Analog Synth Pedals
 

Hey! First post here. I saw a lot of conversation about synth pedals but I'm more interested in analog synth pedals. I have been checking out a lot but really I am just curious about ALL of them. Old, current, discontinued models.. Anything. I want to review any and all of them to see which ones are best for me. Thanks!

Off the top of my head, these are analog:

EHX Bass Micro Synth
Pigtronix Mothership
Ibanez SB7
Digitech Bass Synth Wah

These are digitally controlled analog:

Korg G5
Chunk Systems Octavius Squeezer

These are digital:

Boss SYB3
Boss SYB5
Behringer BSY600
Akai SB1 Deep Impact
Markbass Super Synth

There are a couple of other more boutique synth pedals which are mostly variations on octave dividers, octavers (analog) or pitch shifters (digital).

I personally don't try to get hung up on the analog vs digital thing. All synth pedals have pros and cons. I would just go on sound and the features you need.

The EHX and the Ibanez aren't synths at all really, they're both just a combo of octaves fuzzes and filters. The BSW is definitely digital, at least as far as the modes that have an actual oscillator in them. I don't know if the Mothership's oscillator is analog or digital, but the pitch tracking at least is definitely digital. There is no analog way of performing the "intelligent ring mod" that they advertise on that thing.

99% of synth pedals are either just glorified octavers, fuzzes and filters, or they have a digital pitch tracker. The only analog way I know of to track pitch is via a PLL (see Schumann PLL or Infanem Harmony Synth) or via oscillator sync (Moog Freqbox)

This right here is the real answer.

I've been rocking the MarkBass recently and I love that thing!! I get some really crazy synth sounds out of it along with some really great tracking octave sounds. I've used the Boss SYB-3 & 5 and the Digitech and dug all of them too but I just keep going back to the MarkBass.

Check out out my sound clips page (signature below) for some audio samples and patches for various synth FX boxes including the Korg G5, Octavius Squeezer, and a bunch of digital boxes. Should give you an idea of some of the sounds they're capable of.

Note the latest digital boxes really have great sounds, including the cheap-O Zoom B3.