Rjm Mastermind Midi Foot Controller Firmware Update
If you lot’ve got a multi-channel amp (or multiple amps), a variety of effects (pedals and/or rack gear), audio loopers, and such, at that place comes a fourth dimension when you’re ready to move past the pedal tap trip the light fantastic and control everything with instantaneous, unmarried-push simplicity. That’s where MIDI foot controllers come into play, and at that place is no human foot controller more powerful or easier to use than the RJM Mastermind GT.
Having used MIDI pes controllers from the virtually bones to the almost elaborate, nosotros have plenty of praise to bequeath upon the Mastermind GT. It sets a new benchmark for ease of use in this category, which is straight tied to how easily you lot can configure information technology to control your gear. The Mastermind GT’s combination of 23 LCD displays and a calculator-based software editor ensure that even the well-nigh complex guitar rigs tin be operated with ease, and equally important, setup/configuration of your rig is easier than ever. Gone are the days of complex foot controller programming.
Whether you’ve got the behemoth GT/22 (reviewed) or its more meaty siblings (there are 16- and x-push button versions), if yous like the idea of piece of cake configuration and customizable displays associated with every footswitch—because whatsoever push button tin can be configured to practise whatsoever you lot’d like, then this is one big box you’re going to love stepping on.
Features
The focus of this review is on the Mastermind GT/22, the largest MIDI foot controller in the family unit. The sixteen-button GT/16 and ten-button GT/x are nearly identical, with extremely minor differences.
The showtime thing y’all’re sure to notice near the Mastermind GT is the size: at 19.4” ten 8.1” x 3.25”, the foot controller is pretty substantial in size (and housed in a metal case), but this also allows for comfortable spacing of the Carling manner footswitches. Photos are somewhat misleading—there are three inches of space between footswitches. And as y’all may have surmised, there are 22 buttons on the GT/22.
While many foot controllers designate specific human foot switches for tasks such as selecting presets, toggling functions on your amps or effects via CC messages, setting tap tempo, or selecting banks of sounds, the heaven is the limit with the Mastermind GT. Y’all can assign function you need to whatsoever footswitch, and the individual displays associated with each footswitch let you change your switch labeling instantly, with assignable colors and customizable text. The Mastermind GT provides a completely masking tape- and Sharpie pen-costless experience!
We used to become excited talking almost all of the different MIDI programme change (PC) and continuous controller (CC) messages that could exist sent from a single push button press, only information technology seems almost footling to reduce the Mastermind GT to such a conversation. For those who demand to know, up to twenty MIDI instructions of any type can be sent from a unmarried push button press: programme changes, continuous controller messages, tap tempo, bank select, MIDI notes, etc.
When it’s time to add some expression to your performance, have no stage fright. The Mastermind GT has jacks to connect up to four expression pedals, with typical use beingness: MIDI controlled volume, delay/effect time manipulation, wah, and so on. There are ii external switch jacks, likewise. These tin can function just similar the built-in footswitches minus the display. Many players like to utilise these for things similar connecting an external switching pedal for inputting Tap Tempo instead of dedicating one of the footswitches on their MIDI foot controller.
There are two pedal power jacks, too! They are rated for 9V DC, upward to 100mA total. These won’t replace your pedalboard’s dedicated power supply, only for a tuner or compact pedal, it’s handy to have these effectually in a pinch.
Nearly users volition ability the MasterMind GT over phantom power. If you lot’re using RJM switching products like the Rack Gizmo, Effects Gizmo, etc., the included six-pin XLR cable is all it takes for power and connectivity. [Information technology should exist noted that merely the
GT/22 offers the custom RJM XLR interface.] If you’re using other rack solutions, the Mastermind GT also works via vii-pin DIN MIDI. And finally, if y’all’re slumming it onetime school, you can apply a standard 5-pin DIN MIDI cable, but you’ll likewise have to connect the supplied external power supply. Big rig users can daisy chain a couple of Mastermind GTs in case you need to accept one somewhere else across the stage or tucked away with your guitar tech.
About those numerous displays: The Mastermind GT enables you to label each footswitch whatsoever mode that yous want, and you can set custom colors for each button. Yous might colour code the buttons co-ordinate to the color scheme of your favorite effect pedals, by pedal function, or just by whatever looks the most menacing on stage (that would probably exist black lettering on a red background). The large display in the eye of the pes controller is used for displaying the names of your patches or vocal titles in large letters, and if you pair the human foot controller with the right rack gear (Yard-Major 2, Axe FX, for example), those devices tin can pass through their built-in tuners to a tuner display on the screen, so you lot don’t even demand to look back at your rack when tuning upward.
