Count To Five

[coldbrightsunlight]

it's not chrome, just bare metal.

it was a special deal for a special guy.

Just got mine today and I love it! I don't understand what I'm doing but fun sounds are definitely happening. Mode 3 is a lot of fun for setting up spacey noises to jam over!

hey not sure if you know there is a bit of explanations on this page:

http://mtlasm.blogspot.ca/p/count-to.html

but ya next year for sure better explanation videos. its actually simple what each mode does but just not what you are used to maybe.

Thanks! After your explanation video now I know what each mode is doing it makes a lot more sense! Now I'm not just stumbling around blind, it sounds even better.

[cedarskies]

Right um... i might be having a problem. Or I'm doing something wrong

In both the second and the third modes, I'm having trouble recording sometimes. It's as if it didn't pick up the signal every time or as if it picked up only a portion of it. example:

turn on Ghost Echo and DMM. Strike a chord (or an octave), let's say C. Immediatelly after the innitial attack of the note I push the softswitch to record, hold it for a while just to capture the drone let's say. But it doesn'T play back or it plays back very low and distorted or (mainly in the mode 3) something plays properly and a part of the recorded segment plays quietly and distorted OR it captures only a short portion of the time I hold the switch...



Anyone have any idea what's happening? Mode 1 seems to function properly

There seems to be a a certain threshold required for it to record. As the volume decays, and if you have low output pickups, it may not be enough for it to process. I've started putting some sort of gain early in the chain to make sure there is enough signal for the CT5 to work with.

[DarkAxel]

Ha, okay, if it's just this, I'll just turn on the booster in front of the chain or something I'll try that next time i get to play my rig

fingers crossed

(i wish the sensitivity was greater if that's the case though)

[Eric!]

Isn't there a gain trim inside?

[DarkAxel]

There is and it might help me indeed. However, I already feel that running the Mix on 3 or 2:30 o'clock is already just enough so I hope it won't get drastically louder

I just didn't want to readjust anything before I got into the problem. The sensitivity/threshold thing was one thing i sort of suspected and if that's it, turning up the gain should work

[multi_s]

There is and it might help me indeed. However, I already feel that running the Mix on 3 or 2:30 o'clock is already just enough so I hope it won't get drastically louder

I just didn't want to readjust anything before I got into the problem. The sensitivity/threshold thing was one thing i sort of suspected and if that's it, turning up the gain should work

Hi,

ya this should be fixable in firmware though as well perhaps. I am really not sure why certain people find this pedal soo loud. On my setup it really seems ok but maybe i don't test with enough different instruments as input? Or perhaps just ears with different expectations... either way some adjust can be done in firmware, but in the end i can also change the analog section to suit you better if you need to return it for a tuning. Typically its calibrated so that if i play a note, loop it back 1 copy at 1:1 speed and mix in middle then the copy and the clean should be at the same volume. That means when all 3 heads are rolling though, that the combined wet signals will be louder than the one clean signal (3 guitars vs 1). That sense of balance may be taste though, maybe people expect 3:1 to sound even?

I'm out of town until Jan 2 now for holidays, so I probably won't be responding to this thread or emails until then, but feel free to contact me with any concerns, I will get to you in the new year.

happy holidays.

s

[Jwar]

Hey when will more of these be available Scott? Also, email the only way to buy one? Or do you have dealers?

[multi_s]

I'm making them all the time, but i would guess 3-4 weeks lead time right now because I am holidays until Jan2 + a few orders in queue right now. No dealers at the moment, so just email me if you are interested. Replies may be slow until I get back to mtl.


happy holidays.

[fishtankdork]

Day two. Life changing. This thing is a beast. A second is needed. Another email shall be sent soon for another. Mode one is just amazing before my boss rc300, and mode2-3 is amazing afterwards. The samples and stuff is just mmmmmmmmm. And so many sounds in this thing. I am so impressed by this pedal. I can't think of another pedal that's floored me as much. So freaking musical and inspiring.

[celticelk]

Ordered. Seriously stoked for this.

PS: second gripe

overdubbing in mode 3 automatically starts the overdub at the start of the sample, not where you overdubbed it. could this perhaps have to do with the input threshhold? even if it does, i still think it starts at the start of the original sample, which is hard and weird to try and get right when overubbing.

If you're playing three layers simultaneously, none of which are at the speed of the original recording, how would you determine where the overdub point starts? Scott's approach seems sensible to me under the circumstances.

[multi_s]

Ordered. Seriously stoked for this.

PS: second gripe

overdubbing in mode 3 automatically starts the overdub at the start of the sample, not where you overdubbed it. could this perhaps have to do with the input threshhold? even if it does, i still think it starts at the start of the original sample, which is hard and weird to try and get right when overubbing.

If you're playing three layers simultaneously, none of which are at the speed of the original recording, how would you determine where the overdub point starts? Scott's approach seems sensible to me under the circumstances.

Yes it is done that way precisely for this reason. However, the second most logical thing would have been to start it wherever the first playback head is,since this one is always on. The reason this strategy was not chosen is that once there are multiple heads on, it is not always obvious to the user which layer of the sound is the first head. If the latter strategy is preferred, it can be changed to that in the firmware later, but my mind originally is exactly what celticelk suggested. To me neither are totally intuitive to the person playing, but I cannot think of what strategy would be.

