Source Audio Sorcerers Society (S.A.S.S) Part 3

[Quatschmacher]

Is it worth getting an Ultrawave if I already have a C4? Are the presets compatible like with the Spectrum?

Depends what you want. It’s very different from C4 but equally good fun. A compressor with presets is also a huge bonus. Ultrawave presets only work on the Ultrawave.

 

[AlvarHanso]

Some good sounds @AlvarHanso!

Very much looking forward to getting my Ultrawave and diving in!

5sg.

I'm very much looking forward to you getting yours and downloading some of your presets! As the Stranger said, "I like your style, Dude."

 

[GMC]

My Source Audio Ultrawave beta (98/100) has just arrived in the post...I've already plumbed her in. Currently residing on Loop 5, so I can move her around the chain a bit. Loving the semi-matt paint job...very sweet. I've not had a change to plug her into the Neuro Desktop yet...however Patch 5 (red 2) is a really s
weet compressor. That alone is seriously ticking my box! Lovin the whole look...however...I think Blue knobs would look even better...
Here's some gratuitous Source Audio Ultrawave beta pedal board photos to oggle at...today without my regular coffee, it's a morning thang:

 

[GMC]

Thanks! I'll keep working on that one, because I definitely want to be able to go all Mickey Hart on some people. But it does require a big wet reverb, so I'll see if I can't get that nice and refined and uploaded soon.

ETA: my Neuro hub just got delivered, so that may make things a bit easier for me to save presets as I work.

Beam me up mate! Community cloud please!

 

[Poobini]

My Source Audio Ultrawave beta (98/100) has just arrived in the post...I've already plumbed her in. Currently residing on Loop 5, so I can move her around the chain a bit. Loving the semi-matt paint job...very sweet. I've not had a change to plug her into the Neuro Desktop yet...however Patch 5 (red 2) is a really s
weet compressor. That alone is seriously ticking my box! Lovin the whole look...however...I think Blue knobs would look even better...
Here's some gratuitous Source Audio Ultrawave beta pedal board photos to oggle at...today without my regular coffee, it's a morning thang:
View attachment 4179190

View attachment 4179191

View attachment 4179192

Beautiful!!! This is my first time actually seeing your board - Is it a Schmidt Array or inspired by it?

 

[AlvarHanso]

My Source Audio Ultrawave beta (98/100) has just arrived in the post...I've already plumbed her in. Currently residing on Loop 5, so I can move her around the chain a bit. Loving the semi-matt paint job...very sweet. I've not had a change to plug her into the Neuro Desktop yet...however Patch 5 (red 2) is a really s
weet compressor. That alone is seriously ticking my box! Lovin the whole look...however...I think Blue knobs would look even better...
Here's some gratuitous Source Audio Ultrawave beta pedal board photos to oggle at...today without my regular coffee, it's a morning thang:
View attachment 4179190

View attachment 4179191

View attachment 4179192

Pedalboard porn. You should post a NSFW warning! Where do you get those metal pots? I must have!

 

[GMC]

Beautiful!!! This is my first time actually seeing your board - Is it a Schmidt Array or inspired by it?

Thanks bud! It's inspired by a Schmidt, however they didn't make one like this...until recently. So I think it's fair to say that this was inspired by their overall design and ideas....and now they make one surprisingly similar to mine! Lol!
You'll see a link in my tag to my DIY board build.

 

[GMC]

Pedalboard porn. You should post a NSFW warning! Where do you get those metal pots? I must have!

Lol! Thanks! They were first shown on this thread a few dozen pages back by fivestringgeko who pioneered the idea. I got them mine from Amazon uk, however you can get them on the US site too:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08HLZJM6C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Depending on the vendor, they come in red, blue, 2 different shades of black, silver and then there's the stunning gold. The gold ones look amazing on a Spectrum Filter. I'm even toying with getting a custom purple paint job done on my C4 just so I can fit gold knobs on it...

The set of 4 blue knobs are quite hard to find in the UK at the moment...however, I've just ordered 2 sets of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07K2T7VMP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here's Fivestringgeko's original post:

Got a wild hair and pimped out my C4 and Spectrum just for fun...

5sg.

View attachment 4076193

 

[AlvarHanso]

Spent about an hour getting my first Neuro Hub Scene made. Was going to do an Ultrawave test with Phish's Martian Monster this weekend in honor of the junior senator from Texas, but didn't get to it. Which worked out, as I now have the Hub to make a one button preset to get me into and out of the deep spacefunk. I started with the awesome fat compressor factory preset (can't recall if I tweaked it last week or not, prob still factory settings) and moved it to channel 2, switched the compressor on channel 1 to expander, engaged 2 band100hz distortion engine, and then put a distortion 14, a foldover, IIRC, with Diode Hard Gate for morphing. The C4 is employed my go to lately: Envelope Phaser. It just sounds great with the Ultrawave. To my ears at least. Then the Collider used a Shimmer with very low settings, just to add harmonic character, and a Hall mixed low to add the space. I will most likely go back and add a lower octave on the C4 on a 2nd voice. I just uploaded all of them to the cloud. Excited about the Hub. Had a few technological snafus with it, but got it successfully saved in the end.

