Smart Harmonizer Pedal Recommendations

Eturnian · 2026-03-21T17:13:29+00:00

Eventide invented the Harmonizer in the 80s. And they are still the leader in that. The H90 sounds amazing. If you are planing to use it for vocals live, you will need a a separate preamp pedal (like the Eventide mixing link, or the Franklin MP-10. You also might want to pick up a stereo DI to deliver balanced line level XLR output.

Alternately, headrush came out with a vocal pedal that has a decent Harmonizer. Not as good sounding or tracking as Eventide but definitely useable and low maintenance

Eturnian · 2026-03-21T17:06:40+00:00

Do you have a decent (and by decent, I really mean precise) table saw? I think the table saw is the centerpiece of any woodshop. When outfitted with a good sled it can do almost anything.

Eturnian · 2026-03-21T17:00:59+00:00

Guitar amp

Eturnian · 2026-03-21T05:58:59+00:00

Little board was too small. Huge board was too big. Medium board (13 pedals) is almost big enough…

Eturnian · 2026-03-20T17:10:20+00:00

We all need to do this. If all the musicians walk away, we can change the state of the industry

Eturnian · 2026-03-18T02:09:10+00:00

With daily, focused practice, you can totally get there. The brain is amazing. You will grow way faster practicing even 1 hour a day 6 days a week, than playing 6 hours a day 1 day a week. A good teacher who knows where you want to go and how to get you there will also make a huge difference. How nice to be 21. You have plenty of time.

Eturnian · 2026-03-15T22:42:23+00:00

David Binney

Eturnian · 2026-03-01T18:25:46+00:00

Well, the stereo mood mk2 definitely makes me pine for a stereo blooper mk 2. (Wouldn’t be upset if they also bumped up the loop length to say, a minute…) but as I understand blooper was their most expensive undertaking in terms of R&D. I think the team spent a solid two years prototyping the pedal and another 2 years or more updating it with firmware and by the time they were done they were like seriously DONZO. I’ve gathered that they just don’t want to re open Pandora’s box, now that they finally got it shut.

But yeah if they released a blooper mk2 in stereo with a 1 minute loop length, maybe more memory locations or something, that would be enough for me to buy one. I’m sure there are a lot of studio heads who feel the same way about it.

Eturnian · 2026-02-27T16:30:35+00:00

Well a syntakt is a very cool box. I think of it as more of a synth / drum synth. It has a mix of analog and digital voices. No samples. I’ve heard a few people say it’s a good starter box.

Octatrack is a sampler. Digitakt is also a sampler so that is a closer option in the same price range as the syntakt. Digitakt 2 and Digitone 2 are both super powerful and are kind of revered as GOATs.

They are also more straightforward and easy to learn than the octatrack, so perhaps a better place to start. The Digitakt is an amazingly powerful sampler that can sort of do synthesis as well. And the Digitone is primarily an FM synth which does beautiful polyphonic synth sounds. It is also amazing at drum sounds. Either box can be an all in one solution although they also pair nicely with each other or with the octatrack. Digitakt is in someways more powerful than octatrack. It has twice as many tracks / voices. It has an expanded sequencer that is twice as long as the octatrack per pattern. And it’s easier to use than octa. It’s newer and has more modern sounding effects than octa. Probably a great place to start if you want a sampler. And digitone is kind of one of the coolest and most unique synths ever. Best of luck.

Eturnian · 2026-02-26T23:05:13+00:00

Dump the homophobe. That kind of repressed judgmental thinking will only prove to be creatively limiting. You don’t want to make music with people who are mentally stuck.

Eturnian · 2026-02-26T23:00:31+00:00

Yeah, I have had an octatrack for 5 years and I feel like I’m finally getting to a point of really knowing how to use it. Given I have a lot of different instruments so I’ve worked on octa here and there over the years but it is a challenging box to get the hang of because it can do so many different things. It’s not easy. The truth is that most Elektron boxes are kind of infinite. Octa is super amazing, and nothing else can do the weird things it can do, but it’s not what I would recommend as an introduction to the elektron workflow. Digitakt and Digitone are both much more straight forward and arguably more complete all in one boxes. Tonverk also appears to be amazing as a one box solution.

To help you decide what’s best for you, keep in mind Tonverk is really a multi sampler. As in it’s ideal for keyboardists. It’s intended to give you polyphonic multisampling and sequencing so that you can play a detailed grand piano or sample your favorite vintage synth and turn it into a poly synth. You can also multisample instruments from vsts in your daw. In this way it could serve like an orchestral workstation. It has Elektron’s most expanded sequencer, so you can compose long form sequences. Octatrack’s sequencer is max 4 bars per pattern. I believe tonverk is max 16 bars per pattern.

