An effect you want (or hear in your head) for which there isn't a pedal for?

Insouciance · #1 02-20-2013, 07:55 PM

Hello TBers!

I was posed an interesting question today by friend that is thinking about writing DSP for plugins, possibly pedals, and he asked if I knew of an effect or a sound for which no pedal on the market was able to achieve.

I was stumped. My entire frame of reference is based off of words and sounds that relate to pedals that exist, or combinations of pedals that exist.

I told him I would noodle it over, and I have not been able to come up with anything useful. But that is an amazing question.

I would have said a detune pedal...but Iron Ether has since quenched that desire with the almighty Polytope.

The only thing I can think of would be an arpeggiating reverb, like a clean sample hold arpeggio in the reverberated signal, leaving your dry tone intact.

I now pose this question to all my TB friends!

If there are any pedal people that are capable of writing DSP and are doing some market research and development...feel free to take notes. I would love to see cool ideas become reality...that way we all win.

NEW TOANZ!

necropain · #2 02-20-2013, 09:29 PM

soooo

1.a pedal that makes you're instrument sound like other instrument similar to the ravish sitar but different i mean i want to sound like a trumpet using 1 pedal also it would be cool to emulate violin, cello, sarrusophone, basoon, setar(not sitar but setar), mandolin, banjo and more using one pedal.
the idea is not to replace other instruments in a band setting but to use similar sounds to those other instruments in a band setting when im pretty sure most people don't have a violinist with an epic pedalboard at their disposal all the time.

2. Waves/other environmental sounds IN A BOX. nuff said. sure all of us can make waves with delay and distortion and we can all make rain with our basses but can we make the sound of an earthquake, the soun of birds chirping huh? didn't think so.

3.a ring mod that sounds good lol just kidding.

4. a fretless emulation pedal.

5.a distorted reverb. not a pedal that hase both distortion and reverb but a pedal that makes the sounds that happens when you put your reverb before the distortion. i will admit it would be cool if the distortion and reverb were switchable but the reverb would have to stay before the distortion.

6. a chorofuzz i don't know if it exists but it would be cool.

7. so a pedal that has like 14+ knobs on it a volume or blend knob a tone knob. and a knob for up to twelve different pitches you can add into your signal literally all 12 other knobs you can assign a pitch each when you pull the knob out and then when you push it down it becomes a volume for that pitch.

i'll tell you when i have more and you must tell me if any of these are made i would drop bank on buying any of them

Musicman1901 · #3 02-20-2013, 09:34 PM

I vote for the environmental sounds that necropain said. Yeah its a far out idea but it would be pretty awesome to be able to make my bass sound like a thunder storm or something haha

necropain · #4 02-20-2013, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Musicman1901

I vote for the environmental sounds that necropain said. Yeah its a far out idea but it would be pretty awesome to be able to make my bass sound like a thunder storm or something haha

+1

and also +1 for the arpeggiating reverb idea

Insouciance · #5 02-21-2013, 01:22 AM

The environmental sounds idea is awesome, I never thought about it that way.

Derek Balonek · #6 02-21-2013, 02:34 AM

An arpeggiator would be nice. For kicks it would use shifted versions of the original note.

A realistic feedback/sustain. Like the EHX Freeze, but closer to the sound of standing in front of a cranked amp.

A bowing simulator. Similar to the Boss Slowgear in that it would be a swell. But not based on the input triggering so you can slur notes into each other. With the Slow Gear if you play one note while a previous one is decaying it sounds unhappy.

Synth based generation techniques. Amplitude modulation using a shifted version of the input signal, or even a selectable waveform that tracks the input at a chosen interval. Likewise for frequency modulation. Modulating the frequency of notes at audio speeds would be cool.

Tracking filters. Synths have filters that track the keyboard by a set amount. It would sound cool on bass/guitar too.

Reverb with modulation. I really don't know how to explain it. One can get a decent reverb simulation with a few delay lines. What if some if those delay lines were modulated? I guess a modulated reflection time? Like if the roomsize was modified by an LFO?

crapusername · #7 02-21-2013, 02:41 AM

Proper sub bass distortion without having to use multiple pedals

HunterBurgan4Me · #8 02-21-2013, 02:41 AM

I'd love to hear something that could enhance natural dynamics.

heavyfunkmachin · #9 02-21-2013, 03:00 AM

A distortion pedal with compressor controls:

You could keep better your dinamics, choose the attack time (strong attack with fuzz afterwards), and choop the top of the signal just like hard peak nasty limiting that makes distortion... closest thing I've seen is the thinman overdrive, yet it's not quite it...

