FOMOfx - Virtual Jeff

Started by mbenigni, January 07, 2016, 09:46:03 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

mooncaine

Quote from: Elantric on February 01, 2016, 03:19:50 PM
the  FOMOfx  - Virtual Jeff i played at NAMM used a normal 3.5mm TRS cable that plugged into female jacks  at each end (one 3.5mm TRS female jack on the Whammy bar side ( with right angle 3.5mm TRS plug)
I'm so pleased to see that--literally. Thanks for the detailed photos. That's good news, and is a definite advantage to the design. It'll be great to be able to replace those cables easily, and to have some options. It's especially great that the unit doesn't have a hard-wired cable.

mooncaine

Vance, Alex: here's my best stab at an electronic whammy, before I tear it down again. I want to use this guitar at a Bowie tribute jam in a couple weeks and I'm thinking of tearing out the ribbon controller before then.

Next time, the ribbons must be laid on a completely flat, firm surface, and they must be held down perfectly flat. These ribbons are held down with duct tape around their edges. They tend to poof up like little plastic pillows after a while, and it won't work well when that happens. I'll have to work up a frame for them.

Of course, if Virtual Jeff is priced right, I would rather put one of those on this fine little maple guitar.

Elantric

#52

Elantric

#53
Got to play with Virtual Jeff at Thomas Nordegg's Sonica studio

It requires a standard Digitech Whammy pedal to perform the pitch bending - (we had mixed results with the Whammy DT )

QuoteUsing MIDI continuous control commands, the Digitech Whammy's expression pedal position can be remotely controlled. MIDI CC11 adjusts the expression pedal position. A value of 0 on MIDI CC11 corresponds to a toe up position and a value of 127 corresponds to a toe down position.


Virtual Jeff MIDI OUT Feeds Whammy pedal MIDI INPUT HERE:



The Virtual Jeff tremolo Arm  outputs DC Control voltage











Elantric

#54
It's starting to ship

This guy mentions it on one of his acoustics
https://m.facebook.com/kevinblakegoodwin/

mooncaine

I don't see the virtual jeff connection there.


Elantric

#56
QuoteI don't see the virtual jeff connection there.
http://www.kevinblakegoodwin.com/about-1

Kevin Blake Goodwin - is endorsed by:
Stonebridge / Furch Guitars (Baritone Guitar)
Vellone Guitars (7-string Acoustic Guitar)
Eastman Guitars (Hollow body Electric Guitar, 6-String Acoustic)
Strictly 7 Guitars (Electric Guitar and Bass)
DiMarzio (Black Angel Pickups)
K&K Sound (Trinity Pickups)
Radial Engineering (Pre-amps and Interfaces)
Fractal Audio (Guitar Processor and Amp Modeler)
Strymon (Effect Pedals)
Elixir (Strings)
Sunburst Gear / Elite Acoustics (Acoustic Amp)
Gruv Gear (cases)
George L (Cables)
Virtual Jeff (Acoustic Whammy Bar)
Tonewood Amp (Acoustic Multi-effect Processor)



Elantric



vtgearhead

Unless I missed something, there was nary a mention of the price for this gadget.  If I have to ask, can I afford it?

Elantric

#60
No idea what the Virtual Jeff MSRP price will be.


remember for the complete cost,  you must also add the cost of a Digitech Whammy pedal (required for Virtual Jeff operation)

alexmcginness

VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.

Elantric

#62
Quoteor have a VG-99

and spend time with programming and and MIDI message translator box ( BOMEBOX, EPP+, etc)

see earlier posts for the possible Virtual Jeff MIDI messages  - they were designed specifically for  the Digitech Whammy
QuoteUsing MIDI continuous control commands, the Digitech Whammy's expression pedal position can be remotely controlled. MIDI CC11 adjusts the expression pedal position. A value of 0 on MIDI CC11 corresponds to a toe up position and a value of 127 corresponds to a toe down position.

FWIW - last August I tried Virtual Jeff with a Digitech Whammy DT, and that did not work
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=16963.msg135672#msg135672



The Virtual Jeff tremolo Arm  outputs DC Control voltage

vanceg


mooncaine

I'm calling it vaporware till they respond to my so-called 'pre-order' and sell me one.

vanceg

Quote from: mooncaine on March 20, 2017, 11:06:33 PM
I'm calling it vaporware till they respond to my so-called 'pre-order' and sell me one.

Well, I was too, until I was able to actually order one this evening from Sam Ash. I suspect, since I haven't gotten any email back from the builders at FOMOfx, that the folks at Sam Ash just jumped the gun and don't actually have any in stock. We'll see, though... if I get a shipping confirmation tomorrow, that will be a big step forward.

Smash

#66
First thing that struck me watching the video is the arm doesn't fall naturally to where an experienced whammy bar user would expect. It appears too short to cradle while playing and also looks at almost 45 degrees to the body - personally it looks like I'd struggle to be fluid with it. Doesn't look to me like it was designed by a regular whammy user.

