TC Electronic G-Force

Description

G-Force

The legendary G-Force gives you a variety of great sound effects in an easy to program and fun to operate single rack unit. State-of-the-art DSP technology and 24 bit resolution gives you massive memory, high-speed processing and the best sound quality available.

Flexible routing and control possibilities combined with 8 full-blown effects, each with sound quality surpassing stand alone units, generate sounds unlike any you have heard or even dreamt of before. With the G-Force, digital multiple effects processing has finally come of age enabling you to have high quality sounds without sacrificing the integrity of your original tone!

— Source: TC Electronic web page

Front Panel

Display & Tuner The display consists of two sections. One for detailed Preset information and editing. The other section clearly displays Preset Number or Tuner information with large digits that are easy to see even on distance e.g. on a stage. PCMCIA With a standard PCMCIA card (not supplied) you have perfect and easy backup of your favorite presets. You can store up to 10 banks of 100 presets on a 1Mb card. Tap Tempo All tempo-related effects can be set to respond to a tapped tempo. Either from the G-Force front panel or from a MIDI pedal or even a momentary switch connected to the Pedal Input on the G-Force rear panel. This allows the Tempo of e.g. the Delay to be perfectly matched to the song you are currently playing. Effect Block Keys The 9 Effect Block keys serve for various purposes and make the navigation in the G-Force a breeze. From the Recall page effect blocks can be switched on/off with a single click. In the Effects menu each block is accessed fast with a double click on one of the block keys. This means easy editing and preset configuration. No endless menus to scroll trough to achieve basic functions. Fast Navigation Navigating in menus is natural and logical. With two cursor keys for vertical navigation, a dedicated Parameter Select wheel and a dedicated wheel for changing Parameter values, it simply doesn’t get any better.

Preset Structure

Building your Preset - routing your effectboard: The G-Force is packed with 225 presets covering a wide range of styles from gentle to extreme processing. Additional xxx presets are available via the G-Card created by some of the worlds most esteemed guitarists. Though the preprogrammed presets cover most any style, you will probably like to dive in and program or adjust presets yourself. The G-Force itself holds 100 User preset locations. With a 1Mb PCMCIA card, up to 10 banks of 100 presets can be stored additionally - Either for direct access or for simple backup.

Setting up effect-algorithm blocks in the G-Force Routing matrix is extremely easy. The idea is pretty much like building a brand new pedal-board for each preset without touching a single chord or soldering a single plug. Use the PARAMETER WHEEL to select the position where you wish to insert an effect and select which block to insert using the VALUE wheel. Route in serial or parallel, three blocks in parallel or more and the rest in serial – it’s up to you. Then go to your Edit menu using the ARROW keys, double-click on the effect block your wish to setup first and you are on your way.

Setting up effect-algorithm blocks in the G-Force Routing matrix is extremely easy. The idea is pretty much like building a brand new pedal-board for each preset without touching a single chord or soldering a single plug. Use the PARAMETER WHEEL to select the position where you wish to insert an effect and select which block to insert using the VALUE wheel. Route in serial or parallel, three blocks in parallel or more and the rest in serial – it’s up to you.Then go to your Edit menu using the ARROW keys, double-click on the effect block your wish to setup first and you are on your way.

Partial Recall Of course you can start building each block from scratch every time, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could just extract your favorite effect blocks from various presets and mix them in one single preset without having to “dial in” all the values? You can – using the Partial Recall function. Via the Recall display you can simply chose to recall only one effect block and load this block into your current preset.

