Re: review of BOSS SL-20 Slicer and description of my Noise Rig

[Mark Hamburg <mark@grubmah.com>]

Months later: Do you still love it?

I've been pondering a pair of DD-20s (per Douglas Baldwin's suggestions) 
feeding into an SL-20 as more or less an ambient pad into rhythmic pulse 
thing. That said, an M9 would be a lot less expensive.

Mark

On Mar 6, 2010, at 2:48 PM, looppool@cruzio.com wrote:

> 
> I own the Boss SL-20 and have had a lot of fun with it.
> 
> Currently,  I'm using it in my Rhythm/Noise solo project called
> 'AEther Engine' and also in the Japanese Noise band,  'Noise Clinic'.
> 
> I love resampling of loops so currently,   I place this between my first
> floor
> loopers (currently a Line 6 M9 but soon to be a Looperlative LP-2 MINI
> looper)
> and my Looperlative LP-1.
> 
> Additionally, in my rig, which, currently, is very noise based,  my
> routing goes like
> this (I mention all this minutiae first so you can see how I use the 
>SL-20):
> 
> DESCRIPTION of RIG:
> 
> Guitar/Bass/Microphone/Shertler Pickup (for multiple instruments)  =>
> Line 6 M9 (looper and multi-effects) goes into Audio Input of =>
> Walker Manual Glitch Pedal (for rhythmic and glitching manipulation of
> Audio input
>                                          and generation of Pink Noise,
> White Noise and Silence  =>
> DAED Disturbo DS-1 Distortion Synthesizer
> (I love this fantastic mod of a normal Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal
> --some very radical noises can be created by this unit      =>
> Zvex Fuzz Factory
> (this unit's gate settings can also cause very hip, chaotic glitching
> effects)  =>
> Boss SL-20 Slicer   (more about this in a second)
> Digitech DF-7 Distortion Factory (with many models of classic fuzzes and
> distortions)
>                                               (rotary knob goes from dark
> midrangey models to
>                                                 very treble and fuzzy
> models with discreet
> square
>                                                 wave tremelo between each
> knob click-very cool for
> rhytym)
> Ibanez  Demon Wah (used as a gradual filter than as a wah wah effect)
> Looperlative LP-1 Looper
> 
> split mono signal goes to
> 1) Boss Miniature Bass Cube  (with amp models and aforementioned square
> wave tremelo
>                                           effect between modellings)
> 2) Vox Miniature Battery Powered Amp (with similar models and effects)
> 
> *I'm in a frenzy of distortion, fuzz and feedback lately, so I am
> constantly swapping out
> pedals for the DF-7 and Zvex Fuzz Factory (I love my Digitech Buzz Box, 
> my Digitech Meat Box,
> Ibanez Bass Stack,  Electro Harmoniz Bass Big Muff, Boss DS-20 
>(distortion
> modeler similar
> but more sophisticated and with larger foot print than the Digitech DF7),
> Seymour Duncan Tweak Box, Pro Co Rat, Big Muff, Dunlp Fuzz Face,  and a
> few other Boss distortion pedals.
> 
> This is all topped off by a huge marching bass drum and marching snare
> with huge chains draped over them to acoustically simulate distortion.
> It's a fun and HEAVY rig.........lol.
> 
> 
> 
> REVIEW of the BOSS SL-20
> 
> I really love this device because I can set up all kinds of rhythmic
> manipulations
> but what I really love about it, is that it has an onboard mixer with two
> knobs
> that control Dry Sound (no Rhythm)  and Wet Sound  (Rhythm effect).
> 
> Because it has two knobs I can do very, very subtle mixes in real time of
> noise
> and rhythmic effects.
> 
> Additionally,  the unit has the ability to control the envelope of the
> rhythmic effect.
> When the ADSR (as it were)  is fully open and the noise content is very
> heavy,
> this thing barely pulses (especially if I'm using different distortions 
>on
> the back side of it).
> One knob is really the Attack  and the second knob controls the length of
> the Rhythmic Slice.
> 
> I can get very cool and very subtle manipulations of even the simplest
> rhythms using these two knobs.
> 
> I'm not running in stereo so I don't use the stereo modes conventionally,
> but someone on this list (and please forgive me because I can't remember
> who it was right now without researching it)  hipped me to the use of the
> Random panning mode of the unit:   If you take a rhythmic
> slice,  put it in Random panning mode and then put a dummy plug into one
> side of the stereo
> it means that though rhythmic (the sub pulse speed stays the same)  the
> notes spit out will
> be random.     It's like if a hip drummer was putting out a constantly
> changing ostinato rhythm
> but always in the same time signature and with the same note division 
>(say
> 16ths).
> 
> CRITIQUES:
> I have to say that I love using this pedal in my current project but that
> normally,  I just use it to spit out constant 8ths, triplet 8ths, 16ths 
>or
> triplet 16ths.
> 
> I do this because I then rely on the extensive rhythmic editing
> capabilities of my
> Looperlative LP-1 which is last in my chain.
> 
> I can do so much glitching, replacing, time signature dimunition or
> augmentation (creating
> new time signatures out of the straight time signatures spit out by the
> SL-20)
> that I don't mind this limitation to much.
> 
> I do wish , however, that one could create customized rhythms for the
> slicer,  but
> this is why, frankly,   I created the Walker Manual Glitch Pedal.
> 
> All in all, with only having a single guitar chord or even just touching 
>a
> live  line cable
> to introduce initial noise,  I have a very sophisticated ability to 
>sculpt
> things rhythmically.
> I just do it with three devices   (Lp1, Sl-20,  Walker Manual Glitch)
> 
> I still have not checked out all the rhythms in the unit, by the way,
> mostly because
> I'm not too interested in having a single static rhythm through my pieces
> of music unless
> they are monolithically static like straight and constant subdivision.
> 
> I really dig the SL-20!
> 
> 
> 
> 
>