EA Spectravibe
Moderator: Ghost Hip
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Jwar
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Re: EA Spectravibe
I want one so hard but I just blew my load on something else! LOL
"I do not have the ability to think rationally 90% of the time and I also change my mind at the drop of a hat".
-JWAR
-JWAR
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codetocontra
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Re: EA Spectravibe
What did you buy now, jwar?
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Jwar
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Re: EA Spectravibe
Industrialectric 4046.codetocontra wrote:What did you buy now, jwar?
Well technically going to pay for it tomorrow.
"I do not have the ability to think rationally 90% of the time and I also change my mind at the drop of a hat".
-JWAR
-JWAR
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EndangeredAudioMark
- interested
- Posts: 40
- Joined: Sat May 07, 2016 9:46 am
Re: EA Spectravibe
Here ya go!
The new version sounds even better -
Pictures of real box:
http://reverb.com/item/2590305-endanger ... -pre-order
Video:
guitar
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSmuwmgAhlA[/youtube]
synth
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i2KKc9uwm4[/youtube]
The new version sounds even better -
Pictures of real box:
http://reverb.com/item/2590305-endanger ... -pre-order
Video:
guitar
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSmuwmgAhlA[/youtube]
synth
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i2KKc9uwm4[/youtube]
-
EndangeredAudioMark
- interested
- Posts: 40
- Joined: Sat May 07, 2016 9:46 am
Re: EA Spectravibe
Spectravibe/AD4096 update I sent out to everyone who bought one. I got a notification that there was a new post here, but I don't see anything - maybe they deleted it? Anyway...
Hello!
Spectravibe news first - AD4096 mk2 news below. I'm sending this out to everyone individually, so you might get this message twice if you ordered both pedals.
I'm writing to you today to finally share some good news! Todd brought over the Spectravibe breadboard to my house and walked me through some of its sonic possibilities. He could only stay for an hour, and I was so engrossed in the demo that I only caught a recording of the last 15 minutes of playing with it, but you can finally hear what the new version sounds like here:
https://soundcloud.com/endangeredaudio/ ... vibe-demos
Now, I have to preface this: I'm not the greatest guitar player, at least at improvising, so forgive that. Also, the noise you hear is from the single coil Tele that I was using - the pedal itself (even on the breadboard with all these flying wires!) is dead quiet.
I used a Universal Audio amp simulator, too, for what that's worth - the vintage ENGL if you're familiar.
Any day now, Todd is going to be done with the breadboard entirely, and he'll bring it over to my house and leave it so I can make more extensive, in-depth sound samples similar to the other AD4096 demos you see on that Soundcloud page.
What these 3 samples don't show you is just how infinitely variable the sound of this pedal is. I'm truly blown away, and I'm certain you will be too.
First off, the Mix knob is just magic. In the new Vibrato modes, the wet signal is slightly out of phase with the dry signal. This is done purposefully, because as you adjust the Mix knob, you can dial in an infinite array of tones. It is not an exaggeration to say that it does *every* vintage tube amp true vibrato sound and more.
The Bias is basically a waveshaper that determines how the LFO influences the sweep. You can get fake reverse sounds, subtle washy almost chorus-y sounds, and of course, repeat percussion. In trem mode, the wave will go so deep that it will actually cut off the sound completely in each cycle - perfect for staccato repeats. And with the Mix knob, you can get the best of both worlds - the plucky attack of the repeat percussion, but dialed back so it's less choppy.
Todd and I agree that the bandpass filter (BPF) is basically eclipsed by the new Vibrato voices, but STILL my god, he's improved the BPF so much. You can dial back the depth and get this beautiful sweepy wash, or go full-on sci-fi without any notes jumping out too intensely (anyone who has an old Gristleizer knows that VCF mode was always a bit unwieldy). This new BPF he's made is just vastly more musical than even the first prototype version that you've all probably seen by now (the monster pedal that's in the YouTube demos).
And man, turn modulation off, and this BPF mode is your new secret tone weapon - it's like a parked wah, but the slope is less extreme. It doesn't "talk" as much as a wah does, but it still sounds very vocal and present. If you turn the modulation off and just sweep through the Bias range, you can find just a myriad of classic pickup tones.
And bassists! The BPF will rock your bottom end and give you not only a versatile tone control, but also a wobbly warbly deep resonance that will vibrate your socks off.
