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"Extra Something" Pedal for Synth

#41
I think its a good path you're taking, getting rid of smaller pedals and replacing them with larger more versatile pedals- the MS20 clone of some sort would be a good addition as well--

In my opinion, you should really start thinking about a controller and forgoing a built in LFO on the Photron; With one of the Moog controllers you can control multiple pedals at once with lfo's or expression and a bunch of other cool stuff. If you wanted something smaller and cheaper, I bet Mario could whip up a custom Modbox that just had a couple waveforms and two outputs for controlling two filters at once- Im just speculating but I would imagine it could be done for under $200 and in relatively small enclosure.. I could be way off though so you'll just have to ask if you really want to find out!

You won't have any need for a Prometheus or Gyroscope, because you'll be able to do real sample&hold filtering by patching in an s&h waveform into the Freq/Sweep inputs of your pedals that accept them. Same goes for 'wobble' autowah stuff, phasers that have the inputs, etc.

Anyway, just a thought.. either that or a Philosophers Tone would be my 'extra something', although the Philosophers Tone might not be of as much value to you if you're not looking to sustain long notes, I know that you like to play faster funky stuff, sometimes at least.
 
#42
I wholeheartedly agree. The next pickup will be the Nocto Loco, followed by either a Pulse Synth or a controller in the vein of what you mentioned. The MP-201 is definitely amazing. I should probably buy it but I don't really need S&H. I do want LFO or expression control of two filters simultaneously though. I'm sure Mario could build a Mod Box with 2 outputs, a few wave forms, speed, depth, and a stomp switch for expression/lfo control.

I'd have "wave shaping" with the BOD +GEB-7 (hollow square), Nocto Loco (pseudo-saw), and Pulse Synth (square). I'd be thrilled if I could work a triangle wave in there somehow but I'd definitely like to have one more "oscillator" pedal.

I've thought about sticking a second chorus pedal in between the parallel wave/fuzz section and the parallel filter section. I'd need something versatile enough to add a little thickness to sounds but also to create a detune type of effect. I love the CE-5 after everything but I'd like to experiment with something else as well.

I think we should have a thread with pictures and explanations of our synth rigs at some point soon.
 
#43
The Nocto from what I've heard is a square octave-- it can do a bunch of crazy stuff also, but its base octave sound is very similar/same to the Pollyanna/Guyatone/and other square octaves. Comparing these tones to the Freqbox's waveforms, they are a dead ringer for its square- but the sawtooth, not so much. Its a good sound though, I was gassing big time for a Nocto for the longest, but came across a Pollyanna and have been complacent since.
 
#44
Apparently a crazier mod box would be much more expensive than I had anticipated. I'm having Mario build a mini expression splitter and mod the Photron for CV so that I can ultimately use the MP-201 that I'm sure this will all inevitably lead to.

I'm definitely going to buy the Nocto in the next few days.

I'm almost 100% on the Pulse Synth but am totally open to any other wave shaping alternatives as well. I would really like to get a Freqbox but am wary of its tracking and don't have a place that I can try it out locally until I'm back in Los Angeles in May.
 
#45
If you're buying a pre-built Nocto, I strongly recommend you ask for the Pulse control to be CV or expression controllable, or have a stomp switch to turn it on/off. Foot control of the Pulse would be so sweet on that pedal, and I plan to add it to mine as soon as I get some bench time.

The Nocto probably is closer to square than saw, but it doesn't have the hollow only-odd-harmonics sound of a true square. I dunno exactly what it is; I left my oscilloscope in my other pants.
 
#46
Yeah thanks that's a great idea. Maybe mario can do a 3-way expression splitter box. It would be cool to have the tremolo depth increase at the same rate as two parallel filters were being swept!
 
#47
speak_onion said:
If you're buying a pre-built Nocto, I strongly recommend you ask for the Pulse control to be CV or expression controllable, or have a stomp switch to turn it on/off. Foot control of the Pulse would be so sweet on that pedal, and I plan to add it to mine as soon as I get some bench time.

The Nocto probably is closer to square than saw, but it doesn't have the hollow only-odd-harmonics sound of a true square. I dunno exactly what it is; I left my oscilloscope in my other pants.
Click to expand...

I'd love to try one of these out, but won't buy new and haven't seen a used one yet in 6 months. A friend of mine offered to help me build a pedal, teach me to solder and the basics etc and the Nocto is the pedal of choice. Problem- they offer the parts list and schematics... except for one IC that is blurred out.

Note the top right corner. Its not listed in the text either.
http://www.commonsound.com/nocto/pcb1.2/kit_parts_1of1.pdf

Speak-onion: Would you mind taking a picture of the pcb? That would be great if you could! I'd love to build one and have a few mods in mind.
 
#49
fightthepower said:
I'd love to try one of these out, but won't buy new and haven't seen a used one yet in 6 months. A friend of mine offered to help me build a pedal, teach me to solder and the basics etc and the Nocto is the pedal of choice. Problem- they offer the parts list and schematics... except for one IC that is blurred out.

Note the top right corner. Its not listed in the text either.
http://www.commonsound.com/nocto/pcb1.2/kit_parts_1of1.pdf

Speak-onion: Would you mind taking a picture of the pcb? That would be great if you could! I'd love to build one and have a few mods in mind.
Click to expand...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7642209&highlight=4558#post7642209
;)

The kits that 4ms makes are great, and almost always worth the extra $$ considering the hassle of sourcing parts. This is especially true for a beginner and for someone who doesn't already have a bunch of drawers full of parts around.
 
