho
Great review and very fair! I have tons of effects for my instruments and almost a rackmount effect museum lol I would definitely give one of these a shot to keep on hand. I have learned that some effects work best with certain synths or instruments better an others and it helps to have a grab bag of them to try out to see what fits best. I do very little in the line of plug ins as I like to jam with the pc off. Great video Scott!
It's competing pretty well with the Zoom MS pedals and I'm not sure which one is better.
Youre a fine presenter - and im deff. subbing your channel , and i also like the zoom-podcast thing you got going with your pals - (i really liked the - was it the Korg rep. dude ? or Roland ? ... i dont remember , but it was a fun show " ;-) Thanks for a good review ,- 👍
It was Dan Phillips, the creator of the Korg Wavestate. That was a fun show to do!
Thank you very much for the video! Two questions: 1) is it possible to loop over running drums 2) is it possibile to overdub multiple times?
But can i put overdrive and fuzz after my reverb and delay?
Good overview. FFWDed thru unboxing (don't care). Fair warning on website; probably could have used a guide on how you got through that.
I was going to...except I didn't remember how I found it! I just clicked around for ages until I found the page, so I included the linked page I found in the description.
@@ScottsSynthStuff -- well, That IS the Best Possible Answer :)
Too bad it doesn't have routing options like parallel and serial feedback.
Parallel for sure, that would be killer to be able to add parallel compression in the box. Or to be able to sidechain. I suppose there are always limits...
@@ScottsSynthStuff take a look at the Behringer DeepMind FX. It has some interesting signal paths.
Looks like it would replace the Zoom MS50 and MS60, but not the MS70 (and MS100).
Why not the 70?
@@Turbo_TechnoLogic You would need to try the Zoom MS70 CDR to understand, but the range of choruses, delays and reverbs on that pedal are amazing.
But the Zoom takes a lot less real estate and looks more elegant and of course sounds great
@@odmusicman The whole MS series pedals are excellent, especially for the price.
I own the MS50 but I thought maybe you can get pretty close with 9 FX slots to what you ca get with only 4 on the Zoom. Though I do understand the sound will highly depend on the DAC/ADC and the algorithms themselves.
Really cool device. Does the device have a pitch wham to go to a different tuning on the guitar?
Mono input only!
This FX pedal has plenty of capacity to do some amazing stuff. However the spin dial select seems to have random hypey names that virtually no one would use (as is), and the names are very silly. I would love to see more equipment that just gave you all the control for parameters, in straight forward understandable layout, like say the early Yamaha analog delay E 105. that gave You control of length of the delay before it looped how much output feeds back into input, damping etc. Admittedly You would have to do a lot of screens to do that for each effect, but better to use the spin wheel to select specific definable processes,: like delay effects , (reverb, chorus, flange, etc), and the next select be: Overdrive, or amp emulation, or EQ settings, would make so much more sense. On this one virtually every amp select choice was just some inscrutable title thought up by a sales team ! You would have to try them all out, and do a lot of reading between the lines, to figure out what those silly names actually refer to .
Great review! It is quite amazing what the capabilities of modern equipment is for $129.... but it is also such a formidable problem to have too many choices, and no way to think outside the box to do exactly what YOU YOURSELF have in mind to do with a device, and what to do with IT when some function (more like the whole unit) ceases to function, in what, 5 years,.. tops?
There are some clever names in there that I recognized straight away (EVH5150 for one). But this "silly preset name" I think is here to stay, it's pretty common in synths as well. Nothing saying however that you couldn't go into the thing and rename the presets to whatever you thought described them best.
I think they did a reasonable job assigning the various controllers to usable parameters, and editing the values of the individual effects is not tough to get to (although probably not something you would do while playing).
@@ScottsSynthStuff Thanks for the reply,... sounds like a pretty usable pedal,... and amazing for the price. Thanks for clarifying the ease with witch parameters can be edited.
Thanks for this, Scott. Is it easy to set up to use the stomp buttons for effects (say left one reverb right one delay)? Many thanks.
how did you set it to bypass ?
Isn't that a "wallwart"?
No Bypass? Just use the footswitches to turn on / off. There you have it, Bypass.
You can always use a Reverb IR in the cabinet - mode. I mean an IR is an IR...
The footswitches will only switch on and off specific FX in the chain. On some of the presets they might turn everything off and switch it into bypass - but in most of the presets, this is not the case.
I like the hardware, but if I need software to run it I am out.
You don't NEED software to run it. The software makes it quick and easy to use, but you can do everything on the unit itself.
@@ScottsSynthStuff sounds much better!
Are you following what's going on at NAMM? There is NO new Montage!!?? Can you make a video on that? I'm so disappointed.
I am definitely following. So far. Big announcements are not typically done on the first day, so we shall see. But it's not looking good. At the very least, they do have a Montage on display there, so the rumors about it being discontinued are likely false.
@@ScottsSynthStuff What Yamaha doesn't understand is that they simply can't expect us to pay close to 4k for a 2016 technology.
Oops whole lot of menu diving, laptop controls, nice for music programmers and daw freaks, not for peope who make music and want direct control i guess…
Software is the ONLY way to have complete control of this pedal? Why would people buy hardware that requires software to program it? What happens when your new operating system doesn't allow the matribox software to function because of no updates? My studio is 100% hardware including recording, I buy hardware so computers are not in the way of my creative process requiring constant updates and troubleshooting before I can begin my song writing/performing/recording workflow. An audio creation and recording workflow perfected over the last 40 years. *(I have used computers since 1988 for my graphic design business, and I repair and maintain my own and for clients)
No, you CAN have complete control over the pedal from the front panel of it. But the software makes it much, MUCH easier to work with configuring the presets. There is nothing that the software does that you can't also do directly on the pedal.
Hey Scott. That was a great series, really educational and fun to watch. The Kiwi upgrade is impressively featured. So, having watched the recent video about the System-8 update on the 106 model, I'm wondering when you would use the emulation and when you'd use the actual 106? You're lucky to have both options.
I'm going to try them both out, stay tuned...