The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!

[mathias]

I think most of my recording friends are using the pre’s to record with actual mics — the thing I’d like to do is do DI without clipping, to play with amp sims. I’m not sure if some interfaces have better instrument inputs than others.

[Dandolin]

I think most of my recording friends are using the pre’s to record with actual mics — the thing I’d like to do is do DI without clipping, to play with amp sims. I’m not sure if some interfaces have better instrument inputs than others.

this is a good question - i don't really keep up with this, but when i was looking for interfaces years ago, all the marketing speak was about the mic pres and nary a word for the instrument level inputs. Maybe these are all garden variety because it's not considered a challenge to get decent instrument level input? i just don't know, but i'd like to

for bass, i would just get a straightforward digi at first...proof of concept
i almost never use delay on bass, but it sounds cool sometimes when i hear others doing it

I agree, in band situation I would probably never have it on. But in the 90% of playing I do when its just me, I love how delay can add texture when your trying to do something melodic.

well in that case - go whole hog!
i guess the question is what kinda texture you like?

do you want distinct repeats? steady rhythms, or an arrhythmic patter? just a slowly shifting cloud? how dense? how far in the background do you want it?

a multi usually costs more, but it would give you more to explore and help you hone in on what works best for you
but you don't need to spend in this phase: the Zoom multistomps still sound pretty great, give you mega room for experimentation by stacking chains internally and are cheep cheep wise
the EHX Canyon is also small, cheap, flexi, and sounds pretty damn good without being too too complex either
for just straight up digidelay, it's hard to beat the venerable DD3, but I also love the crunchiness of the DOD DFX series from the early 90s....
analog is a whole 'nuther world - hard to beat the price performance ratio for a Rubberneck or one of the EHX Memory Boy series, but there are definitely some excellent connoisseur choices if you want to go that way. I'm partial to the 80Tape Limbo series and the underworldly great Meet Maude for smeary bleary analog texture....
and the PT2399s have their own crunchy charm (Echo Degrader )

it's a rabbit hole for sure

[Paul_C]

I love the sounds that I get from it

This is the important bit

[friendship]

I think it's less of a thing because line level and instrument level inputs don't involve an amplifier circuit. I'm sure there are some differences in quality, like if the inputs are built with cheap components or whatever.

Mathias, if you're using software amp sims, you'll either need an interface with an instrument level input (sometimes called DI input or Hi-Z input), which are designed to match the high impedance of your pickups. Or, if the interface you're using doesn't have one of these, you can use a DI box to do this job externally before running the signal into a line input. If you're using a hardware amp sim, most of those these days output line level signals, so a regular line input should work fine.

[Dowi]

I love the sounds that I get from it

This is the important bit

Yes, and that's why I am so divided

maybe take a few weeks off, then do a shoot-out?

Will do. I do not intend to leave anything unexplored, I want to be 100% sure if I decide to either keep it or not.

[goroth]

haha, well i love delays, but i don't necessarily need 3 of those but, you know, a warm pt2399, a pitch shifting delay, and a third multi-mode digital one with a feedback loop? It's the minimum!

The case is that, as long as i strongly prefer how the Fabrikat sounds overall, i still find the Particle2 more practical for various reasons - i.e. keep the weirdest settings saved as presets because i'd have a hard time to find those again on the fly, or use the LFO modes for simple pitch shifting delays, or the fact that it has tap tempo and so on..
Obviously if i had the chance to keep both there would be no problem, but i just can't justify having one of those things laying around and not being used properly, it just bugs me.
But again...i'm divided.

I can almost feel this, as I dont have a delay yet and I am already dreading if I get the "right one" or not

That Hardwire delay thing sounds great on bass. Get yer Tool on.

[Dandolin]

hey, yeah. yeah!

but, Dowi, is the Mastro Valvola LEM in your final 3?

[Dowi]

hey, yeah. yeah!

but, Dowi, is the Mastro Valvola LEM in your final 3?

Naaaaaaaaaaaaah, I watched some demos when it came out but (beside the fact that they were all focused on 'lush' 'textural' 'abience' etc etc words i literally can't stand anymore) i won't use the shimmer modes at all, and the rest of the modes are mostly all variations of the reverse delay thing.

Lately I'm more into something that destroys the repetitions in an evident way, if I want subtle i can use the other delay and reverb and get quite the same results.

[Dandolin]

ok i missed something back there, but yeah, it is pretty much a hearts and flowers trip, i don't know why i thought u had one

[D.o.S.]

You can use Shimmer style verbs to get some real fucking weird/cool sounds though. Don't write them off because of Jesus and U2.

[coldbrightsunlight]

you heard it here first gang, D.o.S. has gone P&W

[Dowi]

Yeah, but if I ever want to see the light of Jesus Christ coming out of the clouds I'd just plug an octaver and a hall reverb and go full church-organ style.

I like shimmer as long as it stops at the first pitch transposition and stand here stable, without summing up at each feedback cycle. Which is actually just pitch shifting.

[Dandolin]

i don't doubt what D.o.S. says at all. i think a lot of these shimmers just slap in an octave up without much mastering - eq/vibrato/distortion/bit reduction/srr/mix - which makes them hard to work with. mix is the most important factor to me, i think. that shit should be subliminal. and then add scuzz. pour scuzz all over everything i wouldn't mind experimenting with it in a loop sometime, though i suspect my end mix levels would be on the non-existent end of the subliminal continuum usually its just easier for me to pretend it doesn't exist at all and skip over the shimmer modes/pedals entirely

[Dowi]

Shimmer without a tone option in completely useless imo. Too much high frequcies generated by octaves summing up. As you said, octave up in general works well if paired with decent controls (which is totally the case of octave reverb on the Atmos --> Dand GAS re-ignited )

[coldbrightsunlight]

yeah I agree actually. I would just like to hear it, exactly as you say, BEFORE some dirt/compression/filter/EQ.

Same problem with a lot of these cool pitch shifting delays/granular things. By their nature they end up producing a lot of nasty high end. Which some people probably love haha but personally I'd like more filtering/distortion options. Which is where running them into fuzz comes in