Well, it's been three weeks since I wired this board, and I managed not to gut it yet. Sure, I was considering changes; new pedals constantly tease us. But somehow, I believe I have a golden ratio in gear.
A few things are annoying me, like no Nixie support for the Volante; it wasn't a massive issue back in the days (like four weeks ago) when I was using three presets with a Multiswitch, but now, when I want to create a new preset and tune it to a new programme triggered by a MIDI switcher, it's a hell of a ball ache with no PC software. Strymon stated that the new Nixie 2 will support Volante, and they treat it as a matter of priority, but Volante has been out there for four years, and I doubt it will be anytime soon. I have breathly considered buying a second H90 in replacing Volante with it, like having one H90 the way it's now in a dual mode with one side sorting out all pre-amp stuff and the side B in an insert loop of the second H90 working in Insert Mode (three algo's at once, baby!), but there is a problem. @
László will mess me up for this, but I'm not a fan of Eventide delays that much. They are not entirely bad; the Bouquet algo is phenomenal. It took me no time to set pure honey with it, but I can't make the Head Space to work. The first issue is the noise floor. I'm debating with Eventide about how noisy it is, and nothing works to lower the white noise level. The tone and behaviour are not in pair with Volante tonewise and setupwise. I'm still happy about going with H90. The pitch shifters alone (analogue and polyphonic octaves are a big part of what I do with a guitar) are next level to anything else I ever tried, and I tried it all. The reverbs are otherworldly. I'm using SP2016 on almost everything but won't go with a second £1k unit. I won't be able to dial it in with delays I got used to use.
I'm starting to like the MC6 Pro more and more every day. It's a way different MIDI controller from anything I ever had before (BOSS ES5/ES8, RJM); it's so advanced, powerful, and user-friendly. I'm taking advantage of activating presets with press/double-tap/long-press, so I can have three different ways of recalling presets or forwarding them to a different bank.
One problem I had was the upper deck wiring; I have been bypassing one of the pedals every time I was closing the deck, as the cable run was stacked on top of each other, creating very little headroom between the upper deck and the pedals in the inner deck. Crazy, right? That has been corrected. I had to run a second rail of cable ties to keep things flat, but it worked and looked much cleaner. So yeah, it's only three weeks, but it's a huge step forward for me, sticking to what I have.
There's one change coming, though. I'm still unsure exactly how to pull it, but I want to add two outs to the pedalboard to plug in an external Expression pedal with a function switch. I have a general idea and have already ordered parts, but the bench reality will verify that. So, a new update soon.