Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

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kn_s
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by kn_s » Thu May 11, 2017 10:32 pm

call me a stupid s#$%, ok so my background is guitar and guitar pedals, so i'm dumb when it comes to all this electronic mumbojumbo sometimes....what is the difference between this https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ZBox and something like this https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DualRDB. seriously this is where i get electronically dumb!? demondan seriously your videos make me spend money ask phil schwan. anywho, this seriously is my most favorite topic on this forum. recently picked up behringer vintage tube monster and vintage phaser .... which a few days ago i was very happy with but i'll give them a better go thru via some moog synths
LP solar, minitaur, m32, werkstatt, 101/102/103/104m/105m/107/108m,cp-251,mf delay v1&2+drivev2, microkorg, monologue, volcas, monotribe & trons, sq-1, too many pedals!, guitars, '07 imac (10.11.6), simmons sds7, & now eurocrack, etc...

JimF
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by JimF » Fri May 12, 2017 1:12 am

HI all,

(forever lurking, just the occasional post)

Regarding FreqBox and Vermona Retroverb Lancet: I have exactly this combination, works excellently. It's one of two parallel processing chains hanging off my Etherwave Pro (the other one is MF102/101/103). The FreqBox vco cv is driven by the EPro pitch cv out, tracks ok. EPro audio goes to 107 audio in, with care you can do very nice, theremin-controlled 2-operator FM things (and the 107 is definitely not a piece of junk, for my purposes).

I have a footswitch set up to trigger the Lancet envelope, but there's no reason why a normal gate signal shouldn't work. The sound and feel of the filter in the Lancet is very good, different to MF101, but highly musical and useful, with lots of range for subtle nuances. Definitely recommended, even if it doesn't carry the logo of inverted semiquaver tails in a circle on it (or Big Briar with Bob Moog's signature, like on my vintage MFs 101/102/103).

I actually had a prerelease/prototype version of the Retroverb Lancet to play with before I bought the final thing, I gave Vermona a bit of feedback on it which went into the final unit. (I live in Germany.)

Enjoy - the Retroverb is a worthwhile investment.

Cheers,

JimF

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stiiiiiiive
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by stiiiiiiive » Fri May 12, 2017 5:42 am

JimF wrote:HI actually had a prerelease/prototype version of the Retroverb Lancet to play with before I bought the final thing, I gave Vermona a bit of feedback on it which went into the final unit. (I live in Germany.)
Ah, nice!! :)
JimF wrote:Enjoy - the Retroverb is a worthwhile investment.
Yup, I've found a used one at rather good price - Eur300, in the process of having it sent :)

Acid Mitch
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by Acid Mitch » Fri May 12, 2017 10:40 am

kn_s wrote:call me a stupid s#$%, ok so my background is guitar and guitar pedals, so i'm dumb when it comes to all this electronic mumbojumbo sometimes....what is the difference between this https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ZBox and something like this https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DualRDB. seriously this is where i get electronically dumb!? demondan seriously your videos make me spend money ask phil schwan. anywho, this seriously is my most favorite topic on this forum. recently picked up behringer vintage tube monster and vintage phaser .... which a few days ago i was very happy with but i'll give them a better go thru via some moog synths
It looks like the Z Box is to change guitar level to line level. It's a D.I. box in a slightly different package.
The RDB changes line level to guitar level. It's a reamping box. You would place it after your synth( or sound card output or drummachine , or whatever) but before the first pedal in your signal chain. Then you'd have a DI or preamp( some soundcards have a Hi z input you can use ) between the last pedal and your mixer or DAW input to get back to line level.

kn_s
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by kn_s » Sat May 13, 2017 8:45 pm

Acid Mitch wrote:
kn_s wrote:call me a stupid s#$%, ok so my background is guitar and guitar pedals, so i'm dumb when it comes to all this electronic mumbojumbo sometimes....what is the difference between this https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ZBox and something like this https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DualRDB. seriously this is where i get electronically dumb!? demondan seriously your videos make me spend money ask phil schwan. anywho, this seriously is my most favorite topic on this forum. recently picked up behringer vintage tube monster and vintage phaser .... which a few days ago i was very happy with but i'll give them a better go thru via some moog synths
It looks like the Z Box is to change guitar level to line level. It's a D.I. box in a slightly different package.
The RDB changes line level to guitar level. It's a reamping box. You would place it after your synth( or sound card output or drummachine , or whatever) but before the first pedal in your signal chain. Then you'd have a DI or preamp( some soundcards have a Hi z input you can use ) between the last pedal and your mixer or DAW input to get back to line level.

