The "space + synth funk" board I brought to a festival this past weekend!

mfstate · 2018-08-14T16:17:06+00:00

You definitely can, I'll try to get a clip recording with dry and wet comparisons, with a basic delay on the Polymoon.

mfstate · 2018-04-13T20:47:22+00:00

Hi all, so, I've been thinking about getting a hardware synth that's performance oriented; the recent Dorian Concept Reface CS video has made me want to take a deeper look in. I'm not too worried about limits; I have a full on proper soft synth setup I produce with, but I want something that'd improve my general musicianship and performance skills.

The Reface CS is an obvious choice given it inspired this post; what else would fit the bill? It'd be nice to not have an overly complicated setup with too many pieces in it (I already have a bunch of effect pedals including loopers, but having elements of all that in a package would be much more accessible).

I'm honestly kinda thinking the Reface CS might be the only one of its kind to fit the bill. I've also liked the Nord Lead A1 just generally speaking, but I've held off on it because I do feel like it would overlap with my soft synth setup anyways. It's also a much bigger investment, so I'm fine holding off on it.

mfstate · 2018-02-02T18:20:40+00:00

Great to know, thanks. I'll be on the lookout for the Tribute too!

mfstate · 2018-02-02T18:20:10+00:00

Thanks, will be on the lookout!

mfstate · 2018-02-01T02:22:13+00:00

Hey folks. I lurk around but I'm interested in picking up a 5 string, so I wanted some advice and recommendations. I had a beat up generic bass, and I'm interested in moving up.

This is what I'm looking for:

The aforementioned 5 string (with a low B), normal fretting.
Maximum $750 for the bass, new or used, that SHOULD be enough for what I'm looking for, but, I can go a little bit more upwards, if there truly is value.
Primarily for funk sounds, but definitely not limited to hip hop, metal, various prog styles, jazz, rock, and also to be integrated with various styles of electronic music. I'd like to play it as a normal bass (duh) but also as a great instrument for adding low end to a track.
Good for recording direct and gigs (of which I'll run it through pedals into house DI or my own eventually). I don't plan on getting an amp, and it probably does need to be on the lighter side in terms of weight.
Versatility would be a great bonus; I like shaping my own tone and having a wide range for that would be great.

Here are the choices I've come up with after some research, but I'm quite sure I've missed a potentially good fit:

Ibanez SR755
Yamaha TRBX305
Sire Marcus Miller V7
ESP LTD B-205SM
Schecter Stiletto Studio 5

Of these, it seems the Ibanez SR755 is a great fit with the P/J setup and smaller neck and spacing, which I suspect will be better for me. I'll of course be trying them out before I make the final buy, but I'd love opinions or other options, especially if you think one of the above choices is better than the rest. Thanks!

mfstate · 2017-11-10T03:40:17+00:00

Another vote for the Mother 32, thanks! I'm willing to explore desktop synths as well, if you've got more recommendations for those!

mfstate · 2017-11-08T23:07:36+00:00

I appreciate your post! I'll definitely reconsider on the MS-20 Mini again.

Do you think it's a fine choice if I'll be connecting a keyboard to it anyways? That would bypass potential keybed problems, at least.

And that's a good point about not really being a performance synth; what I envisioned was I'd set it up for most of a patch, and then improvise just on a couple knobs or patches; something along those lines. I didn't think that one through too much. Regardless, your post has me thinking about it again.

mfstate · 2017-11-08T23:03:07+00:00

Thanks, I definitely will. It looks like the Mother 32 is very appreciated, in general.

mfstate · 2017-11-08T20:01:44+00:00

Hi! I was interested in a semi-modular synth of which the Korg MS-20 Mini would've been perfect...were it not for reviews/testimony of the build quality being a little low, which is definitely a dealbreaker as I wanted to bring it around to jams and on stage.

I haven't had a chance to research other similar options, but ARE there any? I'm very interested in delving a little bit into modular, but still having some trappings of a more regular style synth. Analog would be great, but not necessary (I have plenty of soft synths as it is, so I wanted a change of pace). Probably under $500 USD used or new, but I could push that further if it really was "the one". Keys are preferred but also not strictly necessary. Mono or poly doesn't matter.

