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we really need to get a Yamaha MU, a real one

we do not Need another guitar signal chain, we do not Need another MIDI box, but the MUs have the best user interface of the MIDI boxes we're aware of, they're the sexiest, they are the least annoying to work with even with external gear, and they have an electric guitar input

rather than sweating about having the best of the best, we should probably just see what the cheapest MU100/MU128/MU1000/MU2000 we can find is; we just think playing through its system of [up to three arbitrary effects including distortion] -> chorus -> reverb would be hella fun

we had this super autistic silly idea of getting a MU1000 or MU2000 and doing shoegaze with it as a sort of technical challenge (those give you four multi-effect units for insert effects), but that would probably be a pain in the ass in the way we originally imagined it

but hell even just a MU80 would be fun, it would give us a GM, XG and i-can't-believe-it's-not-GS box that is actually enjoyable to use the panel controls for, and that has keyboardist features, and would be a really fun guitar effects processor… yeah ok let's just get one then

oh yeah you guys probably don't know this because it's not in the post, but the MU series also has a “performance mode” that tries to make it fun to use just as a keyboardist? like it will set up a bunch of effects and layered tones for you so you can just keyboard out for fun

okay, we just dropped €204 on this thing, and will probably have to pay like €50 more in import fees, but we've been thinking about getting a MU100 for so long now that this can't possibly be a bad decision

we had been wondering about a MU1000 or MU2000 instead but they're more expensive and they feel like they'd be too big, and while 4 insertion effect units would be fun, check this out: while the MU100 has only 2, the variation unit has a bunch of combo effects for guitar!

oh right one more thing, to outside observers it must seem like we have Gear Acquisition Syndrome. yes, this is true, BUT: if the MU100 works out for us, we can finally get rid of the CBX-K1XG and the QY70 without having lost very much. there's a strategy here!

perhaps also the SC-88VL (it is very pretty, but we don't enjoy using it for what we like to do)

what a useful comparison table for the Yamaha MU series, this makes our purchasing decision much easier. (jokingly) i wonder who might have made it (looks at url)

(we write stuff as much for ourselves as for others; we regularly make use of reference works we wrote, like the DTM Wiki's pages on General MIDI, its GM/GS/XG quick reference, and the comparison tables for the MU and SC series; all of them have almost excessive citations too)

why the hell are we not linking any of this stuff from our own damn blogpost, maybe we are too modest sometimes

we cancelled the MU100 order because the seller was taking a long time to ship it and we weren't sure we made the right choice

lmao we found a MU1000 in working condition (albeit a bit dirty eheh, nothing we can't clean up) on Mercari for $70 less than that MU100 from eBay. this is a really good deal. we ordered with a proxy shipping service and will be able to have our cake and eat it ehehehe

oh right, price difference will be smaller once proxy service fee and shipping are included, but this is still a fuckin steal, the MU1000 is worth like 50% more than the MU100

currently racing Japan Post EMS with whatever “DHL” (Deutsche Post?) service Thomann (DE) is using, for shipping to Sweden

Thomann didn't even ship our order yet; meanwhile, the JP package may have already left the country…

but a JP import will have to go through SE customs!

the JP package is the MU1000, repacked by the proxy shipping service, with the bulky old JP-only AC adaptor discarded at our request… this reduced the package's weight by 50%, volume by 74%, and shipping cost by 40%! the DE package is a new AC adaptor and some cables.

the DE package won easily because we've spent all week emailing back and forth with PostNord's customs staff to convince them to fix the customs classification of the JP package, but it was worth it, we won big: customs duty dropped, total VAT reduced and lower handling fee!

autistics are really good at winning at bureaucracy. this experience taught us about the World Customs Organization's Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, and the European Union's Combined Nomenclature and TARIC. it's all one big taxonomy. autism loves taxonomies

did you know that electric guitars and synthesisers are considered almost the same thing for customs purposes? they're all under HS heading 9207: “Musical instruments, the sound of which is produced, or must be amplified, electrically (for example, organs, guitars, accordions)”

in the HS system, that's further divided:

• 9207.10 Keyboard instruments, other than accordions
• 9207.90 Other

electric guitars go in the latter category! for instance, the EU's Combined Nomenclature, which extends the HS with two digits, uses 9207 90 10 for electric guitars

0% customs fees between the EU and Japan bring a tear to one's eye. true DVD Region 2 patriots represent

MU1000 GET 💚

https://youtu.be/YLb7DlS1eKk

i've now gotten to try out the MU1000 as a guitar fx processor for 3 hours, and

oh man this is fun as hell!!! it has a few simple presets (reverb, chorus, ampsim, flanger) to get you going, but oh my god, the full fx editing UI/UX is actually really good?! didn't expect this

things i like:

• it's snappy, every button responds immediately, no animations
• separate pairs of up/down buttons are used for switching between effect units, effect parameters, and parameter values, so you can move quickly
• big friendly encoder wheel 💚
• lots of fx!

it's overall a more fun experience than our ZOOM MS-80IR+, which is an unfair comparison (that thing is smaller, which forces UX compromises, and it's barely even a multistomp, it's an ampsim with very few fx), but not entirely (its UI has too many animations for our taste)

the ZOOM MS-80IR+ has much better ampsims on it, though, and you can stomp on it, and you can more easily bypass and reorder effects on it…

both have preset managers incidentally. the MU1000 lets you store guitar fx chains as “performances” — but you lose 2 insert fx units :(

ＭＵｇａｚｅ（ミューゲイザー）

we thought getting a MU just for the guitar effects would be a stupid idea that would only cause us hassle, but this thing is great actually, i wish we'd gotten it sooner

Yamaha are fucking heroes, the MU1000 still has official USB driver support on the latest OSes 26 years after its release

MU1000 distortion type and speaker model comparison? sure why not https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJm7ukeQ0Q8