USB type A and B ports are provided, one for storage of settings to a pollex drive, and one for connectivity to your estimator.
Reckoner connectivity is part of what makes the Mastermind GT shine: elementary configuration and patch management for your rig! The downloadable (complimentary) software editor is part of what makes this such a powerful yet easy-to-utilize solution for consummate amp and furnishings control. Of course, in one case you meet what 23 LCD displays can do to simplify configuring a MIDI pes controller, you lot may discover yourself rarely firing upward the computer-based editor.
Usability
Without question, there has never been a MIDI foot controller equally easy to use equally the Mastermind GT—at least, not one that you would actually configure to exercise more than bones program changes. We put the Mastermind GT to the exam as the pes controller for a reasonably complex guitar rig comprised of an ENGL Powerball II head (iv channels, switches for solo/boost, mid shift, and effects loop bypass), a TC Electronic G-Major Two multi-furnishings processor, a bunch of advanced pedals, and an RJM Effects Gizmo audio looper/function switcher.
MIDI foot controllers in guitar rigs are focused on two things: program modify (PC) messages and continuous controller (CC) messages.
For an in-depth tutorial,
read our feature story all about understanding MIDI in guitar rigs, or check out Scott Kahn’s book,
Modern Guitar Rigs: The Tone Fanatic’s Guide to Integrating Amps & Effects.
The Mastermind GT comes with numerous templates that map the default CC values of popular products for like shooting fish in a barrel control from the human foot controller. Our M-Major Two processor and Eventide Space pedal were amongst the popular items already known to the Mastermind GT, then after selecting them, it was easy to assign any of their common features to specific footswitches in the Mastermind GT. Other popular templates are provided for the entire range of Eventide pedals, Fractal Sound’s Axe-FX processors, various TC Electronic products, and more.
Information technology was also like shooting fish in a barrel to manually specify MIDI channels and CC values for devices that were not known to the Mastermind GT by default.
The biggest play a joke on with the Mastermind GT is determining how you want to arrange functioning of the foot controller, because its flexible system goes then far beyond the familiar fixed layout of most MIDI foot controllers. Here’s what we came up with:
Outset, nosotros created a number of presets, without regard for which footswitch they would be assigned to. A preset could be something like this: step on a footswitch and have our amplifier switch to channel 3, plow on the FX loop, activate the sound loop in our Rack Gizmo for our G-Major II, set the Thousand-Major Ii to a specific patch with some filibuster and a noise gate. We could then name the patch anything, like “Crunch Delay.” In the illustration beneath, you can encounter but how easy it was to select deportment that take identify when a specific pedal is selected: the editor displays an image of the foot controller, and you literally click on a footswitch and then click your way through selecting pieces of your gear and choosing what happens with them.
In the set list manager portion of the editor, we were able to arrange fix lists, songs, and our presets. Multiple presets could be hands assigned to specific songs via a elevate-and-driblet interface, and those songs bundled in various set list orders. Here’south how our Mastermind GT ultimately was laid out operationally:
Nosotros used the first five buttons on the lesser row of the Mastermind GT for preset selection inside a specific vocal, and the far right footswitch was assigned to the Tap Tempo CC value in our Thou-Major 2, which was used for our digital delays. Since the ENGL Powerball II amp has four channels, for every song, we kept a “standard” arrangement, where on each of the songs in our ready list, push button one (from left) was our clean aqueduct, button 2 was light crunch, button three was high gain crunch, and button 4 was our lead audio.
Nosotros assigned bank up/down buttons higher up on the foot controller, and those enabled us to coil through a list of our song titles. In one case nosotros scrolled to the side by side vocal in our set, we could then step on buttons ane through 4 to think the correct starting audio. With this layout, clean sounds were always assigned to our first footswitch, only in some songs, the clean audio might include chorus, reverb, delays, tremolo, etc. From one song to the next, button three would exist our high-proceeds crunch, merely sometimes with filibuster, sometimes bypassing the effects loop, etc.
What about all those other buttons? That was our virtual stomp box pedalboard. Some buttons would turn on/off the audio loops for our favorite pedals sitting on a shelf in our rack, but we could also relieve the default on/off land to the presets in specific songs, as well. For case, when nosotros select 1 of our “Van Halen tribute” presets, information technology could have been saved with our phaser pedal audio loop in the On state, but in one case we got into the meat of the vocal, we could simply step on the footswitch assigned to the phaser pedal’s sound loop to plow the upshot off.