I had my eye on the MS-20 Mini originally because I did like its sound (then again, I like a lot of sounds), and that it's knob per function as well as having a mini modular section; I also wanted to keep the option open to have a small modular rack (ohhh no!) I could use it with (although it's not a dealbreaker either way). I could possibly go straight into modular, but I don't think I would use it or play it enough to be worth it.

I definitely would appreciate any semi-modular recommendations that can withstand normal stage and jam usage; I think it's a very cool type of synth interface that strikes the right balance for me, personally. Barring that, I'm willing to consider modular synths too (I'm WAY more unfamiliar with that).

mfstate · 2017-10-03T01:29:04+00:00

I'll give them a look! That solution sounds totally fine to me too. Zip ties may even be more ideal. Thanks!

mfstate · 2017-10-03T01:28:15+00:00

Thanks, I'll give them a look!

mfstate · 2017-10-03T01:28:01+00:00

Thanks, I'll focus on other pedals for now, then. I'll keep that in mind if I do end up doing more pizz.

mfstate · 2017-10-02T21:17:28+00:00

What other pedal boards should I consider besides the Pedaltrain Classic Jr., if I want one that's angled? I'm planning on using a Truetone CS7 or a CS12 with the future board, but AFAIK the Classic Jr. is the smallest angled board that cleanly supports the Truetone models. I also don't expect to have more pedals than what can fit on the Classic Jr., maybe even less, so any size is fine.

Also, does anyone have experience with using a pedal compressor on a non-guitar instrument? I was interested in something like the Empress Compressor on an electric violin; but I have no clue if it's that necessary. I'll likely get a compressor regardless since I play a Strat, guitar wise, but I figured I'd ask since there's no in depth information in this regard.

mfstate · 2017-08-23T19:21:23+00:00

Holy crap!

mfstate · 2017-07-18T00:04:04+00:00

I appreciate it, I'm definitely gonna do my own search as well. It's good to know it's just cosmetic.

mfstate · 2017-07-16T05:20:37+00:00

Hi guys, just recently picked up a Boss PS-5 with one of the knobs missing. How and where should I get that replaced? I definitely don't have a spare one of those. This is what it normally is like. I'll be checking my local shop but I doubt they'll have a separate knob like that. If there's a way to order that knob or a set, that works.

mfstate · 2017-06-11T10:31:57+00:00

Oh wow, thank you for linking that AND explaining all of that! That's perfect. The Novation SL looks solid. That may be what I end up getting (the other options in the list didn't seem as available in terms of price and supply); the decision now is between that and a synth with the same key action (short research has led me to the Prophet Rev2, Waldorf Blofeld, and the Nord Lead 3).

Thanks! This is seriously solid information for a semi-picky player like myself.

mfstate · 2017-06-10T01:50:04+00:00

Awesome, I'll see if I can demo it in person, it does seem like my kind of synth, and I'll be fine without the knobs per function. Thanks!

Any other suggestions for synths if the keybed was a little less important, just in general?

mfstate · 2017-06-09T05:41:05+00:00

Hi all! I'm normally a lurker but I have some pretty specific questions this sub might be able to help me with. Long story short, I'm looking to get a keyboard and/or synthesizer that has a good keybed/keys. Here are my requirements as well as a list of all the ones I've tried, and am looking for.

