New guitar effects processor technology: who is interested?

[horruh]

I am currently working on a guitar effects processor technology, which consists of a dedicated audio signal processor plus associated IDE (compiler, simulator and debugger). I am applying this technology to design my own versatile multi-effects processor from scratch.

A key part of the technology is a native audio processing programming language which does not require any programming skills and does not require any knowledge of the processor core on which the algorithm runs. The only required skills are a bit of audio processing skills.

Using this technology I have created several effects like phaser, flanger, overdrive, chorus, reverb, echo, graphic EQ, dynamic filter and WahWah.
The ease of programming is impressive. For example: it took me just a few hours to investigate how a digital reverb works, find an appropriate algorithm on the internet, code it in my language and get the whole thing fully functional. By the way: I hardly have any DSP experience......

The audio signal processor has a lot of potential processing power: sufficient to run a large set of interconnected high-quality guitar effects.

My intention is to productize this technology (e.g. multi-effects open stompbox or open multi-effects processor) and bring it public, if there is sufficient interest from the community.

Anyone interested?
If so, what would be your additional requirements?

[Hurricane]

So,....... I'll bite

Excerpt :

I am currently working on a guitar effects processor technology, which consists of a dedicated audio signal processor plus associated IDE (compiler, simulator and debugger). I am applying this technology to design my own versatile multi-effects processor from scratch.


I have created several effects like phaser, flanger, overdrive, chorus, reverb, echo, graphic EQ, dynamic filter and WahWah.

Anyone interested?
If so, what would be your additional requirements?

====================================================


Hello horruh :

I bought a system like what you describe and many more did it too . My unit has all the above mentioned bells and whistles too and then throw in a 8 track digital recorder and a XLR w/phantom power , stereo in's and outs and and stereo out 1/4 and XLRs too , can be used as a DI and has a USB .

Now then ..........................

They stopped making it ! And they sold tons of them too ! And there's a big @$$ community out there too waiting for the next " thing " in a guitar based floor stomp-fx-midi drummer - mp3 - midi player -multi track digital recorded .

So whacha think ?

This is what I would think is the cutting edge horizon of guitar modeling and digital recording fx-stomps stuff . You could be the next mover and shaker

Easy man nice idea you have floated out to all to see and comment on . I have many improvements to be added to a system like mine if you want to take time and read them .

Hurricane Ramon

[Chuck H]

well a lot of us here in the tube amp building forum are plug and play types, so DSP's don't get many of us real exited. Thought you should know that before basing your next move on any response you get here. There is an effects forum here you should post at as well as many gear head forums elsewhere where the members talk about thier gear but not how to build it.

I am a plug and play type. Also, I'm not sure what it is your proposing. Do you intend to make a DSP and sell it or market the technology to lay users that would then program thier own DSP's??? If you plan to build DSP's, what makes this technology more useful or better sounding than what is currently available? If you plan to market a "build your own" system with this technology, I don't know many guitar players that would spend "a few hours" dialing in a reverb algorithm. I don't think most players want to learn any physics about how an effect changes thier sound, they just want to listen to it and decide if they want to use it or not. They certainly don't often want to know how thier amp works I can tell you

JM2C

Chuck

[horruh]

How it could look like

Thanks for your feedback sofar

I am thinking into the direction of a multi-effects guitar processor which is to be delivered as a complete product (containing all nice high-quality and usefull effects, like the ones already mentioned).

On top of that it would be very nice to have kind of an open source community in which guitarists/programmers can develop and share their own exciting guitar effects. These effects can then be loaded into the box, on top of or replacing the standard effects.
I am aware of a few existing products which look like this, but these seem to be very difficult to program.

My technology is very versatile. It is possible to model all kinds of effects. But it can also go way beyond that.

And, Hurricane: yes I am definitely interested in your experience/improvements!

[horruh]

Yes, I am definitely interested

Thanks for your comments!

Yes I am definitely interested in your experience and improvement proposals

[Steve Conner]

You'll need to think about where your product will be positioned in the market.

The Line 6 ToneCore DDK and the Fractal Axe-FX are two extremes of what one might mean by a "programmable effects processor", where will yours sit in relation to these two products?

[horruh]

Thanks for the hint on the Fractal Axe-FX.
I am about to enter the phase of positioning the product. In principle, I have the technology to serve both sides of the spectrum: low-cost and high-end.

However, a key element will be that the product will be open: it will be possible to create your own effect (and this might be completely from scratch, the same way as using another DSP for which you can create any algorithm you might think of). Another key element is ease of programming (no programming skills required, no HW architecture knowledge required, just focus on audio algorithm coding in an intuitive way)

[Gibsonman63]

I used all rack based effects for a while in the 80's. Over time I figured out that most of my practice time was getting used up programming my effects and not actually playing the guitar. Since then, I have become a plug and play guitar player as well. Here are a few suggestions that would improve upon what is out there now.

