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Re: effects



<<Is that something new? Seems to me there were 
 always devices around that offered interesting
ways to control them musically. I think there was
a period about 10 years ago where rack processors

tended to bury everything behind opaque menus
with limited real-time control, which users
tended to reject. So things just went back to how
they used 
to be with more knobs, sliders, buttons, etc.>>

I agree here, but it depends on what effects
you're talking about. If I'm not mistaken, there
were delay units back in the early 80's that
allowed you to control the delay time, feedback,
and/or wet/dry mix via foot pedals. As I recall,
the option of controlling parameters on a
multi-effects unit via MIDI dates back to, well,
as far as I know, when the first MIDI controlled
multi-effects units came out. And ones that
didn't, could easily be modified to do so.
Electro-Harmonix used to make a pedal that
operated a cable, which attached to the pot shaft
on any of their pedals (you took the knob off the
shaft and replaced it with the end of the cable)
and you control, say the delay time on a Memory
Man as if it were a wah wah. 

And of course, if you were one to process your
instrument via, say the filter on that trusty
Mini-Moog, you could plug pedals into control the
cutoff frequency (sorta like a wah wah type
effect) and VCA level (giving you a volume pedal
type deal) and you could also use a pedal to
control the pitch bend effect (if memory serves,
you could thusly control the modulation rate,
since oscillator 3 was also wired to modulate the
pitch of the other two oscillators and/or the cut
off frequency). I imagine there were even more
possiblities in that direction when you used a
modular synth, and I imagine other analog synths
offered other options (obviously, on something
like the VCS3, you could use the ring modulator
to process that external feed).

And concerning the comment that having so many
effects is something like having a modular synth,
I sometimes feel the same way, and I'm really not
using that many. I have a Boss Metal Zone
distortion pedal, Danelectro French Toast octave
fuzz, a Line 6 Filter Modeler, a Line 6
Modulation Modeler, a vintage Colorsound wah wah
(I also have a fairly new Colorsound wah wah, as
well as an early 90's Crybaby reissue), a Line 6
Delay Modeler, and finally, the Boomerang. 

In fact, if you look at what the Filter and
Modulation Modelers can do, you basically have
the basic modification effects you'd have a
small-ish modular synth. The Filter Modeler
actually has a built in monophonic synth, but
it's mostly useless (very slow tracking and lousy
sounds). Basically, with my effect rig, I have my
guitar as the audio generator, with the pedals as
being the rest of the synth. 

=====
May you never thirst!
The Scuba Diver Presently Known As Chris

"What do you get when you give a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos?"-James 
Earl Jones

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