MFC-101 Videos

[vaxed]

Come on Cliff...... Say yes

 

[mba]

It's a prototype...so the final version will be posted on mass media.

 

[Robboman]

Schwing!! Thanks Fractal! Looking forward to getting my feet on one asap!

 

[SparkyG]

Looks good -Great functionality/

any idea of the gap between the switches? difficult to determine - they look a little closer than the GCP

Thanks

 

[stilwel]

If I recall correctly...the MFC is 16" wide, roughly the same size as a Rocktron All Access, and can fit in a rack drawer, or on a sliding rack shelf. So, they are guaranteed to be closer than the switches on a GC Pro. The GC Pro has the widest spacing available on ANY controller out there....which I believe is 3.5" apart.

 

[Finaldo]

If I recall correctly...the MFC is 16" wide, roughly the same size as a Rocktron All Access, and can fit in a rack drawer, or on a sliding rack shelf. So, they are guaranteed to be closer than the switches on a GC Pro. The GC Pro has the widest spacing available on ANY controller out there....which I believe is 3.5" apart.

It's stepped though, so even if the spacing is narrow, you really only have to worry about side-to-side spacing. Should be ok unless your feet are really wide. My Lexicon MPX-G2 feels narrow to me but I can still manage to hit the buttons on it, although it'd be easier if it was stepped. I so badly want to get rid of my MPX-G2.. I hate the buttons on that thing.. not due to the spacing, but because they misfire by not firing at all, or firing multiple times with one press.

 

[toadcaller]

Grin.

 

[Xrocker]

Great news Cliff! I was literally one day away from ordering a LF.
Can't wait to be able to fully control the Ultra.

 

[Warrior]

OK, I have to ask, even at the risk of being flogged..... Any time frame for release?

(duck's quickly)

 

[solo-act]

..are you saying that this "10-key" will allow you to "dial in" any preset number by presumably putting it in "10-key" mode, then typing in preset "210" (SA!!!) and vioala?...how the hell are you going to remember where every single preset is?

Some (most) of us consider the 10-key mode to be the "dark ages"....Setlists and Songmode are far easier to use...

What footswitch did you use with a 10-key mode?

Here's a question for all the footwitch/gigging experts:

How would you operate your footswitch if the following was true:
--You have a big songlist with a wide variety of styles (over 60 songs for instance)
--You have over 30 presets you use regularly
--The dance floor suddenly packs out on your first set, and during the song the band leader calls out a random song from your fourth set, or a song you don't regularly play, and you have to have that preset punched in and ready to go the instant this song is over.
--How many clicks/seconds will it take to have that preset ready?
--If you regularly had situations that called for random and instant access, would you have to change your current approach?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think MOST cover musicians (with a wide variety of songs and lots of presets) need the ability to grab a random song out of thin air and have it ready before dancers leave the dance floor.

A midi footswitch with the right functionality is critical for that, and if you have an approach that does this as fast or faster than simply punching in "74" when you're on preset 03, I'm all ears.

 

[mortega76]

..are you saying that this "10-key" will allow you to "dial in" any preset number by presumably putting it in "10-key" mode, then typing in preset "210" (SA!!!) and vioala?...how the hell are you going to remember where every single preset is?

Some (most) of us consider the 10-key mode to be the "dark ages"....Setlists and Songmode are far easier to use...

What footswitch did you use with a 10-key mode?

Here's a question for all the footwitch/gigging experts:

How would you operate your footswitch if the following was true:
--You have a big songlist with a wide variety of styles (over 60 songs for instance)
--You have over 30 presets you use regularly
--The dance floor suddenly packs out on your first set, and during the song the band leader calls out a random song from your fourth set, or a song you don't regularly play, and you have to have that preset punched in and ready to go the instant this song is over.
--How many clicks/seconds will it take to have that preset ready?
--If you regularly had situations that called for random and instant access, would you have to change your current approach?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think MOST cover musicians (with a wide variety of songs and lots of presets) need the ability to grab a random song out of thin air and have it ready before dancers leave the dance floor.

A midi footswitch with the right functionality is critical for that, and if you have an approach that does this as fast or faster than simply punching in "74" when you're on preset 03, I'm all ears.

Aaaaahhhh... now I get you... cover musicians... ok. I can see you guys using a hundred presets. So you would have your preset number(s) on the set list?

 

[Bantam Menace]

..are you saying that this "10-key" will allow you to "dial in" any preset number by presumably putting it in "10-key" mode, then typing in preset "210" (SA!!!) and vioala?...how the hell are you going to remember where every single preset is?

Some (most) of us consider the 10-key mode to be the "dark ages"....Setlists and Songmode are far easier to use...