This Ultrawave impresses me more and more each time I mess with it.

 

[GMC]

Here’s a few tasters. The first one is UW first, followed a Zvex Mastrotron which I was trying to copy. Then the same two patches are alternatively run into two different filters (C4 and Chromatron respectively). (Note that in this clip the Ultrawave was in front of the C4 rather than in its loop so the envelope response wasn’t as good as it could’ve been).

The second is a different UW sound.

The third is the same and the second but with some phaser, delay and reverb.

I have to say that the vast array of different Overdrive and Gated distortion options, the separate pre or post compressor...the 8 band graphic EQ along with the three band semi...all add to a very impressive range of Gated and normal overdrive options. I'm surprised how much of the Aftershock I can emulate. For me, I don't think I'll want to part with my Aftershock, I think it's an easier dial in for the more "regular" dirt sounds. But I can see the Ultrawave becoming the new Aftershock for a lot of people.

I really like the modular approach to the Ultrawave's Neuro Desktop Interface . I can choose any distortion engine, any multiwave engine, any Harmonic trem engine, any compressor setting and switch them on / off.
I think the only think currently missing on the Ultrawave beta is the ability to switch these elements on / off via the Midi map. It would be amazing to be able to remotely switch on / off Compressor in a given patch. Maybe an idea for a future firmware?

It's not going to be long before I can post my attempt of a "Mastotron" patch up on the community cloud. I think one of the positives of digital modelling is that a patch can be shared so easily and it's exactly the same for everyone who downloads it. If I / we work out a pretty close approximation of our settings on a Mastotron, then everyone gets to use that particular sound. Where as the source analogue circuit has a huge variation between the component variation, diode's bias (which is huge on the Mastotron), bass input impedance and pedal settings. Effectively, everyone who has a real Mastotron has a different take on that spluttery sound.
For me, I think I'm not far off emulating it either...and that's just from my first night's twiddling.

 

[SumOne]

I'm very impressed with the Gemini Chorus.

It cost about as much as Boss CEB-3 and a MXR Phase 90 combined so I was on the fence because there are benefits to having the two separate pedals (each can go in different parts of signal chain, stack them, visually tell where each is set etc), but board space benefits of just one pedal and I don't think I'd get much use of chorus and phaser being used simultaneously.

My main concern was if it could do the tones as well as those separate pedals and it seems like it can, added bonus being just how tweakable it can be and how many other options there are - pleasantly surprised it can do decent filter type sounds as well as work as an EQ and HPF.

I found the C4 had so much variety in tones that the hardware limited it for hands-on tweaking (e.g. hard to remember what's set as 'control 1' and 'control 2' across different presets as they are potentially very different for a Octaver vs Filter vs Synth, and input/sens, mix/vol controls didn't really get used much once set) so it ideally needs additional switching and extensive preset planning to make the most of it. Gemini Chorus on the other hand I think does fine as a stand-alone pedal with 6 presets (I'm not sure anyone needs 128 different modulation presets!) and all of the 4x controls are useful and obvious what they are across the different modulation types.

 

[ReeV0]

It would be great if a future C4 update would allow us to reassign the Input and Mix knobs, allowing for twice as much preset control. Like SumOne said, I pretty much just set my Input and Mix levels in the editor and once set, they're set, no need to change them again.

 

[SumOne]

It would be great if a future C4 update would allow us to reassign the Input and Mix knobs, allowing for twice as much preset control. Like SumOne said, I pretty much just set my Input and Mix levels in the editor and once set, they're set, no need to change them again.

This would be really good. And to have the 'alt' controls for control 1 & 2 (like the Spectrum) would be really useful too.

The C4 is great but you can't get the most out of it without having it plugged into phone/laptop or midi controller. I'd pay a fair bit more for a C4 housed in hardware like the collider rather than having to buy things like the the Hub + MC6 (which more than double the price of a C4).

 

[GMC]

I'm very impressed with the Gemini Chorus.

It cost about as much as Boss CEB-3 and a MXR Phase 90 combined so I was on the fence because there are benefits to having the two separate pedals (each can go in different parts of signal chain, stack them, visually tell where each is set etc), but board space benefits of just one pedal and I don't think I'd get much use of chorus and phaser being used simultaneously.

Gemini Chorus on the other hand I think does fine as a stand-alone pedal with 6 presets (I'm not sure anyone needs 128 different modulation presets!) and all of the 4x controls are useful and obvious what they are across the different modulation types.

