NPD Digitech Trio

HarmanCanadaEng

Teetonetal said:

Oh welcome to the board! Question - is the trio firmware update-able? I.e will it be in constant development (like VST software for example) with the backing generation algorithms being tweaked etc.. 

Thanks.

Yes the Trio  firmware can be updated via the usb connector from a PC or Mac, and we definitely want to keep improving this technology. 

HarmanCanadaEng

jellyroll said:

An interesting discovery on the noise....my setup is normally to have 2 pedals going into my amp - a delay (strymon timeline) and a dirt pedal ( EQD Speaker cranker). Thinking that I didn't want to add the FX to the Trio output, I figured I should put the pedals before the Trio in the chain. After some experimentation, it seems that putting the Timeline before the Trio is causing the noise. The placement of the Speaker Cranker doesn't seem to matter. So, with guitar -> Speaker Cranker->Trio->Timeline->Amp, the noise disappears. Good news.

That's good - maybe there was some ground loop happening with the strymon. 

I put my effects after the Trio because I use both the AMP out and MIXER out. In that configuration, the pedal auto-senses the two connections and sends the guitar separately out the AMP and the drums and bass out the MIXER. We use a reverse cab model on the bass and drums if you are only using the AMP out to compensate for the eq of a typical amp, but of course if you have the opportunity to use separate out to a PA (full bandwidth) speaker that's obviously ideal. 

 

HarmanCanadaEng

jellyroll said:

Some further thoughts on the Trio. It's well built and easy to use and the output audio quality is good, no concerns there. With the output being determined by its built-in algorithms rather than being crafted by the user, its usefulness will ultimately depend on whether one likes the drum and bass rhythms it produces. At this stage, I'd say there are promising signs although I do find myself just wanting a dead simple rhythm and it seems to want to produce "fancier" stuff. I haven't yet played with all the genres though. Although there is the ability to select different styles within each genre , there is no obvious indication of the differences between each style - you have to find out by trial and error. (Edit - I have now seen that there is in fact a full description of each style in the online manual). Perhaps it's not such a bad thing to surrender oneself to the machine - in a band situation one can't necessarily control the bass and drums so the Trio
mirrors life I guess.

Thanks for these comments - they are really helpful for us. I think once you explore all the styles you'll find some simpler ones and begin to know your favourites - at least that's the way it's been for us. But we are paying close attention to try and find out what people really want. 

You've probably figured this out, but one thing worth mentioning because I've seen others have this issue is that it's really important to learn to "teach the band" properly - and what's cool is that people seem to get better and better at it after playing around for a day or two. The typical scenario is that they first try playing in their normal style with lots of embellishments - and the Trio ends up thinking there are way more chord changes than there really are so the bass sounds way too complex.  Once you learn to clearly strum out full chords while teaching, you get the best results and once that band kicks in you can embellish away to your heart's content!

jellyroll

HarmanCanadaEng said:

We use a reverse cab model on the bass and drums if you are only using the AMP out to compensate for the eq of a typical amp, but of course if you have the opportunity to use separate out to a PA (full bandwidth) speaker that's obviously ideal. 

I understand that a full bandwidth PA would sound better but one of the attractions of the Trio for me is the simplicity of running it through my guitar amp. Having said that, a Bluetooth connection to a hi-fi amp might be quite a neat feature in Version 2!  

Teetonetal

HarmanCanadaEng;625930" said:

Teetonetal said:



Oh welcome to the board! Question - is the trio firmware update-able? I.e will it be in constant development (like VST software for example) with the backing generation algorithms being tweaked etc.. 





Thanks.Yes the Trio  firmware can be updated via the usb connector from a PC or Mac, and we definitely want to keep improving this technology. 

That is really good to know and I think will breath some longevity into this pedal.

I want to get my hands on one, as a teacher this could be the kind of pedal that I encourage students who lack a bit of confidence could really use to help push them towards live playing... I see it more than just a practice tool but really as a way for people to transfer from bedroom to live, especially maybe those who came to guitar playing late.

I think also being able to use it as a pedal rather than a software product means it will fill some big gaps

HarmanCanadaEng

I want to get my hands on one, as a teacher this could be the kind of pedal that I encourage students who lack a bit of confidence could really use to help push them towards live playing... I see it more than just a practice tool but really as a way for people to transfer from bedroom to live, especially maybe those who came to guitar playing late.

Absolutely. Much of the motivation for the Trio was an attempt to break the catch-22: You need to play with a band to improve but you need to improve to play with a band. 

HarmanCanadaEng

jellyroll said:

I understand that a full bandwidth PA would sound better but one of the attractions of the Trio for me is the simplicity of running it through my guitar amp. 

Totally agree - so for best results in that configuration, make sure you use the AMP out and not the MIXER out, and make sure your amp is setup to be as clean as possible. The inverse cab model on the drums and bass really helps - it should sound quite a bit better than if you just ran a drum recording into your amp. 

Branshen

Mark always has the best demoes on YouTube.

Phil_aka_Pip

where can I read up about this device? url?

It would be nice if you could have the drum pattern, the bass line, and the guitar on different outputs

jellyroll

Phil, here's the manual.

http://rdn.harmanpro.com/product_documents/documents/2144_1427215149/Trio_Manual_5057870-A_original.pdf

Phil_aka_Pip

fanx @jellyroll

jellyroll

Now for sale !!! See the classifieds......

thumpingrug

So given that i missed the flash sale and am still hoping to pick one of these up at the end of the month..

Any fatal flaws or just not what you where hoping for?

jellyroll

No fatal flaw, I just didn't bond with it. I am sure some will find it great though. It's well built and easy to use.

thumpingrug

@jellyroll  cheers dude,  to the shops on pay day it is then.

erky32

I'm having fun with my Trio. As others have reported , I haven't totally tamed the bass player yet ....even on simple chord "learn" it keeps throwing in some obscure bass runs, but I'm still working at it! Using both drum and bass accompaniment is fun for home experimenting, and really does work well. This weekend i am doing a electro-acoustic gig with my Godin A6 hybrid and a human bass player, ...we are hoping to use the Trio only as a drum machine. The drum sounds are fine thru the P A, but the only problem I have is that one is never quite sure exactly what drum beat/pattern is going to be generated, ....it keeps throwing up surprises, but so far, i prefer it to any other drum machines that I've tried (unsuccessfully) I think future use will generate useful feedback for a subsequent model. My thoughts for inclusion would be a manual override option in drum machine mode, so that you could have the option to preset a drum pattern and tempo for occasions where you can't risk a surprise!, that would lead to a need for a few storage preset slots for different songs. I'm interested to follow other developments with this, ...it certainly works well for home use, ....and I'll persevere with using it as a gig tool, probably only in drum mode. I think its a bit like chess, ...easy to learn but many moons to master!

jellyroll

Agree Erky, I would have liked manual override.

entee

@HarmanCanadaEng - thinking of getting one of these (well my finger is poised above the BUY button actually)  Quick question; when in learn mode can the Trio learn from an overdriven guitar, or distorted at least, or is it best to play 'clean', and up the effects on playback?

Finger still poised awaiting advice 

hubobulous

I've not played mine yet, but if its anything like vocal harmonisers etc, you'd put your normal guitar signal into the Trio and then put other effects like distortion after it.

entee

hubobulous said:

I've not played mine yet, but if its anything like vocal harmonisers etc, you'd put your normal guitar signal into the Trio and then put other effects like distortion after it.

cheers, I should have thought about that too!  lol