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PYPB 44: ...like Tetris with boxes, wires and cables
- Thread starter Jean Baudin
- Start date
Got some reason, I want to name your board Battleship Galactica.
Not right now. All solo stuff at the moment. Hence the reason I have so many non-standard bass pedals. Lots of textural looping and live sound manipulation going on.
Thanks for recommending those Tourgear cables. I really like the EBS Flats and Golds, but the Tourgear ones seem to have more length options.
They are REALLY nice. I am enjoying them quite a bit. Plus their TRS and insert cables are awesome too. And I'm OCD enough that I enjoy having all my cables match! Haha.
Latest version of the board.
Added - Hizumitas and MBD2
TAFM, and Lil'Fella have migrated to the nano+ grab and go board for now.
Added - Hizumitas and MBD2
TAFM, and Lil'Fella have migrated to the nano+ grab and go board for now.
latest version added the new to me Boss PW-2
Here's my current board iteration. Haven't zip-tied everything because I'm not 100% set on this setup, so apologies for the scattered pedals haha. Signal goes:
Bass -> MXR M87 Bass Compressor -> Moog Minifooger Boost v2 -> DigiTech Bass Whammy -> Iron Ether Subterranea -> Iron Ether FMeron -> Pike Amplification Vulcan XL -> smallsound/bigsound TAFM -> Moog MF-107 FreqBox -> Loop-Master True Bypass box 1 (Moog MF-101 Envelope Filter in loop) -> Moog MF-103 12-Stage Phaser -> Loop-Master True Bypass box 2 (Moog MF-102 Ring Modulator in loop) -> Alexander Pedals Radical Delay DX -> Moog Minifooger Delay v2 -> Moog MF-108M Cluster Flux -> Boss DC-2W -> MG Music Space City -> Amp/DAW
This board is all stupid overkill, I know, but I don't currently play in a band so this is more or less my studio setup. I was fortunate enough to snag all the moogerfoogers before they were discontinued, so the black market organ selling was to a minimum. My thoughts on each of the pedals:
MXR M87 Bass Compressor: I've had this for years and have considered upgrading several times but I'm not sure what I would upgrade to, any and all suggestions are welcome. I go back and forth with kicking it off the board completely and just using compression in Abelton, but it is nice to smooth out the signal a bit for the Subterranea, FMeron and the FreqBox. This is usually an always-on pedal but it is interesting to hear how the MF-101 responds differently when it's off.
Moog Minifooger Boost v2: This is used to drive the MF-101, sometimes for a very light bit of grit/overdrive. Plugging an expression pedal into it turns it into a pretty smooth volume pedal for swells. Usually an always-on pedal too.
DigiTech Bass Whammy: The Whammy v4 was one of the first pedals I had (I was a big Rage Against the Machine/Dragonforce/Tool fan back in the day) so when they reissued the Bass Whammy it was a no-brainer. I use it for all your typical bass-whammying needs. The 1 octave up on the whammy side sounds much better than the 2 octaves up IMO, and the 1 octave up/10th up on the harmony side is musical as hell. Doubt it would happen but a Bass Whammy DT would be very cool.
Iron Ether Subterranea: I used to run this in conjunction with an old Japanese Boss OC-2 Octaver with the SubT doing more synthy octave work and the OC-2 doing the square-wave 1 octave down, no dry signal thing. Then I found out that the SubT gets pretty close to the OC-2 if you turn the synths off and close the filter so I kicked the OC-2 off. This thing gets stupidly loud.
Iron Ether FMeron: I've been going back and forth with considering selling this thing, but it really does stuff no other pedal does. I've only recently tried sending an LFO from the MF-102/MF-103/CP-251 and that opens up a whole new realm of musicality. Think I'm going to keep it for the time being (unless you have a Doom 2 and want to trade lol).