What footswitch did you use with a 10-key mode?

Here's a question for all the footwitch/gigging experts:

How would you operate your footswitch if the following was true:
--You have a big songlist with a wide variety of styles (over 60 songs for instance)
--You have over 30 presets you use regularly
--The dance floor suddenly packs out on your first set, and during the song the band leader calls out a random song from your fourth set, or a song you don't regularly play, and you have to have that preset punched in and ready to go the instant this song is over.
--How many clicks/seconds will it take to have that preset ready?
--If you regularly had situations that called for random and instant access, would you have to change your current approach?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think MOST cover musicians (with a wide variety of songs and lots of presets) need the ability to grab a random song out of thin air and have it ready before dancers leave the dance floor.

A midi footswitch with the right functionality is critical for that, and if you have an approach that does this as fast or faster than simply punching in "74" when you're on preset 03, I'm all ears.

I haven't watched the video yet but on my All Access there are 15 presets per bank. To go from preset 1 to preset 30 it's 'bank up' then hit the last preset on the controller. For me that's an extreme example...I rarely use more than 10 presets in a night.

 

[stilwel]

I was in a U2 tribute band for a long time and had a LOT of presets...but I had everything organized into songs.

Generally I organized those songs into setlists and we typically stuck to the setlist pretty well.

On occasion we would go off the radar and do a song that wasn't planned.
I also had a setlist with all of the songs organized by alphabetical order.

...I see your point, but I don't think remembering every U2 song by # would help me much.
Just too much to remember, so having a "backup" plan in order helped.

 

[solo-act]

Aaaaahhhh... now I get you... cover musicians... ok. I can see you guys using a hundred presets. So you would have your preset number(s) on the set list?

Now there's someone thinking... except every song/preset is at my feet not just one set...AND I can actually choose any song at my feet at random and cue it up WHILE playing the current song.

I'll spare everyone the details on how I do that, but long story short, random instant access to any preset rocks. The MFC-101 would program/edit much faster with it. Why step through a list of 127 values with + - switches, why not click one button & punch in the parameter value? Same goes for preset access live. Call me nuts but.....

 

[rickboot]

Thanks for the videos, Cliff. It is a definitely a nice preview until we can order the real thing.

Can you put out a rough ETA?

 

[m lebofsky]

Wonders if the following will be features:
1) ability to hold a button for a few seconds and have it do something else
2) "layers" of IAs

 

[mortega76]

...Call me nuts but.....

Ok, What's up Nuts Butt!!!!

 

[mba]

A Kung Fu Panda talking to a Nuts Butt...what a wonderfull world this forum.

 

[MisterE]

Specs as revealed a while ago:

- 16 ga. steel chassis. "Stepped" design makes accessing buttons less error prone.
- 21 rugged stomp-style switches configurable as 10 preset and 8 IA or 5 preset and 13 IA. The other three switches are bank up, down and shift.
- Huge 20 character transflective LCD can even be read in direct sunlight.
- Six external inputs. Inputs can be configured as expression pedals or footswitches.
- 7-pin MIDI Out compatible with Axe-Fx phantom powering.
- Remote tuner capability.
- Axe-Fx mode reads preset name directly from Axe-Fx. No need to program preset name.
- MSRP $600. Actual sell price probably lower.
- Dimensions; 16"W x 10"H. (40 x 25)
- Switch spacing; 2.75" both directions.

Is there more info available about:
number of:
- sets
- songs
- presets in preset mode - I suspect in Axe-Fx mode all 384 will be accessible
In preset mode, how many commands can be given per preset (PC, CC, Sysex,....)
Can these commands be sent with delayed action. This is necessary if for instance you want to send more than one sysex message to change values in one block.

In song mode, how many presets can be used?

 

[Virtuoso]

No 10-key function is a deal-breaker for me. I'm not going back into the dark ages of stepping through banks/presets with + - buttons. A 10-key function would speed up the powerful edit/program functionality of the MFC-101 and it would kill for live use.

Totally agree. Arranging 384 patches into 77 banks of 5 seems very clumsy to me, especially since the device itself isn't really designed around a bank architecture.

Yes, you can arrange your patches into set order, but then if a firmware update requires you to upload new reworked patches, you have to do a whole load of librarian work again. For people who only use a handful of sounds this isn't a great burden, but for those using dozens of sounds it's an unnecessary hassle. Personally I would much prefer having numbers 0-9 giving direct access to any patch with a number chart for gigs, along with +/- buttons for stepping through patches linearly. The same goes for the rack unit - I'm surprised it doesn't have an alphanumeric keypad, like a phone.