#51
1 bit ring mod takes your signal, and squarewaves it and then does a pseudo-ringmod process with a squarewave oscillator. Square waves = 1 bit, get it? I made a thread about it with clips a while back, and when people asked if they could pay me to make one for them I said yes and the thread was deleted, so I gave up on that.

There's like 8 "master" electronica threads! :D
 
#53
Another topic for you guys:

I'm pretty happy with my modulation section. It's currently
Boss CE-5 -> Source Audio Tri-Mod Phaser -> Duncan Shape Shifter

Do you guys have any favorite modulation effects for synth sounds?

I really like cutting the lows on the CE-5 when I'm using fuzzes with the Moog so that the chorus is only audible towards the higher end of the sweep. Very synthy.

The Source Audio is a really cool pedal but I wish that it had more flexibility in its speed settings. It can definitely go pretty deep though.

The Duncan is fantastic. I use a low depth triangle wave to add some textural pulsing to some sounds. You can use the tap tempo with a square wave setting and maximum depth to get awesome super choppy rhythmic sounds.
 
#54
speak_onion said:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7642209&highlight=4558#post7642209
;)

The kits that 4ms makes are great, and almost always worth the extra $$ considering the hassle of sourcing parts. This is especially true for a beginner and for someone who doesn't already have a bunch of drawers full of parts around.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'd thought about asking you for a while but never got around to it... you beat me to the punch :cool:

jufros said:
I KNOW!!! We need to all agree to settle on one. That's too bad I'd love to hear clips. That sounds like a really cool wave shaping solution.
Click to expand...

That will shape the hell out of your signal! ;) It was a pretty wild sounding pedal, pretty damn cool, but not your average wave shaper.
 
#55
I've been talking with Mario for the last few days and think that I've come up with the best solution. The expression splitter box will have knobs to control the range of each sweep, but it will also have two expression inputs that will be selectable via stomp switch. This will allow me to plug an LFO Mod Box into the 2nd jack, giving me optional LFO control of the filters when I want it. If I go with his deluxe Mod Box, I'll get sample and hold as well, but I'm not sure how often I'd use it so it might not be worth the board real estate. I'm thinking I should have him build an EXP jack into the Mod Box though so that I can control the LFO rate with an expression pedal. I'd have a pretty insane amount of control of both filters individually or simultaneously with two expression pedals.

I have the Pulse Synth and Nocto in the mail and can't wait to see what sounds I can get out of them.

I've also been intrigued by the LoTechNoFiBot for a while. It's similarly priced to the Noise Box and I don't think I could justify having both in addition to my orbit that is definitely not going anywhere anytime soon. The Heliotrope is a cool pedal too but if I'm going to add another fuzzy square oscillator imitator, it should probably be something fairly extreme. However, I'd definitely want this crazier sounding pedal to have a relatively precise envelope without a ton of nonsense going on during its decay. The LTNFB has a gate switch while I've read that the Noise Box is fairly sloppy.

FTP, do you own a Gyroscope? How do you like it?
 
#56
So... I found a really nice deal on the MP-201 today and realized that for all the features I would get out of it, it really wasn't that much more money than my custom expression/LFO mod box would have been. Thus, the plan changes yet again, I get sample and hold, tap tempo, and actually more board space.

I'll have two LS-2's and two filters controlled by the MP-201. So now I have the following to experiment with and resolve...

What's the best way to take advantage of both LS-2's?

I'm thinking that dedicating one LS-2 to the MF-101 and Photron isn't actually the best way to do this. I think this idea is better but tell me what you think..

Bass->LS-2 #1

LS-2 #1
Channel 1: MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, Boss GEB-7
Channel 2: 4ms Nocto Loco, Robot Factory Pulse Synth
Output->LS-2 #2

LS-2 #2
Channel 1: Brown Dog, Orbit, Noise Box, ODB-3, Photron
Channel 2: Moog MF-101
Output->modulation pedals

This would actually wind up being fairly similar to what rnilson is doing in that it would render the Moog a dedicated sub bass filter and the Photon the main synth filter. I'd still able to blend the Pulse Synth with a clean suboctave with the BOD, but I'd also be able to toggle between (probably ultimately more useful) or blend the BOD and Nocto (probably muddy and indistinct). I still have the Photron and MF-101 in different parallel loops, but I just won't be able to send the Moog the dirty signal (with the exception of the Nocto).
 
#57
What the hell.. that was supposed to be my 2nd LS-2! I'm keeping my mouth shut! :p

*edit* Now that you're getting an MP-201 are you rethinking the Photron? The LFO side of the pedal takes up a bit of space compared to the slimmed down versions, though they don't have envelope either, so Im not sure what size it would be if it just dropped the LFO and kept everything else- I could do without the effects loop as well. Anyway, something to think about now that you have so much control over those LFO's in the MP201..
 
#59
The point I was making is that you can do the parallel filtering and take up less board space if you went for a Photron without a built in LFO. You mentioned wanting to be able to tap tempo the lfo's and all this, and that you would have to sell stuff to get the MP201; so now that you have that control with the MP201, you could save some cash and real estate with a Photron sans LFO, though if the filter is already being made its a moot point regardless.
 
#60
No I totally figured that out as well but I figured that if I was throwing down the cash for the Photron, I should a) include CV and b) give it as many options as possible to both maximize resale value and ensure that I'm not married to the MP-201 if I decide it's too much, I want to strip down, need a smaller setup for a certain gig, or using the Photron more "conventionally."
 

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