Meris? Blade Runnery? Ottobit, Polymoon & Enzo!!

[Chankgeez]

Well, I am a big fan of Ronald Jones.

[manymanyhaha]

That's because despite being purple and furry, you are human

[Chankgeez]

That sound you got was definitely worthy of that era Flaming Lips.

[manymanyhaha]

Well that crosses that off then. Wait, now I can quit! See you suckers on the flip side

[TheOndrakGuy]

A quick question for the Enzo-nauts out there.

I've been on the fence about pulling the trigger on one for a little while (primarily put off by the need to purchase more 'infrastructure pedals' to really make the most of presets etc.). I'm beginning to reconsider as I'm mostly bedroom recording these days so I can justify extended knob-tweaking a bit more.

However - I'm involved with a project that calls for 'wobbly' synth sounds a la Tycho/BoC. How is the Enzo at copping that kind of thing? I've got a few effects that can wrestle sounds in that general area (Lo-Fi junky etc), but is it worth me getting an Enzo and being able to 'synth' with an interface I'm familiar with (guitar) or do I grab a 2nd-hand Roland Boutique JP-08/JX-03, suck it up, and learn how to do it 'properly'?

Of course, the dry settings and the arp in the Enzo are also a factor for other, more guitar-y sounds that I probably can't even consider the potential of until I get my hands on the thing... so I'm at a bit of a junction. Convince me one way or another?

[mcatano]

There's an awful lot packed into the Enzo and I don't think comparing its utility to an actual mono or polysynth really does it justice. If your Q is "can I get this instead of a synth and not miss anything?" then the answer is definitely no. That said, it's a really fun device to mess around with and you can stumble onto some incredibly cool sounds. The absolute lack of precision in any of the controls and the fact that at least half of them are hidden behind alt function means that you're bound to stumble on new stuff all the time and have a hard time finding that-sound-you-had-that-one-time (which tbqh is probably the most analog-synth-y thing about it). I think the reviews are very correct in that if you want to use this as part of a live rig you absolutely need the preset pedal. If you're sitting in your home studio/bedroom/space and just kinda going for it, then the lack of precise recall isn't really a thing.

[radish]

I just picked up a used Enzo. This is the first digital synth pedal I have owned and I have had very little time with it. I placed it after my distortion and fuzz and noticed once I turned any gain on the pedal stopped tracking completely. Is normal for these types of effects?

[Chankgeez]

I think so.

You shouldn't reasonably expect it to automatically work with the gain level you're used to playing with. It's gonna take some experimenting to find what works with it and what doesn't. Definitely try it with different levels of gain to hear how it responds. Also, try it before your dirt. Any level change before it is gonna affect how it tracks. As it is now, it seems you're overloading the input.

[ts50b]

I found that the Enzo tracked well after lower gain distortion and overdrive, but even then there was a slight delay to figure out the note as opposed to playing into it clean

[radish]

I think so.

You shouldn't reasonably expect it to automatically work with the gain level you're used to playing with. It's gonna take some experimenting to find what works with it and what doesn't. Definitely try it with different levels of gain to hear how it responds. Also, try it before your dirt. Any level change before it is gonna affect how it tracks. As it is now, it seems you're overloading the input.

I was playing with a fair amount of gain. The Enzo would begin tracking immediately after I muted a note. So I assume you are right and I was overloading the input. I will experiment a bit more with gain level and signal chain placement.

I do not have a frame of reference so I just wanted to make sure this sounds normal and not like a defective unit. Since I bought it used at a local shop I have a very short return window.

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, these types of pedals are a little sensitive about what's fed into 'em. They don't always work well for everybody.

It's probably working as it should. It may just take a little getting used to. I'd start out trying it first in the chain and then slowly introducing pedals you may wanna run before it. Also, start at low gain (as ts50b noted) and then gradually bring the gain up. It'll give you a better idea of the gain/level tolerance and how well you can expect it to track under those circumstances.

[Jwar]

Most synth pedals in my experience lose a lot of the good tracking qualities when external dirt is applied. If it's been built into the pedal, then it seems to be fine.

Cool pedal, a lot of minor limitations. You just have to learn to work around them.

[radish]

Thanks for the input everyone. I spent quite a bit of time with the Enzo yesterday. It seems that it really didn’t like one distortion in particular going into it. I organized it like this: Muff— Dr Scientist Elements — Enzo— GCI Brutalist Jr. and it seemed to track fairly well with gain both post and pre. It was also nice having the option of gain either going in or going out.

I feel like Presets are going to be key here, so now I am off to look into MIDI controller options.

[gila_crisis]

A friend lend me his Polymoon to try out these days.

It's a wonderful pedal. And having already a Mercury7, I knew what to espect from this brand.
I love the feel of the Delay Time pot: when turning it you get these very SMOOTH tape manipulations/time shifts effects: Just WOW!
And the pedal it self it's able to create a great array of sounds, also I lot of glitches I wasn't expecting tbh.

I only found few things which doesn't cope so well with my taste:
- the feedback selfoscillation can get quite harsh, also with a dark filtering.
- Instead of all those pitch-shifting options, I would better had more modulation controls/options. Like for the flanger, on some settings it would be handy to have a wet/dry mix.
- or instead of a flanger mix, a pitch mix, like on the Mercury 7 (but by looking at the manual and how the LFOs interact, maybe this was not possible?)
- maybe some single pitch shifting artifacts, instead of only dual pitches, would have been very welcome.
- half speed function when holding the tap switch is kind of nice, but a infinity repeats thing would have make more sense to me.

Anyhow it's a top notch pedal, sonically it's very unique.

Here few noises from my side, baritone guitar > polymoon > timeline
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA1AW3uPIhA[/youtube]

[manymanyhaha]

A friend lend me his Polymoon to try out these days.

It's a wonderful pedal. And having already a Mercury7, I knew what to espect from this brand.
I love the feel of the Delay Time pot: when turning it you get these very SMOOTH tape manipulations/time shifts effects: Just WOW!
And the pedal it self it's able to create a great array of sounds, also I lot of glitches I wasn't expecting tbh.

I only found few things which doesn't cope so well with my taste:
- the feedback selfoscillation can get quite harsh, also with a dark filtering.
- Instead of all those pitch-shifting options, I would better had more modulation controls/options. Like for the flanger, on some settings it would be handy to have a wet/dry mix.
- or instead of a flanger mix, a pitch mix, like on the Mercury 7 (but by looking at the manual and how the LFOs interact, maybe this was not possible?)
- maybe some single pitch shifting artifacts, instead of only dual pitches, would have been very welcome.
- half speed function when holding the tap switch is kind of nice, but a infinity repeats thing would have make more sense to me.

Anyhow it's a top notch pedal, sonically it's very unique.

Here few noises from my side, baritone guitar > polymoon > timeline
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA1AW3uPIhA[/youtube]

I've owned all the Meris pedals (except for the CBA collab) at some point and the Polymoon is my favorite. I had two on my board for some time but now down to one.

There are so many wonderful sounds to be found in that box. I have a handful that are my go-to's but if get out of my comfort zone, I always find more. The two left knobs' alt settings, can't recall right now what they are called, but there is a lot to explore with those.

Agree about the mix on the flanger (and also phaser). I don't find that I use the flanger very much actually, a little can overwhelm everything pretty quickly, and it is a defined sound that doesn't have much variation.

I like the slow phaser but it too does not have any variation and I find myself turning it off more and more.

I really love the bliss out of a looped riff with Modify and Dimensions gradually turned all the way up from zero. That is a sound I started to over-use for a period. Still love it.

Enjoyed your vid, interesting how the PM and TL compliment each other.