Furthermore, going back to the Vibrato voices, there are 2 of them, and there's an emphasis switch, so you now basically have 6 voices in this one pedal. There's Trem, Vibe (BPF), Vibrato 1, Vibrato 1 + emphasis, Vibrato 2, & Vibrato 2 + emphasis. The emphasis control softens the Vibrato voices and makes them more buttery - the modulation hits a little softer but you also get a deeper vibrato effect with more phaseyness. In some settings, there's almost this tripling effect - it's hard to describe, but it's unmistakably unique and delicious.
Also, many, many hours went into perfecting the tap tempo function, with the help of our firmware wizard Eric Daine. It works beautifully, it's snappy and accurate, and the speed pot is scaled so that you can get deeply slow washes up to ringmod territory (around 100Hz). With an external clock, you can clock it even faster. In fact, you'll be able to use an Audulus patch from your iPhone, iPad, or computer, to clock the pedal in a way that allows you to turn it into an oscillator. So, for example, you could have Audulus listening to your guitar, analyzing its pitch, and then spit out a clock that is a suboctave oscillator of your guitar's pitch.
What's even cooler than that is that the ringmod feature works in *all* modes, and I think you'll agree that the ringmod in the Vibrato modes with emphasis on is one of the sweetest, most musical, least harsh ringmods you'll ever try.
This is all to say that I'm confident that once you get this pedal in your hands, you'll agree with me that it's the most comprehensive and versatile modulation pedal you'll have ever played. The long, repeated delays and pushbacks, your *INFINITE* patience (thank you!) will be greatly rewarded.
Like I said above, Todd will be finalizing the design any day, and once he does that, the PCB layout will go quickly. We're doing rush orders for everything because even though it costs a little more, we're just excited to get these finished and out the door to you now that it's so perfect.
As a reminder, if you have bought both Spectravibe and AD4096 mk2, you're entitled to a $50 off "better together" discount. If you got a discounted pedal for ordering it when it was first announced, and you didn't receive a total of $50 off (some people only got $25 off), let me know and I'll get you straightened out.
If you already bought a pedal and want to buy the other (Spectravibe or AD4096 mk2) you're also entitled to the better together discount. Message me for more details.
NOW on to AD4096 mk2:
Todd brought over a retrofitted mk1 that showed how he's got the tap tempo function on lock. Now, don't get excited - this isn't a mod like the 800ms upgrade - it takes too much kludging and cutting of traces, and does not fit in a mk1 box (which is why it's hanging out of the pedal in this video).
(You don't need an instagram account to view the video)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BU0SuqdAUJm/
However, the time knob and the tap tempo function work beautifully, just like they do in Spectravibe. What's really fun about the AD4096 mk2 especially though, is that you can tap a tempo in and then twist the pot, and the time will snap to wherever the pot is. The microcontroller that's inside the pedal looks at either the tap/clock input, or the pot, and will dynamically switch between them. This means you can get all kinds of weird, warpy delay sounds that just aren't possible on most analog delays. You can see this a little in the video above.
We're also toying with the idea of sticking an extra footswitch on the AD4096 mk2 so you don't have to choose between expand mode and tap tempo mode. You can actually do some pretty cool stuff if you stomp on both expand and tap tempo at the same time. It might be a little more crowded, since the box is going to be the same 6in x 6in enclosure that Spectravibe is in, but we think it will be worth it.
Now, I know you've been so patient waiting for this pedal - we truly regret starting with Spectravibe as the AD4096 mk2 could've been out MONTHS ago if we'd announced it first. That is to say, there is less work to do to get the mk2 into production than there was on Spectravibe.
But when, you may ask, are these pedals coming out?!?! I can only give you estimates, but it looks like Spectravibe, god willing, will be in assembly mode by the end of this month, and the delay will come about a month after.
If you're tired of waiting and want a refund, please just ask. And don't worry - even if *everyone* got a refund, we have a financial contingency plan to get the pedals to market. That said, if you do get a refund, it might be a long, LONG time until you can get one. Reverb is going to put some advertising behind the pedals once they come out proper, and we expect to be positively slammed with orders. If you pull out now, you might be waiting till August to get one.
Currently, I'm the only one who's doing soldering for EAR, but we're training up a new employee and also seeking out PCB fab houses. At Moogfest, I had a good convo with the people who do Moog's boards, and we'll see how that goes. But rest assured we are poised to grow and put products out much faster.
