Is Sideshow Bob still relevant in 2023?
everyone can say whatever they want. analogue will always remain analogue. and whether analog or digital, thatās a matter of taste.
the heat is definitely a matter of adjustment until you have found the right sweat spot - you donāt know it any differently from elektron devices, but that also makes them versatile in terms of sound design.
I actually wanted to answer the question in general and not to your comment, sry, no idea why this ended up here.
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Iāve seen that one before. I love watching Sylvia Massy videos. Very creative in the studio and come up with great, unconventional techniques.
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No prob. I was wondering! Haha
Itās easier for me to run all the Moog semi Modulars though outboard gear like pedals and effects boxes.
Itās too much of a shift to take my hand off the knobs to find the mouse and then click around to get the effects.
I can reach for the knobs and know where Iām at.
Also the same for recording, since muscle memory to record to pad on a 404 is faster than hitting space bar, Ctrl z, then R.
So itās not analog vs digital, but rather physical vs virtual.
Now if Iām using soft synths, like Pigments, then itās all DaW based. Even with a Keystep Pro, Iād rather point and click then fumble for a macro on a knob.
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Like others have said itās niche but it does sound great. Youāre not going to find too many pieces of hardware with 8 analog distortion circuits, a multimode analog filter, analog EQ, MIDI controllable, with a built in envelope follower and lfoā¦. in stereo. Like, to build this on a pedal board would cost a helluva lot more than it costs out of the heat.
But if you have a tolerance to plug-ins there are a lot of quality distortion plug-ins out there that do similar things and from a workflow perspective would be easier to use. Saturn 2 is my go to distortion plug-in and it sounds very good when you turn the oversampling on and it has even more modulation capabilities and you can effect certain areas on the spectrum rather the whole thing. I think for most people stuff like this just makes way more sense.
That being said, the analog heat is a fantastic device and even though plug-ins sound great and can get close I still think distortion is where analog shines the brightest and I still reach for my Heat for some mastering distortion and gaining before I hit my limiter.
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The Analog Drive was sold 80ā¬ for a whileā¦Expression pedal / cv to midi converter, patch increment (program changes). Possible to control 2 units from one with midi. Noisy, dirty.
Circuits sound really different from AH.
Just saying it worth a try with a good opportunity.
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The AH is the best of its kind imo
My only complaint is that for my taste itās not extreme enough in destroying the sound!
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And itās an audio interface! Plus Overbridge.
I havenāt really used OB on the Heat yet, but I intend to next time Iām in a DAW. I tried OB for the Digis and it was kinda āmehā, but bringing analog distortion into a computer seems very useful. I donāt usually use the Heat on a master channel, but I like the idea of achieving loudness with distortion during the mastering phase.
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For me too. And no possibility to put distortion after filter. Thatās Elektron general preference apparentlyā¦
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Yeah, I often use another filter before and/or after the Heat. I currently have the filter on Meris Ottobit Jr. pedal before the heat, but itās a pretty basic LP filter, without resonance control āit sounds good, but yeah, if we could change the order on the Heat itself it would be amazing! After the Heat, I tend to use an OT Thru track, which sometimes has a filter.
Since Iām talking about things I wish the Heat could do: I would love having the envelope follower send MIDI out! How cool would that be?
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I tested midi lfos on OT crossfader, midi loopback. Pretty cool, exp envelope on up to 250 parameters. Crossfader values are smoothed, so it works well.
(I made a kick with snappy envelope on pitch, filter and stuff)
Zoia has an envelope follower, you can link it to midi messages.
Thanks for the idea ! 
Canāt test this weekend Iām afraid.
Love the AH. I use it on softsynths all the time in my hybrid workflow.
Iāve got Saturn 2, digital distortions and some excellent multi-band waveshapers in the box, but the heat adds a bit more dimension and physicality when I want it.
Itās absolutely my go-to for Reece bass, thatās my magic sauce.
I like using it on individual tracks and then printing them to audio, rather than on the master bus.
Iāve got a culture vulture that I prefer for mix bus or master color.
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Were you talking about pseudo-compression?
If so, this is from the Heat manual :
8.2 PSEUDO-COMPRESSION
You can use the Analog Heat MKII to emulate a compressor and/or expander by using the Envelope Gener- ator. This is useful if you want to add some extra pump to drums, or to liven up a flat sound. In this example, you should use a highly dynamic sound source, with sharp transients, such as drums.
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Select the CLEAN BOOST circuit and disable the filter by pressing both [FILTER TYPE] keys at the same time. All filter type LEDs should be turned off.
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Connect your sound source to the Analog Heat MKII and make sure that the volume of the sound source is as strong as possible.
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Make sure the input level is correctly set. For more information, please see ā3.2 SETTING THE INPUT SENSITIVITY LEVELā on page 10.
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Start by setting DRIVE to 0, WET LEVEL to 127, and DRY/WET to 127.
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Press the [AMP] key to access AMP PAGE, and set VOL to 127.
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Press the [ENV] key to access ENVELOPE PAGE 1, and set MODE to AD. Adjust the MODE (AD) pa- rameter until you clearly see the incoming signal in the TRIG meter. You should see the peaks and dips of the incoming signal, retaining as much as possible of dynamics of the signal.
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Lower the TRIG value until you see the trigger icon blink in the upper right corner of the screen. Make sure it triggers mainly from the strongest peaks of the incoming sound.
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Set ATK to 48, and REL to 72.
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Press [ENV] a second time to access ENVELOPE PAGE 2 and change DEST1 to PRESET VOL and DEPTH1 to -72.
You should now hear a very dynamic ducking effect with pretty sharp transients. You can change VOL, ATK, REL, and DEPTH1 to achieve different compression effects.
If you change VOL to 80 and apply positive modulation (DEPTH1), you expand the signal instead of compress it.
Bonus: Adding LFO
- Press the [LFO] key to access LFO PAGE 1.
- Set WAVE to SQR, SPEED to 1, and MULT to x1.
- Press the [LFO] key again to access LFO PAGE 2.
- Set DEST1 to PRESET VOL, MODE to TRI, and FADE to 40.
- Apply positive modulation from DEPTH1 for even louder transients.
Note that DEPTH1 on ENVELOPE PAGE 2 need to be lowered to make room for the LFO modulation.
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Thatās how Iāve been doing it. I have a hardware FX chain on the Octatrack cue output, and the Heat is part of it. I send stuff to the Heat and print to audio inside the OT. Itās great.
In the box Iāve used Soundtoys Decapitator a lot, but I think Iām going to try out Overbridge for the Heat soon.
There are definitely additional things I wish the Heat could do, but I donāt see myself selling it anytime soon.
I think my main wish list would be:
- Send envelope follower to MIDI out
- Change the order of the filter and distortion circuit.
- Change the width of the band pass like on the band reject filter
That would probably make it perfect for me
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No. It is because AH behaves as if there were a limiter before distortion. If doesnāt behave like Analog Drive or other distortions if you push incoming level higher.
I couldnāt obtain the high gain I wanted.
I tried pseudo compressor, but it is not great compared to a dedicated compressor, and very difficult to apply it quickly to different signal types.
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I like Beef on iOS. It costs like $6. I doubt most end listeners could tell the difference.
Do you mean the input sensitivity setting? Iām sure the Analog Drive did not have that and 90% of Analog Heat users probably donāt know that it is hiding in the settings menu.
I tried different settings.
Different results, but still had the feeling that there were a limiter somewhereā¦
Analog Drive has a normal behavior. Please send me your AH for a comparison test. 