Iron Ether Appreciation Society

[warptheory]

I ordered one too. Don't need it whatsoever, but gosh it seems fun to pair with my XD.

The SubT from the clips doesn't sound like a traditional Octaver, and from the description is best to run with some sort of filter afterwards.

 

[jmattis]

Wow! Zero ragrets on missing out on the 3Leaf Octabvre now. Ordered!!

 

[Mr_BK]

The SubT is a very nice pedal and quite versatile. It has a place on my board and it fulfills "heavy and dirty synth sound duty".
I got one while 2nd market prices were insane though.

 

[sloppy_phil]

I ordered one too. Don't need it whatsoever, but gosh it seems fun to pair with my XD.

The SubT from the clips doesn't sound like a traditional Octaver, and from the description is best to run with some sort of filter afterwards.

I've learned that not all the octave circuits in these pedals were tuned exactly the same. Some apparently had a more mid-forward character, others a more deep and dubby one. It would seem I've got one of the dubby ones; with the Filter/Timbre knob turned CCW, it is very much in OC-2 territory. As you turn it up, it gets into (and then goes way beyond!) Octave Divider land.

While it is probably in its natural element being a wild synth beast, I have been using it for reggae/dub/dancehall stuff now for a few years and it is absolutely perfect. In fact, here's a good example! This is an incomplete, raw recording from just the live-off-the-floor rhythm section tracking session. But we nailed the song in two takes, so spent quite a lot of time dubbing out after. The main bass part is a pure Subterranea track, no clean signal, and Filter tuned to OC-2 mode. Some of the weird delay things you'll hear are a combination of FMeron and a Dr. Scientist BitQuest in glitch delay mode, so it's some double IE goodness here!

 

[Jakeman]

Pre-ordered. Got my SubT a relatively long time ago and liked having both it and the Octavbre next to eachother on the board - the SubT set with the synth voices in play and the Octavbre operating more as just an OC-2 type thing. I eventually moved to just keeping the Octavbre and adding dirt after and the SubT moved to the shelf. I had high hopes for the DubT when it came out, hoping to be able to really take advantage of the synth foot switch, but that tracking... I'm looking forward to having both options on the board again and will see how that goes. I'm still really kicking myself for missing out on the Summer 2024 Polytope release (hint hint, trade, unobtanium, etc.)

 

[fivestringgecko]

FOMO got me on the SubT, too. I tend to avoid social media, so I didn't know it was up for preorder until I saw @Admiral Chew's post!

Had one of the originals, sold it before I was into synth and knew what I had, and got another one thanks to @Erithon. I've heard there can be some sound variation among SubTs as well, so it'll be interesting to compare the two.

5sg.

 

[Fourstrfury]

Wow! Zero ragrets on missing out on the 3Leaf Octabvre now. Ordered!!

I snagged an Octabvre and now wish I didn't.

 

[SFOB]

I snagged an Octabvre and now wish I didn't.

Same

 

[bassbora]

I managed to get one of the Octavbre and it arrived few days ago. It’s great but I have been wanting to get a SubT for years but the don’t really come up or the prices are just mental so when this came I just had to jump on it. I can’t remember being this excited about a pedal.

Now we just need to get another release of Oxcide wink wink

 

[darkhalf]

pics dont do justice but the Pink sparkle Fmeron is Gorgeous!! and sounds great too. hoping for a divaricator w/ a sick finish in the future. Taylor makes killer tone machines. pls pardon some settings as some have been moved at transport

 

[Fourstrfury]

pics dont do justice but the Pink sparkle Fmeron is Gorgeous!! and sounds great too. hoping for a divaricator w/ a sick finish in the future. Taylor makes killer tone machines. pls pardon some settings as some have been moved at transportView attachment 7200782

Is that your normal Gain setting on the Sentinal, must have some serious Grind.

 

[Jakeman]

pics dont do justice but the Pink sparkle Fmeron is Gorgeous!! and sounds great too. hoping for a divaricator w/ a sick finish in the future. Taylor makes killer tone machines. pls pardon some settings as some have been moved at transportView attachment 7200782

Is that the newer summer 2024 Polytope? I’m on the hunt for one. I use an older Polytope quite a bit - have you ever had a chance to compare the newer one to one of the older models? If so, any thoughts on the differences/similarities, if there are any?