Mattbass97 · #10 02-21-2013, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heavyfunkmachin

A distortion pedal with compressor controls:

You could keep better your dinamics, choose the attack time (strong attack with fuzz afterwards), and choop the top of the signal just like hard peak nasty limiting that makes distortion... closest thing I've seen is the thinman overdrive, yet it's not quite it...

Ebs billy Sheehan distortion has some sort of compressor in it for the player to set. I'm pretty sure

heavyfunkmachin · #11 02-21-2013, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattbass97

Ebs billy Sheehan distortion has some sort of compressor in it for the player to set. I'm pretty sure

No, What I mean is a distortion that you can control as a compresor. not compresor + distortion.

So you gould control attack time of distortion, Ratio, Gain, blend... and whatnot.

bongomania · #12 02-21-2013, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HunterBurgan4Me

I'd love to hear something that could enhance natural dynamics.

It's called an "expander".

bongomania · #13 02-21-2013, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heavyfunkmachin

A distortion pedal with compressor controls:

You could keep better your dinamics, choose the attack time (strong attack with fuzz afterwards), and choop the top of the signal just like hard peak nasty limiting that makes distortion... closest thing I've seen is the thinman overdrive, yet it's not quite it...

Props for knowing about the Thinman.

The Distressor can be used the way you describe, but that's a lot of money to throw at such a simple idea. Seems like it shouldn't be too hard to build, for somebody with pedal tinkering skills... Maybe ask one of our local custom builders?

kevteop · #14 02-21-2013, 04:30 AM

An amplitude envelope generator/shaper. So a full set of ADSR controls.

Doing a long sustain would be the difficult part, I guess you'd need to sample and loop like the EHX Freeze. But even if it didn't give you infinite sustain it would still be useful for doing '80s synth bass sounds.

Petros-J · #15 02-21-2013, 04:32 AM

A pedal named GAS with only 2 knobs and a footswith(with tap tempo for the delay). A level knob and a knob that will gradually add effects on top of each other as you turn it clockwise. Like having them in a single signal chain and engaging them one by one. Compressor + octave + distortion + synth + envelope + chorus + reverb + delay + bddi simulation.

Meddle · #16 02-21-2013, 04:33 AM

I quite liked my Joyo Crunch Distortion. If they made a pedal with that red LED Marshally distortion with a ton of lowend (and maybe clean blend) so I could get that thick, midsy guitar distortion rather than spiky fizz (Boss bass overdrive) or hipster gated fuzz (all that boutique BYOC stuff) then I would be happy.

Rip Topaz · #17 02-21-2013, 05:02 AM

I want a pedal that counteracts the effects of aging strings, automatically. As your strings lose their brightness, the pedal responds.

Who's gonna be the one to make it?? We ALL want this!!

ruins · #18 02-21-2013, 05:38 AM

i am not sure how far will your friend go with this but a pedal that can load free VST plugins would be awesome

heavyfunkmachin · #19 02-21-2013, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

Props for knowing about the Thinman.

The Distressor can be used the way you describe, but that's a lot of money to throw at such a simple idea. Seems like it shouldn't be too hard to build, for somebody with pedal tinkering skills... Maybe ask one of our local custom builders?

Not to mention that a variable ratio could make you keep your dynamics intact while apllying the same high level fuzz to all notes,... an expander after a fuzz to make yup for the loost of dynamics will be an AWESOME idea...

Imagine a fuzz where you can control with a knob how closely your dynamics are followed! from squashy fuzz to responsive fuzz that distorts all you play but the output gain is controlled by your input gain!

TomA1234 · #20 02-21-2013, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rip Topaz

I want a pedal that counteracts the effects of aging strings, automatically. As your strings lose their brightness, the pedal responds.

Who's gonna be the one to make it?? We ALL want this!!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

With a variable "brightness/age" setting so that you can choose the sweet spot where they sound perfect