I’m working on a live set and am looking for a multi-effect device to use on my master as an instant gratification playable “what-you-see-the-dj-do-is-what-you-hear” type thing.
I just would like to know what’s out there to bring a new element of fun and sonic possibility to my setup, I have the Kaoss pad and Pioneer RMX series in mind, the Analog Heat +FX is an option too, but I’d like to know what you use or what you think would be fun for this kind of use.
It can be a little extreme, and you’d definitely want to use wet/dry mix (well, depending on what you’re doing) but I think the Red Panda Particle v2 is incredible, and has very cool and dramatic effects, that you can keep in rhythm with what you’re doing. You can do some crazy swells and glitchy stuff with it, then drop it back out in an instant. In fact, I don’t know why I am without one currently.
Another vote for RMX-500. It’s very versatile but the downsides are that no DIN-midi and all the audio connections are RCA.
I once dj’d at a friends wedding and there was a quite well known finnish electro-duo playing live at the same wedding. It was funny to see that both the dj and the live musicians had the same effect box on the table. A proof of it’s versatility. I’ve had it on band gigs too.
I’d say it also depends on the genre of music you wanna make. I use the Microcosm for instance, as a FX send on the CUE outputs of the OT but you might wanna have other kind of FX than delays/reverb.
A very strong point for the Microcosm is the direct access to the main functionalities with the different knobs (where I really doubt about something like the H90). Of course, you can always use any FX box with a MIDI controller attached to it but i like to minimize the gear and as long no one will ever deliver MIDI gear with assignable names per knobs, I’ll never choose that option.
The fact the Microcosm has a looper in it and that you can tweak that loop in live is amazing for me, I abuse it.
Hologram Chromaconsole has many effects but is easy to control everything and has a looper and automation recording. Also takes line level really well.
I’m mostly using a few Ableton FX running on a MacBook Air M2 mapped to a Faderfox for this purpose nowadays. The ideas for effects chains that work well mostly came from Chromaconsole though. I’m not playing live in front of an audience, but it all works fine in my room.
Adding another vote for the RMX-500. It doesn’t have MIDI sync but the BPM detection is quite good. It’s very usable but I wouldn’t use it as end of chain because it has a pretty low ceiling and you end up losing dynamics/distorting the signal. I’ve found it really useful when I’ve split my tracks up into 2-4 stems and I’ve just applied it to one of those (the vocal for example). The FX ride a fine line between dated and modern though, it’s not a subtle box but it can be very playable and expressive (within its own limitations).
Solid suggestion as well. I did the exact same thing in my first and only live show with Microcosm hooked up to OT cue out. For transitions and breaks, I sent tracks to Microcosm, captured a loop, cranked mix and activity/repeat knob, raised the reverb, introduced a new element on another track not running into Microcosm and slowly took out the Microcosm loop with the filter knob. Microcosm can be a bit unpredictable and unreliable in what it does to a track, so if you need to know exactly what’s going to happen, it might not be ideal. But you can test and rehearse that in advance. Plus, it has its own sound that you have to like.
Heh! Funny both of those mentioned duos are also my friends, but the duo playing the wedding was Alpo & Tomi which I’m not sure even exists anymore. Maybe electro was a wrong word. Alpo & Tomi are more synth pop in the vein of maybe Chromeo or Zoot Woman.
But Tomi Leppänen (Circle, Aavikko etc.) is hands down the best drummer in Finland and if he says that the RMX-500 is his ”secret weapon” in his live setup then there must be something special in that box.