There is another issue i think with mode 3 (not with a unit at the moment), where when you record the sample from blank state (led blinking), if you fill the entire buffer, you should start to hear your first pass as you wrap around and layer on top of it and continue to record. However, it does not do this. You will hear nothing no matter how long you hold down the record button for the first time, but when you release all the wrapped around layers are there.

After the holidays i will start to work on the first update which will just tweak the original setup based on user feedback and the above issue. It will probably be released in mid to late Jan. So if you have any other suggestions the next week or so would be a good time to voice them. I can't promise to do everything said but i will at least read and consider it.

s

[SecretMachine]

Enjoying mine alot. Finally got a chance to use it with an expression pedal and was pretty amazed at how much it opens up the pedal even more.
One thing I'd love in the firmware update is probably the ability to store the quantize setting after the pedal has been powered down.
There's three quantize settings right? Normal (tones), Fifths and Octaves? And you achieve each by either having the pedal CCW full, Noon or CW full and then tapping the left footswitch in Mode 1 right? It seems like getting the Noon quantization is abit more difficult (if I'm even doing the right thing).

[Eric!]

GLITCH-O-RAMA.

[multi_s]

Enjoying mine alot. Finally got a chance to use it with an expression pedal and was pretty amazed at how much it opens up the pedal even more.
One thing I'd love in the firmware update is probably the ability to store the quantize setting after the pedal has been powered down.
There's three quantize settings right? Normal (tones), Fifths and Octaves? And you achieve each by either having the pedal CCW full, Noon or CW full and then tapping the left footswitch in Mode 1 right? It seems like getting the Noon quantization is abit more difficult (if I'm even doing the right thing).

Ya that is the right thing to do, the 3 modes each cover about a third of the pot so maybe the issue is the length of your "tap"?. It does have to be a pretty short tap. Probably though i am going to add major and minor seventh quantizations as well, so since that is a lot of guess work the way in which quantizations are set will likely change slightly.

Also yes, storing the global q on power down is already on the todo list.

alright, here it is, a shitty iphone recording:

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/kapten-d/count-to-five-increasing-delay[/soundcloud]

i put notes on the parts I wanted to highlight. so I guess what I'm asking is why is the delay time decreasing, and it takes a long time too, like 2-3 minutes for that setting.

listen to the length of the delay, I didn't twist any knobs during that and it was set to 1:1 forward speed with quantization to make sure I got it right. the settings are on the picture.

i play a bit just to pass the time, it'd be pretty boring just to strum the muted strings for 2 minutes.

hmm it seems you found a bug. I'd guess it probably happens at all len b settings but give me a day or two to try it on mine and i will get back to you. in quantized 1:1 it should in theory have a constant delay time.

another thing would be if you had an idea for how to cut off the start of a sample in mode 2 so that I could get a drone without start/end, as it now only cuts the tail but I'll always get the start/stop attack, or is this from the pedal inherently replaying the sample so no matter where the "start" is it'd be a slight cut? (have *exp* switch set in 2 and it cuts from the end, or both start/end? you're the wizard. maybe it's better to leave it)

Ya the pedal will envelope the sound to get rid of "tick" artefacts that would otherwise occur when randomly piecing the sound together. There are better approaches though that could make it more continuous, not sure it will be in the next firm though. To get closer to cutting the start attack of playing though, just pluck a note wait a sec, then hit record, voila the beginning is cut off. This will get you pretty close. Plucking then recording the decay of your guitar creates a better drone id say. then play it backwards so its actually a sloow attack instead of decay. very droney.

Also why not do that all in mode 3 instead. Just record a one second section of the note decay and tune in 3 drones as you please? since you can make the read heads out of phase it is very easy to smooth over any attack left in the signal.



s

[multi_s]

i played around with it a bit, yeah it does happen on all settings except it's not as obvious on the slower ones, and i think the ramping is reset once you change the lens options to the maximum lens time (as where it should be).

Maybe keep it like it is and make another quantization the same way you've done the rest that is fully clockwise, except this one turns off the lfo that tweaks the delay and turns it into a regular delay with the maximum delay time decided by lens and the direction now works as a regular delay time (twisting it pitches it, etc)?


edit:

about mode 2, i was talking about this:

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/kapten-d/ct5-mode-2[/soundcloud]

i'm using a pocket piano, so it's got no attack/decay. your suggestion about mode 3 is good though, i'll do that.

oh and please make overdubs on mode 3 record on the first direction knob!

i don't mind paying a small sum for these changes

Ya the pedal will envelope the sound to get rid of "tick" artefacts that would otherwise occur when randomly piecing the sound together. There are better approaches though that could make it more continuous, not sure it will be in the next firm though.

also regarding the bug, it's very unlikely that i will be into making a bug into a feature, but who knows. i amtrying to keep things simple so a lot of hidden tweaks and no real way to visually display the current setting is not really soemthing i want to do.

also for overdubs it wont be exactly "on the dir1" head. it will just start where the head was when you hit the button. so if the dir 1 is reverse at some speed, the write head still moves forward at 1:1 speed. that is all that would be changed in the next firm release regarding this request. i am starting the update now, there are about 6 things on teh list to cahnge, some pretty small but i will post some clips in the next week or two with the updates.

S

s