Pike Amplification Vulcan XL: Got this because I wanted a DI and an overdrive, and this thing excels at both. I run it at 18 volts and when the distortion is cranked it gives a good Beastie Boys "Sabotage" tone. The overdrive mixes with your signal real well and having the extra EQ options is great for retaining low end. Another always-on pedal. I wish instead of the Dry Out it had an Expression In to control the gain mix, it would be unstoppable.
smallsound/bigsound TAFM: Another loud as hell pedal. I usually use an ungated fuzz with the MF-101 to get close to Flea's tone on "Sir Psycho Sexy" (originally recorded on a Mutron 3 with dying battery). This thing rips and there are a ton of fuzz tones available on tap. Kinda reminiscent of the bass tone on "Left-Hand Suzuki Method" by the Gorillaz.
Moog MF-107 FreqBox: This thing is better on synths but I've started running the oscillator out to the MF-102's carrier input, which can get a bit nuts. Psycho-robot distortion sounds. If I'm running my bass through it I usually use the sawtooth wave because the others get real wild real fast. Running an LFO through the Waveform input is fun though.
Moog MF-101 Envelope Filter: My favorite envelope filter of all time. This sits in a Loop-Master true bypass loop because A.) it needed to be rackmounted for space reasons and B.) I didn't like the always-on drive from the MF-101. Some do, but I found it messed with some of my pedals downstream. I had a Chromatron that I sold a few years back simply because I liked the sound of the MF-101 better, despite the former having an insanely useful effects loop. Wish I had held onto it given how much they go for today. Oh well! Running the MF-101's envelope out into the cutoff in is a lot of fun and I'm trying to figure out how to coax a downsweep out of it using the attenu-verter on the CP-251. If anyone has had success in doing that, let me know!
Moog MF-103 12-Stage Phaser: The first Moogerfooger I got back in 2013, and the best phaser of all time IMO. Sending a square wave LFO from the MF-102/CP-251 to the sweep in on the MF-103 is too much fun, biphasing for days. This thing goes from classic 60's psychedelia to all-out spaceship vibes. I do wish it had a mix knob though.
Moog MF-102 Ring Modulator: Same Loop-Master situation as the MF-101. This thing makes drum machines light up. I love the weird tremolo rhythms you can get with low LFO speed. As far as the Ring Modulation goes, listen to "Conjugal Burns" by The Mars Volta if you want to hear how nuts this thing can get. I probably use this LFO out the most, it's nice to have a switch for square and triangle wave.
Alexander Pedals Radical Delay DX: Admittedly I haven't used this much, just traded for it on a whim when I was looking for a digital delay that got weird. My new year's resolution is to get to know this pedal better but I'm a big fan of the arpeggiated delay options, which ended up giving my EQD Rainbow Machine the boot off the board.
Moog Minifooger Delay v2: The only Moogerfooger I'm missing is the MF-104 Analog Delay. It was absurdly expensive back when I was sourcing the other Moogerfoogers and it's even more absurdly priced on the aftermarket now. I managed to snag one of these for $150 a few years back, and with an LFO modulating the delay time it's definitely a baller-budget MF-104. Sending a squarewave LFO from the MF-102 to the minifooger delay time sounds hilarious, usually. Other times it sounds very serious and good.
Moog MF-108M Cluster Flux: This acts as my stereo splitter. Another always-on pedal with light settings, it kind of acts like a spatial widener if that makes sense. The chorus and flange are fantastic, and go from classic sounds to full-on signal meltdown. Also a ton of fun with drum machines, like the MF-102. Really wish there was an LFO out on here though, given the waveform options.
Boss DC-2W: Usually an always-on pedal on the first setting as well, this pedal gives more dimension and space to your sound without any warbly-ness. Kinda reminds me of Alice in Chains stuff. I like that you can get in-between settings by hitting two buttons simultaneously.
MG Music Space City: I don't remember how I found out about this like a decade ago, I think I might've just been looking up pedal demos on YouTube. Managed to score one for a reasonable price in 2016, this thing is almost an instrument unto itself. It's two stereo delays modulated by a chorus. The maker is Brazilian and the manual is tough to read, so this guy mostly gets used for sound mangling sound effects. Lot's of '50s sci-fi sounding stuff and apparently Brian Eno likes/uses them.
