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Re: So you want an effects processor (A5000)?



I'm intrigued by your use/abuse of the A5000.  How do the effects 
sound...quality wise?  Do you feel the A5000 can stand alone as an 
effect processor?  Do you have any audio clips on the net featuring the 
A5000?  Thanks!

Matt

Jesse Ray Lucas wrote:
> Effected Loopers-
> 
> I use a Yamaha A5000 sampler as an outboard effects processor.  It's 
>funny,
> because the A5000 has SIX effects blocks which you can route in parallel 
>or
> series and 96 (some of which are two or more effects at once, so it's 
>really
> more than 96) different effects, each with up to 16 parameters that can 
>be
> adjusted beforehand and/or controlled by MIDI continuous control 
>messages.
> Effects like delay and flange can sync to MIDI clock via the program LFO.
> 
> As far as inputs go, you can either send the right and left to the 
>effects
> as a stereo pair, or turn right and left into two mono channels.  But, if
> you do the mono route and you send the signal to a stereo delay, it will
> still make your signal stereo!  The A4/5000 comes with two stereo pairs 
>of
> outputs, so you could plug in two guitars or whatever (on into the L 
>input
> and one into the R), run them through effects, and get two seperate 
>stereo
> signals off the back of the sampler.  If you add the AIEB2 expansion 
>board,
> there's another three stereos pairs of outputs to play with and a SPDIF 
>out.
> 
> I'm just reading all this stuff about the MPX G2 (76 effects, 7 in a row,
> $1,349), and the MPX1 (54 effects, 4 in a row plus reverb, $699) and 
>saying,
> "Yeah my sampler pretty much does that -- and it's a sampler, too!"  
>Since
> everyone thinks software samplers are so great the A4000s (three effects
> blocks) and A5000s (six effects blocks) are typically going for peanuts 
>on
> Ebay, usually with all kinds of upgrades like maxed out memory and 
>external
> SCSI peripherals.
> 
> Unfortunately, you can only control four effects parameters at a time
> (period), via MIDI CCs.  But, by creating different programs containing 
>only
> effects information, you could send program change messages if you 
>wanted to
> control different parameters.
> 
> I made a program for my gigs last weekend that was TechMod (a ring
> modulator) --> LoFi (reduce the sample rate of the input to 2kHz) -->
> 3BandEQ --> Pitch1 (a two-voice pitch shifter, which I control via MIDI 
>CC
> for dive bomb effects and squeals -- sorry, Digitech, I don't need your 
>$199
> Whammy pedal) --> Comp[ressor].  This makes the most wicked synth bass
> sounds I've ever heard that weren't actually synth bass.  I am about 
>ready
> to throw my Electroharmonix Bass Microsynth up on Ebay, because the A5K 
>is
> much better.
> 
> Here's some examples of the effects.  Many of them are very unique, and 
>many
> combine more than one effect...
> 
> Scratch (adds an analog record scratch sound to the input signal)
> Auto-Syn (adds a weird synthesizer noise to the input)
> Tech-Mod (ring modulator)
> NoisAmb (adds noise and uses a delay to broaden the sound)
> Jump (cuts apart the input signal and applies extreme modulation to the
> playback order or speed)
> BeatChg (modifies waveform length of the sound in realtime)
> Pitch1 (changes the pitch of the input signal
> LoReso (simulates a lowered resolution of the input signal)
> Radio (simulates a radio)
> TurnTbl (simulates the noise of an analog record)
> OvDr+Dly (overdrive and delay are connected in series)
> AmpSimS (Stereo amp simulator)
> C+DS+DL (compressor, distortion, and delay are connected in series)
> W+OD+DL (auto-wah, overdrive, and delay are connected in series)
> etc.
> etc.
> 
> These as well as the vanilla delay, stereo delay, chorus, stereo chorus,
> hi/lo/band-pass filters, several rotary speaker simulators, amp 
>simulators,
> distortion (although, the distortion is crap), auto-wah, compression, 
>eight
> different reverbs (all with adjustable parameters), and MIDI 
>clock-syncable
> versions of effects.
> 
> So, yeah, that's my contribution to the effects processor rants.  Not 
>only
> is the A5000 a killer effects processor, but you can playback monkey 
>noises,
> or George Bush quote samples (oh, wait, those are nearly one in the same)
> during your performance should you desire it.
> 
> -Jesse
> 
> 
> 
>