#326

Yep there are so many great pedals out there!

One thing I should mention about shallow water is that it can run at line level, which is very useful for using with synths etc. Putting it in the external feedback loop of a digital delay would be an interesting experiment.

You can’t really go wrong with anything that Fairfield make in my opinion.

3 Likes
#327

I think my plan for now is to prioritize pedals based on how different they are from what I already have (considering Euro + pedals + software). So my most likely next pedal is Particle, once I decide whether to go for V1 or V2 :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#328

Anyone try the Endangered Audio Research ad4096? Either mki or mkii? I think there is a euro version of mki? Maybe?

Was almost definitely going to grab a meet maude until I rand across the 4096. Have a shallow water and love it!

1 Like
#329

Ok. Posting this in case anyone else runs into this issue in the future.

I am not an official anything, and take zero responsibility if you go and brick your unit for good. But, there was very little info online regarding this process, and it worked for me. YMMV.

OTO BIM units with serial numbers 300 and below will be rendered useless if updated to the latest firmware because of an issue with the original bootloader.

The solution is to use a programming device called a PICkit 3 to reprogram the bootloader with a hex file that you can either get from Denis (he is super responsive) or, if that doesn’t work out for whatever reason, you can reach out to me. I’m keeping it on file.

Use the application mpLAB ipe (NOT IDE; there’s a difference). Connect the PICkit 3 to your computer, open mpLAB ipe, and enter DSPIC33EP256MU810 as the “device” (this is the kind of microcontroller in the BIM). Remove the 4 nuts on the input/output jacks of BIM, and the five screws on the back panel. The panel will now slide off. At the bottom left of the board, there is a male 6 pin header. Attach the ribbon controller to the PICkit 3, noting which color on the ribbon cable is closest to the arrow on the PICkit 3 (this color will attach to the bottom-most pin on the BIM’s male header.). You may need to slide out the male pins on one end of the ribbon cable. Be gentle, they’ll come out.

Power the BIM on.

At this point in MPlab IPE, you should have your hex file imported, your device specified, and your PICkit 3 selected as the target. Hit “run” or “send” (I don’t remember the exact command), and the code should flash the BIM. It will tell you if it worked or not.

Now you can run the latest firmware. Wahoo!

12 Likes
#330

I’m posting this here because I’m not sure where else to.

I purchased a Montreal Assembly Count to 5 a few months ago. It’s my first pedal I’ve ever owned. Although I haven’t used it terribly heavily, I’ve started to notice what sounds like some odd low bitrate stuff going on. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve damaged it by accidentally using an incorrect power source or if it’s defective. I’m unsure, however, so I’m including a brief sound sample for you to hear what I mean. Should I be worried?

#331

You mean at the end? Which mode was this recorded in?

1 Like
#332

I can’t listen to the clip right now, but I sent a video of an issue I encountered with a CT5 a few years back to Scott Monk and he was very helpful in showing me how to adjust the calibration. I would talk to him I’m sure it’s a minor issue!

1 Like
#333

This was in mode 1. It just sounds more low-fidelity than I expected based on the demos

#334

Just saw this on modular grid. Looks like it could be interesting if they are all BBD like there latest release.

6 Likes
#335

It’s a seriously huge amount of delay:

2 Likes
#336

I caught the word PT2399 while skipping through the video, so it’s digital. Still interesting though.

1 Like
#337

haven’t watched the whole thing but the design choice (PT2399 vs BBD) is talked about around 1:28:00

#338

Yeah, just listened to that bit, and I’m not surprised noise was an issue.

#339

Caught up with a preview on Perfect Circuits channel. Their decision to switch to pt2399 is very puzzling to me, especially after how great their latest BBD module sounded.

#340

I love delay! Tried quite a few pedals. Started out with a Behringer EM600 also had a Behringer VM-1 Vintage Time Machine. The VM-1 is a great EHX DMM clone, but the delays are darker, which I actually preferred since it had a ton of lofi character.

Had the DOD Rubberneck twice, it’s pretty nice. The tap tempo with divisions and modulation alone is excellent. The Rubberneck feature is awesome, and combining it with the fx loop is great fun.

The Boss DD-500 is very versatile. Do not like having to menu dive but the pattern mode alone is worth it.

The Meris Polymoon is beautiful and can work as a sort of reverb too when you blend the delays with the Multiples knob. Modulation on it is so nice.

The Meris Hedra is also remarkable. It sort of reminds me of tape delay with configurable heads and time divisions but each head can be assigned a different pitch. I think it’s awesome that the scale can be set. It also works as a pitch corrector for vocals, sounds pretty cool but works much better if you know how to sing, and I don’t. Even used it with very tiny delay times and kind of gets into strymon deco territory - sounds cool on drums.

Strymon El Cap was cool and had a nice sound but wasnt as impressed with it as I thought I would be. If I had one earlier on in my delay exploration I’d probably have gotten to know it better and been a bigger fan though. Sounds very good.

