Custom DMC-3 controlling the Strymon Timeline

Here’s how I have mine …

Press button 1 to send A (activate/deactivate)
Hold button 1 for 1 sec. to perform bank down, scrolls bank at 500ms interval

Press button 2 to send B (activate/deactivate)
Hold button 2 for 1 sec. to perform bank up, scrolls bank at 500ms interval

Press 3 to send CC 93 (remote tap)
LED 3 lights green while waiting for a second tap
LED 3 flashes blue in time with last two taps

— Button Layout —
Button 1 (left)
Button 2 (right)
Button 3 (middle/top)

It’s working great right now and it really makes banking up/down much easier in a live situation. Matt Farrow has been good at supporting and tweaking the custom code for me. If you are in the market for a MIDI controller, consider looking at his products!

• Just came back from a weekend away in Boston with my wife to celebrate our 7th year anniversary. It’s our first time away from the kids. It was fun, although, there were a couple of times when we thought that it could have been fun if they were there. Then we’ll do something that we wouldn’t be able to do if we had the kids with us!
  
  

  Checking out the menu at Union Oyster House

• My wife gave me a Vox Tonelab ST. It sounds great for practicing at home using headphones. I have yet to try it out live through a PA or an amp. It has a 12AX7 tube in it so it’s only natural that I geek out and try to change it right away! And I did
  
  

  Vox Tonelab ST

• Got a 1×12 Lopo cab (front-loading/closed-back) for the Maz Jr. and put my old V30 in it. It was a bit boxy so I had to swap the EP-Booster with the Empress Para EQ to tame it a bit for now
  
  

  A similar looking Lopo cab

• An updated pedalboard … for now
  
  

  Pedalboard as of October 2011

• Looking forward to meeting up with my friend next month to watch Eagles/Jets game at Philadelphia. This is slowly becoming a tradition. Every 2 years we will meet up to catch a football game. Thanks to my wife for making it happen as she buys the tickets for us as a birthday gift for me & Dave … I love my awesome wife!
  
  

  I want to see more of this!

Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

– Luke 17:11-19 (New International Version)

Are we going to be like the lone Samaritan who came back to thank God or are we going to be one of the nine?

This short video shows how to control the Timeline with Logic Express. Although this video only shows Control Changes, it can easily do Program Changes and Note ON info for the looping capabilities. Timeline can also accept MIDI clock information but only works if the channel is set to “9″.

MIDI Event List

Not bad … but can definitely be better. The lack of specific CC for Bank UP/DOWN, Activate/Bypass presets A/B makes it more tedious to program this thing. One problem I had for example is that by mistake, I have sent a continuous CC for press-down on preset A. It went to the infinite repeats mode, which is cool if done at the right instance. But if it happens in a middle of a song, well, good luck

I think the MIDI implementation is half-baked on this device compared to other devices much older than this. For example, my old Yamaha DG-Stomp and even Behringer VAMP-2 are more robust and flexible than the Timeline as far as MIDI-capability is concerned. Of course, IMHO!

P.S.
Maybe I can do a video of the Timeline being controlled live while playing with a backing track later on … maybe

Eureka Autumn Wind 2xD

Everything was going great until my son asked me: “Daddy, why is our tent so small”?

And looking around, I noticed that all the other tents were just huge! Even a 6-footer can stand inside and not hit his head on the ceiling. For the first time in years, I felt that my tent was getting smaller and smaller.

This year, we are again joining our friends for camping. And thanks to Gabby for reminding me (constantly), I finally gave in and bought a bigger tent … a new Coleman 5-person dome tent!

Coleman Sundome 10 x 8

Why a 5-person tent? I don’t really know … all I know is that Gabby will and should not be complaining anymore because it is BIG and spacious!

