So I guess pedals are the new forward guard.

[Invisible Man]

I'm kind of having my mind blown by a lot of stuff lately. I'm in one of those grooves where you're just seeing tons of connections, and a lot of things are starting to make sense...like my little world is resonating at a frequency that I can work with.

And pedals seem to be one of the things that are doing this for me. I'm seeing how they can do a lot of what Basinksi's Disintegration Loops do, or Cage's aleatory music, or even weird fractal stuff (look up Mandelbrot sequences if you want to trip out). I'm thinking about how they can create negative space, or process information in random or algorithmic sequences. I'm using a lot of white noise lately, and just processing the fuck out of that until it becomes rhythmic, or melodic, or both.

All of this is to say: maybe I'm finally getting what many ILFers seems to understand tacitly. There's a kind of unspoken ethos here that degradation, an aesthetic of failure, ugliness and subversion is continuing in the tradition of some really forward thinking composers and musicians.

Anyway, do you folks have any more ideas like this? Are there any pedals/processors you use because you like the idea behind it as much/more than the sounds it produces? I find myself really drawn to weird aesthetic purposes more than I am "tone." I do not give one fuck about tone. And I'd love to hear about how you think about the sounds they make, too. I don't even really care about the recommendations themselves; I care more about how it resonates with your beautiful brain.

A couple examples to start (or not; I'm pretty sure this thread will do down like a lead balloon):

Red Panda's Particle: granular synthesis, "molecules" of sound that can be individually manipulated
Eventide Pitchfactor: stochastic sequencing, randomized glitching, impenetrable digital waves, deep modulation, microprocessing (beyond what can be perceived by humans on the aural spectrum)
CT5: variability of time
Bit crushers: real-time sample rate- and bit depth modulation--like being swallowed by a digital animal
Moog stuff: utter commitment to analog processing, even though their capabilities seem to "magically" transcend what should be possible with transistors, capacitors, diodes, &c
Loopers: fuck. They're so good.
Sequencers: The EHX 8 Step Program, in particular, has really got my goat. Random sequencing...
Ring mods: That moment where the frequency beats against itself, and crosses over from a super-fast tremolo to an audible frequency. Holy shit. I live there.

Another way of thinking about this: I look at spectral analyzers a lot, and frequency response imaging, and oscilloscopes...sometimes I just play with what I see on the screen/readout, and adjust my noisemaking so that it will "look" a certain way when graphed/represented in an image. There's something really beautiful about that.

I'm not high. Never done drugs. Just doing a deep dive back into my research, and it's getting harder not to see how my noise obsession may be informing it, or even pushing it...or I may be sleep deprived...I have these stupid babies everywhere that are determined to kill me.

[Inconuucl]

Eh, we're still cavemen next to modular effects. Once I have enough saved up I'll try to set up a Pittsburgh Modular Patchbox with like Mutable Instrument's Clouds and that new crazy filter by 4ms.

[D.o.S.]

I agree with your post (in fact I would say absolutely nailed it) but as always it's the people, not the pedals, that make the thing worth listening to.

[Gone Fission]

I dunno, modular has an appeal, but: putting aside that component parts in analog domain may do some things better, it's not like you couldn't do the same things in PD or MAX, including "patching" and interconnectivity. In a way, modular is the caveman version of building you electronic music processing from the circuit component level. Some of the most exciting modular stuff is actually about injecting DSP back into the component level building blocks--it's a little like steampunk in its injection of more high or new tech into older technology systems.

The thing about modular, though, is it's more flexible than most DSP processing boxes. Only a few boxes give you enough rope to hang yourself and get into serious abuse and/or trouble. Modeling pedals are curated. Modular isn't curated. Non-curated formats tend to have high learning curves, though, whether modular, DSP hardware, of in the computer.

[tremulant]

I hooked up this akai m7 reel to reel microphone straight into the CT5 on mode 3 and too easily was I able to do a crazy version of "its gonna rain" by Steve Reich. If that pedal were around in his day i'm sure he would have been on that like white on rice.

I still am a believer in the DL4 for the looper alone - it is beautifully laid out, very intrinsic to get used to, and the capabilities that it brought to the table was unprecedented at the time.

