Thanks. I don't love the overdrive preset I'm using on the Aftershock right now. Are using a community preset or one of your own?
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Source Audio UltraWave ~ Catch the Wave
- Thread starter bassbrad
- Start date
Thanks. I don't love the overdrive preset I'm using on the Aftershock right now. Are using a community preset or one of your own?
I’m using the community preset “SVT inspired fat tube” by deepwave. After adjusting level/blend/drive/treble I think it’s great. I haven’t explored setting up my own sound on the Aftershock yet though.
& @Derek Williams IMHO the Bass Ultrawave as powerful as it is does not have the finer gradient tools that the Aftershock and cousins have for bending tones and you also do not have the specific engines to start with. Rather it can do more "generic" type sounds incredibly but if you want a modded or tailored Fuzz Face or Tube Screamer or other Recognizable Name Brand sound ~ nope.
Just started following this thread - UW seems pretty awesome! If you were recommending to someone looking for hard edge, aggressive sounds that work in a rock band - would you go with UW or the C4 (SA synth pedal)?
Wondering about the following:
Can I have the compressor always on, while toggling the distortion in and out?
Can I do octave up and down at the same time or is it only one or the other? Thinking about having presets for distortion, octave, and octave fuzz.
Can I have the compressor always on, while toggling the distortion in and out?
Can I do octave up and down at the same time or is it only one or the other? Thinking about having presets for distortion, octave, and octave fuzz.
I would certainly go with the Bass Ultrawave it has all the textures and tools to cut through dense guitars, drums and cymbals and even compete with synthesizer textures. With the EQ and compressor to really sculpt your sound.
You can use the morph function to go between sounds using an expression pedal.
The Ultrawave doesn't have a pitch shifter as such, there are octave type distortions. FWIW the Ultrawave plays very well with my various pitch shifter pedals even my cheap Donner Harmonic Square and TC Sub n Up mini.
Gibs210
Commercial User
- Aug 31, 2019
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No, the bypass shuts everything off, no way to exclude the compressor from the main switch.
cc: @HelpImaRock
If it's like other SA pedals with MIDI, though, one could theoretically have two presets side by side, one with distortion + compression, and one with just compression. I don't have the UW so dunno how its UI compares to something like the C4, which I use with a DMC-8 to great success.
Setting up a lot of presets like that could be clunky to jump in between without a pretty large MIDI controller, but a small one could handle moving up a carefully set-up series of patches in order very easily (including occasional duplicates if needed).
Just thinking out loud while mulling my possible uses for the UltraWave....
This might be over complicating things, but it probably depends on which MIDI controller you are using. I’m using a Morningstar MC8, and I have a single “clean compressed” preset I switch to on the Neuro hub. In that scenario there is no need to create a clean preset for each distorted one.
Actually, I think you can. Assuming I understand your question!
If you are looking for an always on compressor with the option of blending / fading in your dirt of choice, this is how to do that on an Ultrawave.
If you unlink your two channels. Choose mono > Stereo > Mono routing. Then you have two separate channels to play with. Set Channel 1 with only your compression enabled (no morphing or dirt enabled). Set one of your control knobs or expression to "Balance". This mixes between the two channels. Then set up the dirt and compression that you want on Channel 2. Turn the balance to taste. Fully Ch1 (balance left) is just your always on compression, Fully Ch2 (Balance right) is your choice of dirt. Blend to taste.
If you want to get really wild, you can add a morph distortion on either channel and assign a knob to that too. But that can get complex. You could create a patch that is Clean but compressed on ch1 morph 1. Overdriven (1. Band - no split / 0-Clean) and in the morph options, EQ to taste and set (1. Band - no split /1-Basic distortion).
Now you can morph between Compressed clean and basic overdrive. For Channel 2, you can completely change your compression from Ch1 and dial in any two dirt options you like for the morphing. Using the Balance and Morph knobs (which need to be assigned) you can blend between 2 compression options and 4 dirt & EQ options. Pretty powerful and densely packed patch. The best thing about this approach is there's no delay, latency or patch swapping / clicking. It's all done in real time using expression or pedal control knobs.
There is nothing that the Aftershock can do that the Ultrawave can't do. However there's a lot that the Aftershock can't do that the Ultrawave can do. The Ultrawave is the more modern and feature rich pedal of the two.
