TC Electronic G-Major advice

[BlackBoxDude]

One thing to keep in mind:

The current software version for the G-Major is 1.27. This addresses past issues and adds features. All of the new units obviosly come with this version. I was scouting around on Ebay and every person that was selling one that I contacted had much older versions. This may be why they're selling them. To update a unit you must us a PC. A Mac won't work. There are also many listed MIDI interfaces that do NOT work for this procedure. I'm sure you can always send a unit to TC Electronic to be updated as well. This is a big enough deal that I recommend buying NEW units. Used unit are going for around $299. New units wil run no more then $399. For $100 I'd rather have a new unit with current software and a warranty. This way your experience will be good from the start and you'll be much more likely to have a solid product.

 

Here's what TC says about the update:

List of changes - G-Major update SW version 1.27

 

 

NEW FEATURES:

 

In Level, Global Out Level and Preset Out Level

We have added a Mapping Response Curve to the three level parameters the Mod Menu. This will make you able to define your own curve to the "In Level", "Global Out Level" and "Preset Out Level" parameters. This gives highly added value when using an Expression pedal to control one or more of these parameters.

 

External control of EQ and Noise Gate On/Off added

The Noise Gate and EQ blocks can now also be switched On/Off either via a MIDI CC message sent from your MIDI board or via a momentary pedal connected to the External Control In.

 

Level at "Bypass All" has been changed to be equal with Preset Output Level

This way the Output level is kept according to the set Preset Output Level also when the G-Major is bypassed.

 

Gain Parameter added to the Compressor

In many cases the Compressor will reduce the signal level. G-Major has a built in Auto Makeup Gain to compensate for this. On request we have now added a regular Gain parameter also.

 

Kill Dry Parameter

To get full benifit of all effect blocks the G-Major should be used in a serial loop. However, some amps or setups uses parallel loops. To achieve the best performance in these setups the new added Kill-Dry parameter muting the Dry signal on the Outputs, should be used.

 

The Pitch detection for the Tuner is now positioned before the Input Level control

This means that the Tuner works perfectly even if your expression pedal controlling the Input Level is turned down.

Independend level control of the two voices in the pitch section

The Pitch Shifter in the Pitch block features two voices. It is now possible to set individual Levels on the two voices.

 

Bugfixes:

- Fixed issue with DRAM timing.

- Small bugs fixed in the Reverb filters.

- The digital Input now works when you set G-Major to "Digital In" and "Internal Clock".

- Bug in Switch Input solved.

- Momentary switch now also works with Preset Boost.

- Global Input Level control has been moved to after the Noise Gate.

 

 

 

The update procedure

 

 

 

In order to update you need the following:

 

A PC

This is not a deliberate choice on the side of TC Electronic - we know that a lot of studios and musicians are Mac-users. The problems with the Macs are caused by the hardware-design of the G-Major coupled with the MIDI-implementation of the Mac Operating System, in which MIDI Sysex data is handled in a different way than in Windows. This makes the update procedure impossible to perform on a Mac.

 

Windows

You need either Windows XP or Windows 2000 to perform the update procedure.

 

A midi-interface that works

We have tested a number of midi-interfaces and found that the following interfaces can be used to upgrade the G-Major:

- Midiman USB Midisport 1x1, 2x2 AND 8x8

- Midiman Uno

- Steinberg USB2

- Creative Soundblaster PCI-128

- Oxygen 8

- Terratec EWS88

- MPU-401 compatible soundcards

 

We also found that these do not work:

- Creamware Luna II

- Emagic MT4 & Unitor8

- Edirol UM-1

- Edirol UM1S

- Edirol PCR-50

- Edirol SD-90

- RME HDSP Digiface

- Steinberg MIDEX3

- Steinberg MIDEX8

 

Please note, this does not mean that they