Mild envelope filter to mimic fretless bass
- By Feral Feline
- Effects [BG]
- 27 Replies
... developing a fretless sound via pedals is a project. ...
...
An envelope follower with a separate chorus after it would be most convenient.
I absolutely LOVE that you're doing this project as a means to its own end.
Has too much emphasis been placed on filters, though?
While some swell pedals have been mentioned, I think that avenue hasn't been explored enough.
Boss Slow Gear and clones thereof generally won't quite cut it, IMO.
However, the EHX ATTACK DECAY pedal has recently been reissued, so I would start there. It has far more control than a Slow Gear clone.
You'll also find an ATTACK DELAY control on the EHX Microsynth, if you can get your hands on one to try.
I was at one point obsessed with swell pedals, to simulate a bowed effect (when I want a truly bowed sound, I get out my bow and play my DB, or I could try dragging my bow across a slab bass, too);
your Mwah-quest is very similar to my pernambuco-in-a-pedal project and of great interest to me as well.
From my research the main trio that caught my attention were the above mentioned EHX ATTACK DECAY, while the remaining two were the following:
VFE BUMBLEBEE
The nascence of this pedal was that of a Slow Gear, but after much tweaking of the circuit and very importantly the addition of some compression, this circuit leaves the Slow Gear and its clones at the starting line while itself is finishing the race. IMO.
Alas, I've not much info on this one.
DOD FX15
Out of production, but available used for anything between 200-400 ¢£₳₥$.
This one is manual, for each note you step on the footswitch and, depending on its settings, can outright mute or significantly lower the volume and then releasing the footswitch allows the signal to swell back to unity (can be boosted beyond unity).
THREE CONTROLS —
DECAY
ATTACK
CUT/BOOST: Noon is unity so you effectively need to set it anywhere but noon.
I've not found a demo on youtube that I like, so can't recommend one though I encourage you to explore them yourself.
The FX15 can also be modified to have a metal-pick (on a wire-tether) that when the pick makes contact with the (metal) string, it triggers the effect for you instead of trying to time your stomping around. The fettered-pick guarantees accurate release times, every time.
I've got the
DIY
All three of the above (EHX, VFE, DOD) can be made by you or a DIY-proficient friend or local hobbyist/guitar-tech willing to take on the project.
You could also build the Boss Slow Gear — if you do, Aion's Onyx has a noteworthy mod to the SG circuit:
"Release (toggle switch) sets the time constant of the “hold” on the signal, which also impacts the
onset speed of the swell. The stock position is in the middle, which is the fastest setting, while the
other two positions increase the swell time." — AIONFX
Aion has excellent documentation, as does MadBeanPedals, while PedalPCB has a PCB and great cadre of forumites to help with a build (any of the aforementioned).You could probably add this "Release" mod to an existing SG-clone, and certainly any DIY build, but with Aion it's all ready to go.
Some additional info:
JC MAILLET’s TRIGGERED SWELL:
This is a low-distortion optically coupled Swell (volume) circuit that is foot controlled and comes with a parallel effects loop option ... it has the ability to swell the main signal and/or the signal coming back from the effects loop ... an effect (or chain) can be swelled in and mixed with the direct signal, or both can be swelled together ... one of my targetted applications is for use with a booster/filter and loud amp combination where it can be used to slowly tip things into sustained feedback and held there as long as the footswitch is ... it also does nice reverse tape effects and other morse-code type repeats that a self-triggered unit won't do ...
CONTROLS :
"on" rise-time,
"off" fall-time,
gain/vol,
mix ...
TOGGLE SWITCHES :direct swell on/off,
three-way speed range
Possibly very FX15-like, but … I think the FX loop is the key for Maillet's, gotta add the FX loop."Line 6 Echo Park does a very good swell effect. It's one of the delay sounds and is imposed only on the delay signal, but if you mix to 100% wet and set the delay time very short with no repeats, you can get something very similar to a Slow Gear, without the nuisance that a Slow Gear presents. And you get a delay pedal for free! " — Mark Hammer, DIY-DOYEN
You'll also find the Echo Park Swell in Line6's M series (M5, M9, M13); I have the M5 and to me it is the most user friendly of the menu-diver pedals — I've found I'm not adept at pedals rife with submenus that force you to think like a programmer — give me tactile control-knobs, and be direct about them as much as possible. From what I've read of your quest, this describes you as well.
Maybe the Malekko Sneak Attack would work for you? I'm not familiar with the pedal, so might be way off bass, uhm, base with that suggestion.
Of course, the SWELL isn't the only aspect that defines "MWAH", so a smidge of reverb, chorus, "tape"-saturation could/should be added amongst possible other things.
The tape-saturation or some form of grit... you'd want something that's pronounced at the attack and then quickly cleans up as the note decays.
So something that lets you really fine-tune the threshold of onset of distortion.
Perhaps this is also where splitting the signal would be of benefit: the full dry signal triggers the distortion on the wet signal getting swelled up.
Maybe check out a doubling-pedal instead of chorus? In addition to chorus?
Compression: if not the VFE Bumblebee, Pigtronix's Philosopher's Tone generates a lot of sustain.
How about adding in the humble VOLUME Treadle-pedal?
An expression pedal to adjust the envelope follower to balance out faster riffs from slower passages of notes...
Slapback delay with the dry-signal muted? Can that be incorporated or work at all?
So much more to explore...
It's a juggling act for sure, each pedal-puzzle-piece has to be in balance with each other, and even then you'll likely have to adapt your playing technique to get the most Mwah out of the pedals.
Sounds like a swell project and fun challenge!
Swellegant:
Behringer SM200 Slow Motion
Chicago Iron Parachute Wah
DigiTech GNX4
Digitech DHP-66/Studio 5000
Digitech XP300 Space Station
Digitech RP200A
EHX ATTACK DECAY (Madbean Rustbucket)
EHX Microsynth’s attack delay control
EHX POG2 has an autoswell
Guyatone SV2 Slow Volume
Guyatone SV-M5Mighty Micro
Johnson J-Station
Line6 DL-4 Auto-volume delay (volume swell with delay-repeats added)
Line6 Echo Park’s Swell option.
Line6 M-series M5
Outlaw Effects Late Riser
Malekko A.D. (attack decay)
Malekko Sneak Attack
PAiA GATOR
IMPORTANT Mark Hammer INFO HERE: PAIA Gator - ready to build veroboard layout AND Refurbish of the PAiA Gator http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.n...A-Gator-respond-faster-to-attack-td46027.html
Pigtronix Attack-Sustain
Pigtronix Gloamer
Pigtronix Philosopher King
Prescription Electronics Experience VERO / adaptations AION / ELS
DIY Info at
General Guitar Gadgets schematic, pcb layouts
SabroTone vero layout
TC Electronic Crescendo
VFE Bumblebee
Walrus SLÖ (reverb w/ modulation and sustain feature)
Zoom G2 & Multistomp