And EHX's pitchfork. Its like everything a whammy wants to be. The major 6th and 5th below setting creates this huge titan kind of effect that I've been all about lately. That pedal overall, depending on how you use it can teach a lot about music theory practically and give you a better understanding of your instrument, I.e: playing with the pitchfork on a given setting and then turn it off and learn how to play that same passage as if it were on with it.

despite having a really nice board, i kind of hate pedals at the same time. I practically never use them when i'm writing a song because it can become a crutch real quick, and i dont necessarily want to hide behind my pedals. I want to be able to control my board and not the other way around.

I'm always at least a little high, if that means there's an asterisk next to my name so be it.

[Invisible Man]

Eh, we're still cavemen next to modular effects. Once I have enough saved up I'll try to set up a Pittsburgh Modular Patchbox with like Mutable Instrument's Clouds and that new crazy filter by 4ms.

I know what you mean, but I don't see that the gap is as large as many would have us believe. Sure, when you consider the vast majority of pedals (no one will make the case that a Tubescreamer or Carbon Copy is progressive) we look way behind the curve. Looks to me like many of the more forward thinking pedal builders are right up there with the modular folks. Having said that, I am VERY interested in Mutable Instruments' stuff.

Anyway, what it is about the 4ms filter and Clouds that floats your boat? I know about the latter, and would love to grab one, but I'm only listening to a demo of the filter now...

In any case, that isn't the point I'm hoping to make/conversation I'm hoping to have. You're probably right--modular has more progressive stuff--but what is it that drives you to be progressive in the first place? What kinds of things are you interested in that push you in that direction in the first place? I don't think anyone is here because they're just interested in "weird"--I fooled myself into thinking that, only to discover that a whole bunch of other tendencies of mine were manifesting in the way I think about sound and the tools I use to make it. I'm curious if others have the same kind of situation, and, if so, how they'd articulate it.

[Invisible Man]

I agree with your post (in fact I would say absolutely nailed it) but as always it's the people, not the pedals, that make the thing worth listening to.

I don't disagree at all. That's kind of the thing I'm hoping to get closer to with this thread, in fact. It sound kind of pretentious for me to ask: "what's the philosophy behind your decision to use one tool rather than another? Why are you drawn to that one?" But that's what I want to ask. How the fuck else does one explain why we're closing in on 2,000 pages of "LET'S SEE YOUR PEDALBOARD?" It's beyond gear porn, I think; each image and the reactions to it form a clippet (my wife's excellent portmanteau of 'snippet' and 'clip') of a person's musical personality. I look back at stuff I used to use, and I see someone who was thinking about music and life pretty differently than I do now.

And I love that thread; I'm in there all the time. I guess I just realized that we're posting in there not just because we want to display our goodies, but because it's a lower risk (and less time intensive) way to make a statement about our approach, our music, our tastes, our ethos, &c than to post links to our bands, or to us playing anything. I think it'd be cool (if anyone wanted to) if folks would talk about the "big ideas" behind their life/music. We're all kinda fucked up anyway, or we wouldn't be here; I wonder how other people are thinking about things.

Still not high.

[D.o.S.]

For sure.

Kind of wish I had regular access to a camera.

[darthbatman]

i play my bass into a looper to make tiny little reflective spheres that encapsulate little bubbles of sound which have bits of my headspace at the time emprinted on them, and it's like each one even though it's just a collection of notes tells a miniature story about what my soul felt as it was experiencing the creation process. to me they almost always sound reminiscent of like an episode of the Twilight Zone that lasts less than a minute but comes complete with twist ending and a pan up to the stars. you know how like if you watched that show when you were a kid and it freaked you out and maybe made the hair on the nape of your neck stand straight but you were mystified anyway so you wanted to watch and find out the twist and solve the mystery even if fear was involved.. Or like Gremlins, even though Stripe scared me as a kid I watched that movie dozens of times, maybe we're all a little like D.O.S.' avatar there of Gizmo in the christmas hat, sweet and serene and brave in the face of danger, enjoying his time with the black and white of the little casio keys in front of him like an alter maybe? Like a conduit for creativity through a simple technology where little bleeps and bloops talk back at us from the other side of the cosmos, filtered into our reality like sand through a sieve made up of tiny chip algorithms.

