First Impressions of the Freqbox

[Lux_Seeker]

I got a chance last night to experiment with my freqbox. For sustain tones I noticed that simple tones with not that many harmonics work the best. I have not tried it yet but I suspect that for guitar compression and filtering would work the best before going to the freqbox perhaps even the LPF fooger on slow response.

The sound is definately aggressive but I am not convinced that it can't be considerably tamed. A few things I want to try for that are using the LPF after the freqbox to cut some of the high end off but also some reverb and perhaps delay. I have the delay fooger coming and that might provide some needed thickening of the sound perhaps with reverb at the end of the chain.

On the side of fooger food, I found Reaktor be be the most useful. Notably, Skrewwell and Metaphysical Function for those familiar. These produced some rather animated responses from the freqbox almost sounding like an animated bird. Again, with the reverb and delay this is something I can work with and use in compositions.

What I like about it is that it producing sounds that someone hearing them are going to wonder about. They are far from cliched. What I want to try with this fooger is some heavy processing to hide it a bit so its more like a secret ingredient in a mix.

Another experiment I want to try is to modulate the waveform with my CP-251. This produced some wonderful phasing effects when I used the knob thee is great drone potential here if I can find the right tones to get stable responses.

Overall, I am intriqued. OK, its a bit more nippy than I expected like a badly trained dog but dogs can be trained. I just need to find the right combination of pre and post effects to make this one part of my music.

[Bryan T]

I just need to find the right combination of pre and post effects to make this one part of my music.

Can you post some audio files when you do?

[Lux_Seeker]

I just need to find the right combination of pre and post effects to make this one part of my music.

Can you post some audio files when you do?

Sure, I am still experimenting but when I find a way to integrate the foogers I will post some music. Mind you, I am an experimental/electro-acoustic composer so what I do is not very "pop" oriented.

[Bryan T]

Sure, I am still experimenting but when I find a way to integrate the foogers I will post some music. Mind you, I am an experimental/electro-acoustic composer so what I do is not very "pop" oriented.

I'm a big fan/student/proponent of experimental music, so it's all good.

[Lux_Seeker]

Sure, I am still experimenting but when I find a way to integrate the foogers I will post some music. Mind you, I am an experimental/electro-acoustic composer so what I do is not very "pop" oriented.

I'm a big fan/student/proponent of experimental music, so it's all good.

OK, good to know. I will post something when I get something music worthy. Still experimenting right now. The Freqbox seems to respond well to simple sounds. I got some good results with glitchy sound and even used a brid synthesizer and also got some good results. I think with the use of the delay and reverb and perhaps the low pass to cut the high end I can get some good results.

[calvinistsandlutherans]

Try guitar with ebow > freqbox (saw wave, mix at 6ish) > (mild lpf to cut some highs if you want) > delay

Then modulate the freqbox frequency with a footpedal slowly, to taste.

Mighty fine.

[MarbledMoog]

can't you get some sort of PWM using a sine-like wave to modulate the wave form (more like triangle, the fooger LFOs are roundish tri's aren't they?)

from what i've heard i just don't know how useful the freqbox could be. the oscillator in it is definetly its biggest plus, especially in tandem with a synth. for guitar, it seems like its main thing is just getting real gritty.

[Lux_Seeker]

Try guitar with ebow > freqbox (saw wave, mix at 6ish) > (mild lpf to cut some highs if you want) > delay

Then modulate the freqbox frequency with a footpedal slowly, to taste.

Mighty fine.

I am not at all suprized this works. I would love to here the Freqbox being used with the Moog guitar. I can't afford one but I would think with the sustain it would sound great.

I find that the freqbox does not deal well with transients unless to create somewhat glitchy sounds but for a good sustained tone, strong sustained sounds work well. I would imagiine a compressor with a guitar can help although I have not tried that yet.

One thing I did try is fooling with vocals. I was at a Home Depot of all places and saw some PVC piping. I thought to myself, wow! Nice resonant spaces. So I got a fitting which reduces the side of the pipe of the end, stuck an SM57 mic at one end and started vocalizing in the other end trying to keep my voice constand and I got some great tones.