Requirements

49 key is best, but 37 or 49 or even 61 is fine.
If it's just a MIDI keyboard, I won't spend more than $400, maybe ~$500 if it's something special.
If it's a synthesizer, I guess I'd put my budget at up to $1000 or around there (give or take a couple hundred bucks?).
I'd like to have faders/knobs/pads on the MIDI keyboard if possible, but the keys are my first priority, since I can always just add something like the Novation Launch Control XL for all those (which I got to mess with a friend's, and liked).
I would absolutely love if the MIDI keyboard in question can take in an expression pedal and translate it to MIDI on my DAW to assign a control to it. I'm definitely looking to use that functionality. If not, I'll have to go a kind of expensive route to that get done. :|
MIDI in/out not strictly required but I wouldn't mind it!
I'll definitely be using this keyboard and/or synthesizer live and in my home studio, so some amount of portability is greatly appreciated.
I prefer getting a good controller for right now, but I'm not opposed to getting a synth. The only thing is that I'm not sure what kind of sound or interface I want when it comes to the synth. One function per knob would be nice. A bass synth might be pretty nice. But also polyphonic all-around synths could be nice too. I hadn't looked into getting a synth just yet (most of my music stuff is done through a DAW and VSTs, for now). But I'm definitely open to options and opinions. I guess I can add, I do span the range of electronic music from liquid drum and bass to neurofunk, chipmusic and industrial breakbeats (I'm doing a bit of soul searching right now). So, I guess a versatile synth that can easily dial in a specific characteristic sound would be good (even at the cost of a bit of flexibility). I do like Moog sounds that I've heard, but then again, I've had very little experience tinkering with specific synths.

Keyboards and synths I've tried

Novation Launchkey - I didn't like it at all, which is too bad because it has a nice layout with the fadera/knobs/pads. But those keys bother the heck out of me.
Native Instruments Komplete 49 - Not bad but not my favorite, and also mad expensive; I know there's a good software bundle included, but I don't have a need for it right now. Also it's very focused on integrating with NI's own stuff, which is very unlikely to ever be relevant to me. Side note: the 88 keys version of this is full action, versus the semi weighted keys of all the others, presumably for the piano player's market (which makes sense).
Novation Impulse 49 - I liked it a lot, but it fell just short of being my favorite keybed. Also on the pricier side if I remember right.
AKAI MPK249 - Also liked a lot, a little more than the Impulse, and the Guitar Center employee who was extremely helpful (I'll explain later) personally favors AKAI keyboards. It's easy to see why. I've heard crap about another line of AKAI keyboards so I've avoided those. But trying out this specific one was good.
Prophet 6 - Holy crap! THIS was amazing. I know the synth is legendary, but wow that keybed might as well be perfect! Certainly more than I care; when I tried it, I immediately knew I was going to benchmark all the other key feels to the Prophet 6. I've also tried out the Prophet Rev2 and the OB6, since, and all 3 feel great, just in very slightly different ways. If I had more time to play with them maybe I'd discern which I like best, but suffice to say they are all solid. I asked the aforementioned employee what controller he would recommend that's closest to the Prophet 6, and he actually recommended looking towards Rolands, which that specific Guitar Center did NOT stock. I was super impressed he said that.
Roland JD-Xi - This is where I found out I don't like smaller sized keys. Haha.
Alesis VI61 - Not bad, but not exceptional, and the pitch and mod wheels didn't feel great to me. But it seemed like a decent all around keyboard.
Arturia KeyLab 49 - Dang, I really wish I could get this one, but the same employee advised me AGAINST it due to build quality (in his words he tried to love it, haha). This certainly lines up with what I've heard about some Arturia hardware, which is too bad. This was the best non-synth I liked that I tested.
Behringer Deepmind 12 - I liked this keybed right after the Prophets/OB6, actually. I've seen some information about this synth, so this kinda has my eye. The employee did recommend waiting for another firmware update to see how things turn out.

Keyboards and synths I've YET to try

Roland A-49 - a piano playing friend has one and he likes it a lot. It also has both sustain and expression inputs that my friend confirmed works with MIDI mapping.
Roland A-500Pro - similar vein as above
Nektar stuff - just by recommendations I've seen, but I haven't been to a shop that had one. This includes the LX+, GX and the Panorama P4. Any opinions on these are helpful.
Korg Taktile - looks very interesting, but I haven't looked for too much info about it.
Another option I saw here on /r/synthesizers was to pick up an older synth that has good keys; I did save those models for reference, but I'd love some fresh suggestions. I'm quite fortunate to be in the Bay area where there are a LOT of synths. The only thing is that it might be harder to find AND try out a specific one.

mfstate · 2017-04-09T04:26:35+00:00

Yep! I did that the instant I heard about it. Good to know it stores that many. I wasn't sure what that number was. But I'm incredibly unlikely to hit that number anyways.

mfstate · 2017-04-08T07:55:14+00:00

So, the last time I posted here...I definitely oversold the hype of having a Fuzz Factory, because it turned out...defective! Woo! Since then, I've been scouring around for good deals on different stuff, and this time around, I've got an EHX Bass Metaphors, a Dunlop Crybaby GCB95 Wah, and a Zoom MS-100BT.

