ToneDexter test drive - demo

Doug Young · #1 10-16-2017, 10:18 AM

I put together a little demo of the ToneDexter over the weekend, showing how it's working for me with the Trance pickup.

leew3 · #2 10-16-2017, 10:45 AM

Doug,
A great demo as always (which might be a good addition to the next edition of your Acoustic Amplification Essentials btw). Thanks so much for taking the time to once again give us a realistic and objective demonstration of an important piece of gear.

Since no good deed goes unpunished, of course I have a question for you.

Am I understanding the Tonedexter properly if I assume I could have it 'learn' different instruments and then store those 'learned' presets for use live? I'm hoping I could use it with the three instruments I tend to use live (a 6 string and a 12 string guitar and a mandolin-all of which have pickups in them)?

ManyMartinMan · #3 10-16-2017, 10:56 AM

Great job with the demonstration. Thanks for taking the time to share it. Once trained, can you blend the two sounds (pickup and "trained") or is it either one or the other?

Doug Young · #4 10-16-2017, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ManyMartinMan

Great job with the demonstration. Thanks for taking the time to share it. Once trained, can you blend the two sounds (pickup and "trained") or is it either one or the other?

No, but there is a "character" control that I didn't get into here. I had it on "full" which is like a 100% blend of the processed sound. You can turn that down to get a tighter sound that's closer to the raw pickup. It's not really a blend, the ToneDexter guys would do better at explaining it. I'm finding that for listening direct like this is, 100% is good. When playing thru an amp or PA, I sometimes prefer less "character". I also didn't play with the tone controls here, which can go a long way to tweak the sound.

ManyMartinMan · #5 10-16-2017, 11:07 AM

Thanks again Doug.

Fran Guidry · #6 10-16-2017, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leew3

Doug,
A great demo as always (which might be a good addition to the next edition of your Acoustic Amplification Essentials btw). Thanks so much for taking the time to once again give us a realistic and objective demonstration of an important piece of gear.

Since no good deed goes unpunished, of course I have a question for you.

Am I understanding the Tonedexter properly if I assume I could have it 'learn' different instruments and then store those 'learned' presets for use live? I'm hoping I could use it with the three instruments I tend to use live (a 6 string and a 12 string guitar and a mandolin-all of which have pickups in them)?

In order to use the different wavemaps you created during the learning process you would select their storage locations when you change instruments. There are slots for 22 wavemaps.

Fran

Doug Young · #7 10-16-2017, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leew3

Doug,
A great demo as always (which might be a good addition to the next edition of your Acoustic Amplification Essentials btw). Thanks so much for taking the time to once again give us a realistic and objective demonstration of an important piece of gear.

Since no good deed goes unpunished, of course I have a question for you.

Am I understanding the Tonedexter properly if I assume I could have it 'learn' different instruments and then store those 'learned' presets for use live? I'm hoping I could use it with the three instruments I tend to use live (a 6 string and a 12 string guitar and a mandolin-all of which have pickups in them)?

yes, there are a bunch of slots, so you could save models for different instruments or different mics, or whatever. Some guitars might just sound fine thru the same models, you'd have to try and see, but ideally, you capture each guitar with it's own trained model. I haven't gotten organized enough yet, I keep playing with training different guitars and overwriting things, but eventually, I'll have a bank of saved sounds with a model (or 2) for each of the guitar/pickups I might use. I've trained several different types of pickups as well as my mini-12 string (almost mandolin-like), so it should work on anything.

MrErikJ · #8 10-16-2017, 11:57 AM

Great demonstration, Doug! I think we've all been really curious about the Tonedexter and it seems to be a rather impressive device that will make a big improvement for many players live sounds. For me, it seems like it might be too much trouble to train it with my LB6 equipped guitars, but those without mixed phase piezo crystals stand to gain a great deal with it.

Thanks for all your efforts to provide scientific demonstrations of electronics to we acoustic players. There's more product available than decent demos and your site has become the best resource for actually hearing & judging acoustic pickups.

Doug Young · #9 10-16-2017, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrErikJ

. For me, it seems like it might be too much trouble to train it with my LB6 equipped guitars, but those without mixed phase piezo crystals stand to gain a great deal with it.

I've trained my Barbera, with has every other string out of phase. With that, all you have to do is play only alternate strings. With your LB6, you'd just need to skip the B string (If I recall correctly?) so no strumming. But you can play anything to train, even just single notes. Or take off the B string while you train, maybe? Shouldn't be a problem, and I know James did some demos with the LB6 specifically.

leew3 · #10 10-16-2017, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug Young

yes, there are a bunch of slots, so you could save models for different instruments or different mics, or whatever. Some guitars might just sound fine thru the same models, you'd have to try and see, but ideally, you capture each guitar with it's own trained model. I haven't gotten organized enough yet, I keep playing with training different guitars and overwriting things, but eventually, I'll have a bank of saved sounds with a model (or 2) for each of the guitar/pickups I might use. I've trained several different types of pickups as well as my mini-12 string (almost mandolin-like), so it should work on anything.

Thanks Doug-looks like I need a Tone Dexter and then enough new guitars to fill up all the available slots

Petty1818 · #11 10-16-2017, 12:40 PM

This could not have been better timing! I am currently about to order the Tonedexter to use with my Amulet M. Your demo really shows how the Tonedexter not only makes the pickup sound like a microphone, but that it also adds warmth and body to the Amulet, which I found to be slightly thin. Thanks again Doug.

guitaniac · #12 10-16-2017, 01:23 PM

Thanks for the superb demo, Doug.

Were you using the training slot (I forgot which one it is) which is reserved for creating WaveMaps which are meant more for recording than live sound (since the resulting WaveMap doesn't incorporate a small reduction of gain at the guitar's most feedback-prone resonant frequencies).

I know that I'm getting into the "weeds" here, but I'm curious as to whether you're using a live sound WaveMap or a recording WaveMap. It sounds gorgeous, whichever.

Doug Young · #13 10-16-2017, 01:45 PM

Yeah, I skipped some details to keep the length down. This is using the slot 22, which is optimized for recording, which seemed the best match for how I was demoing this - direct input into the recorder.

For live use, you probably want to train in a different slot, and then of course you'll be playing thru an amp, but I didn't want to go thru micing an amp/PA for this demo. I think you have to experiment a bit with ToneDexter, your amp/PA/pickup, different character settings and so on, to see what works for your live setup.

Even when using the "live" wavemap slots, I have generally preferred lower character settings when playing thru a sound system, so a little ToneDexter can go a long way :-)

Groberts · #14 10-16-2017, 01:54 PM

Wow! Awesome demo!

Does it have 1/4" mono output in addition to XLR? Great demo comparing the PU sound to the Tonedexter sound.

Now that I I know it has EQ, mute, Notch filter and boost ...it could replace my Fishman Plat Pro EQ easily. Color me VERY interested. :-)

Now ...Is there a setting to install Doug Youngs talent so I can play as beautifully as Doug? What a gifted musician you are sir!!

Doug Young · #15 10-16-2017, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Groberts

Wow! Awesome demo!

Does it have 1/4" mono output in addition to XLR? Great demo comparing the PU sound to the Tonedexter sound.

Thanks, glad you liked it. Yes, it has 1/4 unbalanced out, so you can choose between the two or use both - 1/4 inch to an amp, for example, and the XLR to a PA. I didn't record the 1/4 out in this case but it should sound the same as the XLR, I think.