Members Kirk Markarian Posted March 2, 2011 Members Share Posted March 2, 2011 I was using GarageBand last night to mix a track of mine, and there is a distortion plugin available, in particular, the setting "Distortion 2" is what I am interested in. I don't play guitar, I am running my electronic drums through an EHX 'Lil Big Muff to get a louder, fuzzier sound. It works pretty well, but isn't as "hard" as the Distortion 2 setting in GarageBand. My Question: What distortion pedal can get that type of sound? It's very hard - the attack is very sharp and there is a nice decay, but it is a bit shorter, so the sound is more defined, while being distorted, fuzzy and warm. There is a nice hiss to it as well. It has the noise of the Boss ODB-3, but it seems less spongy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kirk Markarian Posted March 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 Bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members claytonjohn18 Posted March 3, 2011 Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 Very few people here have experience running electronic drums through several different distortion pedals. I don't even know where to begin besides saying DS-1. Everyone hates it because it's cheap and sounds bad on guitar most of the time, but I'd imagine you'd like it if you're into hiss. No idea what else to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kirk Markarian Posted March 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 Very few people here have experience running electronic drums through several different distortion pedals. I don't even know where to begin besides saying DS-1.Everyone hates it because it's cheap and sounds bad on guitar most of the time, but I'd imagine you'd like it if you're into hiss.No idea what else to say. Well, hey! At least you mentioned a pedal - I was a bit more curious to know if there was a distortion pedal that sounded similar to the GarageBand "Distortion 2" setting - That's more my aim - to get a pedal that makes that particular sound. You say the Boss DS-1 has it, and I know the ODB-3 has it - any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again for giving me some sort of answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members claytonjohn18 Posted March 3, 2011 Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 I mean there are tons of distortion pedals out there, so you could try anything. Your other best option would be some sort of a RAT style pedal. See if you can find a ProCo Roadkill or Brat on eBay. They usually go cheap, and have an insane amount of distortion. Also, there are a couple of old DOD pedals that went for the "WOW, that's a lot of distortion" thing. Thrashmaster, American Metal and at least one other. Try your hand at those, and maybe the other boss Distortions (Metal Zone, Distortion/feedbacker) and you'll definitely find something you can use. With the exception of the Rat, they all sound mostly the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eti Posted March 3, 2011 Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 the Distortion 2 setting in GarageBand Post a clip so we can hear what it sounds like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Aedes Posted March 3, 2011 Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 looking at GB, the distortion 2 model has Drive=10%, Tone about 80% bright, and Output at 85%. Those controls map to the distortion, tone, and level controls of a DS-1. I have absolutely no idea if it would sound the same though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kirk Markarian Posted March 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 Thanks for all the answers - I'll see if I can make a clip tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thom Posted March 3, 2011 Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 The regular "I need a distortion pedal" threads always get a zillion different replies, there's obviously never really one truth to that sort of thing. There's countless pedals out there, and often the difference between a lot of em is very subtle. Finding a specific sort of distortion pedal for electronic drums is an even harder problem to tackle, but based on what you describe I'll have to make and estimated guess and second that RAT suggestion. Maybe check some youtube clips to hear what it sounds like on guitar, if that's any reference at all. The rat is one of the most popular distorion pedals out there, it's kinda notorious/famous for having lots of mids and sorta fizzy thin low end. But it's a pretty versatile and efficient effect for rock/punk-minded guitarists who need a good bang-for-the-buck med/high gain dirt pedal. Impo, it works great with some amps/guitars, and sucks balls with others. But I guess that's not really helping you since you need something for electronic stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kirk Markarian Posted March 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 The regular "I need a distortion pedal" threads always get a zillion different replies, there's obviously never really one truth to that sort of thing. There's countless pedals out there, and often the difference between a lot of em is very subtle. Finding a specific sort of distortion pedal for electronic