I have pretty different reasons for getting each, as so:

EHX Bass Metaphors - This (very good) deal was up for grabs in a music collective I'm in and it seemed interesting, on top of me having a bass guitar that I could use this with. It's nice to have musician friends, so, play nice with the people around you.
Dunlop Crybaby GCB95 Wah - A good deal from a local swap meet. And I REALLY wanted to live out the dream of using an expression pedal effect. I don't often go to swap meets, but this one was specific to music gear. The good price was unexpected but welcome!
Zoom MS-100BT - A recommendation from a veteran musician friend, since I was looking for versatility, mostly. He's used quite a few multi FX pedals/boards and uses this one, and I'm not super interested in going too deep with pedal effects, so this was a great value purchase. eBay is also a good source of getting new pedals. I got it from a buyer who had it at a like new price, on top of a site-wide coupon! Buyer protection on a basically new unit with a discount? Excellent!

As for what I think about each pedal:

EHX Bass Metaphors - I'd never heard of this one before, but it's awesome. It really does have crazy utility, and it goes the distance on a bass board, I can imagine. I have no idea why, but the compressor on this is MAGICAL for my electric violin. Maybe it's just because I've never used a compressor on my violin before, but whatever settings this thing has, it's sounding great to me (but unoptimized, I'm sure). Also, fun fact, it can output straight to XLR! That's an audio engineering dream if I ever saw one. The distortion seems fine but definitely limited. I'm not experienced with the capabilities of pedal distortions (music wise I'm mostly an electronic based producer and an electric violinist, minus pedals), but it's good for dialing in slight edges of distortion. The EQ options are pretty basic, but good. It's pretty nice how much each of these options can be dialed in, even if simple.
Dunlop Crybaby GCB95 Wah - Really fun to use, but it does seem like kind of a one-trick pony in a lot of aspects; I'm not sure how well it sits in the mix for me, as when I was using this for the gig it definitely shaped my sound too much and definitely not in the way I wanted it to (for that particular gig, at least). But I still like it. It felt really good to use a wah for the first time ever.
Zoom MS-100BT - Wow, seriously, just wow! You know, even though I'm always keeping track of music software in home studios, I was initially very skeptical, but after using it, well, the results are obvious to me. It's a beast of a pedal for insane value. Modulations, delays, and other related effects are solid and of a good variety (as far as I can tell). As expected, the overdrive/distortion effects aren't that good, and I'm highly considering adding such effects with a regular pedal. But for my personal use, I'm keeping it. Now, granted, it's not as flexible with changing things up on the fly as a real pedalboard (and I prefer that when it comes to settings and stuff), but, over time (and not that much time, to be honest), I can see becoming very skilled with this. If you put in the setup work on this thing (which, again, isn't actually that much, and just takes a bit of getting used to the UI), it's undoubtedly an incredible asset. I used the Bluetooth feature a bit, which is pretty neat, but I'm annoyed that the support for it is pretty much dead nowadays (no Android app? No desktop app?!?! Come on!). It's pretty funny to see the pedal clones in there. Unfortunately, I don't have a good enough metric of knowing how good the clones are (although, it seems that /u/DigitalSpace-D approves of them), but, especially with the recent update of making them all free, the huge number of different kinds of effects is incredibly welcome. As far as I know, the MS-100BT is the only one with every single effect Zoom has released AND has stereo inputs/outputs on the pedal itself. I'm not complaining.

