The good people at sweetwater just sent me a new MF 104m to resolve the issues I posted about in another thread regarding the LED Light malfunctioning. I should mention that they were very cool about it, and, after checking with perry at moog to make sure that this fell within a warranty fix, they sent me the pedal immediately and are letting me send my old one back after I’m sure I like the new one.
Here’s the problem with the new pedal: when I use the square wave LFO to modulate the time with the mod amount set to 10, the pitch that results from the time shift is slightly flat. I noticed it immediately, and I double-checked the old pedal, which is in perfect tune, producing a pitch that is 2 octaves when the lfo amount is set to 10.
I’ve already contacted sweetwater about this, and I imagine that they will have me send it back for a different one. Just wanted to check with other folks who have the MF 104m. Is yours sounding nice and in tune when you use this setting?
That might be something that they can work with over the phone to adjust a trimmer or something perhaps. It shouldn’t be a good deal.
I wonder how much variation is inherent in a design like that?
I think this is specified i the user manual: one octave at an amount of 8, two at 10.
I also think it’s said it can be adjusted by manipulating a trimmer. They surely can do something by phone is you’re ok to open it.
That’s encouraging, guys. Stiiiiiiive, do you happen to know what on what page the trimmer is mentioned? I found the page that discusses the octaves of the modulation, but I don’t see anything about a trimmer. It would be great if I didn’t need to send it back. . .
Speaking of page 12, it says that the sine wave should be able to modulate the pitch at an octave at 8 and two at 10 just like the square wave. To my ear, this is not the case on either of the MF 104ms that are currently in my studio. It creates an intense siren, but it does not seem to hit the octaves at the extremes of the sweep, as far as I can tell. . . Do you guys have the same results?
About the sine wave, I suggest you try this: use the square LFO wave and set the amount so that is goes one octave up/down. Then select the sine LFO wave, and reduce the rate so that it comes up sloooooowly. You should be able to hear -very shortly though- the octaved note.
hmmmmmm. . . have you tried this with the sine wave? I tried what you suggested, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. actually, when I set the rate to a slow setting, the modulation amount is less. If I speed it up, it seems to go higher and lower, and, at a pretty fast rate at around 6 on the knob, I think I can hear the octave happening, though it is very short. . .
Any shape (but square) is going to give a slide/slew (siren as you said) as the time slides to a new setting. It’s a bit like changing the clock rate manually and smoothly if you could possibly do it to the perfect pitch via the rate knob.
You have to tune it by ear, forget about the number on the dial, but it’s a great effect once you lock the octave in there.
As for a trimmer, I’d be careful and wouldn’t even bother with it unless you were really tuned out from a range perspective and had a high degree of confidence that you weren’t going to mess anything else up.
Just thought I’d update you all on this one. I just got another replacement MF 104m in the mail. Jake at Moog was really, really cool about it: he tested out a few pedals and sent me one that not only can hit the first AND second octave perfectly, it can also hit a very lovely third octave. The other MF 104ms that I’ve tried just went to two octaves, so this is pretty rad. All this while having very subtle control of the more subtle modulations at the beginning of the mod amount range.
These guys are the best! Best customer service ever. Best gear ever.
Okay, rant is over. .. this thread can be considered closed
