Hi everybody

Does anyone know if there´s a plugin outthere which can do the same type of distortion (no, I ain´t gonna use standard distortion/overdrive efx for that, they just won´t do it) as the TB303 does?
I´m fully aware that many VSTI´s offer more or less wellmade TB303 clones, but I´m just looking for the effect, so I can add it to whichever sound I desire. To be more precise, I thought it´d be great trying it out together with Delay Lama

Maybe the M-drive that comes with the free Muon Tau ?

The TB303 doesn't have any distortion circuitry on it, it's just that alot of people use it that way.. normally it just sounds squelchy at best, not distorted at all.. I'd reckon most people just throw it through a guitar pedal or something.

Supaphaser is good, and Northpole filter.

Well, I´ve never met anyone who didn´t speak about this effect as distortion, although it might not meet the excact definition of distortion, but it sounds like it - just a more controlled and synthetic kind. I remember using the SPECTRUM effect of my JV-1080 to get very close to a 303-type of distortion. It can enhance different frequency bands in a very particular way. I wouldn´t use a guitar pedal - that ain´t gonna give you 303-distortion - way too much out of control. Is the M-drive a standalone effect? And Northpole has a distortion that comes close? Gotta check it out later then!

Thanks.

PS: It might as well be that somebody outthere experimented with generating this sound using ring modulation. I did that on the JV as well, with some semi-decent results. Would be great if someone came to a good results using this method with VST plugin-effect.

Yep, M-drive is a separate VST, but to get it you have to download Tau.

I don't know what it means TB303 distortion ( see opinion above)

but Triangle II have good 303 presets (for free). Do You remember Rebirth - old software from Propellerhads? Rebirth has 2 TB303 modules and added distortion effect. Unfortunetly it's not VSTi.

http://www.propellerheads.se/products/rebirth/main.html

You can synchronize Rebirth with You host by Hoobie's loopback , but it's the other story.

I´ve tried to describe what I ment with 303-distortion in my other posts, and would like to get more into the details, but that´s hard.. I guess it needs to be heard. I don´t remember what the triangle presets sound like, but they´re prolly just 303-sounds without distortion, and what I need anyway is a standalone effect, through which can be put any source I desire.
I know rebirth, yes. Brilliant piece of work, but again, it doesn´t allow routing other sounds through it, so it´ll just be sounding like a 303, and not be able for me to do what I´m looking for.
Ok, I really get curious to hear M-drive now!

Quote:

I know rebirth, yes. Brilliant piece of work, but again, it doesn´t allow routing other sounds through

You can put your own samples in Rebirth by using a program called modmaker.

Otherwise to get the squelchy distortion you are after you would need a filter b4 your distortion fx, a filter which emulates resonance is what you should look for, then add tons of compression. Good luck !
-Des

Muon M-Drive! free free free - if you haven't already been introduced to the Muon 64-bit goodness, check this out:
http://www.muon-software.com/html/tau_download.html

Both Tau and M-Drive are free, use very little CPU and sound amazing. M-Drive sounds fantastic on drums as well.

os

Roman Empire, maybe you should post a link to a bit of music featuring that special 303 distortion.
For all i know what you mean could be just about any distortion, from mda combo to m-drive to any fuzz pedal....hmm.
There's the Tau Pro of course. It costs next to nothing for what it does ($30), and it has a drive option(very warm and squishy). You can change the PWMs (whatever they are ) or the built in Flanger/Chorus for some extra wackiness. Anyways: Any old distortion might be just the thing you're looking for!

Cheerio,
Marco

Gawd, I love Tau Pro...

You should really try out BloodOverdrive. It comes with a free vst plugin pack from FruityLoops - available in their download section.

Quote:

You should really try out BloodOverdrive. It comes with a free vst plugin pack from FruityLoops - available in their download section.

I can't seem to find the download - could you post the link?

thanks,
os

I tried now m-drive in combination with d-pole, and it got me a big step in the direction I´m heading for.
I don´t think you can use your own sounds on the 303´s in rebirth, just on the drumkits, or maybe I´m wrong?
Anyway, I prefer not to be limited by the rebirth sequencer, although it gives you the possibility of doing all the automation of the filters in a very handy way, which can´t be done so easily with cubase, but still.
Delay lama sounds quite cool if run through the effects I mentioned before, with the most agressive digital settings for the mdrive, plus the steinbergs chopper2 set to square and synced to 16ths, and finally some delay. I´ll prolly be using this setup in my first goa-trance song ever, a genre I´m not experienced in, but started working with after a friend wanted to see how I make music, and I just for fun built up a little goa piece with delay lama Now I´ve decided to finish it for his birthday, and I wanna make it as crazy as possible!
I don´t really know where on the net that you´d find music with 303-distortion in it, since I´m not a big guru on freemusic-sites. But if you´d get your hands on some Josh Winx (or is it Wink?) I´m sure you will find out what I´m talking about
But now I´ll find that bloodoverdrive - great name!