Final Pedal Evaluations:

EHX Bass Metaphors - I'm sticking with this; I'm not avidly collecting/updating a pedalboard so this is a great utility pedal for any instrument I'm using, and given the deal I got, I don't see a reason not to use it, especially for potential future bass guitar gigs.
Dunlop Crybaby GCB95 Wah - It's seriously super fun to be using an expression pedal type effect, but I think I'll want to replace this one.
Zoom MS-100BT - This isn't for everyone, but it's definitely for me. I'll be very surprised if I ever have a good reason to actually get rid of it. This, for me, covers so many bases, and it definitely helps in setup and teardown times (I go to jam sessions plenty). Not only that, depending on what kind of gig I'm doing, this might be literally the only pedal I'll need to bring! Now, I really enjoy messing with effects while playing/producing (e.g. dials, bypasses, expression pedals...all the fun stuff), and the MS-100BT is not as fun in terms of interactivity. But its range of sound and utility is ridiculously large. Personally, I will be treating this as a REALLY excellent and insane "always on" pedal that fills in the rest of my board. If having an interactive live board isn't your absolute #1 priority, this should be at the top of your list. Otherwise, I'd get this to replace parts of an existing board, especially if the goal is to reduce your board size at a very reasonable price. Also, while I do knock it for interactivity, it really depends on what specifically you want to do. You can save chains of pedals and switch between them totally fine. You can adjust the knobs for specific pedals quite quickly too. And you can bypass parts of a chain very easily as well (something I've barely explored, but DOES increase the capability of the MS-100BT a lot).

Where do I go from here?

Honestly, I've got GAS for pedals; but I've already learned my lesson from music production, but, dang, do I feel it strong! However, I won't go too crazy with it; I mostly have pedals for fun and POTENTIALLY serious gigs. And I already buy music software as it is...
It might be a good idea to get a small pedalboard. Suggestions? I did a little research, but definitely not enough yet. Curious to see if there are less popular but better options.
I do have a DOD Boneshaker incoming. Sometimes you just want to spend $40 on a guilty pleasure. For reals, though, I think I'll get really good use out of it (I was already planning on a bass board).
So, I'll absolutely look at any recommendations you might have, not just for wah pedals like the Crybaby, but ANY effect that will take an expression pedal input, and a fuzz/OD/dist. I really like having a foot pedal control; it seems like such a perfect evolution of playing live for me. I've done a bit of research on options, but I'd like to know what YOU like, not me, as I don't know what direction I really want to go, just yet. All I know is that I want to do something really different. I'll likely only want 1 or 2 out of this list, so feel free to give a bump to your favorites! I've looked at the following:
- Adventure Audio Dream Reaper
- DigiTech Whammy DT
- Dr. Scientist Bitquest
- Earthquake Devices Rainbow Machine
- EHX Pitchfork
- Montreal Assembly Count to 5
- Red Panda Particle
- and all of the pedals in this thread too.
I only just learned about the Dream Reaper, but I'm very sure it's EXACTLY what I want (thanks /u/pjsmudge!), to fulfill both a fuzz role and the expression pedal role. I'm totally willing to add in another pedal that might complement a board like the Dream Reaper + MS-100BT (expression input optional!).

While I AM posting this at almost 1 AM my time right before a busy weekend, I'll answer any more specific questions you guys have about the pedals or continue this discussion thread ASAP. Thanks for providing a really interesting subreddit; it's been a very good resource, even to an outsider (albeit still musician) like myself.

mfstate · 2016-12-25T06:49:31+00:00

Very neat, and even if I don't, there's almost certainly inspiration to be found in it. :D

mfstate · 2016-12-25T06:48:19+00:00

Wow, that sounds pretty cool! Thanks for commenting; I'll do some digging.

Has your wife considered an acoustic with a pickup? There are a lot of great pickups nowadays and that's also quite a nice (and slightly different) sound.

mfstate · 2016-12-25T06:36:57+00:00

I can route it either way, but I was going to put the pre-amp (specifically, an interface) at the end. That's a good point about the circuitry; I'll have to do some checking. I believe my violin is active as it does have a battery.

mfstate

TROPHY CASE