[Warpsmasher]

I like the mojo in this thread. Hungry young minds forever.
I agree that pedals are leading the way now, but formats are fluid and it could change at any time. Wouldn't be surprised to see modular fx racks become the cool new thing. I'm already tempted. 4ms, Metasonix, WMD...fuck. The abyss yawns wide, beckoning, ever beckoning...
Watch "I Dream Of Wires" on Netflix if you haven't seen it yet. Modular is still a rising force, and if some Roland & Arturia type companies introduce some cheap mini-cases/boards/rails/creative housing & power options that go for half the current market rates, it could get significantly bigger. Whole walls of knobs and spaghetti wires turn me off completely, but the idea of little ipad-sized miniracks and 19" crossover combos gives me instant ironwood. I'm not there yet, but I'm definitely getting vulnerable to it.

[D.o.S.]

I don't like Modular stuff because I like working within limitations, but the capabilities are definitely way far ahead of what you can do with stompboxes.

[Invisible Man]

i play my bass into a looper to make tiny little reflective spheres that encapsulate little bubbles of sound which have bits of my headspace at the time emprinted on them, and it's like each one even though it's just a collection of notes tells a miniature story about what my soul felt as it was experiencing the creation process. to me they almost always sound reminiscent of like an episode of the Twilight Zone that lasts less than a minute but comes complete with twist ending and a pan up to the stars. you know how like if you watched that show when you were a kid and it freaked you out and maybe made the hair on the nape of your neck stand straight but you were mystified anyway so you wanted to watch and find out the twist and solve the mystery even if fear was involved.. Or like Gremlins, even though Stripe scared me as a kid I watched that movie dozens of times, maybe we're all a little like D.O.S.' avatar there of Gizmo in the christmas hat, sweet and serene and brave in the face of danger, enjoying his time with the black and white of the little casio keys in front of him like an alter maybe? Like a conduit for creativity through a simple technology where little bleeps and bloops talk back at us from the other side of the cosmos, filtered into our reality like sand through a sieve made up of tiny chip algorithms.

Good on ya! That must have taken a while to type, though...

[Invisible Man]

I hooked up this akai m7 reel to reel microphone straight into the CT5 on mode 3 and too easily was I able to do a crazy version of "its gonna rain" by Steve Reich. If that pedal were around in his day i'm sure he would have been on that like white on rice.

I still am a believer in the DL4 for the looper alone - it is beautifully laid out, very intrinsic to get used to, and the capabilities that it brought to the table was unprecedented at the time.

And EHX's pitchfork. Its like everything a whammy wants to be. The major 6th and 5th below setting creates this huge titan kind of effect that I've been all about lately. That pedal overall, depending on how you use it can teach a lot about music theory practically and give you a better understanding of your instrument, I.e: playing with the pitchfork on a given setting and then turn it off and learn how to play that same passage as if it were on with it.

despite having a really nice board, i kind of hate pedals at the same time. I practically never use them when i'm writing a song because it can become a crutch real quick, and i dont necessarily want to hide behind my pedals. I want to be able to control my board and not the other way around.

I'm always at least a little high, if that means there's an asterisk next to my name so be it.

That sounds awesome. I can't wait to try some vocal on my CT5. Waiting for an opportune moment. Cool to hear, too, that the Pitchfork is working for you. Love to try that one...

I will not be logging asterisks. And, along those lines, I assume your username is a reference to the first Volta EP? That (and De-Loused) were huge for me. HUGE. Everything after, not so much.

[Invisible Man]

Hungry young minds forever.

Yeah man. Let's not be boring. I know I might get some pushback on this stuff (see above), but...no risk, no reward. I just finished up teaching a science fiction class at my university, many of those ideas are kinda stuck in my craw. And I'm thinking a lot about their sonic equivalents.

[Warpsmasher]

That's cool, I love all the ways sci-fi can inspire music, not just in lyrical content and sounds. Some ipad & iphone apps have absolutely alien interfaces that make me feel like I'm playing with tech that was stolen out of a UFO. The myriad of unorthodox and experimental ways to generate sounds and effects is easy to get lost in, even using only free apps.

Here's one of the great sci-fi music classics...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Wayn ... the_Worlds
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlpl-RzsCck[/youtube]