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Electronicant
Joined: Feb 23, 2006
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 Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:27 am Post subject:
Analog vs Digital effects |
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| I haven´t had the opportunity to compare analog vs digital effect units. Anyone who has experience of that? |
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v-un-v
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:41 am Post subject:
Re: Analog vs Digital effects |
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| Henrik wrote: | | I haven´t had the opportunity to compare analog vs digital effect units. Anyone who has experience of that? |
Yes.
Look at it like a artist or painter who chooses a different brush for a different effect or stroke.
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Electronicant
Joined: Feb 23, 2006
Posts: 81
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:56 am Post subject:
Re: Analog vs Digital effects |
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| v-un-v wrote: | | Henrik wrote: | | I haven´t had the opportunity to compare analog vs digital effect units. Anyone who has experience of that? |
Yes.
Look at it like a artist or painter who chooses a different brush for a different effect or stroke. |
Ok, but is there functionally something that you can do with, let´s say, a digital reverb which you can´t do with an analog reverb? or vice versa? |
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elektro80
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:09 am Post subject:
Re: Analog vs Digital effects |
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| Henrik wrote: | | Ok, but is there functionally something that you can do with, let´s say, a digital reverb which you can´t do with an analog reverb? or vice versa? |
re: analog reverb
Are you thinking of bucket brigade circuits or plate reverbs.. or springs?
You can emulate these pretty well using digital gear / software, but I´d´like to see a BB convolution reverb 
Spring reverbs are still best done with spring reverbs.
As you probably know already, spring reverbs are pretty hot for in-patch use in modulars. Mean springy VCOs are really something.
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Mohoyoho
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:14 am Post subject:
Re: Analog vs Digital effects |
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| Henrik wrote: | | v-un-v wrote: | | Henrik wrote: | | I haven´t had the opportunity to compare analog vs digital effect units. Anyone who has experience of that? |
Yes.
Look at it like a artist or painter who chooses a different brush for a different effect or stroke. |
Ok, but is there functionally something that you can do with, let´s say, a digital reverb which you can´t do with an analog reverb? or vice versa? |
Usually a digital reverb processor has several models of reverb to choose from: plate, spring, etc. Another difference is that you can overload the gain inputs and outputs of analogue gear and not get that horrible sound digital produces. Overdriving analogue is much more musical and useful.
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softfreak
Joined: Feb 12, 2006
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Location: zürich switzerland
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:27 am Post subject:
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basically a matter of personal taste.
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Uncle Krunkus
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:34 am Post subject:
Re: Analog vs Digital effects |
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| elektro80 wrote: | | You can emulate these pretty well using digital gear / software, but I´d´like to see a BB convolution reverb |
What do you mean by "convolution reverb" Stein?
Multitapped BBDs with cross regen and inverted regen from different delays etc? Or is it something more esoteric?
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elektro80
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:39 am Post subject:
Re: Analog vs Digital effects |
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| Uncle Krunkus wrote: | | elektro80 wrote: | | You can emulate these pretty well using digital gear / software, but I´d´like to see a BB convolution reverb |
What do you mean by "convolution reverb" Stein?
Multitapped BBDs with cross regen and inverted regen from different delays etc? Or is it something more esoteric? |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convolution_reverb
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Uncle Krunkus
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:45 am Post subject:
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Oh, that kind of convolution reverb! 
I s'pose my idea is just a convoluted reverb.
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Last edited by Uncle Krunkus on Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:46 am; edited 1 time in total |
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elektro80
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:45 am Post subject:
Re: Analog vs Digital effects |
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| Henrik wrote: | | I haven´t had the opportunity to compare analog vs digital effect units. Anyone who has experience of that? |
Are you also thinking of dynamics processors?
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v-un-v
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:44 am Post subject:
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I've yet to hear a digital compressor that sounds as musical as the older Dbx units. I can highly recommend the old made-for-hi-fi dbx 118/9's. Because they were 'consumer' products and not 'professional' they are so much warmer.
My compressor/ limiter is made by the Dutch firm D+R;
http://www.d-r.nl/
It's exceptionally musical 
I also have an Ensoniq DP/2- its sound is STUNNING.
