VL: Waiting..gcp expander....hold on to the gcp?

[John01W]

Man, it's been a long wait on this thing, or even a gcp update. I've been holding on to my ground control pro in the hopes that an expander is coming(as you say it's in the pipeline)...but the wait seeing how long it's taking for even introduced products, I don't know if I can wait that long on nothing.

I'm really hurting for more ia switches in my rig....some feature updates on the gcp would be nice too....

I'm really surprised you guys didn't jump on this market with Axess-Electronics on hold......

The expander is one of the #1 most requested VL products here on the forums..and around the web......

Can you guys at VL give us no new info? Has this been "bumped up" in priority at all? Anything...

I would really like to keep my gcp(love the unit), as I have so many plans for getting other products like the control switcher because of the gcp integration....but the gcp just ain't giving me what I need.

Throw us a bone here guys.

Respectfully,
JR

[Josh Fiden]

Thanks for your patience and support. Working in parallel on so many new projects, plus trying to keep up with constantly increasing demand for existing products has made for slow going. The good news is that we have some time available and last week started actively working on a Ground Control Pro update. At present, we are defining the changes and new features. I can tell you that it will include an Instant Access mode, which allows using a 2nd GCP as all instant access switches. This makes more sense than a new dedicated piece of hardware.

Thanks again for all the support.

Regards,
Josh Fiden
Founder / CEO

[stoneboy26]

So, instead of offering a cheaper option - similar to what CAE did with the RS-10 expander (which was just over 1/2 the price of the RS-10) if we needed more IA or presets, we have to pay for a whole new GCP?

Aside from the financial side - it isn't like the GCP is kind on pedalboard space, and I am sure I am not alone in hoping for a smaller expander (similar in size to the Commander - you could stagger the footwitches like on a lot of true bypass strips, so you wouldn't even need a new sized enclosure for it).

If I had to buy another GCP so I could have the extra IA buttons I would like to have, I would need an even larger pedalboard than my Pedaltrain Pro!! Otherwise I won't be able to fit any expression pedals on there.


I like the idea of having an all IA option, but to expect us to purchase a 2nd GCP?? And what if we run a setup with a remote GCP already - does that mean I have to buy 2 new GCPs?

Plus, living in Australia - these things aren't exactly cheap!!


More sense to you maybe - practical to your consumers? Not really (IMO).

[Josh Fiden]

So, instead of offering a cheaper option - similar to what CAE did with the RS-10 expander (which was just over 1/2 the price of the RS-10) if we needed more IA or presets, we have to pay for a whole new GCP?

The Ground Control Pro is approximately the same price as the expander for the RS-10. It includes substantially more functionality. It will give you more IA switches as well.

Thanks for the feedback.

Josh Fiden
Founder / CEO

[John01W]

THe price is not bad....The price of 2 ground control pros is still less than a liquid foot pro, or fx-1 without the expander....

The price is not the problem, but the SIZE of a pedalboard needed to accomodate 2 GCPs and expression pedals will be crazy big. Guitar case sized pedalboard.

GCP: 17 inch wide
FX1: 18 Expander is another 9
Liquidfoot pro:19
CAE pedal and expander smaller than all of these

FX1 with expander= 27 inches
GCP expanded(x2)= 34 inches

Josh, I sincerely appreciate you sharing this:) But have to say, man after talking back and fourth on hri and here now with you for 2/3 years about the expander, waiting several namms thinking "they said it was coming"....just finding out the dedicated expander is shelved now is a pretty big bummer.

I think the update is really cool though...since you say all IA switches on the slave gcp...I would hope that means the program buttons too. For all that extra size it will take to use 2 gcps....better make it worth the 400 bucks...are you going to lose the 2 expression ports on the slave gcp? What will the slave gcp's screen display?

On the slave gcp be neat to have the bank buttons switch from gcx to
gcx(expander 1 2 3 4)...but having 12 more ia buttons will be good....but man it will be huge....You could do a lot of things though

Man, ...I'll probably end up hunting up a ground link in the meantime and live with the fact I can't change the controllers on it. No telling how long the firmware update will take, but it's good to know you guys are working on it.

Josh, thanks again.

[stoneboy26]

At the end of the day - price isn't a big factor for me either. In Australia I am looking at $1000 to buy a GCP. I can't buy the CAE gear locally, so I need to ship that from the US and I could get the RS-10 and expnader here for the same price as buying a GCP local - I prefer to support the local shops here when I can - hence why money isn't a big factor.

But when 2 GCPs won't fit on a Pedaltrain Pro (or at least without enough room for anything else) then that is an issue. They are about the biggest "non - custom" option I have come across. Do you know any?

I'm just saying, you have smaller enclosures that you could surely build an expander into which would probably cover the needs of 95% of your users.

The biggest benefit of the 2 GCPs with one all IA is that you could run one board with all presets and 1 with all IAs - I like that!!

[Midicity]

Will I be able to use the original ground control pedal as ia pedals with my gc pro with the new upgrade? Can I use another company such as behringer fb1010 as ia piggy backed into the gc pro? I as as I use my laptop and a sequencer to change my gc pro but would like to use the behringers midi merge feature toallow noth the laptops program change feature as well as the behringer as ia.

[AddYb]

up this topic...

without the software update from GCP...
can I use 2GCP? of course both of them are the same functionality.
GCP1 midi out--> GCP2 midi in-->GCX---and so on...

by having 2 GCP means I'll have another 8 IAs and 4 presets...
does it make a sense?

*the same idea w/ using the ground link...

[Kev5150]

I think it would be a hell of an idea to integrate the Commander and GCP together. Have the Commander be your presets (increasing the Preset switches to 5 plus the 2nd bank so 10 preset patches in total) and have the GCP as all IA switches. When mounting on a pedalboard simply place the Commander below the GCP, that would save on space, price and time for development, besides the software requirements I believe this would be the best idea.


So VL bigwigs, what do you think? Could this work? Could this be done? You can have the idea free of charge


Kev

[ced]

Why cant we just get a 9 button expander for the GCP that can be used for either Presets or Instant Access Buttons ?
I see people on THIS forum and all over the web BEGGING for it ...... for years ...

Disregarding customer needs is a major mistake.

And reading the "sorry to see you go" responses from the staff when people buy another Midi Controller because of that very reason just gives me the feeling of "get lost we dont care" as a customer.

A 2nd GCP is NOT an option (like so many users stated before).
It´s not the price - its just too big.


Please give us an update on wether or NOT an expander for the GCP is coming in 2012.