Polychain question driving 2 slim phatties

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captainkidd
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Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:56 pm

Polychain question driving 2 slim phatties

Post by captainkidd » Wed Jun 29, 2016 4:17 pm

I’ve done some searching here first but haven’t come up with an answer to my question, my apologies if I missed it but here it goes. First off I haven’t even gotten into polychaining any of my gear and know little about it as it is so again this might be an ignorant question.

I picked up a couple of used Slim Phattys to setup kind of as more of a dedicated bass style system. I do have a Sub 37 which I know I could use to drive them but I have also recently come across a real nice Little Phatty Stage II for a competitive price. My basic question is that would the Little Phatty have some advantages or disadvantage of using it to Polychain with the 2 Slims over the Sub 37? Obviously it would give me actually 3 of the same engines using the Little Phatty which would be nice.

I know in the end it’s what I want to do with it or am looking for but I am still wondering if I am missing something here in my thoughts.


Thanks

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MRNUTTY
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Re: Polychain question driving 2 slim phatties

Post by MRNUTTY » Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:42 pm

As someone that has both the sub37 and a LPII with 4 SF's poly chained to it, either way is a great way to go - although I do love the sound of a poly LP very much.
VoyagerEB, Minitaur, LittlePhattyII, 4xSlimPhatty, Sub37, MF[2x101,2x102,103,104M,105,105B,105M,2x107,108M], 3xCP251, XV351, MP201;
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Ledbetter
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Re: Polychain question driving 2 slim phatties

Post by Ledbetter » Fri Jul 01, 2016 5:15 pm

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the knobs on a Little Phatty control all the Slim Phatties' parameters in the chain?
Former owner of Prodigy #2845 (purchased new, long ago), Animoog, Voyager Select (Fire & Maple), Little and Slim Phatties, Nord Electro 4D, 5D and Lead 2X, Roland AX-9.

jsharpphoto
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Re: Polychain question driving 2 slim phatties

Post by jsharpphoto » Sat Jul 02, 2016 10:33 am

They should, but the sub37's should also.

Personally, I'd use the sub37 over the LP as the "master". Yes, the sound is different, but not by much. What you gain is the single knob-per function control that the sub has over the original phatties.
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captainkidd
Posts: 85
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:56 pm

Re: Polychain question driving 2 slim phatties

Post by captainkidd » Sat Jul 02, 2016 11:09 am

Last night I stopped by the local shop here that has the LP, they don't have any Slims that I can hook up to it . I could bring mine it to try it. He said that they originally sold it to the previous owner as used so the shop never had it brand new. It does still look brand new so the previous owner(s) did take care of it. So since I've never even tried to polychain anything before I came home just to see if I could get the two Slims hooked up to the Sub 37.

I did get them to kind of work but it took a bit of poking around in the menus to do so. It seemed that at times things worked great but then I was having issues with getting sounds triggered right. Again being such a noob on the whole thing I wasn't 100% sure what I was doing so that was more user error than anything. I am kind of on the fence and like stated I can see there is advantages and disadvantages either way.

I probably need to take some more time and sit down with the Sub 37 and the Slims to get them to work together better. The only thing is though is that I am a little antsy about maybe picking up the LP is that it is local and I can pick it up without having it shipped. Plus I am able to test it out rather than having to get something off Ebay or Reverb, etc. and wait and see if the unit is in good shape. Who knows how long the local one will be available.

Thanks again.

ozfunghi
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2014 3:58 am

Re: Polychain question driving 2 slim phatties

Post by ozfunghi » Tue Aug 02, 2016 12:09 am

If the Little Phatty has an interesting price tag, don't wait. If you don't feel you made the right decision, you'll be able to sell it with little to no loss.

Also, make sure your Slims have the same and latest firmware, as some polychaining bugs have been removed. When the Little phatty is master of the two slims, they will follow the LP 1:1. Make sure the same presets are loaded on all devices, unless you want to start sculpting from the ground up each time. If the LP has a different preset set installed, the Slims will also scroll through the presets as you scroll through the presets on the LP, but if the presets don't match, the sound will not magically be the same.

captainkidd
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Re: Polychain question driving 2 slim phatties

Post by captainkidd » Tue Aug 02, 2016 10:10 am

ozfunghi wrote:If the Little Phatty has an interesting price tag, don't wait. If you don't feel you made the right decision, you'll be able to sell it with little to no loss.

Also, make sure your Slims have the same and latest firmware, as some polychaining bugs have been removed. When the Little phatty is master of the two slims, they will follow the LP 1:1. Make sure the same presets are loaded on all devices, unless you want to start sculpting from the ground up each time. If the LP has a different preset set installed, the Slims will also scroll through the presets as you scroll through the presets on the LP, but if the presets don't match, the sound will not magically be the same.
Thank you Oz, I did pick the LP up. I can't really say that I got the best price I've seen but again as mentioned it was local at a shop and if I have any issues or questions I can swing by there.

I only had a chance to hook the Slims to it once and mess around like I did with the Sub 37. I think I was having a little bit of issues with them working correctly but I am pretty sure some for one that I don't have all the same presets loaded on all the devices. Also I got to make sure something isn't/wasn't setup a little funky on one/all of them from the previous owners. I just haven't had the time to do so yet.

ozfunghi
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Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2014 3:58 am

Re: Polychain question driving 2 slim phatties

Post by ozfunghi » Tue Aug 02, 2016 2:51 pm

captainkidd wrote:
ozfunghi wrote:If the Little Phatty has an interesting price tag, don't wait. If you don't feel you made the right decision, you'll be able to sell it with little to no loss.

Also, make sure your Slims have the same and latest firmware, as some polychaining bugs have been removed. When the Little phatty is master of the two slims, they will follow the LP 1:1. Make sure the same presets are loaded on all devices, unless you want to start sculpting from the ground up each time. If the LP has a different preset set installed, the Slims will also scroll through the presets as you scroll through the presets on the LP, but if the presets don't match, the sound will not magically be the same.
Thank you Oz, I did pick the LP up. I can't really say that I got the best price I've seen but again as mentioned it was local at a shop and if I have any issues or questions I can swing by there.

I only had a chance to hook the Slims to it once and mess around like I did with the Sub 37. I think I was having a little bit of issues with them working correctly but I am pretty sure some for one that I don't have all the same presets loaded on all the devices. Also I got to make sure something isn't/wasn't setup a little funky on one/all of them from the previous owners. I just haven't had the time to do so yet.

Great. Does the LP have the CV/gate mod? If it does and you link your LFO to the modwheel, you can sync/share the LFO.

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