The CP-251 is mostly used for the mult and the LFOs, I like running both LFOs into the mixer and messing with the lag times/attenuation to get a more complicated waveform to send out.
Pictured but not currently used:
Moog MF-105M MIDI MuRF: I haven't been using the MuRF as much recently and it's been sort of relegated to the feedback loop on the MF-108M, where it makes strange bird noises. The overdrive on this thing is unique and fantastic though and I'm considering using it just for that. Another super fun pedal to run a drum machine through.
Lexicon Vortex: Sometimes I run everything through this for the sole purpose of morphing from one preset to another, but I haven't done that in a minute. It's a pretty wild piece of gear from the '90s though. Very good on synths especially.
Sorry for the wall of text and pics!
Bass -> MXR M87 Bass Compressor -> Moog Minifooger Boost v2 -> DigiTech Bass Whammy -> Iron Ether Subterranea -> Iron Ether FMeron -> Pike Amplification Vulcan XL -> smallsound/bigsound TAFM -> Moog MF-107 FreqBox -> Loop-Master True Bypass box 1 (Moog MF-101 Envelope Filter in loop) -> Moog MF-103 12-Stage Phaser -> Loop-Master True Bypass box 2 (Moog MF-102 Ring Modulator in loop) -> Alexander Pedals Radical Delay DX -> Moog Minifooger Delay v2 -> Moog MF-108M Cluster Flux -> Boss DC-2W -> MG Music Space City -> Amp/DAW
This board is all stupid overkill, I know, but I don't currently play in a band so this is more or less my studio setup. I was fortunate enough to snag all the moogerfoogers before they were discontinued, so the black market organ selling was to a minimum. My thoughts on each of the pedals:
MXR M87 Bass Compressor: I've had this for years and have considered upgrading several times but I'm not sure what I would upgrade to, any and all suggestions are welcome. I go back and forth with kicking it off the board completely and just using compression in Abelton, but it is nice to smooth out the signal a bit for the Subterranea, FMeron and the FreqBox. This is usually an always-on pedal but it is interesting to hear how the MF-101 responds differently when it's off.
Moog Minifooger Boost v2: This is used to drive the MF-101, sometimes for a very light bit of grit/overdrive. Plugging an expression pedal into it turns it into a pretty smooth volume pedal for swells. Usually an always-on pedal too.
DigiTech Bass Whammy: The Whammy v4 was one of the first pedals I had (I was a big Rage Against the Machine/Dragonforce/Tool fan back in the day) so when they reissued the Bass Whammy it was a no-brainer. I use it for all your typical bass-whammying needs. The 1 octave up on the whammy side sounds much better than the 2 octaves up IMO, and the 1 octave up/10th up on the harmony side is musical as hell. Doubt it would happen but a Bass Whammy DT would be very cool.
Iron Ether Subterranea: I used to run this in conjunction with an old Japanese Boss OC-2 Octaver with the SubT doing more synthy octave work and the OC-2 doing the square-wave 1 octave down, no dry signal thing. Then I found out that the SubT gets pretty close to the OC-2 if you turn the synths off and close the filter so I kicked the OC-2 off. This thing gets stupidly loud.
Iron Ether FMeron: I've been going back and forth with considering selling this thing, but it really does stuff no other pedal does. I've only recently tried sending an LFO from the MF-102/MF-103/CP-251 and that opens up a whole new realm of musicality. Think I'm going to keep it for the time being (unless you have a Doom 2 and want to trade lol).
Pike Amplification Vulcan XL: Got this because I wanted a DI and an overdrive, and this thing excels at both. I run it at 18 volts and when the distortion is cranked it gives a good Beastie Boys "Sabotage" tone. The overdrive mixes with your signal real well and having the extra EQ options is great for retaining low end. Another always-on pedal. I wish instead of the Dry Out it had an Expression In to control the gain mix, it would be unstoppable.
smallsound/bigsound TAFM: Another loud as hell pedal. I usually use an ungated fuzz with the MF-101 to get close to Flea's tone on "Sir Psycho Sexy" (originally recorded on a Mutron 3 with dying battery). This thing rips and there are a ton of fuzz tones available on tap. Kinda reminiscent of the bass tone on "Left-Hand Suzuki Method" by the Gorillaz.