However, dialling in the Ultrawave to make a patch that resembles or replaces the Aftershock is complicated thing. The Aftershock has a pre-set list of distortion models that emulate specific of types of pedals, ie germ muff, rat, Marshall..etc. There a 50 different distortion engines, but no editor to make your own.
The Aftertshock's models are tailored by the user using the voice level, mix, drive and treble controls. It's a VERY easy dial in and with the 6 stock patches...you have a lot of dirt tones and styles available. If you need more compression then stack / cascade another channel, but dial down the output and grit levels. Or spank the input with a hotter signal and dial down the output to keep unity gain. If there's a model you want to tweak, say less compression and a different clipping model, you can't do that. You are stuck with the 50 models provided. They cover a LOT of ground, but you can only change the amount of grit, mix, levels and 4 band EQ. Trying to mimic some popular transistor based gated fuzzes on the Aftershock have proved difficult. Emulating a Mastortron or Titan II fuzz on the Aftershock doesn't really work, even though there are a lot of gated models available, none of them seem to fit right. However, it's quite an easy dial in on an Ultrawave.
The Ultrawave lets you take control of every module / building block. The distortion models are based on mathematical models of real clipping circuits. This is way cooler...and lets you build a patch a bit like designing your own modular circuit. Adding compression where you want, EQ curves and clipping type. It's a lot more granular. It's also a step closer to throwing a circuit design at an editor and creating a patch from it, although we are decades away from that kind of computing / processing power to actually do that in a pedal. The problem is that for some user's this is kind of overwhelming and complicated....although the community shared patches helps a lot.
On an Ultrawave, if you want a Muff patch...you have to go and work it out yourself. There's no link between and Aftershock models and the Ultrawave settings. However, given a bit of time and effort...this is can be done. The Ultrawave has the ability to morph or balance between multiple dirt options. You could sort of do this with the Aftershock, but the channel blending options are a little clunky.
So summary....Aftershock...less dense feature set and easy / familiar dial in. An excellent choice of dirt.
Ultrawave...way more features and control...but you have a mix, create and bake this one your self.
I have both and I like them both. If I was going to build a micro / mini board that only had one pedal...I would think very carefully about my use case scenario to decide which one I would put on there. In a similar way to the C4 / Spectrum choice. What am I going to use it for and what sounds do I want to produce?
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I've just created and posted a patch on the Neuro Cloud that does this for you. It's called "GMC Comp & OD & Fuzz" authored by gazzajagman (me). Please tweak to taste. You have 2 channels to play with and two morphs. Ch1 primary - is clean with no drive, but only compression. Ch1 morph is a basic overdrive, tailor your treble to taste. Ch2 Primary is Muff fuzz like and Ch2 morph is gated fuzz, Titan II / Mammoth like.
I've assigned the sustain knob to morph on both channels and the tone / treble knob is mapped to balance between the two channels. You can assign the expression to either balance or morphing, leaving you to reassign the knobs, I would choose compression myself. So you have always on compression, overdrive, muff and mammoth all in one patch. What more could anyone ask for with a single patch?
rsmith601
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It's rather epic that one person asks if something is possible and another person responds with a preset!! This is our vision of the future of effects and why we have created tools like the Ultrawave and Neuro. Thank you!
The Ultrawave is really wide....and bottomless!
Thanks Roger. Helpmarock's question / request caused me to re-think and re-adjust my fav compression patch, the "Snappy Compressor" from the Beta's default patches. It's pretty much...the sound of compression I want on bass. So now my Ultrawave's goto Snappy comp patch has morph assigned to the expression pedal which morphs in a mild / light overdrive. The morphed overdrive has slightly lowered compression and a classic OD EQ set on the morph setting. So I now have a single patch that does two roles. It now morphs between my fav default compression and my default Overdrive setting in one patch. I've still got my default treble and Sustain controls too. Which work great at taming / increasing my compression or dulling / sharpening my dirt.
I've just published this on the Neuro Community as "GMC Snappy Comp & OD" patch.
Well, uh, hmmm...I guess I should consider this pedal more seriously now that I have a preset all for me. 
This is ridiculous, but I may go for an old Soundblox Multiwave. Option paralysis is a thing. Especially with a pedal this deep.
LOL.
It's not about fear. It's about spending too much time scrolling through presets. Which I absolutely will do.
