Good morning and salutations TB,
By then end of today this post should be fully formed with a review for the
EHX Enigma.
An envelope filter for bass.
I'm getting so may different sounds that it will take me all day to give a fully formed review. I'll only have one video of the guts.
Video of Guts
1. Construction
The pedal is housed in a large XO style box - 5.75" L x 4.75" W x 1.5" H
ALL the components are board mounted - the pots, switches, and jacks also have nuts holding them in place. The Footswitches DO NOT have washers on the outside - so you have to be careful around the paint job when removing them.
The LEDs are red and are NOT water-clear or high brightness. I immediately changed the bypass LED to a Blue water-clear high brightness so I could see it in low light. This mod was easy - so to speak.
NO batteries inside - although if you look at the pics - there seem to be taps for a 9V+ and 15V +/- I don't know if you could attach batteries or not. But the pedal has a 200ma power supply - SO if you did connect batteries - they would drain quickly.
ALSO in the pics you may notice a section of the board right next to the 15V +/- writing. I think this is a charge pump circuit - so internally parts of the pedal may run at higher voltages - which is a big reason to not even put a battery clip in here - or else people would complain about low battery life.
the knobs turn with medium resistance - the blend turns somewhat easily so if you wanted to turn it with your toe - you could.
I do not have an expression pedal to demo that capability - but the jack is there and it controlls the sweep from the setting on the START knob to the setting on the STOP knob. This would also mean that the Attack and Decay would be turned off - but I'm not sure. I plan on modifying a wah pedal to work as an experssion. So I'll add to this page when that happens.
There is a DRY out. Personally I would have loved this to be a trigger input rather than a dry out. but i'm sure some of you can find a use for this. With the clean blend built in - I don't see much use for it.
THE CLEAN BLEND WORKS VERY WELL. fully CCW - it's my bass and that's is. Fully CW it's all filter. in between - well there is not ONE sweet spot. I find that any setting works in LP. about 75 to 50% wet works GREAT for BP. and 50% to 25% wet makes - for me - HP mode useable.
The same filter rules apply - sound sweep settings work for some modes more than others. so you may not be able just to freely switch between the modes and get fantastically different AND useable results.
CLIPS!
Ok so the descriptions of the settings will come - but I thought I'd give you all a jump on the sounds. Signal chain - P-bass with Flats - octabass - Enigma - soundcard - logic no processing. I apologize if some of the clips are loud but I've not really used a filter before and I'm still getting the hang of the Q.
For the basic clips I left the Start and Stop fully rotated opposite of each other and I would vary the Attack knob at the clip progressed. In the UP filter (START fully CCW and STOP fully CW) I also include a full wet HP and BP part so you can hear how much of a difference the clean blend knob makes in making those clips useable.
None of the basic up filter clips have the built in distortion.
http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/basicLP.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/basicBP.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/basicHP.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/basicLPdown.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/basicBPdown.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/basicHPdown.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/bassballscopy.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/bassballscopyOCT.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/OCTslowsynth.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/pseudosynthwahHP.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/p...ckLPBPdown.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/funkydeepOCT.mp3
This one is JUST for Joe Davis
http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/forJDavis.mp3
OK so I've spent a day with the Enigma and I'll be keeping it.
NOT because I'm retardedly overjoyed and I'll be using it on every song.
NOT because it puts out a "staple tone"
NOT because it's lack of an effects loop, master volume, or envelope trigger - all sorely missed in this pedal.
I'm keeping it because to me it's a first rate filter with so much tweakability that I think i'm ruined from now on. Meaning - that there are just too many sounds in here that I want. So right now - it's worth the price.
To be honest - I'm going to get serious and mod an old wah pedal because I think I'll be using this as a Wah live. I don't know if the price for the Enigma ($190) plus the cost of modding a beat up wah pedal - is worth it for just a live tool. BUT for recording, this thing is great - from regular up and down filter settings, to a percussive dub drum machine sound, to slow attack synth filter types. I can replicate so much. sure it's not a BMS - but it incorporates the START and STOP freq settings which I think is a hallmark of that pedals synthy versatility.
I'm a big OD/Dist/Fuzz kind of guy and the pedal's lack of an effects loop or trigger really has me bummed for live use. but then, with a little experimentation - I could find a sound that is perfect for live use. I played it through my marshal clone into a 215 today and I got some great doomy sounds just with the amp, my octaver, and the enigma. So it's possible.
I like my sounds dirty, synthy, an a bit extreme. And this pedal delivers. But if you use the controls judiciously, and really pay attention to the Q - you can get some nice subtle sounds as well.
I guess it's dissappointing have a pony with some many tricks ony really be able to do one or too live.
So my final word for now.
PROS:
Lots of versatility in the envelope and sweep via the attack, decay, Start and Stop freq controls
Decent sized form factor (same as Qtron and Qtron+)
Distortion is switchable and in some settings it adds just enough to make two sounds - or just enough to make one sound useable - great for a synth in a box.
The Clean Blend work beautifully - very effective at taming a big LP resonant envelope and bringing the lows back into a HP or BP setting.
Can be powered by a 9V power supply (EHX says 200ma) so no strange voltages - just a bit current hungry
All the mechanical parts are easily replaceable - in case a switch breaks
CONS:
No master volume - you have to use the Q and the Blend to control the overall volume the pedal puts out.
NO effects loop - you have to play "roll you own" in working with fuzz and OD either before or after the pedal.
NO trigger input - the pedal changes in response to what is put or turned on in front of it.
Stock LED aren't bright enough - for me at least - so i changed out the bypass LED for a bright one.
The dry output is almost pointless - unless you run a biamp rig, but it might be nice for a recording environment
Not especially Plug and Play. Some of the setting changes are so minute that you may find yourself taping them in place.
EDIT: working with fuzz before the filter AND the Distortion circuit
I read a little bit about putting a fuzz before the filter. So I took one of my muff clones and put it between the Octabass and the Enigma.
I did a series of clips using the good old p-bass with flats.
Clean - Enigma - add Octabass - add Muff - subtract Octabass
I did this four times two clips in LP mode (fully wet) and two in BP mode (blend at noon) and each of those with the enigma and with the enigma+distortion.
Here's what I got
http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/LTsequenceLP.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/L...LPwithDist.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/LTsequenceBP.mp3 http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/L...BPwithDist.mp3
Any one of those tones - I'd use live. and that represents only one type of filter sweep using the START/STOP and ATTACK/DECAY
PPS. here's a clip of me trying to cop the same settings as Brian Tyler's Favorite 3Leaf Groove Regulator setting from the video on the website. clean - LP full wet - then LP 50% wet. I didn't go for the gurgle though.
http://www.marysmonster.com/enigma/Btylerfav.mp3
