Idk man, even tho it sounds like a fun weekend project it also seems like a lot of hassle.
I own the soundtoys suite and thrash2 from izotope so I do get my distortion needs met, yeah. At the same time I see different distortion methods almost like different colors, or textures on some level. So vintage gear has it’s own allure in that regard.
Don’t forget the charm of having physical knobs to twist and buttons to press. I’ve been using in-the-box stuff for ages now so running a loop through some old ass gear just to make it sound like crap is appealing atm.
I.e I’ve been experimenting with running stuff through a small Marshall “pocket amp” and then recording that with a vintage Koss K-6 headset (inspiration from 90s black metal stuff). Sounds like shit sure, but it’s fun and has it’s own charm.
yeah I agree with the bit about physical knobs and stuff. the reason I got mine was cause A. it was cheap and better routing options, at least for me, than anything I could get new for 4x the price or more and B. its just fun to have the physical routing options, eq and clipping all in there. I don’t think it’s some “magic” distortion that I couldn’t achieve something comparable with plugs, but I do like how it sounds, even compared to some other analog distortion (my Monologue has a distortion knob built in, but I was never huge on how it sounds, overdriving it into the Mackie is nicer par example) but also just to have one place to start shaping the sounds of tracks going in before it gets to the daw, and not have to start putting plugins and stuff, which inevitably ends up being more fiddly and more distracting than reaching over and turning down the low shelf a bit or whatever. and sometimes bassline can really use a little boost to the subs etc etc… would rather get precise about that stuff later once the tracks are laid down, but its handy being right there to get closer right away
tl;dr not that I cant do it without the mixer just as well, but its different, and I like using it so far
also I don’t think its entirely fair to say its like a “sounds bad” character box type thing, I dont think it sounds bad in regards to the clipping or eq or whatever (sure its not a neve lol but whatever)
Deff agree on this one. Didn’t mean that it sounds like crap at all; I was going for the fact that it’s less expensive and probs more ‘lofi’ than more high-end distortion units like the CultureVulture or what have you.
Yess couldn’t agree more! Also my impression is that doing additive EQ stuff on hardware can be more forgiving before it clips and sounds nasty.
idk, not to be ‘that guy’, and while plugins have come a long ways, I’ve still never heard any vst that really gets close to “analog distortion” in all of its nuanced flavors and inconsistency.
I got a 3 level A Frame keyboard stand today, so I’m reconnecting and relocating everything. I’ll be lucky if I do not end up at either the Hospital or Home Depot.
when you put things together patchwork as you get them, eventually it becomes a mess. but putting it all back together for more effective workflow is one of the best arguments for modular. requires some planning.
how do they make midi cables twisted so they will never stay line mark up, no matter what way you hold them? makes them more fun to snake through your desk
the microfreak would be cool if it didn’t even do anything. but why red? those should be grey, white, or black too. it looks like what a pimp would wear to a funeral.
you will most likely get the EQ if you cannot get it to work.
I think I only know one paradiddle so far (L R L L R L R R). Flams will come with more control. My main issue right now is that my left hand is too slow and not very flexy, gonna have to practice a while to get it up to speed with my right.