External Control

Guitarists are the most demanding group of practicing musicians when it comes to controlling their sound and effects. The G-Force is nothing less than unique; not only can you control virtually any parameter via a MIDI board and expression pedals but it is also EASY to set up. There tend to be two main directions in controlling Guitar sound via any pedal board. A - Full preset change for radical changes B – “Stomp box” type where only single effects are turned on and off. With the G-Force you don’t have to decide which is for you. With any MIDI board you can utilize the advantages of both the “Preset change” and “Stomp Box” idea described above. Setting up Instead of having to figure out which MIDI messages your board actually sends out and dialing these values into the G-Force – simply let the G-Force detect received messages in the “learn” mode. Example Your MIDI board has 10 switches and one Expression pedal attached. 5 switches on the board sends program changes and 5 send control changes. On the five switches sending program changes you setup your radical sound changes e.g. 1 for clean, 1 for Chrunch and 1 for Overdrive. The last two you might use for special sounds. Each of these sounds you program with basic effects. The five switches sending Cc Messages can be used as on/ off switches for e.g. Delay, Chorus, Reverb, Compressor, and the last maybe for Tap Tempo. It is really up to you. Expression Pedals Use up to eight connected Expression pedals to change parameter values. Which parameter the expression pedal controls, is set at preset level. This means that even with a single expression pedal connected you can vary its function from preset to preset. In one preset it could act as Volume control, in another as a Whammy – or what about floating control of Reverb level, the Depth of a Chorus or…??? The options are endless – and you CAN really express yourself!

The MODIFIER menu

The MODIFIER menu - is the connecting link between external controllers and the G-Force effects and much more. Let us just throw a few ideas at you: Where you assign Expression pedals to specific parameters Setup the Pitch of the notes you play to control the amount of effect to be added to your sound depending on the pitch of the note you play! Imagine playing with completely dry sound at the low strings, - then as you move towards higher pitched notes the G-Force automatically detects that a higher pitch is played and the reverb output level is increased Let the dynamics of your playing control any parameter. You probably know this from the classic Touch Wah effect – or maybe in a Dynamic Delay where the Delay output is dampened during played phrases and increased as you “breathe” in between phases Adding also ADSR – Attack Decay Sustain Release and LFO’s, you can’t come to any other conclusion than with the-G Force – anything is possible

Reverb

TC Electronic is well known for its experience in high quality effects processing and technology. The G-Force fully benefits from this experience. The G-Force holds a Simple and an Advanced Reverb mode. In Simple mode you can pre-select room types and choose from: Room, Club, Hall, Church, Cathedral, Grand Hall, Fast Decay, Slow Decay, Plate and Spring. All of these can of course be twisted to your liking using all standard reverb parameters such as: Decay, PreDelay and Color. With the Advanced mode selected you have less predefined types to chose from but more detailed control via various parameters thus giving you extended flexibility when it comes to designing your own rooms.

Delay

Introduction The Delay block have five different sub-algorithms: Stereo, Dual, Dual Two-tap, One-tap and Quad-tap. Stereo – Which treats the Left and Right Input signals independently. This mode is interesting only when the G- Force is fed with a stereo Input. Dual – Offer two delay lines meaning that you can have two separate delay times on the same Input signal. The two delay lines each have a completely separate set of parameters. Furthermore the two Delay lines can be fed to each other's Input and act similar to two Delay units in serial. Dual Two Tap – are two independent Delay lines which each has two fully controllable individual Delay taps. One Tap – is a simple to use straight Delay with a single Delay line. This is the type that is closest to a regular stomp-box type. Quad Tap – offers one Delay line with four individual Taps, each with its own set of parameters. Smooth preset change using Delay spillover: When using long Delay times, Effects spillover can be used to achieve smooth preset changes. By using the same Delay sub-algorithm in the presets you are switching between, and setting Mute mode to “Fx In” and bypassing the current block, the long Delay from e.g. a solo sound can gently fade even after you have switched to a dry clean sound with no Delay. Dynamic Delay as known from the TC 2290: This feature that dampens the Output of the Delay while you play a phrase and increases the Delay Output level in between phrases can also be setup in the G-Force. It is done via the Mod Matrix using an Envelope on the Delay Output. The fastest way to set this up is using one of the factory presets with Dynamic Delay. Detailed explanation can be found in the manual.

Chorus/Flanger

Chorus The G-Force offers two modes of both Chorus and Flanger effects. The Classic and the Advanced. While Classic holds just the basic parameters the Advanced includes: Delay control Phase Reverse LFO curve selection (Sine or Square) LFO Phase 0, 90 and 180 degrees. Golden Ratio which in “on” position ensures a perfect balance between Speed and Depth for the original smooth Chorus effect. For wilder less traditional Chorus sound, the Golden Ratio should be set to “off Flanger Similar build and parameters as the Chorus described above but with additional Feedback and Crossfeed parameters.

