Rocktron Midi Raider vs. GCP?

Got it! Expression pedal content...

Got the Midi Raider yesterday- it's pretty darn nice! Solid construction, looks like it'll weather gig conditions really well. Easy to program, manual is pretty useful too.

Tone, I don't think you can use the display for the tuner though- sorry man. I'm used to reading it off the Axe itself, but it would be handy to have it there on the floor. Ah well, maybe down the road I'll break down and get the MFC.

One issue I'm having though is related to the expression pedals inputs on the Raider itself. Not sure if I need to do something to calibrate them, but here's what I'm running in to. I'm using a Rocktron Utopia expression pedal, which I bought in anticipation of getting the Raider, figuring it'd be easy to integrate and compatible, since they're from the same company. (this may warrant it's own thread, sorry if I'm taking this off-track)

When I run the Utopia into the Pedal in jack on the back of my Axe II, it seems to react pretty much like you'd expect it to. For example, if I connect the Utopia directly to the Axe through the Pedal in jack, and set it to control the Wah on the Axe, it auto engages correctly and when I take my foot off the pedal, it automatically goes back to 0 (complete heel down position).

When I connect the Utopia to one of the pedal in jacks on the Midi Raider and set it to control Wah on the same patch (changing the controller to the right number corresponding to the pedal in jack from the Midi Raider), it automatically engages and sits at about the 80% open (toe down) position, even if the pedal itself is in the heel down position. When I put my foot on the pedal to engage, if I physically move the pedal to heel-down, it goes to 0 on the Axe, but the minute I take my foot off, it goes back to about 80% open.

For the moment, I can live with that, I'll just run the Utopia right in to the Axe for this weekend's shows. But I was hoping to expand to a couple of additional expression pedals... so I may need to revisit my plan of going all Rocktron and try out the Mission pedals.

If anyone has any thoughts, I'd appreciate any insights. Other than this, I'm pretty pleased so far. Having the extra IA switches compared to what I had with the FCB is gonna be sweet.
 
Ah, to answer my own stupid question... I grabbed a stereo Y cable and reversed the polarity of the pedal... and that fixed it. Sorry for the lameness on my part.... :(
 
Thanks for posting. I only got mine last week and was going to work on the expression pedal connect tomorrow. Glad I know the fix.
I just wish they made these things for someone with a size 13 foot.
 
Ah, to answer my own stupid question... I grabbed a stereo Y cable and reversed the polarity of the pedal... and that fixed it. Sorry for the lameness on my part.... :(

One thing I don't like is I cannot get it to work with my Boss FV-500H. I just happen to like the feel of the pedal. I had to reverse the poloarity to use it on the midi mate and it worked fine. Couldn't get it to work at all on the midi raider. I mainly bought it because of the 5 Presets and 10IA's. Plenty for me.
 
FYI I offered $370 for the Midi Raider to MacDaddy411 on ebay and it was accepted within 5 minutes...Just letting others know. Good luck if you buy one!
 
Ah, to answer my own stupid question... I grabbed a stereo Y cable and reversed the polarity of the pedal... and that fixed it. Sorry for the lameness on my part.... :(

Isn't that strange, I mean it's their pedal? I just cannot get my Boss V-500H pedal to work with the Midi raider. Works fine with the axe, but that was not my plan.
 
FYI I offered $370 for the Midi Raider to MacDaddy411 on ebay and it was accepted within 5 minutes...Just letting others know. Good luck if you buy one!
Thanks for the tip. I ordered it Friday and should show up Monday sometime. I had to search for a 7-pin MIDI cable since most places were sold out of it. I finally found one at tunnelvision music. Still under $400 compared to the MFC. Not a bad deal.
 
Isn't that strange, I mean it's their pedal? I just cannot get my Boss V-500H pedal to work with the Midi raider. Works fine with the axe, but that was not my plan.


Yeah, that was actually why I bought the Utopia in the first place! I was hoping to be able to plug it in with a short 1/4 stereo cable, now I've got to use the Y cable, which works, but it's not as clean looking. Gonna have to make a cable that reverses the polarity I guess. :)

Since the Utopia wasn't plug-n-play like I wanted, I went ahead and bought a spring loaded Mission EP with the reverse polarity switch to use for my 2nd expression pedal. Figure I'll use that for wah, etc. Hopefully it'll show up this week and I can try it out next weekend!

First weekend gig report with the Midi Raider- I really like it, it adds a ton of functionality to my rig, since I can assign extra IAs compared to when I was using the FCB. So, from that stand point, it's really good. And, generally speaking, it's really solid.

On the downside, one of the switches crapped out on me- the #3 switch. I was using that for a preset I use a fair amount, so I had to make a mid-set adjustment to work around it on Friday night. There's a Rocktron authorized repair shop here in town that I'm going to take it to tomorrow- should be covered under warranty, and I'm hoping it's a simple enough fix that they can just pop a new switch in and get it back to me in a day or so. I opened up the unit to see if it would be simple enough for me to do on my own, but I would have had to start taking out PC boards and messing around a little more than I'm comfortable with... last thing I want to do is fry something inadvertently and hose the whole unit up.

I also had to order a 7 pin midi cable, so for now, I've got the wall wart out on the floor. Hopefully will get the cable this week too, so I can clean that up a bit.

So, I'm happy overall, just a little bummed about the busted switch. I wasn't doing anything extreme, just went to click it on and it didn't engage- I'm pretty careful with my gear, and don't stomp hard or anything... we shall see!
 