Interesting, if ridiculously price idea ($450!)

Elantric

#67
QuoteFirst thing that struck me watching the video is the arm doesn't fall naturally to where an experienced whammy bar user would expect. It appears too short to cradle while playing and also looks at almost 45 degrees to the body - personally it looks like I'd struggle to be fluid with it. Doesn't look to me like it was designed by a regular whammy user.

I've used Virtual Jeff - for a few hours too , agree  about the unnatural "feel" , it needs the resistance of a Stronger spring to be useful IMHO , but the battle is the rather large dead zone at rest,  requires a bit too much tremolo Arm travel deflection before pitch change occurs

And it relies on one version of the Digitech Whammy pedal in order to work. It will be a battle to make it work with other gear 
QuoteUsing MIDI continuous control commands, the Digitech Whammy's expression pedal position can be remotely controlled. MIDI CC11 adjusts the expression pedal position. A value of 0 on MIDI CC11 corresponds to a toe up position and a value of 127 corresponds to a toe down position.




The Virtual Jeff tremolo Arm  outputs DC Control voltage

vanceg

Quote from: Smash on March 21, 2017, 06:01:09 AM
First thing that struck me watching the video is the arm doesn't fall naturally to where an experienced whammy bar user would expect. It appears too short to cradle while playing and also looks at almost 45 degrees to the body - personally it looks like I'd struggle to be fluid with it. Doesn't look to me like it was designed by a regular whammy user.

Interesting, if ridiculously price idea ($450!)

Where the arm falls seems to be adjustable, and could be adjusted by the placement of the unit on the guitar, too. 
Personally, my (very brief) use of the Virtual Jeff at NAMM last year was that I thought the feel was fantastic.  I'm always looking for a tremolo system with less resistance - I like the feel of the old Kahler's as opposed to Floyd or Strats. 

The way I'm looking at it, the Virtual Jeff is a controller I can attach to my instrument which has a familiar interface. I plan to map the MIDI from the Virtual Jeff to control not only pitch shifting, but other parameters as well.  HOPEfully, I can get it working with the VG-99 and map it effectively to the Whammy control.  Bend will be interesting to control with it, as I suspect I can get some pedal steel type bends out of it. 

I don't even own a Digitech Whammy pedal... so I'll be trying to use the MIDI that the Virtual Jeff creates to control the VG-99.  I'll also experiment with using the CV ouptut from the bar unit itself, bypassing the CV to MIDI conversion that the Virtual Jeff does, and trying to use that CV with my existing CV to MIDI converters.

admin

QuoteI plan to map the MIDI from the Virtual Jeff to control not only pitch shifting, but other parameters as well.

To pull that off,  Plan on adding one of these to remap the Virtual Jeff MIDI data into something useful on the VG-99 


BOMEBOX
https://www.bome.com/products/bomebox


EPP+
http://www.midisolutions.com/prodepp.htm

admin

#70
QuoteI'll also experiment with using the CV ouptut from the bar unit itself,

My brief tests revealed :



the Virtual Jeff Guitar mounted box ( with tremolo Arm) is a "smart" box - the small TRS connector between this box








The Virtual Jeff tremolo Arm  outputs DC Control voltage


vanceg

While I do use Bome, I'm hoping to not have to use it for this project...though I may need to.  If at all possible, I'm going to use my own CV to MIDI conversion and skip the floor unit that comes with the Virtual Jeff.   But I'll try first using the standard MIDI output that comes out of the floor unit.



Quote from: admsustainiac on March 21, 2017, 12:54:14 PM
To pull that off,  Plan on adding one of these to remap the Virtual Jeff MIDI data into something useful on the VG-99 


BOMEBOX
https://www.bome.com/products/bomebox


EPP+
http://www.midisolutions.com/prodepp.htm

vanceg

Interesting.  That's not what I found.  Looked like a straight power/ground/wiper and a 20k pot. But I'll keep this in mind when i get the unit.

Elantric

#73
My tests were last summer  - but already the small TRS cable connection between the guitar mounted "Arm" and the floor unit was very intermittent and used a small 3.5mm TRS cable right angle plug that had already failed on my unit under review.



The Virtual Jeff tremolo Arm  outputs DC Control voltage


Its ability to be "suitable for live gigs" remains questionable IMHO.

All known  Virtual Jeff  instructions are here







vanceg

Thanks Y'all.  It looks like Sam Ash really is shipping me a unit this week.  Unfortunately, it will arrive the day I leave for tour.  Fortunately, the tour is over after we play Coachella so I can start looking at this in late April/early May.
With luck I can get the unit to work as is with the VG-99.  I suspect I'll have to do some MIDI wrangling.  I'll also test and see if I can figure out what the signal that comes out of the guitar mounted unit is.  When we were talking to the folks from FoMo at NAMM 2 years ago, it sounded likely that we could use this signal directly.