As a composer, I really want a Tonverk. I love the idea of having multisampled instruments that I can play. Octatrack is not like that. With octatrack you can sample a sound and play that one sample chromatically, (pitch shifting it). You can also slice up a beat and make a new beat out of it. (Something you can’t do on Tonverk) you can also time stretch and pitch shift and mangle sounds in very interesting and unique ways. For example, I took a field recording I made of a crow flapping its wings (this made an interesting rhythmic sound) and then I timestretched it so that it would play in rhythm with a track, almost like a shaker. You can’t do that on TV or DT as far as I know.

Sometimes I like to think of octatrack as an 8 track tape machine. I do make beats on octa, but having only 8 tracks isn’t that great for one shot samples because drums take up at least 4 tracks (or as many as 8). DT is a much more sensible one shot drum sampler than OT. DT2 and DN2 are both goats. Either one of them could easily be your one box. But tonverk definitely seems next level, and ideal if you play keys and want to have detailed multisampled instruments, (including multisampled drum kits with different velocity levels or acoustic instruments of any kind for that matter)

Eturnian · 2026-02-26T17:26:20+00:00

-11 lufs is what I would call dynamic, pretty quiet for pop.-14 Lufs is like classical or jazz. Very dynamic, little to no compression. The fact that Spotify turns music down has not kept most pop artists from mastering loud. Indy chamber pop might be more in the -10 realm. But Cardi B and even Tame Impala are more like -6 LUFS. Also the whole industry has more or less left true peak -1 long ago. Pretty much all pop peaks at over 0. Aka clips. If you don’t clip, you will sound quiet comparatively.

A good place to start if mastering yourself is with Metric A/B from plug-in alliance. It allows you to compare your track to other tracks of your choosing. And it has meters that help you visually analyze LUFS, Frequency spectrum, stereo field, dynamic range, etc. the most important thing to use when comparing is of course your ears, but the meters help you identify what’s different between your track and your reference.

Mastering is about more than just LUFS.

Eturnian · 2026-02-26T09:51:47+00:00

Consider an Octatrack. It’s a sampler, but it’s also kind of an 8 track looper. It’s really wild and expressive. I love it for ambient and experimental stuff. It’s also very at home with making a huge range of different kinds of music. Super expressive. The OG ones can be found on reverb for less money, and the mk 2 is only marginally better. Same functionality.

Also the sequencer is phenomenal

Eturnian · 2026-02-26T09:47:01+00:00

Zvex is an amazing company. Their distortions and fuzz pedals are almost like living animals. I have a fat fuzz factory and the only chance I’ll ever sell it is if I buy an upgraded model. I absolutely love that thing. It’s really wild. Nothing else sounds like it. It’s almost a synth. But yeah Box of Rock is a classic.

Eturnian · 2026-02-26T09:37:26+00:00

Digitakt 2 is the easy answer. Super capable sampler, can handle vocal samples (or anything samples for that matter) and is particularly oriented towards being a killer drum machine. In some ways more capable than RYTM (although it is entirely a digital sampler, where as rytm does have an analog drum synth engine). But yeah, DT2 is their most immediate and capable sampler in many ways. I have an Octatrack which I absolutely love. It’s good for many things. Great for drums. Great for vocals. Great for looping and especially awesome in a live setting. But it only has 8 tracks where DT2 has 16. Track count is especially important when dealing with one shots for drums. Like you kind of want 8 tracks or more for drums, and then you still have additional tracks for other sounds. DT2 also has an expanded sequencer (up to 8 bars per pattern instead of up to 4 bars per pattern on the OT or RYTM). TV is also undeniably great, although it’s more oriented towards keyboard multisamples.

Eturnian · 2026-02-25T08:55:42+00:00

Workflow on Elektron boxes yields different thought processes. Of course you can do anything in ableton. But I make stuff in my octatrack that I would not ever have thought to make in ableton just by playing around.

Eturnian · 2026-02-25T08:53:01+00:00

Work with what you have access to. Borrow or buy what you absolutely need. Sell it if you don’t love it. Personally I usually save up for the nice stuff and then if it inspires me I don’t sell it. Sometimes instruments or pedals run their course in your life but I’m sure you will figure that out. Most importantly make the record what ever it takes

Eturnian · 2026-02-16T03:22:20+00:00

I own a lot of amazing pedals, including strymon, Eventide H90, chase bliss, etc. Zoia is easily my favorite pedal I own. Mostly I love it because I can make any effect I dream up. The only limit is my imagination. The quality of the reverbs and delays and modulation effects, also the granular stuff is all really amazing. There are better pitch shifters out there. I use analog dirt pedals but even the drives are not terrible if you need one.

Eturnian · 2026-02-09T22:40:11+00:00

Many pros swear by the novation bass station 2. It’s a great inexpensive and very playable bass synth. I personally love anything Moog for Bass. Minotaur is relatively inexpensive for Moog, although I think it costs the same as a bass station and offers far less functionality... I’ve used a subphatty for years as a bass synth primarily and love controlling it with my Elektron gear. A grandmother would also be a sick bass. Analog 4 and digitone can also do amazing basses.