Not all footswitches controlled pedal audio loops, though. Some footswitches were assigned to turn individual effects blocks on/off within the Yard-Major Ii, so we could easily turn on/off the modulation, filibuster, reverb, and compressor blocks inside a specific preset. To expand farther, we would scroll through our listing of songs, step on one of our presets for the song—which calls upwardly an effect preset in our K-Major 2 that happens to accept specific effect blocks activated to outset. And and then, midway through our vocal, nosotros could individually plow specific upshot blocks on/off within the G-Major Two.
We also assigned a dedicated footswitch to our ENGL amplifier’s solo/boost characteristic, and another to the amp’due south mid frequency shift characteristic. And to proceed track of all of this, also each push button being clearly labeled on the individual displays, we color coded things! Our preset selection buttons on the bottom were i color (the selected switch would appear in opposite color between the text and background), while effect blocks and audio loops were another color. Our control buttons, like bank up/down and our Tuner/Mute footswitch were a third set of colors.
Additionally, nosotros used a BOSS expression pedal plugged into one of the expression pedal jacks, and nosotros configured the Mastermind GT to laissez passer its CC values through to our Yard-Major 2 to command reverb depth and filibuster repeats every bit needed.
All of this was accomplished easily through the software editor, no “programming” required. But if yous’re used to the operations of a hardware-only solution like the Voodoo Lab Basis Control Pro for example, you’ll exist equally impressed configuring your sounds from the Mastermind GT directly.
With “classic” foot controllers, you typically take a one- or two-line brandish, and y’all roll through pages of options, and then tab your mode across diverse items to adjust the parameters (probably where the scary feeling of “programming” foot controllers came well-nigh). With 22 displays, though, in that location is no scrolling to find settings! Calling upwards a particular setting maps out all of its options across the remaining buttons on the footswitch, and so everything you want to adjust is just a push press abroad. It actually is this straightforward, though typing names of presets and managing set lists is a faster and fifty-fifty easier task when using the computer-based editor software.
If we had a simpler rig setup, like a two-channel Marshall head and an Axe-FX for effects, nosotros wouldn’t need an audio looper/function switcher similar the Rack Gizmo mentioned in the large rig above. With its built-in function switches, we could take used the Mastermind GT to directly handle our amp channel switching, and so to have total control over patch selection and effect cake command with our Axe-FX. Additionally, if nosotros were looking for a foot controller to run a guitar rig built entirely effectually a modeling amp or profiler like the fantastic Kemper Profiling Amplifier, a Mastermind GT/xvi or GT/ten would make a nifty choice.
Our only complaint, if we had to throw ane out in that location, has to do with the color choices for the display. Nosotros would love to take more vibrant colors available, or user definable colors, rather than being limited to choosing from a specified color palette. That said, this is notwithstanding a peachy solution that nosotros had no problem observing under a wide variety of lighting weather.
Documentation and Product Support
The Mastermind GT comes with an piece of cake to follow instruction guide (equally do all RJM Music Applied science products), plus the visitor provides numerous video tutorials online demonstrating how to fix and configure the Mastermind GT to piece of work with a multifariousness of popular devices from Fractal Audio, Kemper, Strymon, and more.
The Mastermind GT has a one-year warranty.
Price
The Mastermind GT/22 sells directly for $1,899, which certainly isn’t cheap. But if y’all’ve invested thousands of dollars in a pro rig, there is no more elegant solution to controlling the whole thing, and it makes setting up and controlling your rig easier than any products that came before information technology. This is a landmark product in the globe of MIDI foot controllers, and i that we’re going to utilize to control many of our big rigs.
If you don’t need so many buttons for instant-access control over audio loops and event blocks, also consider the smaller GT/16 for $1,599 or the GT/10 for $1,299. They all characteristic the same large set up list/vocal title display in the middle, and and so either ten or 16 footswitchs with LED displays for your rig control.
RJM Music Applied science
www.rjmmusic.com
Overall Rating – Product Summary
|
Category |
Value | Rating |
| Features | 20% |
|
| Usability | 25% |
|
| Documentation & Support | ten% |
|
| Price | 20% |
|
|
|
||
|
OVERALL RATING = 3.v
3.6 stars or improve: Outstanding, WIHO Honor |
||