Pitch

The G-Force Pitch section is a chapter of its own. Offering both Intelligent Two Voice, Fixed 1 and Fixed 2 voices, Dual Detune and 2 voices 2 octaves; the most wanted pitch effects are nailed - and more too.Once you have worked with the different Pitch algorithms for just a few minutes you will be amazed with the tracking speed and precision. Intelligent Two Voice This algorithm is used to generate additional one or two voices in the key and after any scale of your choice. Pick a scale from: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian – Diminished, Whole Tone, Dom. Seven, Diminished Whole Tone, Melodic minor, Harmonic minor, Major or minor Pentatonic, Blues or design your own Custom Scale. Then select at which interval your voices should be added - e.g. a third above and a fifth below. Play – and you have instant harmonies. Detune and Delay on each voice can be set to give a more natural sounding harmony. Fixed 1 Voice and Fixed 2 This is typically used to create e.g. an Octaver effect or to add a static fifth or ?? – Control the generated Pitch with an External Expression pedal and you have a true Whammy function. Dual Detune The Dual Detune effect is typically used for a static Chorus-like function. You can simply add one or two voices slightly out of tune with the played tone.

Panner

In the Panner block you can create level changing effects such as Tremolo. A Tremolo basically changes the level of the signal according to certain specified patterns. Simple Tremolo The most common type of Tremolo. Speed, Depth and Mix level can be controlled. Advanced Tremolo The advanced mode holds the same basic parameters and LFO control in addition. With the LFO control you can select between Square and Sine Curve patterns and the Phase of these patters can be set to 0, 90 or 180 degrees. The Sine Curve type is the most commonly used, but you will enjoy the Square mode if you are aiming at rhythmic abrupt patterns. Simple The Simple Panner pans the signal from Left to Right in accordance with the set Speed. “Surround” Panner Though we are not talking about a true six channel 5.1 system, a surround feel can be created using the added Center and Width parameters in the Surround Panner mode.

Filters

Parametric EQ 3 band parametric EQ with additional low and high shelve parameters. Simply a full-blown EQ that gently applied can help you fine tune you gear or with radical settings can dramatically change the entire sound with a flick of a switch. As an example on the latter - check out the “Broken Speaker” preset. Resonance filer Resonance filters are basically high and low cut filters that can be swept up and down through the frequency range. When the Resonance (Q-factor) parameter is increased, the filter’s peak at the cutoff frequency gets very narrow and very steep. That is at the very core of the characteristic sound of Resonance filters. Wah-Wah The Wah-Wah effect in the G-Force is simply a static frequency boost. It combines well with an Envelope Filter (Modifier section) giving a funky Touch Wah effect or with an Expression Pedal as external modifier, which gives the regular pedal-controlled Wah-pedal effect. Formant The Formant filters are somewhat special. They can create an entirely new sound for you. Imagine a pedal that does not say WAH WAH, but instead goes OOWEE-OOWEE. Formants are also known as the vowels of human speech. The basic idea is that you set three coordinates, Start, Thru and End in a frequency area, and then move your sound up and down the curve you created with the coordinates. – Try Out the presets using Formant Filters to get the idea.

Compression, Gate and Drive Compressor The G Force Compressor holds both a Simple and Advanced Compressor mode. Where the Simple mode has only the basic Threshold and Ratio, the Advanced mode also includes a soft/hard knee mode and Release rate for even more control. Gate Very often the signal chain from guitar to Wah into a preamp creates more hiss and noise than can be handled without a well-placed effective Noise Gate. Once adjusted to your individual presets the G-Force Noise Gate will be a tool you wouldn’t want to be without. Drive The Drive section is an excellent tool for coloring your effects. E.g. place a Drive block after the Delay section and you can add drive to the Delays leaving the direct signal unaffected.Though some use the G-Force drive block as a guitar preamp it is not designed specifically for this purpose and it is not to be considered as a full mature Guitar preamp.