Moog MF-107 FreqBox: This thing is better on synths but I've started running the oscillator out to the MF-102's carrier input, which can get a bit nuts. Psycho-robot distortion sounds. If I'm running my bass through it I usually use the sawtooth wave because the others get real wild real fast. Running an LFO through the Waveform input is fun though.
Moog MF-101 Envelope Filter: My favorite envelope filter of all time. This sits in a Loop-Master true bypass loop because A.) it needed to be rackmounted for space reasons and B.) I didn't like the always-on drive from the MF-101. Some do, but I found it messed with some of my pedals downstream. I had a Chromatron that I sold a few years back simply because I liked the sound of the MF-101 better, despite the former having an insanely useful effects loop. Wish I had held onto it given how much they go for today. Oh well! Running the MF-101's envelope out into the cutoff in is a lot of fun and I'm trying to figure out how to coax a downsweep out of it using the attenu-verter on the CP-251. If anyone has had success in doing that, let me know!
Moog MF-103 12-Stage Phaser: The first Moogerfooger I got back in 2013, and the best phaser of all time IMO. Sending a square wave LFO from the MF-102/CP-251 to the sweep in on the MF-103 is too much fun, biphasing for days. This thing goes from classic 60's psychedelia to all-out spaceship vibes. I do wish it had a mix knob though.
Moog MF-102 Ring Modulator: Same Loop-Master situation as the MF-101. This thing makes drum machines light up. I love the weird tremolo rhythms you can get with low LFO speed. As far as the Ring Modulation goes, listen to "Conjugal Burns" by The Mars Volta if you want to hear how nuts this thing can get. I probably use this LFO out the most, it's nice to have a switch for square and triangle wave.
Alexander Pedals Radical Delay DX: Admittedly I haven't used this much, just traded for it on a whim when I was looking for a digital delay that got weird. My new year's resolution is to get to know this pedal better but I'm a big fan of the arpeggiated delay options, which ended up giving my EQD Rainbow Machine the boot off the board.
Moog Minifooger Delay v2: The only Moogerfooger I'm missing is the MF-104 Analog Delay. It was absurdly expensive back when I was sourcing the other Moogerfoogers and it's even more absurdly priced on the aftermarket now. I managed to snag one of these for $150 a few years back, and with an LFO modulating the delay time it's definitely a baller-budget MF-104. Sending a squarewave LFO from the MF-102 to the minifooger delay time sounds hilarious, usually. Other times it sounds very serious and good.
Moog MF-108M Cluster Flux: This acts as my stereo splitter. Another always-on pedal with light settings, it kind of acts like a spatial widener if that makes sense. The chorus and flange are fantastic, and go from classic sounds to full-on signal meltdown. Also a ton of fun with drum machines, like the MF-102. Really wish there was an LFO out on here though, given the waveform options.
Boss DC-2W: Usually an always-on pedal on the first setting as well, this pedal gives more dimension and space to your sound without any warbly-ness. Kinda reminds me of Alice in Chains stuff. I like that you can get in-between settings by hitting two buttons simultaneously.
MG Music Space City: I don't remember how I found out about this like a decade ago, I think I might've just been looking up pedal demos on YouTube. Managed to score one for a reasonable price in 2016, this thing is almost an instrument unto itself. It's two stereo delays modulated by a chorus. The maker is Brazilian and the manual is tough to read, so this guy mostly gets used for sound mangling sound effects. Lot's of '50s sci-fi sounding stuff and apparently Brian Eno likes/uses them.
The CP-251 is mostly used for the mult and the LFOs, I like running both LFOs into the mixer and messing with the lag times/attenuation to get a more complicated waveform to send out.
Pictured but not currently used:
Moog MF-105M MIDI MuRF: I haven't been using the MuRF as much recently and it's been sort of relegated to the feedback loop on the MF-108M, where it makes strange bird noises. The overdrive on this thing is unique and fantastic though and I'm considering using it just for that. Another super fun pedal to run a drum machine through.