The E-bow is doing but the same thing and cutting the transient.

[r05c03]

Interesting!

[Voltor07]

I got a fitting which reduces the side of the pipe of the end, stuck an SM57 mic at one end and started vocalizing in the other end trying to keep my voice constand and I got some great tones.

So, you built a poor man's talkbox, then? Never thought of doing it that way. Cool!

[Lux_Seeker]

I got a fitting which reduces the side of the pipe of the end, stuck an SM57 mic at one end and started vocalizing in the other end trying to keep my voice constand and I got some great tones.

So, you built a poor man's talkbox, then? Never thought of doing it that way. Cool!

Yes, you might call it that. One thing I would like to do expanding on the idea is to create a waveguide that I can place near an amplifier so rather than using the freqbox directly from guitar, the sound of the guitar would be rooted first into a resonant chamber by means of a waveguide and would then resonate at certain frequencies creating what I expect to be a much more stable response.

[Lux_Seeker]

I found a good book on engineering acoustics. It has a large section on waveguides. Lot's of math but that is not beyond me. A little rusty but... So why bother? Mostly for the freqbox. I want to create resoant spaces and using both the LPF post resonator I may be able to create some really interesting sounds. This idea can be used for amplified guitars but also horns and woodwinds although the sound pressure might not be that strong for woodwinds.

[Voltor07]

I found a good book on engineering acoustics. It has a large section on waveguides. Lot's of math but that is not beyond me. A little rusty but... So why bother? Mostly for the freqbox. I want to create resoant spaces and using both the LPF post resonator I may be able to create some really interesting sounds. This idea can be used for amplified guitars but also horns and woodwinds although the sound pressure might not be that strong for woodwinds.

Putting a guitar amp in a length of sewer pipe works. I can't recall who did that, but it was a pioneer of experimental music. He had a variety of resonant chambers in his studio, including sewer pipes, plywood boxes, concrete boxes, even a box made from cast iron!

[Lux_Seeker]

I found a good book on engineering acoustics. It has a large section on waveguides. Lot's of math but that is not beyond me. A little rusty but... So why bother? Mostly for the freqbox. I want to create resoant spaces and using both the LPF post resonator I may be able to create some really interesting sounds. This idea can be used for amplified guitars but also horns and woodwinds although the sound pressure might not be that strong for woodwinds.

Putting a guitar amp in a length of sewer pipe works. I can't recall who did that, but it was a pioneer of experimental music. He had a variety of resonant chambers in his studio, including sewer pipes, plywood boxes, concrete boxes, even a box made from cast iron!

Its possible that it was Karlheintz Stockhausen or perhaps Alvin Lucier. They both worked with that type of thing. One of the ideas I have thought of is to do what you are talking about. The pipe I have is small and fairly short but using partial enclosures as the end does turn them into resonantors. It is clear singing into them what their resonance frequencies are.

One thing I thought of is to take a relatively small amp speaker, about 8" ,, and attach it to the end of a PVC pipe. At the other end would go a mic or even contact mics which are cheap and easy to make.

One way to route this is the effects chain out to the speaker and the mic to the freqbox and then the freqbox out to the effects return. What will happen, I would hope, is a highly complex freedback loop. LFO to the frequency of the freqbox would also be great for slowly modulating the resonance frequency.

There is so much that can be done here.

What I would love to do is create a waveguide to get the sound of the amp into the resonance chamber. Something like a megaphone might do with a small speaker and place directly over the amp.

[Voltor07]

Yes, indeed it was Stockhausen. Thanks for jogging my memory. The megaphone idea is really cool! I live near a store that sells old megaphones. Standard size up to air raid/tornado sirens. 25 watt up to 500 watts. Of course, the bigger they get, the more expensive. A 200 watt model goes for $1350. Never asked what the biggest goes for. I think it would be awesome to do a show with a 200 watt, 140 dB megaphone as the synth amp. Perhaps someday, if I decide to tour...