Using a laptop computer in place of digital stompboxes

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Diamat
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Using a laptop computer in place of digital stompboxes

Post by Diamat » Tue Oct 02, 2018 7:45 am

Hello all,
I really like Eventide's iconic reverb, chorus, delay, modulation, pitch-shifting effects... I have their bundle plug-ins and I am thinking how to incorporate them to my live guitar rig. The obvious thing to do would be to buy these H9 boxes but I think, why on earth on 2018 not to use the laptop to replace the digital stompboxes? –and then reamped and straight to the amplifier.

I am not concerned at using a laptop because: it's introducing a lot of complexity that can go wrong, , foot controller to control the presets on the laptop, switching from one effect to another, activation key for vst's, looks ugly, whatsoever...

I am concerned with the fact that even with maximum computer horsepower, latency would still be a serious issue. I am concerned as well with the fact that the output of my soundcard (Motu Ultralite) even reamped with a proper box, could entail serious impedance/sound problems when entering the guitar amp (let's say an amp with a big clean headroom), I guess it could be even further problematic if I put a fuzz box between my guitar and the Hi-Imput of the audio interface.

Is this a serious feasible route? Any experiences?
Thanks!

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Re: Using a laptop computer in place of digital stompboxes

Post by kimson » Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:25 pm

I have never tried such a thing, but this device might help, at least with any impedance issues:

https://orangeamps.com/omec-teleport/
Last edited by kimson on Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Using a laptop computer in place of digital stompboxes

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Wed Oct 03, 2018 12:17 am

I've seen it done a few times and latency doesn't seem to be a problem. Obviously you can test this at home before going into a gig situation and, if there is a latency problem, either try to figure out if it can be solved, or shelve the idea.

As for sending the processed guitar signal to an amp, I'm not sure about that; I would think a line from your soundcard straight into the PA would be the 'natural' way to do it, but I guess that's not what you're asking.



Edit: looks like this issue has already been addressed by Orange (and probably others). ^^^

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Re: Using a laptop computer in place of digital stompboxes

Post by oid » Wed Oct 03, 2018 4:10 am

The soundcard will feed an amp fine, low impedance output to high impedance input, that is what we want, ideally destination is 10x the impedance of the source, in this case we are more like 100x, so it will not even break a sweat and there will be absolutely not frequency loss due to loading effects. I often stick an optical compressor (DOD280) with just a hint of compression between interface and amp, but this is mostly just to slow down the transients, some of the effects are just a tad too quick for my ear and that laggy optical compressor solves that.

I use my laptop for effects from time to time, I only have a 2.2gig atom processor, quad core and all but still just an atom, I have no issues with keeping latency low enough to not be an issue. I do run a very minimal linux system that only eats 60 megs of ram and almost no CPU, but most of the CPU intensive aspects of an OS are graphical and taken up by the GPU anyways. It can take some work to sort it all out and get the latency down, but once you have it figured out and setup, it stays that way.
Logic gates based on billiard-ball computer designs have also been made to operate using live soldier crabs of the species Mictyris guinotae in place of the billiard balls.

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Re: Using a laptop computer in place of digital stompboxes

Post by marqueemoon » Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:30 am

kimson wrote:
Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:25 pm
I have never tried such a thing, but this device might help, at least with any impedance issues:

https://orangeamps.com/omec-teleport/
I’ve watched a few demos and it seems pretty cool. I have mild GAS for this as it seems pretty cool for fooling around with/doing synth stuff.

Switching seems like the big obstacle if you want to replace multiple pedals with a laptop. Of course you can also do things you could never do with pedals.

I dunno. I largely enjoy playing guitar for the primitive instant gratification aspect. Dealing with anything complex gear-wise in a live situation makes me grumpy.

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Re: Using a laptop computer in place of digital stompboxes

Post by Diamat » Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:32 am

oid wrote:
Wed Oct 03, 2018 4:10 am
The soundcard will feed an amp fine, low impedance output to high impedance input, that is what we want, ideally destination is 10x the impedance of the source, in this case we are more like 100x, so it will not even break a sweat and there will be absolutely not frequency loss due to loading effects. I often stick an optical compressor (DOD280) with just a hint of compression between interface and amp, but this is mostly just to slow down the transients, some of the effects are just a tad too quick for my ear and that laggy optical compressor solves that.

I use my laptop for effects from time to time, I only have a 2.2gig atom processor, quad core and all but still just an atom, I have no issues with keeping latency low enough to not be an issue. I do run a very minimal linux system that only eats 60 megs of ram and almost no CPU, but most of the CPU intensive aspects of an OS are graphical and taken up by the GPU anyways. It can take some work to sort it all out and get the latency down, but once you have it figured out and setup, it stays that way.
Thank you very much for your insight. Are you suggesting that no reamp box is needed at ALL? Does not create any impedance mismatch? Since Pro-audio gear uses balanced connections, while guitar gear is unbalanced. Is not the connexion between the two systems directly creating a path for noisy ground currents to flow into the audio paths?

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Re: Using a laptop computer in place of digital stompboxes

Post by oid » Thu Oct 04, 2018 12:43 am

Diamat wrote:
Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:32 am
Thank you very much for your insight. Are you suggesting that no reamp box is needed at ALL? Does not create any impedance mismatch? Since Pro-audio gear uses balanced connections, while guitar gear is unbalanced. Is not the connexion between the two systems directly creating a path for noisy ground currents to flow into the audio paths?
The impedance mismatch is not an issue at these levels/impedances, the output of most stompboxes is about the same as the line outs on most interfaces, our stomboxes have no issues feeding an amp. Reamp boxes are for interfacing pro level balanced studio gear with the amp, complete overkill for a live setup, the benefits will be lost outside of a nice quite studio. Any of the decent home studio interface will be more than adequate, drive the amp perfectly well and will be as quiet if not quieter than the majority of pedal boards.

You may find you want something between the amp and interface for some tone shaping/gain control or the like, but you certainly do not need it. Best to just start playing around, experiment and figure out what you need to get your sound. If you have an interface already just use it to learn, if not something like one of the two in/two out offerings by Focusrite, Presonus, or Behringer would do to the job just fine and be excellent options for gigging with.
Logic gates based on billiard-ball computer designs have also been made to operate using live soldier crabs of the species Mictyris guinotae in place of the billiard balls.

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