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Getting a new toy.


isaac42

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It might be fun for jamming live but its something you'd likely have to sit down and use with both feet.

 

There was a time when I wanted one of those but since the advent of daw recording and multitracking I lost interest. Even for live I can program a drum machine and bass part and carry the thing under my guitar case. Having to play the parts with my feet would be too much of a distraction for anything but simple foot tapping tunes. Still you can learn allot by using one. I'd likely combine a drum machine too. Pick yourself up one of those Zoom 123 drum machines for under $50. The drum sounds are incredibly realistic and easy to use.

 

Some people have bass pedals like that modified for midi. You should be able to find some info on doing that mod.

 

The mod allows you to connect it to a computer or hardware units that generate all kinds of voices.

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I have a specific use in mind. One of the bands I play for has a fondness for what they call breakdowns. In the middle of a song, we'll drop any semblance of structure. Everybody plays whatever they feel like. Might be really cool if you're stoned or on acid, I dunno. But, given that we do that sort of thing, having a low drone note playing whilst I noodle up the neck should be fun.

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It has arrived. Not the most professional packing job, but adequate. And now I have a new blanket and a new towel, though the towel has a hole in it.

 

Hooked it up to see if it works. It does, everything except the Sustain on-off switch. The sustain control works, though, so no functionality is lost. Doesn't sound like much through a tiny practice guitar amp, but should sound great when I get it hooked up to a bass amp.

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How much can you adjust the sound? Is there any envelope control or is it just the stop lengths - 8'' date=' 16', etc.?[/quote']

Very little adjustment available. 8' and 16' stops, sawtooth waveform (sounds like to me, anyway), volume and sustain. Can't change the waveform, no envelope control, no modulation control, nothing. It's about as basic as it gets. Oh, and a pitch control. I didn't check the range, but it's several semitones, at least. Something like a chorus, phase shifter or flanger might liven it up a bit.

 

Truth is, I really wanted (still want) a Moog Taurus 3, but they cost about ten times as much, so I'll settle for this, for now. Taurus 1 costs almost as much as a 3. Taurus 2 has a larger pedalboard range, and a better synth than the Crumar, but not as good as the 1 and 3, I've read.

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Do you have an octave pedal? That might be fun to try with it. :)

I do, but holy carp! Who has speakers that can handle that? We're talking about a low C with a frequency of 16Hz, or even 8Hz! I don't think my vintage JBL D140s are going to like that very much.

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The band I plan on using it in already has two guitars and a harmonica filling up the mids and highs. I'm not sure an octave up on the pedals would do anything more than clog things up. Might be worth a try' date=' though.[/quote']

 

​An octave up mixed with the straight output at appropriate levels may do some good things for the sound.

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Not as pleased with it as I thought I'd be. The output is rather low. I was running it into my Sunn 200S, with my passive bass into the other input. I had to turn the bass down and the amp gain up quite a bit to get a good balance. I expected it to be the other way round.

 

The sound is pretty tame. No real impact when I step on a pedal. A unit with ADSR would be much better in that regard. It does fill in the bottom end, though, which is the main thing I wanted it for. A separate preamp would help a lot, or maybe I'll need to start using a mixer for my front end instead of a bass amp.

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Broke out the oscilloscope. The waveform isn't exactly a sawtooth. More like a sine wave, but weird. Goes about 3/4 through the cycle, then flattens out a bit, then starts over. Asymmetrical, so it's generating a few even-order harmonics, but still mostly sine-ish.

 

Maximum output appears to be 0.37v on the 8' stop and 0.395v on the 16' stop. Combined, it goes up to 0.88v. That's directly into the o-scope, which has a much higher input impedance than most amps.

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