Past Product Highlights

Before focusing on manufacturing digital audio products like the TGA Pro, the previous 20-year history of Blackaddr Audio had been custom one-offs. Occasionally, enough interest around a project resulted in a small-batch build for local musicians. Here's a couple of the more popular ones from the past

microMIDI MK I

The microMIDI is the result of two years of testing and development. Designed to be compact and simple to use, yet extremely powerful. A MIDI foot controller (MFC) is how you physically interact with your digital gear, so it should be a focal point of your rig, not an afterthought. The microMIDI MK I brings foot controllers to a whole new level with it's feature set. Released in 2014 and available in small manufacturing batches until 2017.

Download the manual or the microMIDI Application

This unit is built in small batches and sold on Tindie, check it out HERE.

• OLED Graphics Display - gives you the resolution needed for real preset names, and meaningful onscreen indicators
• Knobs - real pedals have knobs, so should your MFC! Three effect-programmable rotary encoders at your disposal.
• Switches - two stomps, and two additional push button switches built in to the encoders. All are effect-programmable.
• Expansion - a 1/4" expansion jack on the side permits an additional external footswitch or expression pedal.
• Programmable - intuitive modern app for preset programming (via MIDI ports), available for Windows and Android

Some MFCs have an enormous number of switches, and take up an equally enormous amount of space. When you can customize each preset with proper names, and even label your knobs and switches graphically on the screen, you'll quickly realize a few stomps, toggle switches and knobs is all you need for a given preset. With MIDI you can change multiple effects with a single switch. No more tap dancing on that big ole' pedalboard!

The graphic display handles navigation of preset names (left-top), an effect screen showing the status of all your selected presets knobs and switches (left-middle), as well as knob animation when adjusting values (left-bottom). Here I've configured two knobs for Bass Volume (BV) and Guitar Volume (GV) and the lower left stomp as on/off muting of the bass channel. If an effect is unlabelled, when engaged it will simply say "ON".

The simple mobile/desktop app (right) allows you to build and configure your presets just like a setlist before sending them to the MIDI controller.

Helios Booster - circa 2009 I was chasing some serious David Gilmour tones. The Pink Floyd legend is famous for squeezing amazing boosted tones out of the Colorsound Powerboost. This pedal is a customized clone, featuring BC109 silver-can gain stages. When used in front of a high wattage tube amp, it would melt your face off in the most glorious way. Even at lower settings it displayed a very musical tone stack. A good booster is the pedal that you never knew you needed until you try the right one. The volume can provide a slight bump for hitting that chorus or a good boost to punch that solo through. The gain can provide light crunch to clean sound or provide that famous BC109 transistor not-quite-fuzz, not-quite-distortion overdrive. The secret weapon of course is to use it push your tube amp into super-creamy tube saturated heaven.

• Hi Spectrum - a tone control for the higher Helios frequencies
• Lo Spectrum - control over the lower end of the spectrum
• Fusion - the more fusion a star has the more supercharged its output. I guess you could also just call it Gain
• Volume - how big a star is...or perhaps your tone? Yeah, okay, I guess you saw this punn coming a lightyear away.

These units were hand made in a small batch of 10, and I really mean hand ,made. The PCBs were photo-etched (by hand) in a dark room and received a conformal coating to ensure very long corrosion-free life. Hand drilling the holes with tiny drill bits is truly a labour of love. The enclosures were hand drilled on a press (no CNC here). The graphics were designed by yours truly (Steve), printed and applied via adhesive transparency transfer before receiving nine coats of clear coat.

This unit is no longer available.

powerMASTER - This unit was designed and built to power my original pedalboard. While most pedals run off +9V DC, a number of analog pedals become different monsters when different voltages are supplied. Some can benefit from the extra headroom 12V or even 15V can provide. Some pedals actually sound better when a lower voltage, say 7V is applied. Germanium transistor fuzzes are known for sounding their best on a dying battery. This unit simulated the low voltage, and higher resistance of dying carbon batteries.

• Fixed +9V Out - four power ports at the good ole' 9V are ready to provide some juice.
• Continuously Variable - four more independent ports with control knobs to select from 5V to 15V
• DC Panel - A 5-way selector knob would connect the fixed voltage for monitoring, or one of the four variable voltages so you could tune it exactly where you wanted.
• Dying Battery - one port simulated a dying battering with an additional tunable (from the inside) resistance circuit.
• A total of 8 ports in all!

Once this power supply unit was sitting on my pedal board, the fancy DC panel caught a lot of attention. There is something strangely compelling about turning a knob and watching the needle on an old analog panel move. Very similar to the strangely satisfying popping of bubble-wrap. This design was part of a small-batch build done in 2012. It is not longer available.