Digitech Trio+ question

spev11 · August 2023

Quick backround , I'm beginner intermediate, trying to get my head around playing with others but a lack of confidence and being (painfully) shy is hampering me doing so. I've got a mate who plays bass but it's almost impossible to get him to a jam of any kind. So in a bid to get me playing with some kind of structure I thought maybe a Trio would be a good option.
As I understand it the trio learns from a passage played and creates a backing track, am I correct? Will it give me a push in the right direction ? (I know its down to me but I feel like a bit of help might get me going)
I've read the reviews but I always take em with a pinch of salt and would rather trust the good people here to point me in the right direction.
ta

Benm39 · August 2023

Yes, you basically 'teach' the trio the chord sequence (just using root notes is often easier as sometimes the pedal gets confused), then it creates a bass and drum accompaniment based on the style and tempo settings selected (which you can also change).

You can add upto 5 parts to a song (e.g. intro, verse, chorus, bridge, outro) and teach the pedal the sequence you want these played in, and just use the looper to add your chords, melody lines etc over the accompaniment. It's a really clever device and brilliant practice tool to get out of a creative rut.

blobb · August 2023

You play a chord sequence into it, it listens to your sequence, learns and then outputs drum and bass that it thinks matches the tempo, style and length of your passage. There are various styles which, when it's running, you can switch on the fly. Each style has several grooves. The bass line can be complex, simple or root. You can then record your passage over the top as a loop, it has infinite overdubs. Each passage / loop can be sequenced with up to 5 others and you can programme the 5 sequences as much as you want (intro(1)/verse(2)/chorus(3)/verse(2)/chorus(3)/middle(4)/verse(2)/chorus(3)/chorus(3)/end(5) as an example).

The drummer is superb, the bass player can be a bit of a loose cannon but only that it can be a bit comedy in it's derived lines. It doesn't get it 'wrong'. The bass simplify is useful here or do what I do and play a bass line yourself into the looper (if you have a bass).

It can detect 4/4 or 3/4, if you want other timings you need to get creative with your counting.

It can do vari-tempo with a rotary knob (but you can't add extra loops unless the vary-tempo is set at the original speed). It has an fx loop and you can send drum/bass out seperately from the loop (so you can 4c it if you want amp drive).

It's a fantastic bit of kit, the best training and development tool around and I preach about it on here every time anyone gives me opportunity to do so. So thanks for that.

Trio + is the one you want.

Trio ++ is the one I want but will never get.

spev11 · August 2023

Right i'm on the search for a used one, ta both. Im hoping it'll push my playing forward and give me confidence (although it may make me a recluse that only plays with the trio, im good with that to be honest

. )

blobb · August 2023

It's at its best if you can output the rhthym section to some monitors or similar, stick a reverb pedal between trio/monitors and you have a pretty convincing band in a box. I am said recluse.

steer · August 2023

I have the original version. It's good fun. I prefer it as a practice tool instead of a looper. I used mine a lot in lockdown. I use it less now. It is easy to use though - play as simple and unembellished as possible so that it learns the clean basic tune - otherwise the bass player goes a bit nuts. .

blobb · August 2023

... or play as complex and fancy as you can and set it a challenge! I'm convinced the drummer is dynamic, if you give it a long passage it will change hi-hat/ride on the fly, stuff like that.

Jimbro66 · August 2023

Good descriptions of the functions above. In use, you can either set up the backing tracks for particular tunes you want to learn or, having set a chord sequence, you can jam over the many different rhythm settings and surprise yourself with what you can come up with. It can be a great improvisational tool.

I agree about its bass player. It’s like the guy who plays steadily at audition and then gets completely carried away at the first gig

GoFish · August 2023

How does the bass sound coming out of guitar speakers?

My older Jamman used to be able to route stereo signals out to different amps so bass could go to the appropriate amp and so could guitar. Can the trio + do this?

blobb · August 2023

It can split the signals. If you don't have two destinations it will send combined loop + bass + drum to your amp. So you maybe don't want amp drive. If you do have two destinations, you can send the loop to amp and a combined drum / bass to your second amp / monitors. How does an amp take the bass? Well it won't be the best but it's ok.

