Future Impact V4 Bass & Guitar Synthesizer and Analog Modelling MIDI Synthesizer Expander

A comprehensive 4-oscillator monosynth and effects pedal, triggered by audio (with ultra-low latency) or MIDI, which can also drive external synths.

Inspired by enthusiastic members of the Talkbass forum, the original designer of the Akai Deep Impact, Andras Szalay, designed an entirely new and vastly-improved bass synthesizer pedal in late 2015. Thus the Future Impact I. was born.
From there, the FI’s popularity and reputation grew. It is used by notable players such as Chris Wolstenholme of Muse, Doug Wimbish of Living Colour and The Rolling Stones, Bootsy Collins, Mohini Dey, Etienne M’Bappe and Dub FX.
To trigger the FI4’s analog modeling synthesizer* via audio input from any pitched instrument, select Instrument Mode bSS (Bass) or Gtr (Guitar). If your instrument is neither of these, choose whichever option best fits its pitch range. To trigger via MIDI, select Snt (Synth) or EUI (EWI). In any Instrument Mode you can also trigger an external analog synth via the 1V/Octave CV and Gate outputs using an optional adapter cable. (*More synthesizer models and features to come in free future updates.)
The 99 presets can all be accessed directly and easily on the pedal using the footswitches; they can also be accessed via an external midi controller. Every preset can be edited, or replaced by the user using the PC or MAC editor, connected through MIDI.
The synthesizer in the FI4 requires an input of cleanly-played monophonic notes for optimal pitch tracking performance.
The pitch detection algorithm is used also to drive a very accurate tuner, which mutes the audio during the time of tuning.
The most important 9 parameters which are used in sound shaping are accessible via the onboard controls, with their full ranges; these are:

Filter envelope attack time;
Filter envelope decay time;
Filter envelope depth;
Filter cutoff;
Filter resonance;
Dynamics (envelope follower/MIDI note velocity amount) to filter cutoff;
Dry/wet balance;
Overall level;
Effects level.

An editor for PC and MAC is available for creating and archieving sounds very interactively.
Deeper parameters are controllable via MIDI, with pre-mapped / standard assignments for filter cutoff, volume, octave switching, etc. A cloud-based preset sharing library is available with a huge number of presets provided by users.

1. Extremely low latency, due to very fast pitch recognition algorithm, the fastest and most accurate pitch tracking of any audio driven synth. Unique response acceleration by using previously detected pitch at trigger detection.
2. 4 oscillators with saw, square, triangle waveform generated with 512 kHz sampling rate for extremely high audio quality. Unique fine tuning of oscillators in either cents or in beats.
3. Every oscillator having own decay envelope for saw wave, and individual LFO for PWM.
4. Unique foldover distortion of oscillators individually, or cross-oscillator with 512 kHz sampling rate for harmonically very rich sounds with very high sound quality.
5. Oscillator synchronization from Osc 1 to Osc 2 for very bright sounds.
6. 4 Flexi modules allow arbitrary cross-modulation of parameters in a very intuitive way.
7. In spite of the small internal memory of the processor a unique data compression method allows long delay effect time, compressing five 32 bits audio data into one 64 bit double word.
8. Extremely low noise performance: two Codec input channels driven at different audio levels and two output channels driven differentially provide 10dB S/N improvement.
9. New operating system of V4 allows seamless switching between 4 application programs.
10. CV and Gate outputs can be used to drive 1V/octave analog synthesizers.
11. Free software updating with different applications.
12. Full ADSR envelope, with Release independent of the release of the guitar sound, sustaining the last valid intentional pitch.

Perfect response with Mohini Dey’s breathtaking playing technique.

MIDI IN: Improved stage performance through external control: expression pedal, program down, sustain switch.
MIDI OUT: Driving external synthesizers from the next software version

Potential customers are highly motivated by seeing prominent users like Bootsy Collins, Mohini Dey, and Etienne M’Bappe.

The next software version will have pitch to MIDI conversion additionally to the current features; it will also implement the author’s patented ultrafast neural net based pitch recognition algorithm.
The operational system of the V4 software allows seamless switching between four separate application programs. Currently only two of these slots are used, next applications coming with FM synthesis, sample replay or multi effect section.