drums is an even harder problem to tackle, but based on what you describe I'll have to make and estimated guess and second that RAT suggestion. Maybe check some youtube clips to hear what it sounds like on guitar, if that's any reference at all. The rat is one of the most popular distorion pedals out there, it's kinda notorious/famous for having lots of mids and sorta fizzy thin low end. But it's a pretty versatile and efficient effect for rock/punk-minded guitarists who need a good bang-for-the-buck med/high gain dirt pedal. Impo, it works great with some amps/guitars, and sucks balls with others. But I guess that's not really helping you since you need something for electronic stuff... I used to have a RAT 2, and it was really neat for some things - like drones and filter sweeps, real subtle tonal changes, and the distortion had a nice papery quality. The thing that I noticed about the GarageBand distortion, along with the papery sound, is that it had a "hard" sound, like anything percussive would sound like it was hitting a wooden surface, thusly, it wouldn't bleed as much as a fuzz, and it wasn't a saturated sound like a typical distortion. In fact, it made everything much louder. Strangely enough, the GarageBand overdrive models lowered the volume and fuzzed the sound out a bit. It's a unique distortion sound, that's for sure - the other three were more soft, or had more mids and highs. There's nothing stopping me from using the plugin, except I want to approximate the sound in a live setting. I know, answering this question is like throwing darts at confetti, but I am getting a few decent responses. I'll definitely have to provide a clip tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members (⌐■_■) Posted March 3, 2011 Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 ds-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kpd78 Posted March 3, 2011 Members Share Posted March 3, 2011 I've never used GarageBand, but have always loved running drum machines and synths through RATs for distortion.With the distortion on the RAT kept low, filter to taste. If I wanted more distortion, I found boosting the input to the RAT worked better than increasing the gain on the pedal. The Guyatone TZm5 works really well as an 'outboard' signal processor on vocals and other instruments - I haven't tried it with drums or drum machines yet.The TZm5 is a fuzz, but is super-tweakable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kirk Markarian Posted March 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 Clips: LBM & Distortion 2: http://soundcloud.com/kirk-markarian/lbm-dist-2 LBM Only: http://soundcloud.com/kirk-markarian/lbm-only Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nankuamedha Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 I really like to run drum machines through my Noise Swash. They can get mangled really quick, but if you dail everything back a bit the Swash brings out soom really nice clipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kirk Markarian Posted March 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 I really like to run drum machines through my Noise Swash. They can get mangled really quick, but if you dail everything back a bit the Swash brings out soom really nice clipping. Oh yeah, I gave my Noise Swash a try - the thing that I don't like about it is the loss of low end. It does some really cool clipping and glitching, though and I love using it on tapes and oscillators, etc. Doesn't play nicely with my analog drums, though. Every Noise Swash is a bit different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members oinkbanana Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 Oh yeah, I gave my Noise Swash a try - the thing that I don't like about it is the loss of low end. It does some really cool clipping and glitching, though and I love using it on tapes and oscillators, etc. Doesn't play nicely with my analog drums, though. Every Noise Swash is a bit different. that's why you'll run your fuzzed version in parallel to your clean version with a low pass on the clean. find a happy mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kirk Markarian Posted March 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 that's why you'll run your fuzzed version in parallel to your clean version with a low pass on the clean. find a happy mix. Good Idea! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kirk Markarian Posted March 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 I think I've found a decent distortion - it may seem obvious to people who play guitar, but it was not so obvious to me. It occurred to me that the hissing I heard in the "Distortion 2" setting sounded a lot like an amp hissing when the gain is up high. I happen to have a Johnson bass amp that is quite loud and hissy. It also has a headphone out, 3-band EQ, Aux Send/Return, Spring Reverb and a built-in distortion circuit. It's pretty close to GarageBand plugin, with a TON more options. I like the hissing, because I can use it as another sound. Problem solved. Thanks for all the suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eti Posted March 4, 2011 Members Share Posted March 4, 2011 awsumm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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