Re-Introduction and Affiliation Disclosure

[BillyBoy]

Hi, everyone. 

I used to hang out here in a small way some years ago, but got really busy and haven't had much spare time to drop in for a long time.  This is a great group and one of the best forums anywhere on the 'net, so I hope to be able to spend more time here as I come up for air after being really, really busy for a long time.  The purpose of my post is to make it clear that I now have an affiliation to disclose.

Many of you know that building pedals can go, well, shall we just say "beyond what you first intended".  Perhaps even beyond that.  That's what has been keeping me busy for some time now.  Somewhere along the way, I had an idea about building pedals that grew and morphed into something bigger than I originally planned.  I'm now in the early stages of launching that idea as a business.  What makes what I'm doing a bit different from most others is that I'm only developing rack effects, no pedals.  You can check it out at www.gerlttechnologies.com.  I know I don't need to explain it to this group – you'll get it right away, everyone does.  I've taken my gear to a few guitar shows to get early feedback, and am happy that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from players, about both the idea and the sound.  Would love to hear your comments as I begin to spread the word.  The website needs work, but basic info is there, except product videos – still have to get going on those. 

Anyway, that's it.  I hope you find it interesting.  This is one of my first public postings about what I'm doing, and it seems only natural to do it here where my effects-building interest began to develop into a serious condition that probably needs some sort of treatment, if it is not already too late.  If any of you are in the Dallas area, I'll probably be at the Dallas International Guitar Festival again this year in May, although I have some scheduling issues to sort out first.  If you're there, stop by the booth to check it out in person and say "hi".  I have some pics from the shows I've attended at my Facebook page "Gerlt Technologies".  I don't know what's in store for me, but I've really been enjoying what I'm doing, and being able to share it with others.

Cheers,

Bill

[isoceles]

Hi, everyone. 

I used to hang out here in a small way some years ago, but got really busy and haven't had much spare time to drop in for a long time.  This is a great group and one of the best forums anywhere on the 'net, so I hope to be able to spend more time here as I come up for air after being really, really busy for a long time.  The purpose of my post is to make it clear that I now have an affiliation to disclose.

Many of you know that building pedals can go, well, shall we just say "beyond what you first intended".  Perhaps even beyond that.  That's what has been keeping me busy for some time now.  Somewhere along the way, I had an idea about building pedals that grew and morphed into something bigger than I originally planned.  I'm now in the early stages of launching that idea as a business.  What makes what I'm doing a bit different from most others is that I'm only developing rack effects, no pedals.  You can check it out at www.gerlttechnologies.com.  I know I don't need to explain it to this group – you'll get it right away, everyone does.  I've taken my gear to a few guitar shows to get early feedback, and am happy that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from players, about both the idea and the sound.  Would love to hear your comments as I begin to spread the word.  The website needs work, but basic info is there, except product videos – still have to get going on those. 

Anyway, that's it.  I hope you find it interesting.  This is one of my first public postings about what I'm doing, and it seems only natural to do it here where my effects-building interest began to develop into a serious condition that probably needs some sort of treatment, if it is not already too late.  If any of you are in the Dallas area, I'll probably be at the Dallas International Guitar Festival again this year in May, although I have some scheduling issues to sort out first.  If you're there, stop by the booth to check it out in person and say "hi".  I have some pics from the shows I've attended at my Facebook page "Gerlt Technologies".  I don't know what's in store for me, but I've really been enjoying what I'm doing, and being able to share it with others.

Cheers,

Bill

Congrats, and good luck!

[Caedarn]

Looks great! Best of luck with the business!

[BillyBoy]

Thanks for taking a look guys, and especially for the well wishes.  I know if it "only" took an idea, dedication, and a lot of hard work plenty of people would be making it in the effects business, even with a very loose definition of what "making it" might mean :^) 

Since I don't have a pretty face, rock star connections, or rich relatives, I'll gratefully take every bit of good luck sent my way.  Thanks!

[culturejam]

Best of luck to you, my friend. 

[peterc]

Nice idea, good luck. I have often wondered if an API 500 series rack would be a good pedal platform?

Peter

[BillyBoy]

Sorry for the slow response.  I forgot to turn Notify on for my posting...

Just my opinion, the API 500 design might be a good starting point.  But it didn't match up for what I wanted to do, or perhaps more accurately, how I wanted to do it. 

An effects chain often has more than just a straight-thru path.  There are loops, ABYs, amp selectors, order swappers, stereo effects, etc, all of which complicate the routing of the signal.  If you are using a bus-based approach, you can manage all that with bus controllers, addressing, routing, etc – through software.  Although I'm a software professional of a few decades, I'm going through my "tech rebellion" years now – I didn't want any programming or tech complications.  My design is just simple analog plug and play for the signal path(s), power, and switching, with a physical structure to hold it all together. 

You can definitely have a bus/backplane type of solution, but it'll probably be digital and require a good amount of software development, requiring an operating environment and central control module.  Aside from the old debate about digital vs analog, there's nothing wrong with going that way.  It's just a different approach with different problems requiring different tools.  I expect there are chunks of design and software buried in those digital multi-effect units that do pretty much all of that already - sort of an existence proof that it can be done.  At the conceptual level you might just be substituting digitally controlled effect cards/modules for software models of those effects.  You could probably even make the cards/modules analog, but you'd have to figure out a power and switching design to go with it.  If you wanted to do all that with the API 500 hardware specifically, then you would be starting with hardware constraints on your overall design already in place.  I don't know enough details about the API 500 to guess if that would be a great jumpstart, something you'd be constantly battling with, or something in between.  I also don't know if it is an open design or something you'd have to figure out, or any intellectual property issues (patents) you might have to avoid.  If I were going that direction in the future, I'd look more closely at API 500, multi-effects units, modelers, synthesizer technology, and everything else I could think of like that to get some ideas, see what works well/poorly, and then design my own specifically for this purpose.   But that's the software guy in me peeking out, and we're notoriously infected with the "not invented here" disease and always assume we can do a better design !!!  In general, I think there's space for analog effects with digital control, although it might take a while (and $$$) to pull it all together in a systematic way with digital switching.

Funny thing is that some people take a quick glance at my stuff and think it is API 500 series gear, some other "studio stuff", surplus NASA equipment, or an old missile control system left over from the Cold War days.  This is especially true at the guitar shows I've attended because I take a big pile of modules to those shows for people to try, and that can look intimidating.  It's the rough equivalent of maybe 15-20 normal pedalboards.  There are some pictures of that "Big Stack" of almost 200 modules on my Facebook page "GerltTechnologies".  It does work fine in a studio, and looks a little like API 500 series or other studio gear, but they have nothing in common beyond the first-glance appearance and general "racked audio components" concept.  Even all the metalwork is my own custom design and fab.

If you are in the Dallas area, I'll have a booth at the Dallas International Guitar Festival in Market Hall on May 1 - 3.  Stop by to say "Hi" and check it out.