Rack System for Guitarist Bruce Howell of the band DVDA, better known as the score music on South Park.
Given the constantly changing demands of the producers for the show's musical score, the rig has to be flexible in it's routings, and allow for super fast access to different sounds. The signal flow is a basic "4 Wire" config with Wah, OD's & Comps before the pre-amp and & "Wet" effects on the effects loop of the amp.
To increase the flexibility of signal in this rig, we inserted a 16 In x 16 Out audio matrix in both sections of the 4 Wire. This allows for infinite combinations of OD stacking and parallels and varied use of the Compressors as limiters or sustainers. In the Wet stage of the rig the matrix allows for infinite routing combinations of Pitch, Reverb, Delay & Modulation effects in Stereo.
The Fractal Audio Axe FX II's native 4 Wire configurability gave us the ability to insert the "Front" half into the Matrix before the pre-amp and the "Back" half into the Matrix inserted on the Amp's effects loop. The PowerAmp & Cabinet sims are disabled. Virtual Stomp boxes before the pre-amp and Virtual Outboard processing for the loop along with a Looper as the last block in line.
With the dynamic routing of the SwitchBlades we are also able to use the Axe FX II for Virtual Pre-Amps to be the tone stack that drives the post effects and ultimately returns to the Amp's effects loop to use the Power Amp & Cabinet. This allows the user to access 100's of pre-amp voicings in seconds without repatching the rig.
The RJM Music MasterMind GT-22 MIDI Controller's multiple pages allowed us to create 5 pages of Instant Access Switches to every single Effect Device, Channel Switch, Rotary Speed & Brake, Kill Dry & Kill Wet, Axe FX Blocks & Favorite Presets in the Effect Devices.
The MasterMind GT's ability to add Expression Pedals to Switching Groups allowed us to assign a Expression Pedal to a Pitch Block & Phaser Block in the Axe FX for Instant Access to a +2 Octave Whammy + UniVibe respectively.
The Radial JX44 Input Switcher is routed through a Steel Guitar Black Box into the "Dry" SwitchBlade GL. Patched to the Ins & Outs of the Matrix are; Ibanez TS9, Xotic EP Booster, Xotic SP Comp, Origin Effects Cali 76 Comp (18 Volt), Fulltone Clyde Wah, DBX 463X Noise Gate, Klon Centaur, Fulltone OCD (variable 13-18 Volt), Pigtronix Disnortion, AnalogMan King Of Tone, Axe FX Input 1 & Output 2, Radial JX44 Amp Distribution to Amp Inputs.
The King of Tone was rehoused in the process of adding remote switching relays to put both "sides" of the pedal under MIDI control. The Pigtronix Disnortion has also had remote switching functionality added to it.
The "Dry" SwitchBlade has a 2nd SwitchBlade GL 16x16 Audio Matrix slaved to it. Patched to the 2nd Matrix are a Neo Instruments Ventilator, Strymon Flint, Strymon TimeLine, Strymon Mobius, Eventide H3000, Lexicon PCM70 and the Axe FX's Input 2 & Output 1. The Matrix also has 3 outputs that can be assigned to a "Wet/Dry/Wet" set of amps in parallel to the existing amp set up.
The Pigtronix Disnortion & AnalogMan King Of Tone were modified by Nice Rack Canada to accept remote switching over different "sections" of each pedal. The remote switching is performed by the RJM Music Amp Gizmo.
A Mark of The Unicorn MIDI XT handles MIDI routings to and from all MIDI capable devices in the system as well as provides USB connectivity to the Acer micro laptop in the top drawer. The laptop provides librarian services for all devices presets and for external programming of the MasterMind GT, Axe FX II & SwitchBlade GL's.
All pedals powered by Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+, Pedal Power Digital, Pedal Power Iso 5.
System Design & Build by Nice Rack Canada.