ah!! so if i'm understanding correctly i kinda need both? for example my little phatty into the"rdb" then to pedals then the "zbox" out of the last pedal into mixer/daw etc.. or something similar. starting to make more sense. thanks
LP solar, minitaur, m32, werkstatt, 101/102/103/104m/105m/107/108m,cp-251,mf delay v1&2+drivev2, microkorg, monologue, volcas, monotribe & trons, sq-1, too many pedals!, guitars, '07 imac (10.11.6), simmons sds7, & now eurocrack, etc...

Acid Mitch
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by Acid Mitch » Wed May 17, 2017 3:02 am

kn_s wrote:
ah!! so if i'm understanding correctly i kinda need both? for example my little phatty into the"rdb" then to pedals then the "zbox" out of the last pedal into mixer/daw etc.. or something similar. starting to make more sense. thanks
Correctamundo.
That Art RDB you linked has 2 channels so you can use it for stereo or two independent mono channels. Not sure how it sounds though.
I use Palmer Decappo that are quite cheap and compete soundwise with some of the radial reamping boxes.
I had a homemade one before (not made by me) but it sort of took some of the colour out my signals. The Decappo is far more transparent.

Acid Mitch
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by Acid Mitch » Wed May 17, 2017 3:11 am

stiiiiiiive wrote:
Acid Mitch wrote: I actually use the RAT with a very low drive setting, just enough to get some mid frequencies and very, very little saturation. Using a reamp box shall certainly work better, but I must say I'm happy like this and tend to keep things light.
I may try this some day though...
I found that going directly into the Rat that it's either too much or not enough and the distortion and volume knobs have a tiny usable range. With the reamping box there's a wider range of usable tones from subtle to not so subtle and the whole range of the knobs becomes usable.

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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by stiiiiiiive » Wed May 17, 2017 7:42 am

That's interesting indeed. Thanks for those prescisions :)

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Kirneh Ness
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by Kirneh Ness » Wed May 17, 2017 3:26 pm

stiiiiiiive wrote:
JimF wrote:HI actually had a prerelease/prototype version of the Retroverb Lancet to play with before I bought the final thing, I gave Vermona a bit of feedback on it which went into the final unit. (I live in Germany.)
Ah, nice!! :)
JimF wrote:Enjoy - the Retroverb is a worthwhile investment.
Yup, I've found a used one at rather good price - Eur300, in the process of having it sent :)
I am convinced. Having one delivered tomorrow. Droooolllll... :D
Guitars. Moog Grandmother, DFAM, Subharmonicon, Minitaur, Slim Phatty, Moogerfoogers 101, 102, 103, 104M, 107, 108M and CP-251. Yamaha CS-15. Roland JUNO 106. DSI Tetr4. Arturia Beatstep Pro. Korg ARP Odyssey Module Rev1. Dreadbox NYX 2.

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stiiiiiiive
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by stiiiiiiive » Mon May 22, 2017 5:10 pm

Got it!
It does a lot of different things, and it sounds really, really good.

BTW, as I've spoiled myself lately by completing my MoogerFooger set up, I've connected the MF-107 oscillator out to the Retroverb Lancet and my LP's envelope CV out to the CV input of the Retroverb. I was truly surprised to hear how close the Vermona filter is to the Moog one soundwise.

Thanks Kenneth :)


On a side note, I've been considering selling some stuff for getting one of the 222 Vermona '14 lately but gave up the idea... This has me thinking again... Rha.
Here is a demo.

Kenneth
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by Kenneth » Fri May 26, 2017 10:50 am

stiiiiiiive wrote:Got it!
It does a lot of different things, and it sounds really, really good.

BTW, as I've spoiled myself lately by completing my MoogerFooger set up, I've connected the MF-107 oscillator out to the Retroverb Lancet and my LP's envelope CV out to the CV input of the Retroverb. I was truly surprised to hear how close the Vermona filter is to the Moog one soundwise.

