Hi. I recently bought an Arturia Minibrute, my first hardware synth. I've been impressed not only by the sound but also the immediecy of operation, resulting in a very different experience to software.

I would like to extend the sound and tweakability by putting it through some guitar pedals, particularly thinking of chorus, phaser, delay and reverb and so was wondering what you guys might be using and what it is you like about it.

Items such as Moogerfoogers are out of my price range at the momment, and am happy to buy s/hand. I notice that some of the more well received guitar pedals seem to be plus $100 dollars, but am especially interested in good results with cheaper pedals (who wouldn't I guess but you know what I mean)

As a general reference I'd rather have something with charachter that's a little dirty rather then something more sterile but clean. However it does seem that in the guitar pedal world that's what you usually have to pay more for.


There is plenty of info and advice and opinion on the net of using pedals with Guitars, but I wanted to ask the question here as a pedal could give a very different result with a synth.


Thanks

I like this topic.

If you're after cheaper gear, there are a lot of options, but it depends on whatever's available 2nd hand.

I'd suggest that you're probably best to go for analogue effects. Most of the cheaper digital pedals are no better than stock DAW plugins. Of course, good analogue effects tend to be more expensive - especially as there are plenty of digital chorus/phaser/delay/reverb pedals. For fun and versatility, I suggest you look for pedals that have a wide range of sounds and lots of knobs.

It's not quite a pedal (and it's not 100% analogue), but for dirty hardware chorus/delay/reverb/etc I use and recommend the T-Resonator.

Also: http://blog.kimlajoie.com/using-guitar-pedals-and-other-odd- hardware-for-adding-texture/

-Kim.

Thanks Kim. That T-Resonator looks an interesting product to say the least . I seen a few of these hybrid designs appear in pedals and I guess they make alot of sense when good BBD chips are hard to find or very expensive. Will look into this product in more detail.

I'd had a feeling that the issue of analogue over a digital pedals would arise.

I was wondering, in your experience have you found that the pedals that the Guitar community rave about are also equally effective with synths?

It's variable. Electric guitars have a characteristic sound and guitar pedals are 'tuned' to work with that sound in a predictable and pleasing way. Fed with different sounds, the results are more difficult to predict.

Generally, pedals that don't affect the tone much will generally work well for synths. Your preference for chorus/phaser/delay/reverb pedals fit this description. Be prepared though, the chorus and reverb sounds you get from pedals (especially cheap pedals) will probably be simpler and thinner than what you're used to with plugins.

-Kim.

I use a Tube OverDrive Pedal and also tried my Rocktron Digital Delay on my Miniak.
It is nice to have the dials right there in front of you. I have in the past used analog Delays and they are so sweet sounding, but more expensive and shorter Delay times(600ms) tops. I am going to buy a friends 80's Rockman delay/echo box,but if I didn't have that opportunity, I probably buy MRX M159 Carbon Copy
http://proguitarshop.com/mxr-m169-carbon-copy-analog-delay.h tml
poke around on there site for more pedals. A lot of them are Boutique but there is some cool stuff to be had there. On the Cheap look at some of these offerings from GFS
http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Guitar-Pedals-_c_207.html
I wouldn't go by their demos but there are some good YT vids
good luck

Thanks Kim for your clarification on the guitar effect on Synths, I guess it's easy to take for grantitude the quality of the effects available to us as DAW users.

Thanks for the suggestions whitecloud.

I've read good things about the MXR Carbon Copy. Regardng the tube overdrive do you use that to completely alter the sound or to just add an edge to it?

One pedal I did have my eye on is the EHX Small Stone phaser.

all the electro harmonix stuff is nice
for your delay you can do a lot worse than the monotron delay, i know its not a pedal but for 30 quid or so youre probably not going to find many analogue delays

personally i use anything i can get my hands on, i even grabbed a fai few behringer pedals a few years back, then they where around 12 -15 quid, then all of a sudden the same pedals doubled in price and became a little less desirable.

have fun on your search

I find the Boss RE 20 space echo goes nicely with analogue synths - reminds me of the time I started with a mono synth and ReVox for echo.

The moogerfoogers are nice but pricey, some of the MXR pedals are worth a look, I've got the flanger but the Carbon Copy looks good too.

Actually vurt I do have a monotron delay which i bought the same time as the arturia for this purpose, but I find it so noisy even when nothing is being played and the feedback all the way down, perhaps it's just the one I've got. However I do love what it does. On its own I've spent more time then is healthy creating 70s sci-fi noises

Also I am more than happy for non pedal suggestions that are affordable and tweak able in real time. I might trawl some guitar shops for s/hand pedals perhaps, otherwise eBay

Chamomileshark, thanks for your suggestion of re 20. I look into that a little more. Another vote of confidence for EHX pedals I see!

When I use the DC Liquid Blues Tube OD pedal I usually turn of all the FX on the Miniak and go out the Mono ouput. The LB is connected to My Digital Delay sometimes but I really want an Analog Delay. Since the MiniBrute is Analog and no FX, that opens the doors to other possibilities, both Hardware and software.
Analog delay is the way to go instead of ITB for warmth. I do have RP-Delay
for some tripped out stuff and a few chorus/flange plugs. As far as OD/Distortion, don't count out pedals as I am not a fan of modeled Distortion
or amp sims(Tube snob here). Happy hunting.

Eventide Space is an outstanding reverb pedal with some interesting effects. The price might be too high for you, but a lot of people rate it as an essential bit of kit.

https://www.eventide.com/AudioDivision/Products/StompBoxes/E ventide_Space.aspx

A popular alternative is the Strymon blueSky

http://www.strymon.net/products/bluesky/

Peace,
Andy.

Thanks, if I come across an interesting pedal I will post my findings on here.

The eventide is more than I'm looking to spend at the moment but the reviews do imply that it's value for money. When looking up the blue sky I also noticed the brigadier delay pedal which seems interesting and looks to have been well received also

The great thing about guitar pedals is that there are literally 1000's to choose from, and you don't need to purchase brand new.

Check out local 2nd hand music shops, ask friends, you might pick up a bargain. If you don't like the sound sell it on and try again. Repeat until happy Think of eBay as the worlds largest rental service

For example, I have a Zoom multi-FX pedal that I bought dirt cheap off a mate. It's pretty average (like most older Zoom products) but it has some cool sounds. The phaser in particular sounds great on just about anything, while sounding nothing at all like a real phaser.

Peace,
Andy.