I’m still looking forward to going interior backpacking again in the future (if schedule align with friends) … Yes, I’m calling out to my hiking buddies. Let’s go!

for Bank Down, send:
CC# 80, value 0 //A Switch DOWN
CC# 82, value 0 //B Switch DOWN
CC# 80, value 127 //A Switch UP
CC# 82, value 127 //B Switch UP

for Bank UP, send:
CC# 82, value 0 //B Switch DOWN
CC# 81, value 0 //Tap Switch DOWN
CC# 82, value 127 //B Switch UP
CC# 81, value 127 //Tap Switch UP

So instead, I tried the settings for turning A/B on and off with 2 CCs. This works great! Again, this is not in the manual (yet) …

for switch A, send:
CC# 80, value 0 //A Switch DOWN
CC# 80, value 127 //A Switch UP

for switch B, send:
CC# 82, value 0 //A Switch DOWN
CC# 82, value 127 //A Switch UP

I spent most of the time testing out the looper functionality. It works great and seamless! And finally, the settings are in the manual but was only included after the first revision. Hey Strymon, why are you hiding these settings from your users! DOH!!!

Anyway, I got lost in playing with the looper and here’s a couple that I managed to record. Not live looping, just recorded directly from the unit by pressing “Play” after all the overdubs. I’m still getting used to cutting in and out so there’s a bit of glitch in the loop.

These are played thru a standard Tele straight into Timeline then directly to Tascam DR2D.

and

There you go!

Strymon Timeline

So now, after a few hours at home and a few songs live, I can say that it is a very good delay pedal. But is worth the $450 for what I need?

The GOOD

• Sounds very very good … amazingly good!
• Lots of delay options. 12 modes in total to choose from
• MIDI-enabled program changes and other cool controls
• Looper works great, gets a little getting used to cutting in out of the loop
• Soft switch on the tap-tempo … FINALLY!
• Firmware can be updated via MIDI SYSEX. I hope this will come in handy in the future (see below)

The BAD (of course, IMHO)

• No global tempo option. It makes it difficult to switch between presets during the song while playing live. Some people think this is not necessary, but I am not them
• Delay range is not the same on the different delay modes. I just don’t get this and why it’s not possible to make them all the same
• Soft switches on the A or B presets. I can’t see the light while pressing these switches so I don’t know if the unit engaged or not. But maybe this is related to the next one …
• User interface is not user-friendly for live use. Changing banks using 2 footswithces? Really?!
• Some looper functions like reverse & half-speed are only accessible via MIDI

The VERDICT
Like I said, it sounds great. But after using it, I can see myself using 4 or 5 different modes and maybe only a handful of presets to give what I need. The looper is great for practicing or just doing some fun with ambient looping … what a pleasant addition to the unit. It did, however, reminded me why I gotten rid of the Brig & El Cap. So much options and sounds great but the user-interface is lacking.

So is it worth it? For me, time will tell. It really all depends on when Strymon releases a firmware update and what would be included in the update. I will keep it for now until some of these quirks become so annoying

Please take this quick review with a grain of salt, in fact, make it lots of salt. Your needs might be different than mine …

or maybe you think that $450 is ok to overlook some of the unit’s faults

And If Our God Is For Us

And If Our God Is For Us Deluxe

All I can say is … FAIL!

“back burner – a state of inaction or suspension; a position of relatively little importance” – New Oxford American Dictionary

I’ve often times put God in the back burner, so to speak. I find myself placing a lot of other things in front of God. Let’s see here … work, TV, guitar, browsing the net and yes, I would even use my family as an excuse for not being able to spend time praying and meditating on the Word of God. Don’t get me wrong, some things are important than others. But let’s be honest, is there any thing in this world worth more than God?

I thought so, too …

I am so weak, I succumb to my greed
Things I don’t need, yet I cannot resist
Metallic gray, “make that two, please”, I say
Incoming now, they will get here somehow!

And what shaped the inspiration …

Empress Parametric EQ

And to double the fun!

Diamond Memory Lane Jr

Kudos to these 2 Canadian companies for making great pedals and inspiring me to spend my hard-earned money on their products instead of something more meaningful like [insert something meaningful here] …