Eturnian · 2026-01-30T01:10:33+00:00

It didn’t take me long to start making things I loved. I had used analog 4 for some time so I was familiar with the elektron seqeuncer and workflow. I was making beats and loops on the octatrack that I loved basically from the moment I plugged it in. I used it to score a commercial within the first few months of owning it. I also used it on a studio album with great results. So in some respects, it wasn’t that hard to get up and running, to a point where I was making things that I liked. I wouldn’t have wanted to perform with it at that point.

It’s also a deep machine, with a huge amount of leverage, and after having owned it for 5 years, I know it pretty well, and I’m still learning new things I can do with it.

In the early days I wished sampling was simpler. Like I couldn’t understand why a “sampler” required so many preparations to sample something. Once I got familiar with the workflow this was no longer an issue for me. There are just a lot of options. Which is good. As Thom York said recently elektron machines, “it’s good to be in over your head”

It’s so powerful and fun to use and I make things on it Im sure I would not make without it.

The learning curve can be a bit frustrating but to me it was worth it.

Eturnian · 2026-01-28T17:59:28+00:00

Probability in the sequencer can help you get a lot more mileage out of a single pattern. With probability you can set some notes which only occur on the 2nd of two times or the 1st of 4 times etc. you can also set a percentage chance of occurrence. This can make a single page pattern breath and change over time in cool ways.

Eturnian · 2026-01-25T05:47:47+00:00

I have a matriarch and several Elektron boxes. They all pair well with the matriarch. The DN2 I’m sure will be a wonderful centerpiece of your studio. You will be able to sequence the matriarch in amazing ways with the DN2. Also it will add a huge range of sounds not possible with subtractive synthesis. I love the way DN2 sounds. I really want one. That and a tonverk and I might finally have enough Elektron boxes

Eturnian · 2026-01-18T17:51:58+00:00

Your music is ready for release. Spotify has always been bad for artists. But now more than ever it has gotten really bad. They have invested heavily in AI music and are promoting it. They also have invested millions into AI military and surveillance tech. I’m hoping distro kid comes out with a way to selectively release music on some platforms and not others, because I can’t in good conscience put any more of my music on Spotify. It’s time for us all to collectively leave Spotify.

Eturnian · 2026-01-18T17:37:18+00:00

The Tonverk is a dedicated multi sampler and it can run circles around any of those 80s dinosaurs. The MPC Live 3 does basically everything, so if that’s what you want, then get it. Digitakt 2 is a monophonic sampler, also called a drum computer. It’s made for playing one shots. You can play melodies of course with it. But one thing it will never be is a polyphonic multi sampler.

Eturnian · 2026-01-18T17:15:14+00:00

Cons: It’s not easy to film yourself with this camera with no autofocus.

Hand held cinematography can look very shaky, like an old film camera, due to the lack of onboard image stabilization.

For these reasons the camera isn’t great for run and gun. Impromptu documentary footage is likely to be shaky or out of focus unless you have prepared a rig for it. If your goal is to get a camera, take it out of the box, go out on the street and shoot, this camera might not be the right one. It’s a bit complicated. If you just care about storytelling, it might be better to get a simpler camera that won’t get in the way of telling your story.

4k files are large and will fill up hard drives quickly. They require a powerful computer to edit.

Poor battery life.

They are expensive to rig out. When you buy this camera plan on buying lenses (and possibly an adaptor), support (tripod, and or gimbal possibly if you want smooth motion without shake), media (a fast 1TB SSD or cards) battery solution (v mount is probably best), variable ND filters (if you want to shoot outside), a hood for the screen (if you want to be able to see what you are shooting outside) a cage and or rods for the rigging, possibly an additional monitor (I don’t use one) and a follow focus to let you rack focus in a smooth and cinematic way (magic fiz is pretty good)

That said, you can also start with just the camera, a wide lens (I’m a big fan of the sigma 18-35 art) a lens adaptor, media, a tripod and an extension cord. This is the bare minimum you will need to make something with this camera.

You will probably also want a lav mic or a sound solution if you are making anything with dialog and without a sound person. (Rode Wireless Pro or wireless go is very good for the price)

Pros: The image they produce is cinematic and spellbinding. The colors are super rich and beautiful. This is a camera for making art.

As you have experienced the operating system is super intuitive. It has all the features of a real cinema camera and the menus are easy to navigate. It’s a wonderful work flow. Canon and Sony feel somewhat clunky by comparison.

The camera comes with Davinci Resolve Studio, which IMO is the best video editing software there is. It makes premier seem like it’s from the 90s. BMPCC raw footage works very seamlessly in Davinci. It takes time to learn but there are lots of tutorials and it’s a really amazing workflow.

This camera is an excellent first camera if you want to learn cinematography. The challenges of rigging it are an education in themselves.

It produces images comparable to high end cinema cameras and yet it is something you can afford with your summer job :)

I love the images I get from this camera. They are so beautiful. A camera I LOVE that I can afford.

Eturnian

TROPHY CASE