meksynthesis

[meksynthesis]

I like the concept of the loopydemos site; being able to demo some pedals and combinations is pretty cool.

This demo in particular shows off shoegaze-like sounds pretty well, although many of the pedals in use are pretty expensive.

[meksynthesis]

Motor Synth: Beautiful Sound of Drone Motors?

This is pretty neat, and it makes some interesting sounds that I imagine are really difficult to synthesize without physical components.

I wonder if maybe this sort of synth has a limited lifetime, given that the motors/servos should eventually wear out due to fiction. Given the price on the website, hopefully that MTF time is measured in decades and not years.

[meksynthesis]

(The Germ) Help HazelEffects make The Germ fuzz pedal a reality!

I had a recent adventure trying to buy a new pedal through FB marketplace, and the seller had made a mistake and relisted a pedal they had already sold instead of the pedal they intended to sell.

Well, after clearing up the misunderstanding, they invited me to have a look at some other pedals they were selling, and this pedal was in the bin.

I ended up buying it along with two others as I was getting a good deal, and brought it home to try out.

And ... ... It's a fantastic pedal. I was pleasantly surprised. It has the volatile burning-gasoline drive one might expect of an indie hybrid Fuzz, a nice bit of growl at the low end. When the knobs are dimed, some portions of the melodic scale start to resonate with emergent octave tones; it can be unruly but it never sounds bad.

If you can find one, I highly recommend inquiring and giving it a try. It seems that only 21 are known and accounted for in public sales through the now-expired kickstarter, but there may be a few prototypes and such out there as well.

Someday when I'm okay enough at the guitar to do some proper scales I'll do a demo for posterity. I promise!

ed: I found the original soundcloud demo of the pedal too.

[meksynthesis]

Nord Piano 5 Review

I saw a recent listing for one of these at an incredible price, so I looked up a few reviews to see what it was all about. I did consider buying one of these in the past before getting my Nord Lead A1, but ultimately the A1 was closer to what I wanted and I figured I could get a comparable Yamaha later.

But, it's a nord, so I still kind of want one. The sound and feature set are pretty nice.

[meksynthesis]

Vox Mini 3 G2 - demo/review

I was hanging out with a friend recently, and she had brought this along so we could try out a theremin I had recently purchased.

I was pleasantly surprised by how capable this little fellow is; and also pleased to discover it has a flanger fx on-board (this is sort of my fx du jour). For its size and all things considered, it sounds pretty good for what it is.

I live in an apt so I can't really have an amp or cabinet in my place, but maybe I can get one of these and turn it down really really low, hah.

Oh, and battery life is pretty decent on this guy.

[meksynthesis]

Recreating Oasis' Guitar Sound With Amps & Pedals | Potent Pairings

A nice overview of how Oasis' guitar sound is constructed.

[meksynthesis]

Purious Chorus Vibrato - Red Witch - The Apothecary

A new pedal series from Red Witch, and this pedal is the newest generation chorus-vibrato in their offerings.

This video demo showcases some of the same sounds of the empress, their prior pedal, as well as some weird vibrato fx. My friend and I are a huge fan of the empress and this pedal can do nearly everything the empress can do and more.

[meksynthesis]

Bad Gear - Moog Spectravox

AudioPilz reviews the Moog Spectravox, which I am inclined to agree might be a piece of bad gear. It's quite holistic and I'm not really sure about the sound one can get out of it.

[meksynthesis]

Bad Gear - Bass Station 2

AudioPilz reviews the Novation Bass Station 2, and frankly it's not that severe a review as the synth is quite good at what it does.

[meksynthesis]

Nymphes - Tiny Synth | HUGE Analog Sound

Benn Jordan reviews the dreadbox nymphes, which is a pretty capable synth for its size and, uh, weight class. One downside noted is that there can be a lot of menu-diving to alter settings on the device.

[meksynthesis]

Bass Station 2 UPDATE - almost like having a NEW synthesizer!

This is a deeper review of the Novation Bass Station II, in the context of one of the newer software updates provided for the device.

[meksynthesis]

Novation // Bass Station II - Overview

A brief intro from the mothership.

[meksynthesis]

Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In A Guitar Amplifier?

This is a really illuminating look at the way amplifiers produce sound, from their feature set and interfaces, all the way through their circuitry.

Also, one particular segment of this deep dive accidentally highlights the utility and color that an EQ can add in the signal chain. Definitely worth looking at getting an EQ pedal for early in the signal chain.

[meksynthesis]

The Simple Mod All Teles (Really) Need.

This is a rather long video about a quirk that I have noticed on my Telecaster, where some strings would feel just slack or slippery and would buzz a little bit. I presumed it was because my pinky and ring fingers were too weak to properly hold down the G and E strings, but this video explains that the fault is in the construction of the guitar, not necessarily my inexperience.

Here's a link to the replacement bracket mentioned in the video.

[meksynthesis]

The Synths Behind Don't You Want Me

I've loved this song since childhood, and this is a great dive into how the song was composed, arranged, and produced.

the human league - don't you want me

[meksynthesis]

Complex Beats on the Moog DFAM ft. BeatStep Pro

This is a cool demo of driving the DFAM with the Beatstep pro, but I think the Erica Synths drum machine is doing a bit more heavy lifting than it would appear at the surface level.

[meksynthesis]

Moog Mavis review: A surprisingly deep entry-level synth

The moog mavis is a pretty cool little synth. I have my doubts about it being worth its $350 retail price tag, though.