Thoughts on 2 x VP4’s, 1 for in front, 1 for FX loop of an amp?

SinglecutGuy

SinglecutGuy

Experienced
I just ordered the VP4, and now I’m already considering a second one to do this. While I’m not complaining, 4 switches is limiting for me to do 4CM. I typically have 3-4 effects through my loop, and 2-3 in front of my amp. Could I do (2) and dedicate one for each signal path?

How bad could the latency add up there?
 
To me, it would first come down to how much I liked the drives as compared to pedals. I have tried using the FM3 in 4CM with an amp but the drives didn't do it for me in comparison to a couple pedals. With the VP4 supposedly optimized for use with an amp, and with variable impedance on the VP4, I wonder if that will be the missing ingredients to push the drives over the top for me.

If the drives did it for me, the second question I would have is how easy is it to integrate two VP4's so they act as one unit. If they can work together seamlessly, then I could see using two VP4's as a viable option. The cost of two VP4s would certainly be less than buying 8 boutique pedals!
 
One thing that I have not seemed demonstrated is a quick way to edit parameters of these effects in the VP4. If all of your effects are set and forget then you're good, but if there are effects that you want to quickly tweak on the fly then I think you're probably going to have to use an expression pedal (or knob) using modifiers. Not the end of the world, but if there are effects that you like to tweak live then perhaps it makes sense having those as traditional pedals and the others which you typically set and forget implemented in the VP4. So, while having two VP4s may cover you for the number of pedals you need there may be advantages to having a mix of "real" pedals and a single VP4.
 
scarbodave said:
One thing that I have not seemed demonstrated is a quick way to edit parameters of these effects in the VP4. If all of your effects are set and forget then you're good, but if there are effects that you want to quickly tweak on the fly then I think you're probably going to have to use an expression pedal (or knob) using modifiers. Not the end of the world, but if there are effects that you like to tweak live then perhaps it makes sense having those as traditional pedals and the others which you typically set and forget implemented in the VP4. So, while having two VP4s may cover you for the number of pedals you need there may be advantages to having a mix of "real" pedals and a single VP4.
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Granted I haven't yet dived in since I currently have no use, but my understanding is that basic effect editing is intended to simple on the unit, more in line with traditional pedals.

Maybe my understanding is wrong...
 
Unless you need the extra pedals and the absolute highest quality fx, it just seems cheaper and more compact to get an FM3 and run it in 4CM for that scenario.
 
Yes, and I am going to be considering that.

It would then depend on what the MIDI capability offers (master/slave), or if a separate MIDI controller would be necessary. In other words, could one unit be used to control the other, specifically thinking of scenes. And no, I'm not well-versed in MIDI.
 
pima1234 said:
Yes, and I am going to be considering that.

It would then depend on what the MIDI capability offers (master/slave), or if a separate MIDI controller would be necessary. In other words, could one unit be used to control the other, specifically thinking of scenes. And no, I'm not well-versed in MIDI.
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Read up on the Scene Midi block. And Control Switch Midi.

You could almost certainly use the FM3 to change presets, scenes, channels, effects on/off.

Those use PCs and CCs and are the "basics" any midi controller should support.
 
SinglecutGuy said:
FM3 in 4CM is prohibitively and unusably noisy.
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Have you compared it to FM9 or Axe Fx III using the same amps?

There are a handful of people making claims like this and I can't really figure out why the FM3 would be different.

From what I understand, some amps are just not friendly in a 4CM setup.
 
unix-guy said:
Read up on the Scene Midi block. And Control Switch Midi.

You could almost certainly use the FM3 to change presets, scenes, channels, effects on/off.

Those use PCs and CCs and are the "basics" any midi controller should support.
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For my purposes, a pedalboard switch with MIDI capability. But yes, I figured it's pretty standard.
 
unix-guy said:
I was saying the FM3 could be used to control the VP4 via midi. I thought that's what you were asking about :)
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No worries. But, yes, I'm absolutely certain there are plenty who will do that.

There is no doubt that the Fractal crew considered the CPU limitations of the FM3 and how the VP4 will easily solve that.
 
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