aye. Lately I’ve been thinking about ditching my UAD DSP and replacing them with the Boss 500 pedals. They really sound superb, in fact I can’t even believe they are digital, they sound so organic and do not alter the source sound at all.
I can’t say much for UAD, since I’m a guitar player gone keys I’ve been in the pedal world. The boss peds really are fantastic to use, a bit of menu diving but it’s all pretty well spelled out. I’d recommend them, even more so if you use guitars as well as synths. The one thing I’m finding to managing effects for synths is you usually have a couple it’s pretty difficult and expensive to maintain multiple effects chains (even more so in stereo). Something that isn’t probably the same hassle using a DAW. The boss pedals do well to mitigate some of this but the screen gets crowded when you are using two effects.
Great question that I’ve also been wondering. I have a friend that uses two of the same Boss distortion pedals for stereo.
I was thinking of running one of my A4 lines into a bass distortion pedal and then leaving the other line unprocessed. Then mixing the two to suite - do folks think this would work ok?
It’ll work but you’re gonna lose out on any stereo effects from the a4. Gotta say I’m definitely going to hook up my a4 to a pair of my dod death metal distortions now that you’ve put the idea in my head.
You can get the same kind of sound using any very short delay on the edge of self-oscillation. Some notes push it over the edge more than others, it’s really responsive and fun to ride the feedback waves. It’s also a simple way of creating acoustic string sounds (think it’s called karplus-strong).
Regarding using mono pedals with the A4, a way to use and retain stereo to an extend is using a mixer with send and returns, I’ve got my A4 going into an A&H Xone 43 mixer and have the send knob to my outboard Moogerfooger pedals at about 25%, this way it keeps most of the stereo but incorporates the effects too.
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I’m looking for a distortion pedal to add to a live set and studio use. I play techno and would like to add some distortion to the sound. What pedals do you use with your drum machines and synths? Also would like to hear a bit more how you use it, what sounds do you put through it etc. Any experience, ideas and tips are welcome! Thanks in advance.
I doubt this’ll help much, but I’ve used the Drive section of my MF104M quite a lot - it’s usable with or without the delay line. Sounds great.
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Analog heat or OTO Boum
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I run my acid lines through this.
It’s not a distortion pedal but a tube preamp, in my opinion, sounds better than any transistor based distortion pedal out there. it has an effects loop and 3 channels(clean, crunch, lead). I like to run synths that are digital sounding through it to give it a more analog feel.
The effect loop is nice too if you are using delay/reverb effects and only want to color the signal slightly
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As nice as those boxes are, depending on the situation, Analog Heat or Boum are like using a bazooka to kill a mosquito! The trouble with distortion is that there are so. many. options. You need to narrow down whether you’re looking for drive/overdrive (somewhat subtle, distortion, or fuzz (not subtle at all). After that, you can start looking up different options. I have the Analog Heat and I love it. With it’s 8 circuits, it can do the range from subtle to intense. Add to that the 2-band EQ, stereo multi-mode filter and a range of modulation options and it’s a really complete (if somewhat complex) box. If you don’t need stereo, the Analog Drive is more streamlined and costs quite a bit less. More stomp and go.
Outside of elektron, just about everyone makes some kind of distortion pedal. Since it’s such a simple circuit, most of them are analog (if that matters). Ask @Aen if he still has any Eau Claire Thunder: Gold Standards in stock. Limited edition with new old stock components inside.
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It’s impossible to say what’s “best” in these situations. I recently hooked up 4 of our distortion pedals to an A4, and had a ball with each of them. My favorites are the Necromancer (superfuzz style with huge EQ) for mono synth leads/bass and The Great Destroyer for more adventurous “additive” distortion.
(and yes we do have a few more Gold Standard Thunders about to go up on our site )
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I found “Distortion” to be a bit heavy handed for synths and drum machines.
“Overdrive” and “Boost” are a bit more musical and controllable.
some of my favorites, with my uses:
Bogner Harlow (Neve transformer boost, I have a pair). Has a compressor built in and I use it on just about everything. Live, it creates a nice rich, enhanced sound when I run the mono out of my Acidlab Drumatix through it. Add some OT dark reverb, EQ, and additional compression and it sounds like a record coming through the PA.
Moog Minifooger Boost. The boost switch gives it more of an overdrive sound, where as in the off position you get a good clean boost. I use this with my TT-606’s hats and cymbals mostly, as it was a pretty affordable way to give those sounds what they were missing, some noise and clipping.
Zoom MS-50G. Multi-FX playground where you can really audition lots of classic stomp FX and chain them together. If I could only have one, this would be it.
Elektron Analog Drive. Permanently hooked up to my Boss DR-110. Gives it a bit of jam when using the boost and drive settings. And has plenty of “distortion” settings if you want to go crazy. Monologue also sounds good through it. Just don’t hit the input too hard. Patch memories are nice, as is the EQ.
pedals that did not work out:
DOD Gunslinger. Got it on Amazon for $30. Flash sale. Too heavy handed, even for synths.
EHX Big Muff Pi The big one. Won it in a muffwiggler donation raffle. So heavy handed. Good for putting reverb returns through, though, for background noise textures. But not good for much else besides guitar.
Good luck!
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If you’re not sure what kind of distortion you want I’d recommend just getting a cheap pedal to start. The costlier ones are for experienced guitarists and other experienced musos who have already developed particular tastes for distortion.
Check out this pedal shootout page. It’s focused on the 303, but maybe you will get an idea or two from it. It helped me settle on a Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive for my TT-303, which I’ve actually used more on electric violin than anything else. The SD-1 is only $50 new in US stores, and obviously cheaper than that used.
https://www.acidvoice.com/tb_303_best_distortion_pedal.htm
PS if one of your synths is an MS-20/MS-20 Mini, I doubt you would need a distortion pedal for that. The MS filter can get nasty enough on its own.
I can’t recommend the Moog MF Drive enough! It has got a nice overdrive, works well to saturate basslines, but also to give leads some more dimension and grit. The tone control interacts very lively with the settings for the gain, it’s also handy for scooping some unwanted spectral content away. The filter also interacts with the gain and the tone, increasing the scope of how this thing can sound yet again. Imagine if this had a sweepable resonance control.
Plus having an extra filter knob is incredibly useful for performing! I use it a lot to “mask out” the menu diving some boxes have.
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Its definitely a great my first DIY project to make a big muff clone! Would recommend!
Hey Adam, I’m pretty interested in the Bogner Harlow. Do you have some track or sound example demoing it on synth or drum ?
Of course I do 
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@AdamJay Is the Bogner Wessex a newer version of the Harlow? I noticed them popping up on Reverb recently. I tried the Harlow out and found it to be too subtle for my tastes (I think the Analog Heat has spoiled me). Then, I ended up selling all my mono pedals in a purge a month or so ago.
@zifor - thanks for the heads up. I’ve already done a decent amount of DIY (Eurorack, Shruthi-1, Anushri). Pedals are a good suggestion for anyone looking to dive into DIY music electronics.
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No. They are different. Released at the same time.
Transformer saturation is a more subtle overdrive, for sure.
But you can hit the input harder for more extreme effect before actual clipping.
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