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elektro80
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:04 am Post subject:
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Are you using DBX noise reduction boxes as compressors ( and yes these are compressors.. but..   )?????
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mosc
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:22 am Post subject:
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If you are just getting started, get digital effects because they are much more versatile. Once you know better what you want, you may then choose to get some specialized analog effects. It is true that analog effects sometimes have a desirable characteristic sound, but it is hard to use them for purposes where you don't want that sound.
Reverbs, compressors, equalizers, etc. reach into the realm of folklore. There is never a shortage of people who claim that they own an expensive obscure device - often very old - sometimes using tubes - that sound more musical than anything. Maybe this is true, but often it is subjective. These tales of legend tend to confuse beginners and scare them off.
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Electronicant
Joined: Feb 23, 2006
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:11 am Post subject:
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| Thanks all. Well, I mean generally. So, even the most exclusive ones like Quantec and Lexicon does´nt achieve more than simulations of analog effects? |
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elektro80
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:38 am Post subject:
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| Henrik wrote: | | So, even the most exclusive ones like Quantec and Lexicon does´nt achieve more than simulations of analog effects? |
Not quite true. A very good digital reverb does things you simply cannot do with analouge gear. Same goes with delays.
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v-un-v
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 4:02 pm Post subject:
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| elektro80 wrote: | | A very good digital reverb does things you simply cannot do with analouge gear. Same goes with delays. |
I'll second that
I suppose it all comes down to how deep your pocket is 
Personally I like lo-fi better than hi-fi, but can't beat a decent digibox. DP/4's and 2's are prime examples of this- and they're very cheap right now 
And yes Elektro, I love those old compressors- they have so much woomph!
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elektro80
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:57 pm Post subject:
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| mosc wrote: | If you are just getting started, get digital effects because they are much more versatile. Once you know better what you want, you may then choose to get some specialized analog effects. It is true that analog effects sometimes have a desirable characteristic sound, but it is hard to use them for purposes where you don't want that sound.
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This is good advice. Learning about the circuitry is smart too. That way you will understand better how to use the effects and how to get specific results.
| v-un-v wrote: | | DP/4's and 2's are prime examples of this- and they're very cheap right now |
None of these are of stellar quality but they work well and will complement newer units well. You might want a mic/line preamp with tubes and tranformers on the outputs. If you drive these hard you can add some analogue grit and colour. The best use of any effect is to mix and patch so the resulting affected signal has a unique quality which doesn´t quite have the signature of any known effects device.
| mosc wrote: | | Reverbs, compressors, equalizers, etc. reach into the realm of folklore. There is never a shortage of people who claim that they own an expensive obscure device - often very old - sometimes using tubes - that sound more musical than anything. Maybe this is true, but often it is subjective. These tales of legend tend to confuse beginners. |
Good advice. Mythology is bad. The various devices work in specific ways. There is no mystery to this.
| v-un-v wrote: | And yes Elektro, I love those old compressors- they have so much woomph!
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Indeed they do.
Compressors aren´t really hard to do well, but there are different classes of products out there. It is worth having both neutral and coloured ones in the gear closet. There is no such thing as too many compressors.
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elektro80
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| Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 6:07 pm Post subject:
Re: Analog vs Digital effects |
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| Mohoyoho wrote: | | Another difference is that you can overload the gain inputs and outputs of analogue gear and not get that horrible sound digital produces. Overdriving analogue is much more musical and useful. |
This is great advice. If you have a signal which just might go berserk, analogue devces will usually handle this far far better than digital gear.
However, there is also the issue with pro signal levels.
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v-un-v
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| Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 3:32 am Post subject:
Re: Analog vs Digital effects |
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| elektro80 wrote: | | Mohoyoho wrote: | | Another difference is that you can overload the gain inputs and outputs of analogue gear and not get that horrible sound digital produces. Overdriving analogue is much more musical and useful. |
This is great advice. If you have a signal which just might go berserk, analogue devces will usually handle this far far better than digital gear.
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again, there is further debate to in what context this is used. I happen to like digital distortion, and in the right places it can work well. On my first LP, I used digital distortion to create 'wave-like' noises in the first part of the track. The input pots were really dirty on my old Midiverb II and this added a certail splashing sound to the mix 
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