Digitech Dirty Robot Synth

[AndyTravis]

http://youtu.be/4da9vheycZg

🤓🤗🤔

I like the idea of this...

[Kev]

Ooo.

[lefrash]

Sounds very cool.

Maybe why the bass synth wah has been discontinued?

[Lightlyseared]

Hopefully more bass demos will follow.. this sounds pretty cool and usable.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Pretty groovy

[BigRedX]

Are we watching the same video?

All I hear is a way of making a couple of decent guitars sound like a Casiotone put through a cheap fuzz box.

[sk8]

Anyone with an istomp can get the dirty robot

[AndyTravis]

[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1459923697' post='3020804']
Sounds very cool.

Maybe why the bass synth wah has been discontinued?
[/quote]

If it can cover the sounds I use on my BSW and is a bit quicker on tracking...that'll do for me.

[AndyTravis]

[quote name='sk8' timestamp='1459937601' post='3020976']
Anyone with an istomp can get the dirty robot
[/quote]

I nearly bought one of those cheap when I worked at a shop. Wish I had done now.

[operative451]

I think its funny that they're playing 'are friends electric' - its my go to for playing with the BSW synth sounds too! If i didn't have the BSW i'd probably want one...

EDIT: Or not: http://digitech.com/en/news "The Dirty Robot Stereo Mini-Synth pedal will be available in April 2016 at $187.44 MSRP." Ouch! thats probably about the same in pounds then!

Edited April 6, 2016 by operative451

[SICbass]

That looks/sounds like loadsa fun! Thanks for posting.

[AndyTravis]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1459932655' post='3020887']
Are we watching the same video?

All I hear is a way of making a couple of decent guitars sound like a Casiotone put through a cheap fuzz box.
[/quote]

Don't all guitar synth pedals sound a bit like that?

Just listened through some decent headphones - sounds good.

The only issue I have with my BSW is that if the note you play hasn't got a smooth decay it either warbles awfully or cuts off, seems the processor in this unit is a lot more powerful and actually does something with it.

BRX I don't use my BSW to replace a keys player, it's for snippets in songs. I had a Korg G5 for a good while and we used to do "Freak Like Me" by the sugarbabes (sample of Are Friends Electric...) and the G5 was ideal - just a pain to use.

This looks like a good compromise between the two - as without a hex pickup or even an actual synth it's always a compromise.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1459939375' post='3021016']
Don't all guitar synth pedals sound a bit like that?

Just listened through some decent headphones - sounds good.

The only issue I have with my BSW is that if the note you play hasn't got a smooth decay it either warbles awfully or cuts off, seems the processor in this unit is a lot more powerful and actually does something with it.

BRX I don't use my BSW to replace a keys player, it's for snippets in songs. I had a Korg G5 for a good while and we used to do "Freak Like Me" by the sugarbabes (sample of Are Friends Electric...) and the G5 was ideal - just a pain to use.

This looks like a good compromise between the two - as without a hex pickup or even an actual synth it's always a compromise.
[/quote]

I went back and had another listen running the sound through my studio monitors, and it doesn't sound quite so awful. But...

I think it was a mistake to make a demo of a song with such distinctive synth sounds and not really get very close to the original. The part where they play what is very obviously a guitar part on the recording using the pedal sound is just hilarious!

I've been interested in trying to use guitars (and basses) to control synths since before the technology was available and have been following (and trying where ever possible) what has been available from the first proper guitar-controlled units from Roland, ARP and Hagstrom in the 70s onwards. Unfortunately pitch detection is never going to be the solution since the laws of physics are always going to be against you.

Having spent a good deal of the 80s trying to make synths sound like guitars and then much of the 90s making guitars and basses sound like synths, I know that while it is possible, it is neither easy or particularly satisfying to do - other than as an exercise to show it can be done after a fashion.

Ultimately I found it far easier to develop some rudimentary keyboard chops that allow me to play synth parts quicker and more accurately then wasting hours modifying my guitar technique to do the same thing, but with less consistent results.

Edited April 6, 2016 by BigRedX

[lefrash]

[quote name='operative451' timestamp='1459938312' post='3020994'] I think its funny that they're playing 'are friends electric' - its my go to for playing with the BSW synth sounds too! If i didn't have the BSW i'd probably want one... EDIT: Or not: http://digitech.com/en/news "The Dirty Robot Stereo Mini-Synth pedal will be available in April 2016 at $187.44 MSRP." Ouch! thats probably about the same in pounds then! [/quote]

Ouch. Makes the BSW even more a bargain. This admittedly does comes across a bit better though. I really only use my BSW as an octaver and occasional funny noises so I doubt I'll be renewing it.

[Kev]

So its out, at a reasonable £119.

Anyone tried one??

[Westenra]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1459941246' post='3021032']


I went back and had another listen running the sound through my studio monitors, and it doesn't sound quite so awful. But...

I think it was a mistake to make a demo of a song with such distinctive synth sounds and not really get very close to the original. The part where they play what is very obviously a guitar part on the recording using the pedal sound is just hilarious!

