I understand that a number of members perform live, so I’m curious what effects y’all are using for live sets, especially on something like a main stereo mix. I’m particularly interested in reverbs.
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currently obsessed with OTO Machines BAM
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El Capistan has been my most consistently used effect box live. Probably bought and sold every reverb pedal on the market until I realized reverb wasn’t that important to me. El Cap let’s you dial in a hidden spring verb and that’s fine when needed. I would probably get a Bluesky again if I needed a reverb.
Other effects boxes I’ve used and enjoyed: EHX Freeze and Superego, EHX Ring Thing, TC Ditto loopers, vanilla Boss DD delays…
Very much interested in trying a Red Panda Particle in the future.
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@analogue01 Did you ever use an Eventide Space? if so, I’m curious how you’d compare it to the BlueSky. [Rashad Becker uses a Space live.]
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There’s a really wonderful Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) video where he explains the logic behind his live rig, which, as you can guess by the fact that i’m bringing it up here, involves some substantial live effects and controls.
Robin talks through his equipment:
The rack:
The effects:
Moogerfooger MuRF (discontinued, new version at http://www.moogmusic.com/products/moogerfoogers/mf-105m-midi-murf )
Nord Drum 2 (http://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/nord-drum-2 )
Boss FS-5U Non-latching footswitch (http://www.bossus.com/products/fs-5u_5l/ )
Eventide H9 (https://www.eventideaudio.com/products/stompboxes/multi-effect-processor/h9 )
Roland SCOOPER (http://www.roland.com/products/scooper/ )
And the performance:
It’s a brilliant bit of kit in 6U90HP. Very inspiring. I’m sure if he was asked nicely he’d have all manner of useful advice regarding the use of live effects.
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strymon el capistan and bluesky, in varying amounts per instrument. even my piano runs through a tiny bit of bluesky when i’m recording. the entire mix, or at least the main instruments, will likely have a further touch of bluesky. i especially like sending swells and drones, whether pads or single notes, through a slow el cap delay and then into a lengthy bluesky reverb (norm+room).
i’d like to get an eventide space for just one setting: the “black hole” algorithm. instant pad-maker to any signal fed through it, with a very unique sound. i’ve noticed that strymon’s reverbs and time-based effects seem to sit “on top” of the source instrument, while eventide’s algorithms are more “behind” the instrument, in the background, if that makes sense. they’re both noticeable “effected” sounds; but with different DSP philosophies, different end results. just depends on how much you want those unique qualities to stand out in the mix.
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always changing my pedalboard, also depending from the instrument i want to process with (guitar, synth, tape/vinyl player), solo or mixer auxs:
ehx superego-freeze, boss ge7-rv3, alesis ampliton,dod dfx91, instant lofi junky, m5
looping: dl4 and/or jamman(s), 2880
+
diy stutter (or dwarfcraft memento), volume pedal, ab/y splitter or/and matrix mixer
Curious as to how you find it compares to Space/Strymon? The BAM looks and sounds great but feel like Space has something magic.
I’m using Strymon El Capistan and Blue Sky + Montreal Assembly Count To Five. I’m using CT5 more like an instrument though.
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are there any effects (or effects chains) that are always in your aux send vs indv. channels? open question for the group.
i’ve been playing with having mutable instruments clouds in my aux send, but so far i’m not really happy with the results. seems like a traditional verb or delay would be better, clouds feels better suited to a single channel vs the whole mix.
and a bonus question: any external effects units you like that can handle CV from a eurorack?
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For what it’s worth, @ioflow this two-pedal combo is the one I see most often accompanying Eurorack live performances that show up on Youtube and Vimeo (purely anecdotally, I can’t point to specific ones at this moment). Next is Eventide in one of its many flavors.
Totally agree with @analogue01, ElCapistan and BlueSky are the only pedals I kept after trying a lot.
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I’ve used a lot of pedals, and a lot of chains doing live effects, and I don’t really have a suggestion as to specific effects you could use, but my guiding principle in what gear to take out live.
In the studio I concentrate on POSSIBILITIES not PERFORMANCE.
Live, I concentrate on PERFORMANCE not POSSIBILITIES.
What will engage your audience? What connects visually and musically? What looks good? What can you control live in an interesting way?
It’s also important for me to have a simple basic set-up for live use, that I can add to if I need. I currently have an APC and a laptop with which I can perform my current sets just fine. I have a midi channel with a bass synth vst on it, that I can reroute to a monosynth or my euro skiff. That can go into some effects if I’m feeling fancy. I have midi clock that can go out to a tenori-on if I know I’m going to be jamming for ages around the tracks. I can mute the bass tracks in a couple of tracks and take my double bass with me if I like. Sometimes I take a floor tom drum with me for shits and giggles just to make a more visual performance. My set up can easily change depending on if I’m in a tiny DJ booth where no one will be able to see my gear, if I’m catching a train to the gig, or if I’m doing a huge showcase and want to pull out all the bells and whistles.
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I had one briefly, but back before I performed a lot, so my opinion might be different now… General impression is that it’s flexible enough to dial in what you want, but the “ambient” over the top infinity effect-y reverbs aren’t really for me, so it seemed like a big waste in terms of my specific creative practice. Also I thought the interface was less intuitive than the Strymons. And on top of that I don’t like the way Eventide effects sit in the mix… but that might be all in my head… at the end of the day, with the right damping/eq, you can get any verb to be slightly invisible if that’s what you want.
I like the Bluesky (even over the bigsky) cause it basically has all I want in a verb: a nice plate sound and low and high cutoff/damping - although the modulated settings are useless to me. But if you want weirder and wilder verbs, the Space and the Bigsky seem to be the best hi-fi digital stompboxes out there.
EDIT: TC Hall of Fame is probably fine live, too. Let’s face it, most of the time we’re playing on pretty bad sound systems or in weird acoustic environments anyway. No one is listening to or for subtleties in reverb algorithms. In the studio that’s a different story.
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For in the box pieces, or modular + laptop pieces I’ve been using Brainworx Rooms and Valhalla Vintage Verb. VVV is super handy because it sounds great and is very light on CPU.
I was tempted by the Eventide Space for a long time but instead I ended up getting the H9 with all the algorithms for not much more than the Space. Interface and level-wise the H9 is more limited than the other Eventide pedals but having all of the algorithms is so much fun!
I have never used (or even heard) an Empress reverb, but it has beer mode, so there is that to consider, too. 
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anyone have experience with EHX Cathedral? i keep seeing em pop up in other peoples rigs
always:
for processing field recordings and guitar
Aleph and an Eventide H9 or a Space.
(the H9 is less ‘hands-on’ than the space… but if i want to call up various different delays/choruses/reverbs/distortions it’ super useful to have due to compact form… if you set-up a bunch of useful effects in advance with mapped buttons it’s ok for live use)
for guitar: stripped down now…
Boss OC-3 Super Octave - my preferred because of the flexible poly mode (you can control how many strings it adds the sub octave to)
Ditto Looper - for when my hands are tied up with the aleph
MXR Fullbore distortion - does what is says on the box
EHX B9 organ pedal - i love organ sounds, good for guitar, but great when feeding other things too
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OK for basic reverb sounds but the algos kinda fall apart if you try to do long-decay ambient stuff with it. Sort of metallic cheap sound to it. In a similar price range I’d probably grab a neunaber wet or digitech polaris over the cathedral.
Ah, yeah, I want to try one of this line, too. The C9 and the mellotron one appeal to me most… I think there’s a synth one they’ve just come out with too.