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Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 11:06 pm
by OffYourFace
StevenO wrote:
Mon Jul 02, 2018 3:19 pm
Having just bought a condo in Toronto, plus wedding season, and also my burgeoning Faberge egg collection, really takes a chunk out of the ol' pocket book. BUT, I do want one of them zoomy dealies. One day. :-*
so... you're getting married? or are you spending $$ on wedding gifts?

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:48 am
by UlricvonCatalyst
The biggest problem I've encountered using my fx pedals with keyboards is the hotness of the signal. It can be tamed to some extent with the volume knob/slider of whatever keyboard you're using, but with some combos the 'wrong kind' of distortion seems unavoidable. I've found with fuzzes/distortions/overdrives that the initial sound source barely matters; a flute, piano or string sound will all come out barely distinguishable from each other. (Remember that fuzz pedals were supposedly meant to emulate a brass section originally.)

Reverb/delay/modulation FX of all flavours are a no-brainer with keyboards, but running them into guitar amps can have unexpected results too; I thought my Farfisa Compact needed one of its voices tweaked till I realised the dissonant overtones on the highest notes were coming from my Epiphone Jr. Unlike guitar, micing up keyboards through amps is under-rated!

Among my favourite keyboard pedals is my humble Schaller Tremolo, the best tremolo I own. I have a Catalinbread Repeat Percussion tremolo that sounds good (and totally unlike 'normal' tremolo) with keyboards too. If you have an amp with tremolo, it's worth plugging your keyboard into it as an experiment if nothing else.

One of the best sounds I've ever been able to coax out of a keyboard was sending one of the 'elec. guitar' sounds (I think; could've been one of the harp sounds) from my Casiotone 202 into a Throbak Strange Master, into DOD FX96 Echo - the result was the kind of radiophonic/'60s soundtrack sizzling pseudo-harpsichord melody that haunts my reverie.

As someone else said, anything goes. Got an FX pedal? Put a keyboard through it. What's the worst that could happen?

P.S. I'm now craving one of those Zoom MS-70CDRs. :fp:

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 2:23 am
by StevenO
OffYourFace wrote:
Wed Jul 04, 2018 11:06 pm
StevenO wrote:
Mon Jul 02, 2018 3:19 pm
Having just bought a condo in Toronto, plus wedding season, and also my burgeoning Faberge egg collection, really takes a chunk out of the ol' pocket book. BUT, I do want one of them zoomy dealies. One day. :-*
so... you're getting married? or are you spending $$ on wedding gifts?
Oh, no, I'll die alone. Everyone else is getting married! ;)

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:09 pm
by OffYourFace
StevenO wrote:
Thu Jul 05, 2018 2:23 am
OffYourFace wrote:
Wed Jul 04, 2018 11:06 pm
StevenO wrote:
Mon Jul 02, 2018 3:19 pm
Having just bought a condo in Toronto, plus wedding season, and also my burgeoning Faberge egg collection, really takes a chunk out of the ol' pocket book. BUT, I do want one of them zoomy dealies. One day. :-*
so... you're getting married? or are you spending $$ on wedding gifts?
Oh, no, I'll die alone. Everyone else is getting married! ;)
LOL. No you won't.

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 10:02 pm
by Shadoweclipse13
OffYourFace wrote:
Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:09 pm
StevenO wrote:
Thu Jul 05, 2018 2:23 am
Oh, no, I'll die alone. Everyone else is getting married! ;)
LOL. No you won't.
I'm with Steven. I'll likely die alone as well. Unfortunately, I'm getting to the point hearing horror stories from people I know that I think I prefer it that way ;) :D

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 12:55 am
by shadowplay
I like the Ibanez AD80 on synth but I recently saw Hannah Peel using hers on her stage piano to give a sort of gliding warble but live I'm sure she has two, one for the synths and one for the Nord.

You and see her using it and tweaking on the fly in these clips;

BBC 6 Music LIVE Session with Marc Riley - Hannah Peel - Fabricstate


Hannah Peel - Chloe - LIVE STUDIO SESSION
in Benge's of studio which is synth heaven

Hannah Peel - Silk Road | The Boatshed Sessions

My synth board has long been one of those Korg PME 40X pedalboards with the Tron goes Outrun cosmetics bought when they were worthless. I've 8 modules but with synth I generally go flanger (ace on bass for the Play Dead thing), (great sounding) digital chorus, wave shaper, overdrive, analogue delay (swapping one out depending) but I'd like to get a second host board because I like the sub octave, distortion and phaser and well...just because. They seem to suit synth and if they are good enough for John Foxx...

Image

D

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 7:46 pm
by OffYourFace
Very cool David. What does the waveform shaper do exactly??

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:07 am
by MechaBulletBill
shadowplay wrote:
Fri Jul 06, 2018 12:55 am
Image
The retrofuturism aesthetic at its best... although when somethign's just pretty old, it's just futurism? but from the past? :wacko:

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:26 am
by shadowplay
OffYourFace wrote:
Fri Jul 06, 2018 7:46 pm
Very cool David. What does the waveform shaper do exactly??
Strange square wave kinda fuzz/filter that makes expensive synths sound like late 70's/ early 80's tape only bedroom industrial track. I don't know if they all do it but mine sometimes randomly acts like a blocked carburettor where it's sort of splutters and stalls before clearing itself. Also does a weird mewling thing but I mainly like it for the name. ;)

Next time I'm home I'll take some pics of mine.
MechaBulletBill wrote:
Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:07 am

The retrofuturism aesthetic at its best... although when somethign's just pretty old, it's just futurism? but from the past? :wacko:
Yeah recreations like tha tnaff JHS Pedal for that Ryan Adams always look rum.

D

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:36 pm
by Zork
Is anyone using a Zoom G3 for synths? Is it cool?

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 5:35 pm
by mackerelmint
Well, it's got a lot of the same patches as the MS70, doesn't it? Seems like a promising notion.

Re: Pedals for Synths

Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2018 2:26 am
by pj
I love my Boss Tera Echo with synths. Red Panda Particle and Montreal Assembly Count to Five are also wonderful with synths.