Iron Ether Appreciation Society

[Bob_Ross]

^^^Do it, you won't regret it!

I've had my FMeron for exactly two months now, and it honestly makes me grin like a stupid schoolkid every single time I step on it. Totally badass pedal ...and totally unique.

 

[Emanuel]

I just received a XD and I highly recommend it. As of this writing it is available. I felt compelled to burn more of Taylor’s time to say thx but there is a self serving motive behind it... I want other pedals not in production at this time.

Hi Taylor, sorry for another email to read but I have received my Xerograph Deluxe and I’m completely floored! It is so well thought out and so powerful. It immediately took my Subterranea to a level that I could not have possibly imagined and it’s clear to me that is just scratching the surface in regard to its potential with other effects and on its own. The modular approach to achieving a player's desired end is brilliant, flexible and true to the logical lineage of early synthesis. It should be known that I am a person who sees beauty in subjectivity but I have flatly rejected many well loved iterations of bass synthesis, right beneath my feet, money allotted but no go. The power of the Xerograph Is akin to the folds in our brains, more usable area and a lot of complexity. Aside from bass synth I generally use effects to strategically widen my sound. That said I will continue to actively pursue the purchase a Divaracator and a Polytope, both of which I am certain will serve that end and more.
Thank you and stay well, Manny
P.S. It’s finish is plain straight gorgeous!

 

[Taylor Livingston]

Thanks Manny, I really appreciate hearing comments like that! Glad to hear the pedals are serving you well.

 

[Hypercaffium]

Subbed.

 

[Hypercaffium]

Hi guys,
I'm looking for some infos about the regular Xerograph (not the Deluxe version) and apart from reading its manual carefully, I tried to find some videos/demos/reviews on YouTube. Surprisingly, I've found absolutely nothing (literally), while the Deluxe version has tons of videos. How's that?
Also, I didn't find a manual for the regular version.
Anyway, I'll ask a couple of quick questions.
- In terms of practical use, what's the real difference between the regular Xerograph and the Deluxe version?
- Without the use of an expression pedal (for sweeps), the regular Xerograph is a plain LPF?
- Does they work good with both passive and active basses? I guess this question is more suited for the Deluxe version which has envelope/auto wah options.
The reason I'm eyeballing the regular version is mostly because I've found one used here in Italy, at a good price, and what I really need is an end of the chain filter for sweeps (mostly for OC-2 into gated fuzz synth tones).
Thanks.

Hi @Taylor Livingston we talked via email yesterday about the FrantaBit. Happy to see you here!

 

[Taylor Livingston]

Hi guys,
I'm looking for some infos about the regular Xerograph (not the Deluxe version) and apart from reading its manual carefully, I tried to find some videos/demos/reviews on YouTube. Surprisingly, I've found absolutely nothing (literally), while the Deluxe version has tons of videos. How's that?
Also, I didn't find a manual for the regular version.
Anyway, I'll ask a couple of quick questions.
- In terms of practical use, what's the real difference between the regular Xerograph and the Deluxe version?
- Without the use of an expression pedal (for sweeps), the regular Xerograph is a plain LPF?
- Does they work good with both passive and active basses? I guess this question is more suited for the Deluxe version which has envelope/auto wah options.
The reason I'm eyeballing the regular version is mostly because I've found one used here in Italy, at a good price, and what I really need is an end of the chain filter for sweeps (mostly for OC-2 into gated fuzz synth tones).
Thanks.

Hi @Taylor Livingston we talked via email yesterday about the FrantaBit. Happy to see you here!

Hey @Hypercaffium! The standard version doesn't have the envelope follower section. So the filter cutoff can only be controlled either by the Frequency knob or the expression pedal. It won't sweep based on your playing dynamics. So if you don't use an expression pedal, it's good for setting up those deep bassy dub reggae tones, but won't do any sweeps.

The filter itself is the same in both versions, so expression sweeps that you hear in videos for the Xerograph Deluxe will sound exactly the same.

Either version should work just the same with active or passive basses, as the input is buffered and doesn't depend on any interaction with input impedance to do its thing. The Sensitivity control on the Deluxe has a large amount of range to allow for consistent sweeps regardless of how hot the output of your instrument is.

It would be cool to see some videos of the standard version, but the pedal came out 10 years ago when Youtube pedal demos were not so ubiquitous, and the Deluxe version has always been way more popular. I think I did write a manual way back then, but the pedal is so simple that all the info that was in it fits on the product page.

 

[Hypercaffium]

Thanks!
I think I'm gonna try the standard version first, which is available here.
All things considered, what I really need is just a filter at the very end of the signal chain to do synthy sweeps.
I guess the Deluxe version with should be placed early in the chain to take full advantage of the envelope follower?

 

[Taylor Livingston]

I guess the Deluxe version with should be placed early in the chain to take full advantage of the envelope follower?

It would depend on what other pedals you're using, I suppose. Definitely after the octaver and fuzz for typical synth tones, but probably before stuff like chorus/detune, delay and reverb. Then again I'm into experimentation, so for example if you put it after delay you could get more complex results with delayed notes opening up the filter less and less each time they repeat.

 

[Hypercaffium]

Definitely.
I bought the regular Xeroghraph and I'll report back as soon as I play with it.
Thanks.

 

[DarnellBass]

The Nimbus is a very nice reverb for bass; guitarists should jump on it as well.
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[adamajah]

The Nimbus is a very nice reverb for bass; guitarists should jump on it as well.
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Both the pedal and the playing sound great!