 

[darkhalf]

Is that the newer summer 2024 Polytope? I'm on the hunt for one. I use an older Polytope quite a bit - have you ever had a chance to compare the newer one to one of the older models? If so, any thoughts on the differences/similarities, if there are any?

yes sir it is the 2024 re release. IMO the newer polytope is more “ resonant” and the modulations are more “present” at least to my ears. im sorry sir i dont know how to describe the tone technically as english is also not my first language and also lack technical knowledge but to my ears theres that bit of a differnce and either way i think both even with different batches or years sounds really good and does the job really well amd beyond.

 

[darkhalf]

Is that your normal Gain setting on the Sentinal, must have some serious Grind.

my gain setting on the snetinel is a bit tamer sir about 9-10 oclock sometimes i go above depemding on what the nature of the song or genre needs or the band im playing with. also most of the knobs on the smtinel have been moved so pls pardon the settings

 

[Erithon]

Is that the newer summer 2024 Polytope? I'm on the hunt for one. I use an older Polytope quite a bit - have you ever had a chance to compare the newer one to one of the older models? If so, any thoughts on the differences/similarities, if there are any?

I know some folks have said they hear a difference between the V1 and V2 Polytopes, but I have not:

I prefer the V2 for its added features, but there isn't a tonal difference between them--at least in the examples I've played. The V1 still sounds great. It was marginally quieter than the V2, but I truly mean marginally--it wasn't to an extent that mattered, especially since I have never needed to dime either volume pot on either version of the Polytope.

Regarding the differences, here is what Taylor says:

The newer one has the lowpass filter option, and the LFO speed knob is retuned so that it doesn't go hyper-speed quite as early, again to make subtle sounds easier to dial in. A lot of people seemed to think of the Polytope as only being really crazy and extreme, just because it's capable of going there. So part of my goal with the redesign was to stretch out the "normal" sounds across the majority of the control ranges and only ramp up to the weird stuff right near the fully clockwise settings, to make it clear that the pedal is equally adept at mellow sounds as it is at far-out stuff.

The input and output sections were also redesigned with higher-end components so they are lower noise, lower distortion (the difference is not huge though). This is true for all the pedals starting in 2016.

The higher-end components on new Iron Ether pedals are why I pre-ordered a Subterranea. Most Subterraneae were built with the inferior components (and they still sound great!) so it'll be nice to have one that meets Iron Ether's current standards and that is more modular that the Subterrograph.

I think the Subterranea was discontinued in 2017, adumbrating the introduction of the Dubterranea in 2020. Taylor did build a one-off Subterranea (now owned by @darkhalf) in 2019.

 

[gonzkal]

I know some folks have said they hear a difference between the V1 and V2 Polytopes, but I have not:

Regarding the differences, here is what Taylor says:

The higher-end components on new Iron Ether pedals are why I pre-ordered a Subterranea. Most Subterraneae were built with the inferior components (and they still sound great!) so it'll be nice to have one that meets Iron Ether's current standards and that is more modular that the Subterrograph.

I think the Subterranea was discontinued in 2017, adumbrating the introduction of the Dubterranea in 2020. Taylor did build a one-off Subterranea (now owned by @darkhalf) in 2019.

adumbrate, really? I admit I had to look it up

 

[MT Hope]

adumbrate, really? I admit I had to look it up

Erithon is nothing if not erudite

 

[Erithon]

I talk how I talk
Sorry not sorry

 

[Root Down]

I sat out this round for a SubT but want to get on the waitlist for the next one. How do I find the SubT page, though, now that the pre-order is over? It's not listed on the IE pedal page?

 

[warptheory]

I sat out this round for a SubT but want to get on the waitlist for the next one. How do I find the SubT page, though, now that the pre-order is over? It's not listed on the IE pedal page?

I noticed that too. Might mean that this was a limited one off release?