Panda-Audio Future Impact I - Bass Guitar Synthesizer Quick Start Guide

Introduction

The Future Impact Bass Guitar Synthesizer and Analog MIDI Synthesizer Expander will let you play amazing synth bass lines from your bass guitar. You can choose from 99 bass synth sounds that you can quickly shape to your taste. With the true bypass you have the unaltered sound when the effect is turned off.

Setting up FI

Connect your bass guitar to the INPUT jack. Connect the OUTPUT to an amplifier. Use a Roland/Boss compatible 9V, minimum 100mA stabilised power supply with the minus pole in the middle. You have to use a power supply according to the mains voltage and connector requirements in your country. The power supply is not part of the delivery.

Press the ON/OFF footswitch (right) to turn the effect on. The ON LED will light up. Adjust INPUT LEVEL so that the red LED lights up briefly only at the loudest pickings. Adjust OUTPUT LEVEL to your needs. Note: due to the true bypass of the FI the level display will work only when the effect is ON.

Operating FI

The FI has 99 sounds distributed into 10 banks (bank 0 has 9 sounds, all others 10). You can step up through the banks by pressing the EDIT/BANK UP dial that is a pushbutton switch as well. Also, if you press down EDIT/BANK UP and turn the dial, you can quickly reach any bank.

You can select from the sounds within a bank with the PROGRAM footswitch. It will increment the program number, but the LEDs start to blink and the sound does not change yet. Press the ON/OFF footswitch to enable the selected sound. If you quickly double-step on PROGRAM you can also decrement the program number.

Note: The FI is based on the detection of the bass guitar's pitch. It requires monophonic notes that are played clean. If you play chords, power chords, slapping, tapping, or if you try to use it outside of the pitch range of a bass guitar then unpredictable results will happen.

Editing the Sounds

If you selected a sound that you like but you want to modify it for your music, you can edit the most important parameters. The PARAMETER SELECTOR lets you select between 13 parameters that you can change. Two of them are GLOBAL, thus common for all programs, the other 11 are specific for each program individually. All parameters have a default value of 5. You can deviate from the default 4 steps down to 1, or 4 steps up to 9. You should use the EDIT dial to change the parameters. When you change a parameter the change in the sound immediately happens, and the decimal point starts to blink. Changes will be stored only if you press the EDIT button. This will also store the program number as a default, so when you turn on the FI next time this will be the program that appears.

Description of the Parameters

NOTE OFF LEVEL (global): A lower value allows you to sustain notes longer. With a higher value you can articulate staccato notes better.

NOTE ON LEVEL (global): Sensitivity for triggering a sound. If weak pickings are not recognized then decrease the value. If multiple notes are triggered then increase it.

ATTACK: The fade-in time of the sound can be changed.

DECAY: The decay time of the filter during a sustained note can be shaped.

ENVELOPE DEPTH: The contour of the sound can be made brighter or smoother.

DYNAMICS: Changes the response to dynamic playing.

CUTOFF: The brightness of the filtered sound can be changed.

RESONANCE: The character of the sound can be made sharper or smoother.

BALANCE: Changes the balance between the bass and the synth sound.

LEVEL: Changes the output level of the sound.

EFFECTS: Changes the amount of effect added to the sound.

Configuring Future Impact

Press the left footswitch while you power on. Turn the Parameter dial to the leftmost position, Note Off Level to see the name of a parameter, and turn it to right to any other position to see the value of the parameter. The value can be changed with the edit dial. Step through the parameters with pressing the left footswitch again. When ready with editing turn FI off and on again. Only the two most important parameters of this list are explained here, others are in the detailed User Guide.

RESET ALL: Name: "rS", meaning RESET. Value: 0. If it is changed to 1 all sound parameters will be reset to default (5). The default sound at power on will be reset to (1).

DEFAULT Mode or DIRECT Mode: Name: "PrG", meaning PROGRAM. Value: Either "0" (DEFAULT) or "1" (DIRECT). DEFAULT Mode is as described in "Operating FI". In DIRECT Mode you get a program change immediately when you hit the PROGRAM button. Single step will increase program, double-step will decrease it. If you keep PROGRAM pressed, the number starts to scroll up, first slowly, then faster. If you keep it down after a double-step, it will scroll down. In DIRECT Mode increment-decrement will step over bank borders, you can access any of the 99 programs.