In related news: Once Spectravibe is out proper, we're going to announce a new pedal. It's a reissue of a famously (notoriously?) hard to get and expensive pedal, and Todd, in his style, is going to make it cooler, more useful, and less expensive than the vintage version. That pedal is already done - he prototyped it 5 years ago but just never had the money, time, or help to release it. All he needs to do is design the box and turn the schematic into a PCB.
Finally, I'm sorry it's been so long since our last update. I know many of you were getting worried that we'd ever deliver. I was getting despondent myself - it felt like every time I talked to Todd, the pedal was getting better, but some new problem would always crop up. It was like playing whack-a-mole - make this mode sound perfect, then the other mode was thrown off. Todd solved this problem finally by doing some analog wizardry that isolates the way each mode's circuit responds to the pots.
So yes, I admit, and Todd admits, this has taken way too long. However, if there hadn't been so many delays and setbacks, we wouldn't be delivering you the pedal we're going to - the best damn analog modulation pedal this world has ever seen.
Please feel free to write back with any follow up questions you may have, and THANK YOU once again for your faith and patience.
Sincerely,
Mark
(& Todd)
Hello!
Spectravibe news first - AD4096 mk2 news below. I'm sending this out to everyone individually, so you might get this message twice if you ordered both pedals.
I'm writing to you today to finally share some good news! Todd brought over the Spectravibe breadboard to my house and walked me through some of its sonic possibilities. He could only stay for an hour, and I was so engrossed in the demo that I only caught a recording of the last 15 minutes of playing with it, but you can finally hear what the new version sounds like here:
https://soundcloud.com/endangeredaudio/ ... vibe-demos
Now, I have to preface this: I'm not the greatest guitar player, at least at improvising, so forgive that. Also, the noise you hear is from the single coil Tele that I was using - the pedal itself (even on the breadboard with all these flying wires!) is dead quiet.
I used a Universal Audio amp simulator, too, for what that's worth - the vintage ENGL if you're familiar.
Any day now, Todd is going to be done with the breadboard entirely, and he'll bring it over to my house and leave it so I can make more extensive, in-depth sound samples similar to the other AD4096 demos you see on that Soundcloud page.
What these 3 samples don't show you is just how infinitely variable the sound of this pedal is. I'm truly blown away, and I'm certain you will be too.
First off, the Mix knob is just magic. In the new Vibrato modes, the wet signal is slightly out of phase with the dry signal. This is done purposefully, because as you adjust the Mix knob, you can dial in an infinite array of tones. It is not an exaggeration to say that it does *every* vintage tube amp true vibrato sound and more.
The Bias is basically a waveshaper that determines how the LFO influences the sweep. You can get fake reverse sounds, subtle washy almost chorus-y sounds, and of course, repeat percussion. In trem mode, the wave will go so deep that it will actually cut off the sound completely in each cycle - perfect for staccato repeats. And with the Mix knob, you can get the best of both worlds - the plucky attack of the repeat percussion, but dialed back so it's less choppy.
Todd and I agree that the bandpass filter (BPF) is basically eclipsed by the new Vibrato voices, but STILL my god, he's improved the BPF so much. You can dial back the depth and get this beautiful sweepy wash, or go full-on sci-fi without any notes jumping out too intensely (anyone who has an old Gristleizer knows that VCF mode was always a bit unwieldy). This new BPF he's made is just vastly more musical than even the first prototype version that you've all probably seen by now (the monster pedal that's in the YouTube demos).
And man, turn modulation off, and this BPF mode is your new secret tone weapon - it's like a parked wah, but the slope is less extreme. It doesn't "talk" as much as a wah does, but it still sounds very vocal and present. If you turn the modulation off and just sweep through the Bias range, you can find just a myriad of classic pickup tones.
And bassists! The BPF will rock your bottom end and give you not only a versatile tone control, but also a wobbly warbly deep resonance that will vibrate your socks off.
Furthermore, going back to the Vibrato voices, there are 2 of them, and there's an emphasis switch, so you now basically have 6 voices in this one pedal. There's Trem, Vibe (BPF), Vibrato 1, Vibrato 1 + emphasis, Vibrato 2, & Vibrato 2 + emphasis. The emphasis control softens the Vibrato voices and makes them more buttery - the modulation hits a little softer but you also get a deeper vibrato effect with more phaseyness. In some settings, there's almost this tripling effect - it's hard to describe, but it's unmistakably unique and delicious.