The Industrialectric Echo Degrader is amazing. The lofi break up is great. Kind of like a tape machine but instead of just standard delay options you can also configure the condition of the actual machine. At very long delay times it’s like a constantly decaying Looper. Very fun to jam with. Biggest drawback is it is very hard to get consistent sounds out of it. The knob settings can change the behavior quite drastically. Could be seen as a plus as well. Wish it had tap tempo.

Empress Echosystem is awesome but I hated that I couldn’t easily remember what thing 1 and thing 2 did :rofl: so many options though! Loved the dual modes and switchable serial and parallel operations. Also dug the assignable cv.

My only delay right now is the Moog Minifooger Delay It is very very nice. If it had tap tempo I think it would be a perfect straightforward delay. I like that the cv input is switchable between time and feedback. Before this I didn’t understand why the price of the 104s were so high. I get it now.

Still want to try a timeline, the OTO offering, and an eventide pitchfactor (seems to have more standout functionality than the Timefactor imo).

If I was going to pick something to stop at, I’m leaning polymoon, but only if I had something analog like the Minifooger. The echo degrader also was interesting enough to grab again. Wish it had top jacks.

3 Likes
#341

There’s so many great options to choose from when it comes to delay. For some reason though, I keep coming back to the Line6 DL4. Not so much because of its awesome sound (it’s okay…ish), but I just know how to work it. Want a ringmod? Done. Want a chorus? Here you go. Lots of creative potential.

1 Like
#342

Tried out the Hedra this weekend at a music store. Beautiful sounds but I found the “alt mode” knob functionality to be pretty maddening. Did you ever get used to it? I’m think that might actually be a dealbreaker for me. Need to try out the Eventide Pitchfactor as well as it seems like the only thing that would get close to the Hedra sounds.

#343

That’s Meris for you in general :stuck_out_tongue:

Everytime I got a Meris I had a similar reaction. I feel they need a little time to break in than other pedals. The fortunate thing is the alt mods don’t have multiple functions and you get used to it. With the empress echosystem, each mode had different functionality for Thing 1 and Thing 2, which was way more maddening for me.

As for the Hedra, I feel like having stepped knobs on the key knob and delay “heads” would have been very useful for me, but I understand why they didnt do it: it’s more limiting if you aren’t looking for exact values. The secondary functions for the heads determined time division and I sometimes had trouble figuring out what division I was at. Some more detailed labeling might have helped. Same for the key knob and its alt (mode)

What usually helps me with Meris stuff is to try something basic at first and only tweak one knob and its alt to get the hang of it, then reset the patch before moving to the next.

I agree that maybe the pitchfactor was more like what I wanted. I have to try it some day.

1 Like
#344

just want to share something very basic i discovered, and later found out it is a pretty known technique.
this summer a friend borrowed me (long term) a korg stage echo se-300. i restored it (it was in perfect shape but the degradable parts were old, felts, pinch roller, tape loop etc…) and now it works perfectly both for line and pickup levels (tho the output is a bit on the low side, better suited for guitar amps than mixers but crankin up the gain on the desk fixes it without great issues).
it also has 2 inputs and 2 outs (one is wet only, the other is post dry\wet control) so i can leave it patched to both my mixer and my guitar amp, pretty cool.
usually when i used it on guitar i put it in the fx loop of the amp (send and return), and as far as common echo\delay job it was perfect like this.
but when i noticed that the input gain on both channels gives plenty of gain (haven’t measured it but i mean PLENTY) i thought it might be cool to try it as overdrive\distortion.
so i put it in front of the amp, like you do with a fuzz or another modifier pedal. result: it works AWESOME! it gives you plenty of distortion, i now have many points for gainstaging: guitar level (and tone), input level on the stage echo, amp gain and amp level. the preamp on the echo can go from subtle warmth to full on distortion! and it sounds so solid, full bodied, thick!
i even tried it in combination with a fuzz i have (the joyo voodoo octave pedal) which per se isn’t so great. i found out that if i put the fuzz after the echo (before the amp) it sounds ok but nothing to write home about, but if i put the fuzz into the echo and the echo into the amp it sounds HUGE! like the echo preamp helps in giving the fuzz more body, more presence, more everything! so i can dial in tones that range from bluesy overdrive to full on sludge monsters (especially if i engage the mid scoop switch on the fuzz, cuttin out a lot of midrange).
suggested! i think even digital pedals with a good preamp section might do the trick, pretty sure the strymon magneto eurorack module behaves very similarly with its nice analog preamp section!

5 Likes
#345

Yeah my thoughts on the Hedra (and I’d assume I’d feel the same way for all their pedals) were that I’m sure I could get used to the alt functions quickly for studio noodling, but I definitely would not want to be switching parameters in a live situation. And when you need a whole midi extender box just to store presets, the value of the pedals looks a lot less worth it. Hoping I can try out a pitchfactor somewhere soon!