I've been interested in trying to use guitars (and basses) to control synths since before the technology was available and have been following (and trying where ever possible) what has been available from the first proper guitar-controlled units from Roland, ARP and Hagstrom in the 70s onwards. Unfortunately pitch detection is never going to be the solution since the laws of physics are always going to be against you.

Having spent a good deal of the 80s trying to make synths sound like guitars and then much of the 90s making guitars and basses sound like synths, I know that while it is possible, it is neither easy or particularly satisfying to do - other than as an exercise to show it can be done after a fashion.

Ultimately I found it far easier to develop some rudimentary keyboard chops that allow me to play synth parts quicker and more accurately then wasting hours modifying my guitar technique to do the same thing, but with less consistent results.
[/quote]

Just curious as I'm looking to do the same thing, what have you found that works best? I'm kind of leaning towards the orangelle from critter and guitari for my synth/sample needs.

[madame clapotis]

Mh, curious about this pedal on bass, too. This might be a cheaper variant on the Iron Ether Subterrannea?

[fretmeister]

I'd like to hear a proper bass demo too.

I love my BSW, but I've always got room for more synths!

[AustinArto]

The bass demos I've seen sound terrible.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Westenra' timestamp='1465858315' post='3071715']
Just curious as I'm looking to do the same thing, what have you found that works best? I'm kind of leaning towards the orangelle from critter and guitari for my synth/sample needs.
[/quote]

Buy a synth, and learn some rudimentary keyboard technique. You can pick up something like a Nord Lead mk1 for a few hundred pounds which will do everything you could do with effects so much better.

[Dosi Y'Anarchy]

Tried one yesterday, mostly its just the digitech bass synth wah. Its got modulation however which seems to be accessed by a long press of the footswitch.

I kinda felt it had variations of a single sound really.

[AustinArto]

[quote name='Dosi Y'Anarchy' timestamp='1466276659' post='3074645']
Tried one yesterday, mostly its just the digitech bass synth wah. Its got modulation however which seems to be accessed by a long press of the footswitch. [/quote]

Get a TC Shaker Mini (I am actually selling one in the classifieds right now but seriously...), it's tiny, and with the Toneprint Editor you can set it up to operate as a momentary effect. It's perfect for synth-style modulation/aftertouch effects and it takes up no space at all.

I'm doing all my effects in Max/MSP now but that thing was an effect I was trying to make happen for ages (particularly the momentary switch behaviour) and it turned out to be really cheap when a manufacturer eventually implemented it.

[paul_c2]

Just pressed the button to buy one of these.....then found this thread......I'll let you know what I think of it once I have it and have learnt what all the settings etc do. I was looking at a Boss OC-2, but then came across a Digitech Bass Synth Wah and that seemed more versatile in the demos, then came across the Dirty Robot and its demos seem better and more versatile still. I have a few songs in mind which could accommodate a bass synth and it adds a bit of variety etc. Since its a bit of a different thing than an OC-2, I may still seek out and buy one of these - kinda like a bucket list thing, for a bassist, I reckon.

[tonyquipment]

On 06/04/2016 at 09:50, BigRedX said:

Are we watching the same video?

All I hear is a way of making a couple of decent guitars sound like a Casiotone put through a cheap fuzz box.

 But it’s all the rage! All hipsters are doing this now ! 

[paul_c2]

On 28/11/2018 at 11:07, paul_c2 said:

Just pressed the button to buy one of these.....then found this thread......I'll let you know what I think of it once I have it and have learnt what all the settings etc do. I was looking at a Boss OC-2, but then came across a Digitech Bass Synth Wah and that seemed more versatile in the demos, then came across the Dirty Robot and its demos seem better and more versatile still. I have a few songs in mind which could accommodate a bass synth and it adds a bit of variety etc. Since its a bit of a different thing than an OC-2, I may still seek out and buy one of these - kinda like a bucket list thing, for a bassist, I reckon.

Hmmmmm......it does what it says on the tin. But the synth sounds are a bit too extreme, I was looking for something milder, or more subtle. So its pretty unusable on the bass. It has a bit of control over the synth sounds, but not enough to achieve a decent sound. So its going back.

I tried it with electric guitar too, it makes more sense as a "special effect" for this, but its still a bit of a novelty sound instead of something which just alters the tone to add a bit of variety.

Not really sure what next to do...I don't normally "do" effects, but I thought I'd like this kind of thing and also be able to make a practical use for it. In reality, there seems to be a couple of "basic" synth pedals, for example this one, the Bass Synth Wah, the Boss Bass Synth; but to get anything useful then there's a big gap between the £100 pedals and the Future Impact (realistically, none in the UK so after import tax, ~£500). I don't really want to go down the "rabbithole" of actually buying a keyboard synth, which is probably a cheaper and more sensible way of achieving this kind of variation in sound (and I'd prefer to just play the bass, rather than need to carry another instrument around + stand + inevitably an ABY box too).

I know its only indirectly related but maybe I'm better off trying out a Boss GT1B multi-effects, but then getting into the details of its settings is another rabbithole.......but if it were set up properly, much more manageable and useful live (and I could probably ditch the separate tuner, chorus, compression and EQ pedals I have already....saving a bit of space and complexity etc).

Edited November 30, 2018 by paul_c2