Finally Started Messing With New Toy

[ProfessorGAC]

Almost a year ago, I got a DigiTech Trio. Used, but still in the box. I'm fairly certain the first owner barely used it.
Finally, I start checking it out.
I picked a song with only an "A" part. (As in most blues tunes). However, any song without a separate bridge will work.
I play the chords, simply, and included a walk down chord to chord.
After 16 measures, I push button again, and the "learning" is complete.
Press button again and voilà! Bass & drums. Separate output into a Fender Bassman 400.
I passed through the variations and found a perfect one. (There are 12 for each genre)
Not only does the bass do the walk down perfectly, but the drum fills aren't all the same. It changes break to break, verse to verse. It's better than playing to a drum machine.
I paid $79 for this thing. It's awesome!
Took me 15 seconds to teach it the song, and I played to it for 15 minutes.
It stores 3 songs.
Unfortunately, there's no outboard storage capability and teaching it a more complicated song is harder, but this thing is killer.
I'm going to mess with recording on my 16 track and do multiple guitar parts & keyboards for the winter.
I should have been ambitious enough to start messing with this months ago!

[LunaSea]

1. I was looking at those a while back

I was not convinced it would do much more than I can achieve with Garageband.
Does sound like it has a shallower learning curve.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. I Didn't Read The Instructions

I looked at the diagram to be sure which was the guitar input.
I was playing guitar to drums & bass 2 minutes after I plugged in the power supply.
I really like the fact that the drums vary slightly through the cycle, including the fills, then the next time around the there are subtle differences.
It's so NOT machinelike.
And, there's this cool "Alt Tempo" button. Maintains the tempo in actuality, but doubles the feel of the beat. And if you hit it during a cycle, it waits until the 1-1 to change. Do that for 2 cycles, and turn it off during the 2nd cycle and it changes back on the 1-1. Two presses of a button and I got 32 bars of a totally different feel, but off the same bass riff.
Really fun.
And, the audio quality is great. The samples are at least 16 bit 48k. If not better.

[LunaSea]

3. Not machinelike

That's what the newer version of GBs playalong drummer surprised me with.
Real sampled drums and a couple of neat sliders to control softness and vary the fills.

Sound like I may need to get my hands on one of those.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Best Part

It's the size of an ordinary stomp box.
Same length, 1/4" wider than my Boss Chorus. Would fit into one of the slots in my pedalboard.
Glad I got it, especially for under half price!

[LunaSea]

5. Still a problem for me

My oversized 36x20 board is overfull already. But who can resist a cool box at half price?
I love my vintage chrome Morleys (Power/vol/wah and stereo pan) but they do take up a lot of room.
I am ready to trade my Loop station (early version) for a newer multi loop version.
Where can I find one at half price?

[ProfessorGAC]

6. I Found Mine At GC On-Line

Came from a store in North Carolina.
I've had other wah pedals, but I'm nuts about my Screaming Demon!
It's a Korg product (I think). Very solid build and smooth action.
But, my favorite part is this: there are 2 modes. One locks the effect that can be turned on/off with a separate footswitch. The other mode (the one I use) is the wah effect kicks on as soon as you touch the pedal. Use the wah, take your foot off the pedal, and regular sound! And, it's instant, both on & off.
The control of Q and depth are superb.
I'd never use anything else.
Other effects? Pretty limited. I've got a chorus, an acoustic simulator (which doesn't do that, but I use it to get a super thin, glassy tone. Think the guy from The Fixx), a digital echo (sparingly used), & a pitch shifter.
I do have the amp looped to a digital reverb/delay. I set the delay to a soft slapjack that is timed the same as the first reflection on the reverb.
I also have a Vox Saturator. Fantastically smooth distortion unit. I bought it so I could go to jam nights and get my tone, through any amp set clean.
Oh, and I use a volume pedal. Of course, I'll use it for swells but that not my main thing.
I hear a nice difference in tone between turning down the volume on the guitar, and leaving that full but pedaling down.
Two different tones for rhythm, both crunchy & big.
I've got a rack mounted tuner with a kill switch. But, I don't count that as a pedal. It's a momentary switch. Step on it, no signal. Tune an offending string, pick up foot! Back to rockin'.

[LunaSea]

7. Yeah, bought several items

through GCs used stuff catalog, best part of that chain in my opinion.
Nice to see that Sweetwater has one of their own now too, though I've acquired more instruments through Reverb, Ebay and Craigslist.

I'm bookmarking this thread to post more when I'm less bummed about current events.