BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Spent some time with the Dubterranea tonight. Did a tour and tried some sounds out.
I totally understand where some of the glitchy comments are coming from. I didn't have 'general' trouble, but did find that the unit didn't want to track on my G string well in the 7-12th fret range; those notes played up the neck on other strings worked just fine which suggests to me it does and doesn't like certain timbres. Changing level at the bass and/or tone of the bass had no effect. That said, similar to the OC-2 or some other 'tracking pedals,' it just takes 'working around' that zone. As I played more, it seemed that things sort of came together more and I noticed less problems with the tracking. I didn't have a 'general glitching' due to string noise, etc. but I tend to mute pretty aggressively.
I haven't spent enough time to really give a good comparative consideration to if the tone of the octave component is specifically better or worse than any of the others out there or that I have. It does sound better to me with some of the dry blended in but again, I didn't spend that much time messing with it, there is a little bit of latency with it.
The synth voices... Dry I don't really see myself using any of 'em by themselves. The one I like the best I think is the saw wave because it's a little smoother than the others, but it also doesn't have the same volume as the others, so you have to blend carefully if you blend. At least one voice sounded more detuned or something than the others (right hand octave up either square or triangle, I can't remember) in a way that seemed 'not right'.
...that all said, there is value to this pedal once you put an envelope behind it. I had some really nice fun sounds with a couple envelope filters, and it really does work with them. I was using my Proton and also a JoshWah and getting some BIG and rich synth vibes that are more than just useable. Adding a chorus behind that can make your tone sound pretty huge. Tuck in some of the octave along with a blend of the two synths and it's pretty fun. I haven't had my XD to play with that, but I'd think you could get a lot of mileage out of that setup.
I think there's probably a lot of potential as a tool especially when used as a building block in your tones.
I totally understand where some of the glitchy comments are coming from. I didn't have 'general' trouble, but did find that the unit didn't want to track on my G string well in the 7-12th fret range; those notes played up the neck on other strings worked just fine which suggests to me it does and doesn't like certain timbres. Changing level at the bass and/or tone of the bass had no effect. That said, similar to the OC-2 or some other 'tracking pedals,' it just takes 'working around' that zone. As I played more, it seemed that things sort of came together more and I noticed less problems with the tracking. I didn't have a 'general glitching' due to string noise, etc. but I tend to mute pretty aggressively.
I haven't spent enough time to really give a good comparative consideration to if the tone of the octave component is specifically better or worse than any of the others out there or that I have. It does sound better to me with some of the dry blended in but again, I didn't spend that much time messing with it, there is a little bit of latency with it.
The synth voices... Dry I don't really see myself using any of 'em by themselves. The one I like the best I think is the saw wave because it's a little smoother than the others, but it also doesn't have the same volume as the others, so you have to blend carefully if you blend. At least one voice sounded more detuned or something than the others (right hand octave up either square or triangle, I can't remember) in a way that seemed 'not right'.
...that all said, there is value to this pedal once you put an envelope behind it. I had some really nice fun sounds with a couple envelope filters, and it really does work with them. I was using my Proton and also a JoshWah and getting some BIG and rich synth vibes that are more than just useable. Adding a chorus behind that can make your tone sound pretty huge. Tuck in some of the octave along with a blend of the two synths and it's pretty fun. I haven't had my XD to play with that, but I'd think you could get a lot of mileage out of that setup.
I think there's probably a lot of potential as a tool especially when used as a building block in your tones.
