XP-300 Space Station

this is the first 'multi-effects' processor i've used - i have a couple of electro-harmonix pedals + microsynth, a roland space echo, that sort of thing. i guess the biggest problem i have with the space station is that it sounds really obnoxiously digital. if that bothers you as well, you'll definately want to use it with gear that will lessen this quality. i'm sure it would sound better through a tube amp, etc. that's not really the point of the space station though, and i feel like a lot of the other reviews on this site never quite got what this thing is about. essentially, it's the ultimate sci-fi effects pedal.  a real kitsch machine, make no mistake. cartoony as hell. there are effects in here that sound exaclty like the 'special effects' on childrens' toy keyboards, and all those toy cars/airplanes/whatever with sirens etc. that they sell in chinatown. if you've ever wanted to write music for ice cream trucks or 8-bit nintendos (two of the settings on here sound exactly like an old atari), or music using those kinds of sounds, you will love this. and those are just the settings that people on this site have described as "useless" if the dime-store aesthetic doesn't suit you... the 'strings' sound like disney soundtracks, as someone said. incredible. it's a bit like an even tackier, dimestore version of the strings on recent flaming lips or mercury rev albums. the strings are possibly the best thing on here. but... all they are, as far as i can tell, is harmonizer + echo + volume pedal for swells. if you alredy have a harmonizer and a delay pedal don'y buy this exclusively for the synth strings. that said, i usually hate harmonizers and i love the way they work in this context - it never would have occured to me to use one that way.   the ring modulator sounds a lot like dod's gonkulator, if you've heard those. better with lots of distrotion. the reverse effects are fun too. i wasn't able to get that whole my bloody valentine reverse reverb thing going but other's have said it's possible (and there's definately plenty here for shoegazers). but if you're drawn to the space station, chances are you aren't really trying to sound like somone else anyway. i wish there was more control over delay time... the ranges are pretty narrow. it never seems to be able to go as fast or slow as i want it to... if you have another echo pedal, that's probably a good thing. so, the digital sound annoys me, and the range of delay times could be bigger, but really, those are pretty minor gripes... i gave a 10 for sound because of the features, not sound quality. there's probably no one alive who would find all of these things useful but come on - there's like 38 effects. i don't think the sounds here are as 'unique' as people claim on their own... like i said, some of them you get with an atari or a toy airplane or whatever... but you can't get them ON A GUITAR with anything else. some of it can be done with a line 6 delay etc etc etc...

this is fragile... if you jump around a lot and stomp on your pedals really hard, be careful with this one. and they dont make them anymore, so if it breaks, too bad. it's pretty important to me that the gear i use is indestructable. oh well.

well... all the effects are listed on the bottom of the box, so you can't look at the list and flip through different settings at the same time. that's a pretty significant problem, as there are 40 settings, and you can only 'store' 6 of them. they really should have put that list in the manual somewhere. aside from that, it's pretty simple.

don't bother asking companies to fix their 'obsolete' products.

this pedal, if that's what it is, either fits your personality (musically and otherwise) or not. i you're really into joe meek and b movies and stuff like that, you'll probably enjoy this... others have said this is for experimental/noise people, and while that is definately true (tho experimental doesn't necessarily mean avant-garde - i play 3 minute indie pop songs), it's probably way too cartoony/sci-fi for most. they definately picked the right name for it, anyway. if you do the experimental thing, but your style is really pensive and serious this might not work for you. for me, the space station was a really perfect match. i only worry that i use it too much...