There have been many posts written about the Lunar / Mercury and Gemini units. I think there is a market for a new small One Series pedal that uses the newer architecture of units like the C4 / Spectrum or Ultrawave. I think the dual engine concept of the Aftershock would lend it self to a modulation pedal that allows the cascading of two different modulation engines. I'd love to be able to place a Quad Chorus over to top of a Flanger...in one box. The ability to change presets via Midi Map / Midi CC would be nice. The ability to choose / select what the two control knobs do means that SA only needs to produce one pedal and not 3. The ability to swap out the mix control for a low retain control is better for bass. Having 128 internal presets is the way forwards...I have around 14 already loaded onto my Neuro Hub for my Lunar. As far as the quality of the sounds available...that's already there. Adding a multiband trem or even a multiband modulator would be a cool option too. I think a pedal like that could easily go toe to toe with some of the bigger Modulation panels already on the market, while shaving off a lot of pedal board space and introducing a number of cool features and sounds to an overcrowded market full of modulation clones.

 

[yberwaffe]

There have been many posts written about the Lunar / Mercury and Gemini units. I think there is a market for a new small One Series pedal that uses the newer architecture of units like the C4 / Spectrum or Ultrawave. I think the dual engine concept of the Aftershock would lend it self to a modulation pedal that allows the cascading of two different modulation engines. I'd love to be able to place a Quad Chorus over to top of a Flanger...in one box. The ability to change presets via Midi Map / Midi CC would be nice. The ability to choose / select what the two control knobs do means that SA only needs to produce one pedal and not 3. The ability to swap out the mix control for a low retain control is better for bass. Having 128 internal presets is the way forwards...I have around 14 already loaded onto my Neuro Hub for my Lunar. As far as the quality of the sounds available...that's already there. Adding a multiband trem or even a multiband modulator would be a cool option too. I think a pedal like that could easily go toe to toe with some of the bigger Modulation panels already on the market, while shaving off a lot of pedal board space and introducing a number of cool features and sounds to an overcrowded market full of modulation clones.

Nice idea, but it needs full midi support if it will compete with the top tier units out there.

 

[GMC]

Nice idea, but it needs full midi support if it will compete with the top tier units out there.

Yes I agree, however from an audio point of view, Source Audio were there with the Lunar, Mercury and Gemini from day one. I was a long term Strymon Mobius owner until very recently and I really think the Source Audio units are in a different league in terms of their sound quality. The Chorus sounds on the Mobius are ok, but the SA ones are far better. The phaser and flanger sounds are better too. The only thing missing was a Harmonic trem. There are some trem type of sounds available but they aren't amazing. However, the new multiwave trem found on the new Multiwave is REALLY good...better than anything found on the Mobius.

 

[SumOne]

^^^
Constant advancing of digital pedals is exciting and I am keen (having owned Aftershock, C4, Helix, various TC electronic toneprint pedals, and now the Gemini), but a bit of me is a luddite and feel it gets me in a consumer loop - if you bought a decent Phaser 40 years ago there's a good chance it'd still work today and sound good and be worth a lot, perhaps a bit big/heavy/noisy/one-trick-pony by modern standards but it has mojo! Digital pedals though I'm not so sure they've got the shelflife, do they gain mojo over time?! It's like owning an iPhone or Laptop, constant consuming and upgrading....can't be far off before some sort of subscription service comes out to keep constantly up to date!

 

[LowWay]

^^^
Constant advancing of digital pedals is exciting and I am keen (having owned Aftershock, C4, Helix, various TC electronic toneprint pedals, and now the Gemini), but a bit of me is a luddite and feel it gets me in a consumer loop - if you bought a decent Phaser 40 years ago there's a good chance it'd still work today and sound good and be worth a lot, perhaps a bit big/heavy/noisy/one-trick-pony by modern standards but it has mojo! Digital pedals though I'm not so sure they've got the shelflife, do they gain mojo over time?! It's like owning an iPhone or Laptop, constant consuming and upgrading....can't be far off before some sort of subscription service comes out to keep constantly up to date!

I have sold off a lot of analog pedals near their peak collector values over the last 35 years. I’ve had versions of tube screamers, big muffs, etc that have brought in nice returns, but most of my analog pedals have not held up like that and do not sound better than the digital ones, and do not hold their value.

Have you seen the drop in values of neve consoles over the last 20 years?

 

[SumOne]

I have sold off a lot of analog pedals near their peak collector values over the last 35 years. I’ve had versions of tube screamers, big muffs, etc that have brought in nice returns, but most of my analog pedals have not held up like that and do not sound better than the digital ones, and do not hold their value.

Have you seen the drop in values of neve consoles over the last 20 years?

Yeah I'm sure you're right.

I just get the nagging feeling that I get something like the Gemini and it seems like the best Chorus I've owned and I'll never need to replace it, but in a year there will be a new one that also includes 2x modulation engines....my GAS will never end! But the alternative would be that pedals never improve - then I'd be complaining about that! So ignore me.

 

[Quatschmacher]

I think the only think currently missing on the Ultrawave beta is the ability to switch these elements on / off via the Midi map. It would be amazing to be able to remotely switch on / off Compressor in a given patch. Maybe an idea for a future firmware?

I’ve asked Jesse about whether there’s room for MIDI map controls for the on/off switches of the compressor, distortion, EQ and Morph so let’s see.