MP-201 - thoughts on use with Foogers

I thought it would be informative to brainstorm ideas for using the MP-201 with different Foogers. I’m sure I’m misunderstanding some of the specs, but here are some ideas I’ve had:

Analog Delay:

Assign one button/CV to be a tap tempo for delay time. Moog gets bonus points if they give us different subdivisions, such as tapping a quarter note yields a dotted eighth.

Assign the expression pedal and one of the control voltages to control feedback.

Assign one button to turn an attenuated Sample and Hold on and off. This could also be sent on the same CV that controls delay time so it adds modulation to the delays.


Pick a Fooger (or a few) and let’s see what you come up with.

Bryan

Well, I don’t have any foogers yet but I do have a Voyager. I do plan on getting this pedal along with the delay and I will certainly report back when I get to play around with this threesome.

AFAIK, the Tap function on the 201 only syncs an LFO, so you would be able to modulate Time, but perhaps not derive tempo from it. Having said that, you could pre-program a certain voltage for a particular song.

Hopefully, they’ll have an option to set a voltage from two taps. It seems like it would be an easy thing to program. It would be a very useful addition for the delay.

Bryan

Yes indeed…the tap tempo input is only to sync the LFOs…

however…remember that one of the great things abt this piece is that there is software going on - - so it can be updated. So – keep the suggestions coming, I know the engineers are listening closely.

But the pedal is “done” and operational… we just returned from the NAMM show..where the pedal was a hit - lots of people wanting to find out the details.

i was fortunate enough to do some demos for MOOG at NAMM, and would be happy to answer any questions about some of it’s uses.

I used a basic setup – controlling various parameters on a Ring Mod, Freq Box and the RME voyager.

typically – I set it up to control:

RING MOD -frequency and mix

FREQ BOX - frequency and envelope amt

RME V’GER -using the MULT on the VX-352, and controlling cutoff and osc pitch simultaneously (which can be a WILD sound)

For all the intense stuff you can set up (simultaneously) , like making the MP 201 the ‘hub’ of a number of moogerfoogers, and a laptop, running, say, Logic or Ableton, syncing the LFO (s) to the MIDI clock on the laptop, while also controlling volume and pitch on a midi-synth…all at once.

while that is all possible , what is really great is something simple like …setting up the four switches for 2 parameters on 2 pedals, using the quad-mode, so you can easily turn channel-functions on and off. That alone is fantastic - instantly seeing that you can clean up your exp-pedal heavy setup.

The pedal feels great – and it’s really built like a tank. The ‘classic star trek device’ look is even better in person!.

So it doesnt actually have a tap tempo in it? I think it would be much more usefull for guitar players if it actually had the ability to generate its own tap tempo for the lfo. Not many guitar players keep a laptop or external tempo device in their setups. Also a great feature would have been the ability to start and stop the lfo at a certain point. This is my main problem with using the cp251 live, I cant get the same sweep each time because the lfo is constantly moving even when not in use I would much rather it start when needed to get a consistent effect.

I’m not totally sure, but I think that it does have tap tempo. However, the tap tempo is used to set the rate of the LFO.

Bryan

That’s right, Bryan. Currently the Tap-tempo is to set the LFO rate.

Remember , the LFOs can also be synced to your MIDI clock, from a drum machine or sequencer (hard or soft).

Hi Mooguitar,

midi wise - can the buttons send CC or note data? or do they just set the CC# and channel of the expression pedal?

So far, this is by far the most exciting controller product I’ve seen in a while!

When are they shipping?

Can you start and stop the lfo? I dont even know if it’s possible

As long as I’m daydreaming about sending fixed voltages from tap tempo, here’s another idea. How about being able to set fixed voltages from the expression pedal, but fixed in a stair-step fashion. My thought is that you could use this to control the frequency of the ring mod. Heel back is C, a little forward jumps to C#, a little more forward is D, all the way to toe down, which could be C a few octaves higher.

Alternatively, you could program it to do only a few pitches. Heel down is C, halfway up is F, toe down is G. Or whatever. Possibilities are endless, but it would give the user more flexibility/precision in setting the ring mod frequency if they want it. It could work for the Low Pass Filter or the Freq Box, too.

Bryan

The device sends CC# data per channel, via MIDI.

The buttons – do you mean the two edit buttons? - No, they are for edit mode, saving etc.

Do you mean the footswitches? They handle channel on/off, preset selection, pressing switches #1 and #3 together toggle thru the ‘modes’

The MODES are :

Single- you can use the footswitches to go thru the presets, the channel, turn on/off channels, and tap tempo.

Quad - lets you turn on/off each channel quickly, status is reflected onscreen.

Preset.- you can move between four ‘preset’ snapshots of how the 4 channels are set up – all the MIDI, CV, LFO settings and pedal position info can be saved. So-- as long as you hook the moogerfoogers back up to the same channels, you can now save ‘presets’ of your fave moogerfooger sounds


Yes whether the LFOs are ON/OFF is governed by the footswitch status. The footpedal can control the LFO rate..

The MP-201 is slated to ship in April 2008.

Sounds fun. I think your band played with my friends in kingsofprussia

Hi Mooguitar,

thanks for that info!

yeah.. I meant footswitches. That is awesome. I look forward to getting one!

It would be really really cool if this pedal could send midi clock and have the midi clock be set via tap-tempo.

The ploytech pedal does this…

Then your cv lfo’s and midi devices are all in sync with your tap… this would be a killer feature…

Ploytech pedal? Whazzat? Polytech? Seriously, what is it?

mispelled ploytec…

http://www.analoguehaven.com/ploytecgmbh/34one/

Problem is they are all sold out… so again.. if the cv’s and midi are in sync…
it will help be super good for many I think…

Huh. Ok, that’s interesting. Anyway, I think I have some good news. I found a video from the recent namm show featuring moog employees discussing the new pedal, and they appear to confirm that it WILL send out midi clock…

Scroll down through the videos here:

http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM08/

Nearest I can make out, you can send midi clock to other midi devices, but, no, can’t sync other moogerfoogers.

I think you can sync 'foogers to MIDI clock:

LFO signals are scalable and can be synced to MIDI clock, tap tempo, each other, or free-running

So, to sync a MuRFs tempo, just set the wave to square and sync to MIDI. What other parameters would you like sync’d with MIDI?

I still would like to know more information regarding e.g. MIDI clock divider, MIDI->Pitch CV, Note On gates etc. so I won’t be pre-ordering one until at least I’ve read the manual.