1. I find that most of the units out there put the most extreme effects and effect settings in the default configuration. It makes it stand out more in the music store, but most of it really isn't usable. It would be nice to have a bank of usable effects for different genres of music. I find that most of the effects out there do extreme very well, but do not behave well with subtle.

2. Some of these units take a lot of playing around to get the volume level even between patches.

3. Once you have several patches tweaked to your likeing with a humbucker style guitar, it would be nice to have a quick way of making them sound decent with single coils and visa-versa.

4. I have yet to hear one of these that does a good TS-9.

[imaradiostar]

While I hate the ts-9, I agree with Gibsonman.

I think in the end it comes down to this. There is an expectation of what a "good" electric guitar sound is. For the most part that's a mostly clean to heavily distorted guitar amp sound with no other effects. All effects build on that.

As it applies to my distorted guitar sounds I even shy away from reverb!

My current main guitar amp for gigging and studio use has three knobs. My pedalboard has two distortion pedals and a delay that is connected so I can select delay on/off per distortion, with the distortion effects in loops. There is a TC electronic stereo chorus/flanger set for "leslie" sounds and a home made univibe clone. I almost never turn either of those two on. why?

My amp usually is set so that it's pretty gritty. I have a hotplate to knock down the volume to usable levels in a live setting. The delay is set to work with the distortion and still retain a very "amp like" character. I've arrived at this after many years of gigging and recording. The fact of it is simple stuff just sounds better live and on tape.

that's my 2 cents. If you're building digital effects use them for chorus and verb and delay but remember that many of your "higher end" purists will shy away from multieffects processing.

jamie

[Gibsonman63]

To springboard from Imaradiostar's comments a bit. Almost all of the seasoned players that I know use relatively simple rigs. A great sounding amp is the basis for great sounding guitar. Guitar effects cannot make a less than great sounding amp sound great, but they can really make a great sounding amp sound bad if not done properly!

The guys that I know that use a lot of effects and make them sound good are the texture guys, not the lead players.

[Mark Hammer]

The good news is that it is open. The bad news is that it is open.

At work, we get software changes to our desktops thrown at us, and I.T. doesn't understand why we grumble. I thinka simple explanation could be found by merely suggesting that all documentation for those folks be available only in Ukrainian or Yoruban. Naturally, their response would be that they don't have time to learn another language, because they have a job to do. To which my response would be "So do I. Stop changing things on me and forcing me to devote time to learning how to make the new software mimic what the old software already did easily."

That grumble aside, be forewarned that an "open" system imposes on the user the task of learning how to do something. Whatever power that might create is offset by the manner in which it forces the musician to set aside a LOT of time to even get anything out of the device. Far too easy to get sidetracked by the technology and not ebven get around to making music.

Just a caution. You may want to make it a little less "open", and a little more instantly usable.

[Steve Conner]

Hmmm... I see this thread is fast turning into "Why you don't want to make an open source DSP effects unit, Mr. Horruh". That may not be an appropriate course for it.

However I have to agree with the comments above. DSP programming is my day job, I've seen just about every programming language and electronic gizmo there is. As a hobby I used to run my own project studio and compose electronic music.

But still, I've never come across anything quite as enjoyable as taking an electric guitar and plugging it straight into a nice tube amp. That's playing. Messing with DSPs is work.

Disclaimer: This is my own opinion and may be worthless to everyone else, but I thought I'd post it anyway I've written a lot about DSP for guitar here in the past.

[Chuck H]

This is why I made the blanket disclaimer on behalf of this particular forum. It's kind of like walking into a biker bar and asking 'Hey, what do you guys think of these new neck ties?' That isn't to say there aren't plenty of guys that want neck ties...

You should really run the same thread in the effects forum here and some other more general "gear" type forums to get players responses.

Chuck

[horruh]

Thanks to you all bikers!

I enjoyed walking around in this bar and taste the atmosphere.
Your feedback is recognized and sincerely appreciated.

[Mark Hammer]

Don't take my comments as wholesale criticism of the basic idea.

However, the reality remains that any time one attempts to provide a product which is deep, you essentially cut your self off from a bigger and bigger share of any potential market. I've seen a Fractal Axe-FX in action at someone's house, and while the final result is pretty darn impressive, BOY does it ever take a lot of work to get there. One needs to keep in mind jusy how many people out there start to get confused when a pedal has more than 3 knobs.

So, whatever you aim for in the final product, think long and hard along the way about "How can I arrange for this to be as intuitive as possible for users?". And if you have to make sacrifices in power to do it, do it.