|
Sometimes you say a certain four letter
word to a guitar player and they run
screaming. No, not a vulgarity—I’m talking
about MIDI! Other guitarists claim to
be “old school” and insist they have no
need for MIDI; all they need is their Les
Paul and their Marshall. Oh, and their
wah pedal… and that Uni-Vibe pedal,
and… next thing you know, they’re keeping
it truly “old school” by tap dancing
all over their pedals like a rock version of
Riverdance! It’s those guitarists that could
use a little MIDI in their lives. They need a
device that will combine multiple foot taps
for different effects into just one foot tap,
thus saving time, and stage space, too.
RJM Music Technology is introducing
a MIDI foot controller called the
Mastermind. It is designed to work in conjunction
with all of RJM’s products, such as
the Amp Gizmo, the RG-16 Audio/Function
Switcher and their new products as well:
the Mini-Amp Gizmo and the Effects
Gizmo. The Amp Gizmo allows you to control
all of the footswitchable features of an
amp, while the Effects Gizmo can control
up to 12 effect pedals, all with a MIDI controller.
The RG-16 allows the guitarist to
control effect pedals, rack gear, amp functions
and other electronic devices from a
single MIDI footswitch. Although all of the
RJM products work well with any other
MIDI foot controller, RJM now has a MIDI
controller they can call its own.
The Mastermind is powerful, compact and
durable enough for the touring guitarist.
It contains 125 presets, transmits up to
four Program Change messages and eight
Controller messages per preset, and can
control up to fourteen MIDI devices on
separate MIDI channels. It has an expression
pedal input, phantom power capability
and a remote in-jack to allow the
synchronized use of multiple MasterMind
controllers.
For this review, we’ll be looking at how the
Mastermind works with the RG-16
unit. The MasterMind makes programming
the RG-16 simpler, faster and a no-hassle
process. To program the RG-16 with other
MIDI foot controllers can be a mindboggling
process. For presets, you would
have to go into the controller’s edit mode,
select an empty bank and preset, and designate
a program number that corresponds
with the RG-16 preset number, before even
designating what the preset number is
going to be. For instant access switching,
you would have to go to the designated
instant access button on the controller
and assign the controller number that corresponds
to one of the eight audio loop or
eight function switches. Oh, you also have
to refer to the MIDI Implementation Chart
in the manual to figure out what the controller
number is. Way too many programming
steps for me!
When using the Mastermind with the
RG-16, it’s literally a “plug and play”
operation. I created audio loops with a
few effect pedals into the RG-16, and then
started planning out what kinds of presets
I wanted. For the first preset, I wanted my
distortion pedal with my analogue filter
pedal, and a bit of delay. On the second
preset, I wanted a clean sound with a
chorus pedal, and so on. I began programming
my first preset. On the RG-16, my
distortion pedal was on Audio Loop 1,
my analogue filter was on Audio Loop 3,
and delay on Audio Loop 4. First, I simply
pressed button 1 on the Mastermind
controller to designate that preset. On
the RG-16, I selected Audio Loop buttons
1, 3 and 4 and pressed “Write”—that’s it!
I was then able to turn on my distortion,
analogue filter, and delay all with one footswitch.
I continued to program ten different
presets of all kinds of effect combinations
in under five minutes. The Mastermind also
includes an “Alternate Presets” feature,
allowing you to call up a slightly different
sound (adding chorus to a clean tone, for
instance) for every preset. I can imagine the
possibilities if I’d spent more time planning
out a more detailed setup, incorporating
rack gear, amp channel switching and other
MIDI devices. I could probably even program
this thing to start my coffee maker in
the morning via MIDI.
Both amateur and professional players will
appreciate the Mastermind, since it can
handle simple rigs as well as more complex
setups. It allows instant switching of pedals,
rack effects, amps and more with a single
press of a button. Since it’s so easy to setup
and operate, MIDI-phobes will be running to
the MasterMind, instead of away from it!
Buy if...
You want to put together
a high quality guitar rig that’s
easy to control.
Skip if...
You really want to show off your tap
dancing skills on stage.
Rating...