Thanks Kenneth :)


On a side note, I've been considering selling some stuff for getting one of the 222 Vermona '14 lately but gave up the idea... This has me thinking again... Rha.
Here is a demo.
I owned a Mono Lancet for some time and did think it had a rather "moogy" sound to it. I sold it because I found the placement of the tuning knob to be infuriating. Anyway, congrats on your purchase. The Retroverb is an amazing piece of kit; one that I find myself turning to constantly.

Another thing I think I should mention: since everyone is talking about pedals that aren't meant to be used with line-level outputs, I wanted to talk about gain-boosting. A lot of times that can color your tone a bit too much and end up sounding muddy or too mid-rangey, but something I do when using a pedal that's meant for guitar with a synthesizer is place that first in the signal path with my synthesizer's volume at an extremely low setting, then run it into the Retroverb Lancet which has a nice-sounding amplifier with "gain", "distortion", and "volume" controls. You can bring your signal back up to line-level there! I use that trick to get extreme wet settings out of my delays.
Moog Matriarch, ARP Odyssey MKII, Roland Juno-60, Yamaha DX7, Yamaha VSS-30

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stiiiiiiive
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by stiiiiiiive » Mon May 29, 2017 6:03 pm

Thanks Kenneth!

As mentioned before, I use a ProCo RAT and it is the fisrt pedal in one of my set-ups. I have it set so that the bypassed and effected signals have more or less the same volume. I have it always on but it can prevent some live accidents.
That being said, I think I'll try to set the keyboard out level differently, precisely in order to have more latitude on the drive setting - as suggested earlier in this thread. Adding the Vermona in this set-up is not possible right now.

On a side note, I've just had a look to the Mono Lancet and find the tuning knob very badly located too. Even on the LP I sometimes brush it, so this one must be quite uncomfortable.

kn_s
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by kn_s » Fri Jun 02, 2017 11:39 pm

about 2 months overdue in following up on my post about using the akai head rush e2 as a "reliable" pedal for synths along with its 4 separate head outputs, i give it a thumbs up!... and along with that i was going to post a track using all 4 heads being utilized, but i have not been able to get back to that level of studio whatever you want to call it, so hear/here is a link to my initial jam on the mom32 thru akai headrush e2 with one head going thru a behringer vd400 vintage delay (yeah..sorry to my moog m104) and then into tc electronic hall of fame and another head just going straight into the hof...its rough and raw but i still like it hope you kids do as well and maybe this summer i'll finally sit down and do a proper 4 head output tripped out, delayed out extravaganza version or something???

https://soundcloud.com/kn_s/030917a

enjoy!
LP solar, minitaur, m32, werkstatt, 101/102/103/104m/105m/107/108m,cp-251,mf delay v1&2+drivev2, microkorg, monologue, volcas, monotribe & trons, sq-1, too many pedals!, guitars, '07 imac (10.11.6), simmons sds7, & now eurocrack, etc...

jamesmod
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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by jamesmod » Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:32 am

I like the MXR Reverb on the Subsequent 37, and my bass guitars.
I tried it beside a BigSky in the shop, but only with a bass guitar, and felt that it was Very similar to the BigSky. Just not as much moding available.
I also have the Boss RV6, which I never grew to like as it strangles the sound too much; both on bass and synths. It made my Korg Polysix sound awful, but the MXR made it sing.

The Boss BB-1X Bass Driver is another one I like with the Subsequent 37 to give sounds more gravity, and complements the Minitaur nicely too.
It's a kind of pre-amp I suppose, that really defines bass notes without sounding thin or faded, and for some reason havent neede to use a compressor since getting it. And then there's it's drive knob for Over Drive, which again sticks to notes really well, without sounding all fuzzy or just casting distortion over everything.

Next week I'm looking at a Clusterflux, particularly for the Flange. For years I cant find a good Flanger for either bass guitar or synths, so I hope it's the one.
Pew.........pew pew..... pew pew pew...!

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Re: Stomp Box Pedals that Work With Synths (Digital, Analog)

Post by GregAE » Fri Dec 15, 2017 11:40 am

kn_s wrote:... on my post about using the akai head rush e2 as a "reliable" pedal for synths along with its 4 separate head outputs, i give it a thumbs up!..
+1 for the Head Rush. The four individual delay outputs make for a ton of interesting processing possibilities (quadraphonics anyone?):
Headrush.jpg

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