I just got mine today and the #12 switch will not engage. That ticks me off!!! I have contacted Macdaddy music for resolution. I should have gone with the MFC! These days, no matter how much you pay you cannot count on quality products with all the crappy component from the cheapest countries... Don't get me started...
 
After much thought, I feel my post might be a bit too derogatory- So in fairness lets hope these issues(including mine) do not become the norm
 
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A quick note from a Rocktron dealer

Hey all - Aaron here from Macdaddy Music. Looks like a couple of you bought the MIDI Raider from us, so first off, thanks for that.

I've had a couple customers reference this thread due to some of the issues being experienced with the MIDI Raider. I just wanted to drop a quick line to say a couple of things. First, if you're having an issue with your MIDI Raider, we'll get you taken care of either with tech support, a replacement or if you want to return it, a refund. Secondly, while problems with any gear is obviously really frustrating, I have nothing but the highest praise for Rocktron's customer support. They're timely, more than fair and very knowledgeable in their product support. Obviously nobody wants to have a brand new product have issues out of the box, but sometimes things like this happen.

Bottom line, if you're having any issues with your MIDI Raider, please be patient - I know from being a dealer for a long time that the people at Rocktron really care about this and will be taking measures to fix anything that may need to be fixed and will do everything they can to take care of their customers. And I can say the same for Macdaddy Music. If you bought from us and have any kind of issue, we'll take care of you! I'd just ask for your patience working through things.
 
Hey all - Aaron here from Macdaddy Music. Looks like a couple of you bought the MIDI Raider from us, so first off, thanks for that.

I've had a couple customers reference this thread due to some of the issues being experienced with the MIDI Raider. I just wanted to drop a quick line to say a couple of things. First, if you're having an issue with your MIDI Raider, we'll get you taken care of either with tech support, a replacement or if you want to return it, a refund. Secondly, while problems with any gear is obviously really frustrating, I have nothing but the highest praise for Rocktron's customer support. They're timely, more than fair and very knowledgeable in their product support. Obviously nobody wants to have a brand new product have issues out of the box, but sometimes things like this happen.

Bottom line, if you're having any issues with your MIDI Raider, please be patient - I know from being a dealer for a long time that the people at Rocktron really care about this and will be taking measures to fix anything that may need to be fixed and will do everything they can to take care of their customers. And I can say the same for Macdaddy Music. If you bought from us and have any kind of issue, we'll take care of you! I'd just ask for your patience working through things.

Thanks for replying Aaron...That's very reassuring.
Hopefully it was just a few of the Raiders that were having issues, and the people that are having trouble will get them sorted out quickly.
 
I had a problem with my first midi raider. I ws immediately sent another one by Jim C. at Rocktron and he didn't make me wait until he got my return. He sent it out immediately. That is top of the line CS IMHO.
Also, Aaron and I have exchanged a few emails-I was copying him on my emails to Jim C. Aaron did not hestitate to offer me the options he mentioned in his post here above. Both are very friendly and responsible folks (companies)
My replacement works fine-I am a bit confused about the proper pedal to use, but that's another issue. I have no doubt that with both of these guys(companies) we have nothing to worry about except PLAYING GUITAR like Pete Thorn, Steve V, Guthrie, AT, etc, etc in no particular order :)
Frank
 
I had a problem with my first midi raider. I ws immediately sent another one by Jim C. at Rocktron and he didn't make me wait until he got my return. He sent it out immediately. That is top of the line CS IMHO.
Also, Aaron and I have exchanged a few emails-I was copying him on my emails to Jim C. Aaron did not hestitate to offer me the options he mentioned in his post here above. Both are very friendly and responsible folks (companies)
My replacement works fine-I am a bit confused about the proper pedal to use, but that's another issue. I have no doubt that with both of these guys(companies) we have nothing to worry about except PLAYING GUITAR like Pete Thorn, Steve V, Guthrie, AT, etc, etc in no particular order :)
Frank

Definitely, Jim at GHS is awesome. He responded quickly to every question I had along the way and was really helpful. Aaron seems like a good guy too from his note. And yeah, I'm definitely not worried about the resolution- stuff happens, but I know with Rocktron, it'll all end up OK. Everything I've ever owned by them has been awesome, and the service levels from Rocktron (thanks to guys like Jim) is awesome.

I thought taking my Raider to a local repair outlet would be faster, and didn't want to bother Jim with it, in hindsight it probably would have been a quicker fix. My local shop (Rocktron authorized) had to order the switch, so this weekend I'm back to the FCB and definitely missing the Raider! Hopefully will be back in the saddle by next weekend.

On your pedal question, to maybe add to the confusion... LOL! I love the Utopia, very cool pedal, works great, just need to be aware of the polarity issue with the Raider and use a Y cable (or make your own polarity reversing stereo cable I suppose.) In the meantime, I also just got a Mission EP1, spring loaded, and I used that last night with the Axe II for some wah stuff. I love it- great response, well made- and the Mission guys shipped it fast, I'd ordered it last Friday night, and had it by Weds. I'd recommend either of those two pedals. I'm using the FCB pedal for some things now, and after using the Utopia it's a definite step back. The Utopia is very smooth and responsive, as is the Mission.
 
@theronius
Jim told me in an email that the utopia was wired incorrectly. Perhaps you can ask him if they all have been corrected or was it just yours? It is a bit confusing. I still wish I could use my tank of a pedal Boss FV-500H, but it doesn't seem to work too well even reversing the polarity. Jim said it's because of the 2 pots on "some" of the boss pedals.
 
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