 

[Emanuel]

Ordered it! The Divaricator. It’s going to serve me well on this Rock gig coming up. That is if the whole country doesn’t shut down for a bit. 3 piece and a singer so I’m thinking solos and production parts. If it becomes an always on thing then I’ll have to come up with another plan for solos.

 

[Hypercaffium]

Yesterday I've tried my new Xerograph (regular 3 knob version) with my Dunlop X Mini expression pedal.
The expression pedal works ok, but it doesn't have a "max" knob, just a "min" trimpot inside (which is already on the Xerograph).
I've heard that Moox EP-2/EP-3 both work good on IE pedals, right?

 

[CliffD]

dUBterranea...

 

[Grahams Groove]

Yesterday I've tried my new Xerograph (regular 3 knob version) with my Dunlop X Mini expression pedal.
The expression pedal works ok, but it doesn't have a "max" knob, just a "min" trimpot inside (which is already on the Xerograph).
I've heard that Moox EP-2/EP-3 both work good on IE pedals, right?

Yep. My EP-3 sweeps better than my DVP4 on my IE pedals...

 

[azwhofan]

Yesterday I've tried my new Xerograph (regular 3 knob version) with my Dunlop X Mini expression pedal.
The expression pedal works ok, but it doesn't have a "max" knob, just a "min" trimpot inside (which is already on the Xerograph).
I've heard that Moox EP-2/EP-3 both work good on IE pedals, right?

I also use an EP-3, no problems there, it works great. Caveat: I don't own any other expression pedal to compare it to, but who cares, it works! lol

 

[Hypercaffium]

Thank you. I've found some infos on IE FAQ page eventually. Sorry, I didn't look there before asking.
And I ordered an EP-3 of course.

 

[catcauphonic]

Anybody thinking of parting with one of the latest F Merons, would you be so kind as to PM me a few hours notice if it's going to market here? Pretty sure that does not constitute insider trading

I've always thought IE pedals were sleek and sexy Picked up a Polytope v2 not too long ago, and I really like what it does! I'm now in the market for a rad synth, and I'm sure the F Meron will scratch the itch.

Appreesh!

 

[Hypercaffium]

I'm loving the Xerograph+EP3 combination. Very tasty sweeps!

 

[Emanuel]

Divaricator update

I’m loving what I’ve got going with the Divaricator.
But it took some time and a simple realization about how to go about it.

I have to admit that the first night it totally kicked my ass. I of course was working the tour of sounds and getting to know the excite functions but I couldn’t find a setting that sounded as good as my bass alone. There was A LOT of twiddling, clicking and A-B going on. I felt compelled to find a base line setting but this was the wrong approach given the design intent.

I did immediately notice a 3D quality to my tone that I very much wanted to pursue. An analogy for “3D” would be a really great voiceover person whereby one hears the persons voice timbre and can follow what’s bing said but there is this gorgeous separate bass quality trailing along. Usually you have to run two amps to get that.

So I began to implement the plan for which I purchased the Divaricator: run an OD and a detune effect in the loop for guitar solos and production parts. My favorite OD for hardrock is a Darkglass BK3 but it didn’t work well in this context, just not the right use for it. My only detune/chorus is digital so I held off on that so latency wouldn’t send me down another rabbit hole.

The excite functions won’t replace the octave up I want and that’s OK because they are going to augment a bunch of stuff nicely and other effects just grab on to them.

All I have for octave up is the EHX Micro Pog and it sounds so artificial that I could never mix it as loud as I’d like. I’ve often thought to place an EQ after it but the routing required wasn’t worth the amount of use. So out comes the Rustybox. The Pog was working in the loop and I noticed no digital latency from it but when I put the Rustybox after it weird stuff started happening, super low output, knobs on the RB doing nothing, loud scratching sounds from the volume knob. I tried everything forward and backward, different cables, different pedals in front and after but just different weirdness or no sound until I clicked off the Divaricator. I went to bed defeated but knowing I still needed to check power supply because I was daisy chaining all this on a table to be modular in testing.

First chance the next day a power brick solved that, it should be known the my old RB has a 9v mod.

I used the EQ to sculpt the Pog octave up and added some OD from the RB.

Wow.

I spent about an hour on kinda extreme settings thinking I actually won’t mind when a band makes me do a bass solo to burn up time.

At the Divaricator I have the clean at noon, low at 9 for that 3D effect and the loop level will depend on context. I have the gate clamped down a bit and x-over at 10 o’clock. Still experimenting but this setup just grabs up the Growl exciter in the coolest way and the extreme EQ I use to tame the high octave doesn’t ruin the sub octave so I can use that as well. I’ve noticed no latency from having the Pog in the loop.

I’m going to get a Polytope and put it between the Pog and the Rusty to complete the plan for a simple switchable multi effect tone for widening my footprint during guitar solos and special parts.

So that’s where I’m at right now, the main purpose for the purchase was achieved with stunning results and there is so much more to discover. I plan to experiment a lot more but I want to keep working the music I need to learn for a new one guitar Rock band just in case this heath situation lifts and the tour happens. There’s a bunch of vocals I have to get down while playing this stuff as well but also I am inspired and just want to play!

Is this pedal for everybody? No pedal is. Could everybody, with some experimentation find a way to implement this pedal with impressive results? Absolutely.

What needs to be understood is obvious but bears repeating: this is not a stand alone pedal. It is not, buy itself a tone sculpting tool, it wasn’t designed to be and don’t be shy mixing in the tone you already love using the the clean knob. Im sending the summed signal with a lot of clean out to my always-on stuff: a Diamond bass comp jr. and that into a dUg (mild settings with the mids added back in) pedal because that’s my default Rock sound.