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Looper's Delight
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A month later update - I'm still enjoying the Electro Harmonix Freeze. I keep finding new ways to use it (even though the effect itself is pretty simple). While I purchased it as a tool to make instant drones out of non-drone sounds, I find it's also a great tool for adding brief little accents and live character to sounds that are more dynamic. It would be a great effect to have after a looper, for example. I find myself using the volume knob a lot too - one thing I'll do is capture a drone with the volume turned down, and then gradually fade it in and out like a tide. One thing I will say is that it probably has about twice as much use as a hand pedal as a foot pedal. (Mostly because using it well seems to involve keeping an eye on that volume knob.) My only complaints are 1) the wall wart power source, that's almost as big as the unit itself and 2) the switch has a very loud acoustic "click" when activated. That's not appropriate for a pedal that is used so actively. (Would you put a loud clicking switch on a wah-wah pedal?) -- Matt Davignon mattdavignon@gmail.com www.ribosomemusic.com Rigs! www.youtube.com/user/ribosomematt On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 10:17 PM, Matt Davignon <mattdavignon@gmail.com> wrote: > Got my Electro Harmonix Freeze today. Here are some observations: > > The pedal is small - about 2" across x 4" long. It's only slightly > larger than its wall wart. Yup - the power source is another wall > wart. Some day somebody will think to move the transformer 6" up the > cable instead of at the plug, but until then we can still live like > it's frickin 1985. Also the switch is one of those loud metal > clickers, like on the DL-4. It's easily operated by either hands or > feet. > > Now on to the pedal itself. It has 3 modes. In both "Fast" and "Slow" > mode, the pedal engages only while you're holding the switch. It picks > up whatever sound it hears AT THE MOMENT YOU FIRST PRESS THE SWITCH > and makes a drone out of it. The only difference between fast and slow > is what happens when you let go. (Letting go turns the pedal off.) > With fast, the drone instantly ends. With slow, it takes about a half > second to fade out. The most useful mode is probably "latch". In that > mode, the drone continues after you let go of the switch. If you hit > the switch again, it grabs another drone. To turn the pedal off in > this mode, double tap. > > None of the modes keep a memory. Once a drone is not playing, it's > lost. There is an effect level knob that lets you control the drone > volume level. > > Now, on to sound quality. With smooth sounds such as a guitar or my > "boop" drum machine sound, it sounds close. With something like speech > or typical drum machine sounds, it sounds just a tad murkier, as if > there's a bit of reverb thrown in. I can't quite get a bead on what > interval the loop is at. It does surprisingly well with very short > sounds, but with longer sounds you'll hear a certain ebb and flow, > almost as if it's playing a 1 second sample forward and reverse. At > one point, I swore I heard different harmonics looping at different > time intervals. So yeah - I'm impressed that I don't instantly get how > it works. Lastly, if there's a lot going on when you turn on the > effect (such as when I'm quickly mashing lots of drum machine keys), > it will make a brief coughing sound when you hit the switch, but the > cough will not be part of the drone. Seriously - it sounds like a > cough. > > Overall, I'm happy I got it - it will be a useful effect for my rig > and in general recording, where I'm often trying to make tonal sounds > out of non-tonal sounds. I'll be using it at the Tiny Owl concert > tomorrow (tuesday) night. > > -- > Matt Davignon > mattdavignon@gmail.com > www.ribosomemusic.com > Rigs! www.youtube.com/user/ribosomematt >