radiophonic Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I've been on a massive Nerve / John Davis tip recently and consequently have been thinking about bit-crushers and LPFs. I think what I'm after is a Frantabit, but these don't seem to be readily available (even Iron Ether don't appear to have any at present). I know Earthquaker make some crazy stuff, but I'm not convinced that the Bit Commander does quite the same things as the Frantabit. I did wonder about the little Mooer as a 'toe in the water' but I'm not sold on the sound. What other realistic (i.e. available) alternatives are there? Expression pedal control would be a definite plus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodge_bass Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I've been on exactly the same tip - still am. The Moeer is a great foot in the door but it's very noisy with is a shame. The Malekko bitcrusher is excellent and has an expression pedal input too. Further down this forum there's a bigger extended post on. bitcrushers - a quick search should throw it up. Somewhere in there is a quick recording I did with the Moeer. Enjoy the ride! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iacopo San Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Hi radiophonic, I was thinking of selling my Mooer LoFi machine, great conditions with box, as I only use to to have fun and do not really use it. Let me know if you are interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvine Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I think the LoFi machine sounds really good on bass, definitely worth a try. I actually find the sound cleaner and more usable than the Frantabit (I use a noisegate with it to cut out noise when I'm not playing). Although the Frantabit does have way more options. The Bit Comander I thought was not great on bass, the sound is quite messy. But I've found that with other Earthquaker pedals too, don't track bass amazingly in my opinion. This thing looks good though, but not tried it yet: https://www.thomann.de/gb/malekko_scrutator.htm?sid=bd908bcba1861c1f43ce9243948d6866 Anyone ever used a WMD geiger counter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I’ve had a Malekko Scrutator for a while and it is frankly excellent. It gives you bit crushing and sample rate reduction (I mostly use it for sample rate reduction) and you can adjust the filter and Q points too. The expression input can be assigned to control almost any of the parameters on the front panel of the pedal. It’s awesome but I’m actually considering selling it - call me crazy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodge_bass Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Check this thread out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvine Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 2 hours ago, CameronJ said: I’ve had a Malekko Scrutator for a while and it is frankly excellent. It gives you bit crushing and sample rate reduction (I mostly use it for sample rate reduction) and you can adjust the filter and Q points too. The expression input can be assigned to control almost any of the parameters on the front panel of the pedal. It’s awesome but I’m actually considering selling it - call me crazy Let me know if you do decide to sell it, I'm thinking about ordering one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodge_bass Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I'm very impressed with mine - worth the money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 I have the mooer and the Frantabit, and they aren't even in the same league. The Frantabit just sounds so much better (imo YMMV etc). Other bitcrushers I do have my eye on are the WMD Geiger Counter Pro, and the Meris Ottobit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 8 hours ago, elephantgrey said: I have the mooer and the Frantabit, and they aren't even in the same league. The Frantabit just sounds so much better (imo YMMV etc). Is Cameron paying you commission ahead of his imminent sale listing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 39 minutes ago, Al Krow said: Is Cameron paying you commission ahead of his imminent sale listing? I’ve never had a Frantabit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 2 minutes ago, CameronJ said: I’ve never had a Frantabit My bad. Either that or you're clearly not paying him enough commission then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 1 minute ago, Al Krow said: My bad. Either that or you're clearly not paying him enough commission then Definitely the latter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elephantgrey Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 1 hour ago, CameronJ said: Definitely the latter! Definitely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee650 Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 ive been really interested in the Catalinbread Heliotrope,since seeing It on a basschatters board. it seems to "emulate" bit crushing/sample rate as it's analogue. it also claims to be part fuzz/octave up and ring modulator, it sounds wild not available anymore i think and expensive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiophonic Posted February 10, 2018 Author Share Posted February 10, 2018 I've had a listen to the Pedals and Effects demo of the Malekko Scrutator and I think I've found what I'm looking for. The expression control of the filter sweep looks very useful and the basic crushed sound is just what I'm after. Time to start saving! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abc Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 (edited) I'm getting 'kind of, ish' sounds from the Fairfield randy's revenge.- What I'll get once it is available again( I hope it will be !) is the bug workshop crusher from thonk. https://www.thonk.co.uk/shop/bugbrand-workshopcrusher/ Edited March 6, 2018 by abc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 What's a good example of bit crushers being used in a live set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiophonic Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 5 hours ago, Al Krow said: What's a good example of bit crushers being used in a live set? Here's a good one. Might not be your style. I think it rules. I have a Malekko Scrutator in the post... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Wishbone Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 (edited) 23 hours ago, Al Krow said: What's a good example of bit crushers being used in a live set? Search YouTube for Janek Gwizdala (who I believe was in the above band "Nerve" at some point?). I'm not a fan of his music as such but he's clearly a very accomplished player and a big user of the aforementioned Bugbrand unit and the Iron Ether Frantabit, usually in conjunction with one of his large collection of Boss OC-2s (amongst other things). Edited March 7, 2018 by Johnny Wishbone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Cheers. It seems pretty limited (thus far) to a particular 'house' style? But fair do's - if it gives a particular bassist his sound, then all power to him. For me, if we do end up having a track or two like the above in the set I'd probably do it with the tone rolled off and cleaner 'subby' bass sound on a P-bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Wishbone Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 1 hour ago, Al Krow said: Cheers. It seems pretty limited (thus far) to a particular 'house' style? But fair do's - if it gives a particular bassist his sound, then all power to him. tbf that clip probably isn't a fair representation of his normal playing style. It's just the one I could find with the most bit-crusher usage in it! He does use it in a lot of the "ambient" tracks he used to soundtrack his vlogs, but I'm struggling to find a decent example (probably because people keep making me do some work!). Crushers are not for everyone, that's for sure, but they're far from a one-trick pony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiophonic Posted March 7, 2018 Author Share Posted March 7, 2018 (edited) Janek's style isn't well represented there. He's a Jazz musician first and foremost (as are JoJo and John Davis). Nerve is just one outlet they've both been involved in. He uses the Frantabit with a TC Nova Repeater and the octave up on Boss PS5 to create something called 'the baby elephant sound' there's a how-to on youtube. It's one of his signature solo sounds. He's big into looping too in his solo sets. There's quite a lot of footage on the net due to him doing a Vlog a day for about a year. John Davis is known as a double bass player in addition to his production work. Edited March 7, 2018 by radiophonic 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiophonic Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) ...and now I have a Malekko Scrutator. Definitely not a one trick pony! The ability to map the expression pedal to the filter, bit rate and Q, in any combination is a real game changer in a compact pedal. The initial temptation is to really slam the parameters and do massive filter sweeps with the expression pedal, but that will wear off I'm sure. Theres definitely Wah/Envelope tones in here. I can't fit my Rat on the board anymore though. Edited March 8, 2018 by radiophonic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimryan Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 On 10/02/2018 at 11:13, lee650 said: ive been really interested in the Catalinbread Heliotrope,since seeing It on a basschatters board. it seems to "emulate" bit crushing/sample rate as it's analogue. it also claims to be part fuzz/octave up and ring modulator, it sounds wild not available anymore i think and expensive! I don’t suppose that was my one was it? I’ve recently been thinking of shifting it where I’m not using it (and don’t really have a use for it) and going back to the Mooer Lo-Fi Machine just so I’ve still got something should I ever need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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