Scribble Strips on a future PBC?

J

jondom22

Active Member
Wondering if there have been some discussions or development of a next gen PBC 6x and 10 with added scribble strips (like maybe slightly smaller than the GT scribble strips to keep the overall controller size the same)?

I originally made a dual board set up (GT-22/expression on one board, pedals and MEG X on the other), but that's a bit unwieldy for my purposes outside the studio. Downsized to a mono medium for all pedals, and was thinking of getting a PBC 6X, but I need text per button so I can see the names of different presets when switching things on the fly for improvisational purposes, sound design/creating patches, and live use. Currently stuck the MEG X under the board and am using a Morningstar MC-6, which is fine, but the buttons are a bit too close together, and the text is a bit small when standing up playing.

Feel like the PBC 6X (and 10) seem to be the most popular formats for controller/switchers, and the next big step would be adding the scribble strips to give it a Mastermind GT capability....and would really set it out ahead of the competition.

Thoughts?
 
The primary reason for not having this is cost. Displays are expensive. That's the reason why the Mastermind GT costs more than the PBC despite the GT not having any audio switching capability. How much more would you be willing to pay for such a feature?
 
rjmmusic said:
The primary reason for not having this is cost. Displays are expensive. That's the reason why the Mastermind GT costs more than the PBC despite the GT not having any audio switching capability. How much more would you be willing to pay for such a feature?
Click to expand...
For something like the 6/X but with scribble strips? I'd pay whatever you charge for it. Just might take me some time to save for it.

My rig is complex enough that the ability to have updating labels would be huge! I bet a lot of my clients would love something like that too. A significant chunk of them don't just pay me to wire up their rigs - they pay me to program all the MIDI components exactly as they want them too. Something like this that allows me to auto-label everything and make it that much more fool-proof would be worth its weight in gold to many of them.

If you're concerned with cost though, I'll say this - color scribble strips aren't the only way. Assuming it's more cost effective, the combo of a simple backlit LED combined with the existing multi-color LEDs would work fine too - just look at the Line 6 Helix. I used one of them for a while and it worked great!
 
rjmmusic said:
The primary reason for not having this is cost. Displays are expensive. That's the reason why the Mastermind GT costs more than the PBC despite the GT not having any audio switching capability. How much more would you be willing to pay for such a feature?
Click to expand...
Totally understand. Echo-ing what @PianoMan said, there could be other ways like a simple monochrome backlit text that might bring down the costs. Alternatively, I love my GT-22, it really is such an amazing device, but would absolutely love something like a GT-10 in a smaller enclosure. Maybe the size of a PBC-10X, and if you use monochrome screens, that might still be at a marketable price point that still makes the GT series the top line product which can be used more for touring musicians with guitar techs, or people who play in churchs and what not, vs the average musician who plays smaller venues without a tech (many of us gravitate to having a single pedalboard with a controller/switcher, vs dual boards or a controller + rack unit).

Anyways, thanks for responding and always entertaining customer ideas!
 
+1, been hoping for this at some point. I use the morningstar mc6 as well as a PBC 6x. Memorizing your buttons on all pages is definitely a limitation.
 
+1 for scribble strips. Same type of vibe as Line 6 Helix, monochrome scribble strips with colour changing LEDs, would be perfection.
Are colour displays more expensive than monochrome?
 
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