Set and forget on master?

Elektron Gear Analog Heat
#1

I am about to take the plunge on the analog heat for putting it on the master buss. but one thing is not always clear when people speak about master fx.

I am not using it in the studio on particular tracks. I need something to run on my master buss in a live situation, where I can set and forget the whole thing. my set goes from chill out to organic house with live instruments, so although the sonic field is not very different, it is not the most uniform set…

I wonder if a certain setting on the AH for this purpose will sound very different from one track to another (too much saturation or too little…). it is all about fine tuning, and if it is different for every song, I need something else…

#2

I’m interested in this too, the Heat seems like the most versatile box for polishing the live material a bit more.
Always thought a possible way to do it is to operate the Heat’s settings for each track via midi, but maybe this would introduce some funny “steps” in gain or eq when switching patterns.

#3

Honestly the main way I use it is on the master, but at the same time I adjust it differently depending on the track. I use it for single sounds too, so this is another reason I’m always adjusting it (& it’s fun to play with).
I would think it’s possible to set it & forget it. Like play your live set thru the Analog Heat & adjust it until it sounds good on all tracks in the set. Then save it as a preset, so it’s ready to go when you play the live set.

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#4

By the way I’ve had the Analog Heat over a year & I absolutely love it, I use it on everything.

Before getting the Analog Heat I didn’t think I was a fan of distortion. Apparently I’m just picky about it… plus I love the filters, the eq, the lfo’s, it’s just a great device.

It’s not for everyone, but you don’t hear many negative comments about it.

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#5

I think it’s possible to set and leave it alone but for the moment I wouldn’t put it on master, I’d rather put a compressor, maybe OTO Boum…
I prefer to use it before recording, or resampling, for certain tracks.

It lacks heavy dirty distortions, it’s too clean. :wink:

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#6

Do you think the heavier distortions like from Rough Crunch to High Gain are not very heavy & dirty?

I think you are someone with experience from your posts so it’s a genuine question. What do you mean it lacks heavy dirty distortion? I thought Rough Crunch & above gets pretty heavy & dirty… you like it even dirtier? :wink:

You COULD be being sarcastic… but in case you’re not I’m curious :blush:

#7

I’m seriously sarcastic! :content:
As a guitarist liking dirty heavy sounds, I was used to my Boss MT2 on my Jomox Xbase 09.
Does something like this.

You can’t do that with AH. :smile:

AD is dirtier than AH, I described more precisely my thoughts in that thread, and I admit AH can be quite heavy with High Gain.

Analog Drive Price Drop

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#8

It does. But you have to be careful with what you feed it. Lots of high freqs from hi hats and claps for example will duck out the low frequencies of kicks etc with the heavier distortion types. With those types I make sure there are no or little high freq sounds on the same steps as my low sounds to prevent that from happening.

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#9

I use my AH for heavy distortion and filtering on individual tracks and I ve been wondering how people use the AH on the master. Is that with subtle drive and eq, and an occasional filter sweep?

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#10

I normally use clean - enhancement on the master… sometimes I add a little dirt… also use the eq & sometimes the filter (filter for the overall sound or sweeps).

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#11

I go the other way around, have made few presets that use the envelope like a compressor, subtle filter modulation and eq by taste. Preset 1 is more base heavy, less distortion, preset 2 is more neutral eq but slightly heavier drive, preset 3 has more modulation going on etc. Then I compose patterns directly through it and make it work through the heat. If I switch it off, it sounds wrong, but through it is fine. I do it in a similar way on the DT with the compressor - have mild settings going on and just compose and mix through it. I also have 3-4 separate presets on the heat for resampling - low cut, mid boost, hi cut and one with more distortion. Obviously I tweak it as well but I stay within the general feel of the preset. Levels between presets are more or less matched using the nice meters on the screen. It works really well from my experience, but everything is subtle, no extreme settings.

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#12

I put the AH on the master bus for live performances, which are primarily house but occasionally veer into other genres. Sometimes I play live guitar with them, so I’m in a similar situation to the OP.

While I haven’t found a single setting that allows me to “set and forget”, I do keep a small number of my preferred settings together (the first few slots in the AH’s memory), allowing me to switch among them easily during a gig. The settings all make use of the lowest/first three circuits, which to my ear add warmth and presence without going over the top.

On my performance cheatsheet I have a column showing the number of the setting I want to use, but I’m trying to use intuitive ordering, a good naming system and practice so I won’t need to look at it much.

A future goal is to automate the setting selection via MIDI from my sequencer. You might go this route if you have a spare channel.

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#13

thanks mishpult and dubathonic. both your posts inspire me buy the damn thing :slight_smile:

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#14

When using it more subtly i like the 6db LPF gently rolling of high end with a slow LFO on it. Brings motion to the track.

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#15

thank you all! I just ordered the analog heat :smiley:

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#16

Ah nice, you won’t regret it. Using it for several months here, I can’t imagine not having it on the output. Cheers!

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