What can't do is split bass / drums but each of loop/bass/drum has it's own vol/level control. If you want to record them onto say individual DAW tracks you need to turn the bass vol down, record drum track, turn drum vol down record bass track.

It sends a stereo combined signal to headphone out if you prefer that.

spev11 · August 2023

I've ordered one, along with the footswitch so can stop start it with feet but keep it on the desk to bugger about with it. Can't wait to produce a cacophony of noise that will most likely end in divorce

Neilybob · August 2023

Great to hear you want to play with others, it’s one of the best things you can do to improve at guitar.

I use a trio+ with a footswitch and I run my pedalboard through the send and return. I use my trio+ in two ways. 1. to learn to cover a song 2. to noodle over a chord progression for ear training and scales knowledge. Highly recommend following Danish a Pete on YouTube for chord progressions and fun loops.

https://youtube.com/@danishpete

GoFish · August 2023

Ach, that just about settles it for me - until I can get myself a DAW setup I'll actually use , this looks like a good tool. Thanks for the comprehensive answer @blobb ;

hotpickups · August 2023

spev11 said:

I've ordered one, along with the footswitch so can stop start it with feet but keep it on the desk to bugger about with it. Can't wait to produce a cacophony of noise that will most likely end in divorce

Damn that’s a shame I have one with a foot switch too that I was thinking of selling

mark123 · August 2023

hotpickups said:

spev11 said:

I've ordered one, along with the footswitch so can stop start it with feet but keep it on the desk to bugger about with it. Can't wait to produce a cacophony of noise that will most likely end in divorce

Damn that’s a shame I have one with a foot switch too that I was thinking of selling

If spev doesn't want it i may be interested, but i need to do a bit research on you tube .
You can still pm me a price
Thanks.

spev11 · August 2023

ah bugger, nevermind, im sure mark123 will find the info and be interested.

hotpickups · August 2023

spev11 said:

ah bugger, nevermind, im sure mark123 will find the info and be interested.

It’s still available. Mark didn’t need it in the end

spev11 · August 2023

Its arrived. and its brilliant. Ive only been messing about for an hour or two and i'm already enjoying myself just jamming with the trio (the bass player is quite frankly bonkers but its all good fun). I've only been playing simple blues patterns to get the feel of how it works, I get the simplifying the progression to allow it to learn the part but I'm struggling a bit more with faster heavier styles that rely on powerchords etc. I'm sure I'll work it out but so far a fantastic tool for improving and improvising

blobb · August 2023

Great. We need a video though, get recording.

Remember the alt time button. Play something at normal pace it will half speed it. Play something slow, it will double speed it - Sometimes. It listens for pitch and tempo.

Play something in five time (123,12) and give it 4 bars = 20. Now play in four time (1234) it will loop every 20 beats so your four time run is now in five time with a drum fill on the last but one bar. ... or give it 5 bars of four time and you can play in fives with mad rhythms behind you.

Keeps the drummer on his (or her, or I guess, their) toes!

You can do it with 7 time and 3 time (21) as well and any other multiple you like.

7 & 5 are the best timings for writing in. (Sev-en is a very good time : 1-2-3-4-5-6-7), maybe 11 time if you feel like a challenge.

blobb · August 2023

.... DADGAD is also fun with it, as are CAPO's.

blobb · August 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz23lkrB1T0

spev11 · August 2023

will do, i need to get some serious practice in but even after only an hour playing last night I could tell its going to help. Although i'm still at the stage of laughing at the bass players random craziness, its brilliant

mrkb · August 2023

spev11 said:

will do, i need to get some serious practice in but even after only an hour playing last night I could tell its going to help. Although i'm still at the stage of laughing at the bass players random craziness, its brilliant

The “Simple Bass” button gives three levels of bassist craziness, it will just do root notes if needed.

spev11 · August 2023

i know but I can't help enjoying the craziness

Benm39 · August 2023

It is bonkers isn't it!

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