What distortion/overdrive pedal with Electribes?

robosardine · Post by **robosardine** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 9:20 pm

Hi- anyone using these types of effects pedals with their Electribes? What kind gets the best results for you? Cheers!

roblabs · Post by **roblabs** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 12:00 am

reverb works nicely

neotechtonics · Post by **neotechtonics** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:22 am

I use a Boss MT-2 metal distortion pedal sometimes. unfortunatley mono-in-mono-out but nice to add in as a 'send-return' loop: bus a synth part out individual out 3 or 4 and pan hard to the side you're using (cos its gonna be mono only anyway) into the pedal and then back in thru the audio input. stomp to add distortion. you can also 'chop-gate' the incoming audio with the audio-in-thru button.

the other pedal I use is a Line6 POD-XT Live. multi-effect pedal
has mono input and stereo out. has plenty decent effects that can totally transform synth from the EMX. there are some nice AMP models that give some added harmonics to EMX synth, and some chorus effects that give some polyphony. being a multi-effect pedal its a great piece of kit but I'd probably prefer having multiple smaller pedals to be able to customize my effect chain more flexibly.

a track I did recently using the Line6
http://soundcloud.com/neotechtonics/the ... e-machines

the distortion on the vocals was from my Zoom R16 multitrack recorder.

here's a better example of pedal distortion in action. the first track I uploaded for the One Song a Month challenge on here. This uses the Boss MT-2 pedal and you can clearly hear when I stomp it \m/

http://soundcloud.com/neotechtonics/osam-jan1

effect pedals are the shizz! I do alot of live part muting and knob tweaking and hardly ever have a free hand to trigger effects so pedals make the most sense for me.

MarcusCarab · Post by **MarcusCarab** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 3:02 pm

Any impedance/level issues with using effects pedals? I'm not a guitarist and have always been vaguely worried that some pedals would cause problems at line level... do you use an attenuator? or do they just work? I know so little about pedals :)

neotechtonics · Post by **neotechtonics** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 3:19 pm

Personally I'm not majorly bothered unless its causing unwanted clipping distortion. If it works it works. Input into a pedal can be tricky cos its not really meant to take line level. My line6 has a 'clip' warning when thiings get too hot on the input so I can watch that my EMX or microkorg isn't dumping too much juice into it. Then again I'm no sound engineer so if it's not adversely affecting the sound of the track I can't be bothered.

-unprofessional opinion-

robosardine · Post by **robosardine** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:44 pm

Thanks folks- Punpkomg- I like your work/sound- thanks for the link. MarcusCarab- I have no idea but I would like to know too now

neotechtonics · Post by **neotechtonics** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 5:58 am

All this talk of pedals gave me a bit of an itch. Added a boss super chorus CH-1 and a noise suppressor NS-2 to my collection yesterday. I'd advise getting a noise suppressor if you plan on using any heavy distortion/overdrive or fuzz pedals in your chain. They tend to add noise when emx isn't playing so noise suppressor cuts the hiss when notes aren't sounding. The super chorus is subtle but adds some nice "thickness" and tone that helps the emx single voice synth out a bit. Busy working on a new pattern that uses these 2 pedals and my mt-2 distortion pedal.

Note on line-level into pedals: I tend to drop the input volume going into the effect chain so as not to overdrive the pedal input, then I boost the gain on mixer channel.. But you're working in the dark figuring out what's too much. Like when pluggin any audio into a new input: start at zero and work your way up.

robosardine · Post by **robosardine** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:41 pm

Thanks punpkomg. Do you have any preference for overdrive or distortion? I have just ordered a Digitech DF-7- which emulates 7 classic distortion pedals and a Boss OS 2 which has overdrive and distortion. I will check out the MT2 next if they don't make the grade. I have also purchased an EA1 mk11 (again!) and a Roland MC 09 all to experiment with. I have got a feeling (hope) that the overdriven/distorted sounds that the pedals give me are going to dictate my next set-up. I also have the EMX, ESX and a Roland MC 307 coming which is about to replace my Roland D2. I'm looking forward to experimenting- A noise suppressor! - if my wife knew there was such a thing she would be straight down to the shops- come to think of it I wonder if it would work on her- does it come with a mute button?

roblabs · Post by **roblabs** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:40 pm

whoa i gave a generic response about reverb because it always works for me, i didn't think you'd guys would get so indepth, Now I'm itchin too!.

I have one of those ZOOM multi effects pedals, that runs the gamut with Reverbs, choruses, delays, mods, amp effects, etc. Almost like a KP3, though some of the effects are better or worse. I used to use a minikp chained to a ZOOM (sorry i forget the model I have precisely, but its an older model,,,too lazy to dig it out at the moment...will later)....this would make for some nice combos. I once ran one of those stale Bliptronic 5000 sequencers through this to make some really nice melodic loops. Imagine this would be even more fire with a tribe (ive got an ea1 and es1

neotechtonics · Post by **neotechtonics** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 4:39 am

I tend to lean more towards crunchy distortion but I'm still experimenting with new sounds. The noise suppressor does have a mute function so when its selected it mutes the signal when pedal pressed, meant to be used to mute the sound when tuning guitar with a tuner pedal but I'm sure it could be put to other use for muting sustained sounds that wouldn't necessarily be muted immediately using part mute on the tribe. Gonna bump heads with some guitarists to get some new ideas on which direction to head next. But definately gonna expand my pedal selection with: reverb, delay and a fuzz box then maybe get some more obscure stuff. Will do some more playing around with the line6 pod xt and zoom R16 to determine what effects I can use the most and get some ideas on effects chains that might sound interesting.

kvnvk · Post by **kvnvk** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:20 am

I've been running synths and drum machines through effects pedals for nearly two decades with no problems. I have several different distortions but usually prefer running a filter into a bass equalizer followed by a Boss Hyper Fuzz in boost mode with a slight amount of gain/fuzz dialed in. I feel it gives me a range of tonal adjustment with just enough distortion without totally destroying the character of the original audio. although I do have plentt of other pedals which will do that quite nicely as well.

sauce · Post by **sauce** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:50 pm

punpkomg wrote:here's a better example of pedal distortion in action.

That track is the joint! Thanks for sharing.

Also, for everyone, I did a tutorial on this about a year ago; check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PwFEG1SVvs

hazabikit · Post by **hazabikit** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:52 pm

I'm using an Eventide Space for reverb.
One of the reasons that I got it was that it can handle line-level signals.

neotechtonics · Post by **neotechtonics** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:06 pm

The bug has bitten. Getting a quote on some more boss pedals: SYB, LS-2, DD-7, EV and a BCB-60 to lug them all around in

then maybe go for some crazy stuff like a WMD geiger counter and a death by audui CHK CHK BOOM.

sauce · Post by **sauce** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:47 pm

For some absolutely disgusting, bit-crushing, distorting madness, with great sound quality, check out the OTO Biscuit.

http://www.otomachines.com/biscuit.html