Members britt-stinker Posted November 28, 2005 Members Share Posted November 28, 2005 Hi everybody! For a while I have been thinking about building a noise swash or atoner, but I can't really figure out which one I want. The sound files on the site can't really do these pedals justice, since there are so many knobs and switches. What I need it for is for strange sounds, chaotic noises and so on(but that pretty much speaks for it self, when considering one these pedals)...Can those of you that have one tell me what made you choose one over the other - and what they both are really good for, and every think else you might want to add about them! Thanks in advance-Britt-Stinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members autopilot Posted November 28, 2005 Members Share Posted November 28, 2005 both are 2 different beasts. and borth are worth of building, let's bump this one for 80k's who has build both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StompboxMan Posted November 29, 2005 Members Share Posted November 29, 2005 If you want to play and hear more guitar get the Noise Swash. Get it with self oscillation and an LFO to modulate some part of the signal. Then it can play itself while your playing it. That sounds more tripped then an Atoner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 80k Posted November 29, 2005 Members Share Posted November 29, 2005 damn, that's a hard question... Comparing the two... Ease of Build: - i've put together a few swashes and it was very easy. and it's a breeze to troubleshoot. - The atoner is much more difficult. I have only built one, and it took me several days to get it to behave correctly. It's a very sensitive circuit that requires tweaking to get it to sound 'right'. Chaos: - Noise Swash wins if you want it to really go wild, squeal, fart, spit, and pretty much scare everyone on your block. - Atoner wins if you are after thick, wall-of-sound and juicy sounds, very intuitively controlled by an LFO. I'll explain a little bit more later. Fuzz Sounds: - Swash has a good variety of useable fuzz sounds, although it's always incredibly high gain even at the lowest settings. You can get a really dark and smooth fuzz setting. On the other hand, you can have an explosive, static-y, gated fuzz. And much more. - Atoner has one of the best sounding fuzzes i've ever heard. It's not as diverse as the swash, but it reigns supreme if you are after a swarming bumblee sound. In fact, the LFO harmonic arpeggios that you can achieve give it the ultimate swarming madness that cannot be achieved with a regular buzzy fuzz pedal. Controllability: - Swash is difficult to control even for experienced users. Sometimes you'll get a sound that you'll never hear again. It responds like mad to your pickups too. The controls only do what they are supposed to do to a certain extent. Like the 'noisegate' knob does control gating sometimes. Othertimes, it does whatever the {censored} it wants. - Atoner is very controllable. I have heard people say the atoner is like the swash in that it's a tweaking nightmare and difficult to repeat settings, but i think they probably just didn't spend enough time with it. As a circuit, the Atoner is actually very intuitive and the controls actually do what they are supposed to do. LFO: - The Swash's LFO can help you get some decent sounds but only on certain settings. Really, it just sends an oscillation signal into the circuit, giving you more craziness. - The Atoner's LFO, on the other hand, is what sets the speed at which the guitar tone goes through harmonic jumppoints. It is central to the design of the circuit. A summary: - Swash advantages: farting, squealing, and {censored}ing {censored} up and pissing off your bandmates. If you want chaotic and explosive static, this pedal does it best. For diversity of fuzz, this is also a good choice. It is also easy to build and 4ms has a nice new PCB for it. - Swash disadvantages: a bit too crazy, to a point that you can have difficulty getting the same sounds. Good for tweaking and recording, but bad if you want to repeat sounds at a gig or something. I pity the fool that tries to use the masking tape technique on the knobs to keep settings and expects it to behave at a gig!!! - Atoner advantages: Awesome bumblebee and swarming fuzz. A very unique circuit that arpeggiates through harmonic jumppoints. Set right, you can make your rig sound like a breathing fuzz landscape. For pure fuzz bliss and an excellent sound, the atoner is better than the swash. - Atoner disadvantages: A real bitch to build. But ask autopilot to build you a PCB to make your life easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StompboxMan Posted November 29, 2005 Members Share Posted November 29, 2005 Originally posted by 80k Swash has a good variety of useable fuzz sounds, although it's always incredibly high gain even at the lowest settings. Try turning off PreClip and PostClip for less saturated tones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 80k Posted November 30, 2005 Members Share Posted November 30, 2005 Originally posted by StompboxMan Try turning off PreClip and PostClip for less saturated tones. Most of the time i use the swash with both clips off. I like those tones the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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