oops, the fruities removed the plugin pack from the downloads - but here is the link to the original from the simsynth maker :
http://ellisdee.onestop.net/BloodOverDrive.zip

Thanks alot! Couldn´t find it there, so now let´s see what this baby can do

Roman Empire wrote:

I don´t really know where on the net that you´d find music with 303-distortion in it, since I´m not a big guru on freemusic-sites. But if you´d get your hands on some Josh Winx (or is it Wink?) I´m sure you will find out what I´m talking about

Hehe, that's pretty ironic as the josh wink trademark "303" sound comes from a roland SH-101 and an external overdrive effect. The sound in Higher State of Consciousness, for example? SH-101 all the way.

edit: damn, i just noticed now how old this thread was. Sorry for bumping. I found it trough the search

Hehe, better late than never!
Very interesting information, I had no idea about that!
Thanks!

Reading Josh Wink interviews sure shows how confused even the man himself is about THAT sound on Higher state of consciousness. One interview, it's a 303. Next interview, "people often say it's a 303, actually it's MC-202". A couple of interviews later, it's SH-101. Later on, he talks about "that 303" again... the last interview I recall reading, once again mentioned "people often call it 303 when it actually is MC-202" ...

He oughta make up his mind already

jmh

really very interesting reg. the SH-101, I also thought it is a TB-303.. . but about the distortion FX I can recommend you "Steinberg Quadrafuzz" (http://www.directxfiles.com/manufacturers/steinberg_quadfuzz.htm). there are also some infos about using this plug together with a 303 etc..

i´m also a great fan of acid-/goa-style as in my youth (not long ago ) acid was one of my favourite styles. and once i experimented with the muon vsti´s (i think it was tau) and "accidentally" I inserted quadrafuzz as an fx. so without anything in mind I zapped through the presets and boom, I got this special sounding distorted 303-sound I loved through all the years.. tweaking the knobs yourself is like heaven ! but I guess its too late anyway ..

jmh wrote:

He oughta make up his mind already

hahaha, ok maybe I shouldn't always take what I read at face value then

But in addition to reading him say it, to me it really has the 101 sound to it. I mean primarily the filter, it just goes so damn high up. I have a 101 sitting on my desk and it duplicated that wink sound perfectly back when it still worked. I could always be wrong of course, you never know with these things.

Oh, and I just came to think of another case where a 101 is often confused with a 303. You know the track that plays during the club scene in Blade 1 where, the sprinklers start spraying blood everywhere? That's supposedly a 101 as well. I can't remember the name of the track right now, but I'm sure everyone who's seen Blade remembers it.

Trust me, that Josh Wink sound is very obviously an sh-101 or mc-202 (same sound). Regarding distortions, it's amazing that everyone's stressing these awful digital distortions when most analog stomp boxes sound worlds better & cost next to nothing. More often than not, those great classic distortion sounds were nothing more than the synths overdriving the front-ends of analog consoles, I keep a funky old $30 Boss mixer around to use solely as a 6-channel distortion box like this & it sounds great! Another trick is to wire a $2 germanium diode in-line, the diode will distort as the level to it is increased. This was taught to me by a guy who used to do some famous Nord & 777 mods, germanium diodes were the things used in all of Jimi Hendrix's old stomp boxes.

btw, the channels of Mackies & Behringers don't handle overdriving well at all, Spirits & Allen & Heaths do it right.

That's funny, I was actually working in the music supervision dept. of New Line Cinemas when Blade was being made, we were the ones who put that music there! Do you want to know how whack that director is? He had a New Order song playing on the temp during the blood shower scene, that was his idea of "rave music".

Uncle E wrote:

That's funny, I was actually working in the music supervision dept. of New Line Cinemas when Blade was being made, we were the ones who put that music there! Do you want to know how whack that director is? He had a New Order song playing on the temp during the blood shower scene, that was his idea of "rave music".

haha, these coincidences happen more and more often these days. Just a while ago someone on the Virus mailing list reported they'd seen a Virus c used during TATU's live show, and the next poster was the guy who played it

Ah yeah...

Confusion - by Pump Panel (a remix of New Order's Confusion as we all know)...

Funny thing, whenever I happen to have spare time and I'm sowewhere where I have access to Rebirth2, I amuse myself and the fellow people nearby, by building this track in Rebirth Apart from vocals, it's some minutes of twiddling and with the aid of better effects (reverb and especially something for that distorted riff)... you get frighteningly close to the original

Totally unrelated... for that kickass 303 experience, Stakker Humanoid is still one of those tracks that make me soil my knickers. Especially with headphones. In case you happen to have it - you've been warned

jmh