If the folks at Moog ever decide to revise the MF-101 I’d love to see the following features added:
Inverted envelope sweep (either on a toggle switch or by making the “envelope” knob bipolar.
FX loop - it’d be so useful to be able to use my instrument’s original input signal to drive the filter sweep whilst applying the effect to octave and distortion pedals.
Finer control over the envelope sweep - it’d be nice to have dedicated knobs for the attack and decay (and potentially the sustain) portions of the envelope. It’d be nice to be able to do this without having to use the external control processor.
This would not be a proper FX loop as there is only one processing in stake here. That being said, there is a mod for the envelope follower to be triggered by another signal than the audio input signal. Check this topic.
This is an envelope follower and not a triggered envelope, hence not having any other sustain value than the input signal level. Attack and relaease times could be more or less “lagged”, as using the CP251’s lag processor, but that’s all you’ll be able to do. No ADSR in there!
I don’t quite follow why my suggestion wouldn’t be a proper FX loop. I’m thinking of the same thing as found in the Wonderlove by 3Leaf audio. There’s a send and return jack from the pedal; my bass’s signal is what drive the filter sweep and the filter is applied to whatever is plugged into the loop.
I realise it’s not a triggered envelope. (Is there a device which does this from audio? If not, could there be one?) Even if it’s just lagged that’d be a bonus. It’d be nice to have more than just fast and slow and a few other filters have this capability (though without the lovely Moog sound).
You’re right, my mistake. I was limiting the loop concept to external feedback loop without thinking about send-return loop.
The mod dscribed in the topic I linked above allows what the Wonderlove allows, only you’d have to duplicate your signal by your own means prior to get to the MF101 inputs (gate in and audio in).
Trigged envelopes do exist: the EHX Microsynth has one. That being said, I’m not sure they exist as independent devices, i.e. not being hardwired to a filter, phase shifter etc as long as we are talking pedals, since modular manufacturers certainly propose some.
Cool, thanks for the info. I knew there was a reason I should check the EHX pedal.
I had another idea, which I’m not sure exists already (if it does, please point me in its direction). It is to have a device which takes my audio input signal, sends audio out, which I could send to the external in of a Minitaur or equivalent, and which also outputs a gate signals so that I could trigger the Minitaur’s envelopes. If this device had some kind of noise gate/filtering combo then one could tweak it so that it only triggers the notes intended (as opposed to every little string bump). I got close with the Sonuus G2M as that triggered MIDI and I could turn off the oscillators so that it just triggered the envelope. Sadly there wasn’t much by way of tweakability so it triggered when I didn’t want it to.
No pedal that I think about right now. I guess a Korg X911 or MS20 would be overkill, as well as a tiny modular system.
You may want to ssearch amongst for pedals with trigged envelopes the few units with a CV out… probably few but hey!
Holy cow! Thanks for pointing these out! I’m definitely going to have to give these a go. If it works it could replace quite a bit of my bass pedal setup! I really appreciate your help!
My experience is that I was a bit disappointed at first, because of its chattyness. I must say a second chance led to better results. Her what I’ve learnt so far.
Input settings:
Best results are obtained with IP and LPF settings at full left, in order to switch off that damn -48dB LED ; )
That being said, my Voyager OS must have some floor noise because it won’t let the LED off, while my Little Phatty will work much better.
I tried to use a Fender Jaguar and the lack of sustain made me think a compressor would be useful… untill I disconnected the envelope from the VCA: then the oscillator would sound at full level as long as the gate is open. Which is wild!
Pitch tracking:
With the settings described above, the tracknig is better. Another point to remember is that the purer the control input signal, the better the tracking. With a sawtooth waveform unfiltered, it sometimes jumps from an octave to the other, or just goes out. Filter the wave and it becomes more accurate. Actually, your input signal shall have a strong fondamental with respect to its harmonics. For real dirty tracking, try to increase the resonance of the filter of your input synth and sweep its cutoff frequency.
Soundwise:
I find the filter sounds good and the setting desgin makes it possible to layer three octaves of square waves. Reminds me of some good ol’ synth out there
Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to patch it as I still don’t hav eany minijack patch cables.
Voilà. Some other forum members I know had the same experience, so I encourage you to try it a couple of times more before deciding whether it should stay or go back to Poland.
I’ve been in touch with Noam at Sonicsmith and he thought the behaviour I was experiencing wasn’t right and so I’ve sent him a couple of videos highlighting the problems.
I’m just using it with bass guitar (though I did try my Rhodes through it). I’m finding I need to have the HPF on 16Hz and the LPF at about 140Hz to get it to track all the way down. With the envelope decoupled from the VCA I get a hideous amount of noise. Using a gate pedal has helped but it still seems like all is not well. (Their new version has a built-in gate with adjustable threshold.) I often get situations where the Squaver makes noise all by itself, even when the bass is muted. I’m also hearing a lot of bleed from the oscillator into the bypass signal, which is unacceptable.
It’s a shame as I’ve managed to get some pretty cool sounds out of this thing. I still think they should add ADSR to it though as I’m finding the bass’s envelope isn’t snappy enough.
Are you talking abou the “+” versions? If so, do you happen to know other evolutions over the current generation?
It would much more time contrained as attack, decay a,d release times would be fix. I’ve tried a couple of triggered envelope devices and I never found them more interesting that envelope follower devices. They sound much more natural and subtle to me. I think the key is to manage the input signal with the preamp and/or noise gate (if any).
[quote=“Quatschmacher”]
With the envelope decoupled from the VCA I get a hideous amount of noise.
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Even with IP set to the minimum?
I’ll have to try again and see. I’m finding that the sound is much more interesting with the gain up; overdriving the filter a bit gives a pleasing sound.
[quote=“Quatschmacher”]
(Their new version has a built-in gate with adjustable threshold.)
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Are you talking abou the “+” versions? If so, do you happen to know other evolutions over the current generation?
Yes. The input LPF knob will be replaced by a gate threshold. (The tracking filter will still be there, just won’t be manual control over it.) Other than that, there’ll be minor cosmetic changes. They’ve switched companies for the silk screening so that should be better (the paint on mine is faded in places).
[quote=“Quatschmacher”]
I still think they should add ADSR to it though as I’m finding the bass’s envelope isn’t snappy enough.
[/quote]
It would much more time contrained as attack, decay a,d release times would be fix. I’ve tried a couple of triggered envelope devices and I never found them more interesting that envelope follower devices. They sound much more natural and subtle to me. I think the key is to manage the input signal with the preamp and/or noise gate (if any).
Even dedicated control over the attack and release would be welcome. My Source Audio Manta and 3Leaf Wonderlove do this and it makes it easier to dial in the shape. (I’m still gutted the MF-101 doesn’t do this).
You’re welcome. In answer to your other question, yes, I still get the noise with the input gain on minimum. Part of the problem seems to be that, with bass guitar, I need to have the HPF set to 16Hz, which lets more low end rumble into the signal path. Still, it shouldn’t make these noises when the bass is off though.