Lexicon Vortex: Sometimes I run everything through this for the sole purpose of morphing from one preset to another, but I haven't done that in a minute. It's a pretty wild piece of gear from the '90s though. Very good on synths especially.
Sorry for the wall of text and pics!
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@bassbassbass12345
Re:Running the MF-101's envelope out into the cutoff in is a lot of fun and I'm trying to figure out how to coax a downsweep out of it using the attenu-verter on the CP-251. If anyone has had success in doing that, let me know!
Run the env out of the mf 101 to the attenuator in. Attenuator out to the cutoff in on the mf 101.
Set the cutoff knob high, like above 1k. Set the amount to 0. You should be getting a down sweep now.
You can get a stronger signal using the 4way multiple to double the signal into the 4 input mixer then out.
If you want to change the speed of the sweep, use the lag processor. Start with the knobs at 0 then increase slowly.
Re:Running the MF-101's envelope out into the cutoff in is a lot of fun and I'm trying to figure out how to coax a downsweep out of it using the attenu-verter on the CP-251. If anyone has had success in doing that, let me know!
Run the env out of the mf 101 to the attenuator in. Attenuator out to the cutoff in on the mf 101.
Set the cutoff knob high, like above 1k. Set the amount to 0. You should be getting a down sweep now.
You can get a stronger signal using the 4way multiple to double the signal into the 4 input mixer then out.
If you want to change the speed of the sweep, use the lag processor. Start with the knobs at 0 then increase slowly.
Anyway here's wonder wall...
After months (a year?) of trying to find a high gain distortion that felt right I decided to try stacking the Minis and holy smokes this is what I've been looking for. I got both for this purpose but when I tried them together last time I was after something else. Really happy I hung onto the second one.
Also the Super Collider into the Doom is insane and I love it.
After months (a year?) of trying to find a high gain distortion that felt right I decided to try stacking the Minis and holy smokes this is what I've been looking for. I got both for this purpose but when I tried them together last time I was after something else. Really happy I hung onto the second one.
Also the Super Collider into the Doom is insane and I love it.
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Man I wish the CP-251 had some kind of clock sync. If you could clock it to midi or analog gates, I'd have to have it on my board.
Firstly - what an awesome collection - super jealous of your moog phaser and envelope…
Since you did ask on the compressor front…
the mxr is a good compressor- the empress bas compressor is a great compressor. If you like a clean compressor with the ability to add some colour and the best (imho) metering available- this is your guy.
there is a whole compressor thread here on TB and this one routinely comes up as one of the top ones. The effectrode LA 1A does too if you want some tubey deliciousness added to your tone but that one has no metering at all. I read the thread a couple years back and got the gen one empress - then I upgraded to the bass compressor- mostly for the better form factor but it is far and away better in every respect.
love to hear some of the sounds you get - amazing setup!
Oh man thank you! I tried that out last night and got it to work, I think the step I was missing before was setting the amount to 0. To get a stronger signal using the mixer though, are you sending the envelope CV to the attenuator -> mult -> mixer -> cutoff or are you sending the envelope to the mult -> mixer -> attenuator -> back to the cutoff? Also does it matter where the lag processor is in this CV chain? Thanks again for your response!
I refuse to believe someone doesn't make a small box that does tap tempo to CV+Midi out, sort of like your Microcosm does in your pedal board building vid. Love your videos and demos btw, I've been watching them for years! The C4 editor one completely demystified that pedal for me and I'm eternally grateful
Thank you so much, this was exactly the info I was looking for. Metering is definitely a must for me, how does the empress work in terms of sustain? Some stuff I play need harmonics to clearly ring out for a good amount of time.
Currently working on getting some demos of this board up on soundcloud, I'll post them here when I do!
Any option should work for boosting the env strength, try both and see. There will be control differences in where you set the knobs.
For the lag, I would use it last to make the knobs the most predictable or easiest to adjust. Again try moving it around to have a little fun.
I alwayks keep a notebook handy to catch all the settings I like.