Also, many, many hours went into perfecting the tap tempo function, with the help of our firmware wizard Eric Daine. It works beautifully, it's snappy and accurate, and the speed pot is scaled so that you can get deeply slow washes up to ringmod territory (around 100Hz). With an external clock, you can clock it even faster. In fact, you'll be able to use an Audulus patch from your iPhone, iPad, or computer, to clock the pedal in a way that allows you to turn it into an oscillator. So, for example, you could have Audulus listening to your guitar, analyzing its pitch, and then spit out a clock that is a suboctave oscillator of your guitar's pitch.
What's even cooler than that is that the ringmod feature works in *all* modes, and I think you'll agree that the ringmod in the Vibrato modes with emphasis on is one of the sweetest, most musical, least harsh ringmods you'll ever try.
This is all to say that I'm confident that once you get this pedal in your hands, you'll agree with me that it's the most comprehensive and versatile modulation pedal you'll have ever played. The long, repeated delays and pushbacks, your *INFINITE* patience (thank you!) will be greatly rewarded.
Like I said above, Todd will be finalizing the design any day, and once he does that, the PCB layout will go quickly. We're doing rush orders for everything because even though it costs a little more, we're just excited to get these finished and out the door to you now that it's so perfect.
As a reminder, if you have bought both Spectravibe and AD4096 mk2, you're entitled to a $50 off "better together" discount. If you got a discounted pedal for ordering it when it was first announced, and you didn't receive a total of $50 off (some people only got $25 off), let me know and I'll get you straightened out.
If you already bought a pedal and want to buy the other (Spectravibe or AD4096 mk2) you're also entitled to the better together discount. Message me for more details.
NOW on to AD4096 mk2:
Todd brought over a retrofitted mk1 that showed how he's got the tap tempo function on lock. Now, don't get excited - this isn't a mod like the 800ms upgrade - it takes too much kludging and cutting of traces, and does not fit in a mk1 box (which is why it's hanging out of the pedal in this video).
(You don't need an instagram account to view the video)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BU0SuqdAUJm/
However, the time knob and the tap tempo function work beautifully, just like they do in Spectravibe. What's really fun about the AD4096 mk2 especially though, is that you can tap a tempo in and then twist the pot, and the time will snap to wherever the pot is. The microcontroller that's inside the pedal looks at either the tap/clock input, or the pot, and will dynamically switch between them. This means you can get all kinds of weird, warpy delay sounds that just aren't possible on most analog delays. You can see this a little in the video above.
We're also toying with the idea of sticking an extra footswitch on the AD4096 mk2 so you don't have to choose between expand mode and tap tempo mode. You can actually do some pretty cool stuff if you stomp on both expand and tap tempo at the same time. It might be a little more crowded, since the box is going to be the same 6in x 6in enclosure that Spectravibe is in, but we think it will be worth it.
Now, I know you've been so patient waiting for this pedal - we truly regret starting with Spectravibe as the AD4096 mk2 could've been out MONTHS ago if we'd announced it first. That is to say, there is less work to do to get the mk2 into production than there was on Spectravibe.
But when, you may ask, are these pedals coming out?!?! I can only give you estimates, but it looks like Spectravibe, god willing, will be in assembly mode by the end of this month, and the delay will come about a month after.
If you're tired of waiting and want a refund, please just ask. And don't worry - even if *everyone* got a refund, we have a financial contingency plan to get the pedals to market. That said, if you do get a refund, it might be a long, LONG time until you can get one. Reverb is going to put some advertising behind the pedals once they come out proper, and we expect to be positively slammed with orders. If you pull out now, you might be waiting till August to get one.
Currently, I'm the only one who's doing soldering for EAR, but we're training up a new employee and also seeking out PCB fab houses. At Moogfest, I had a good convo with the people who do Moog's boards, and we'll see how that goes. But rest assured we are poised to grow and put products out much faster.
In related news: Once Spectravibe is out proper, we're going to announce a new pedal. It's a reissue of a famously (notoriously?) hard to get and expensive pedal, and Todd, in his style, is going to make it cooler, more useful, and less expensive than the vintage version. That pedal is already done - he prototyped it 5 years ago but just never had the money, time, or help to release it. All he needs to do is design the box and turn the schematic into a PCB.
Finally, I'm sorry it's been so long since our last update. I know many of you were getting worried that we'd ever deliver. I was getting despondent myself - it felt like every time I talked to Todd, the pedal was getting better, but some new problem would always crop up. It was like playing whack-a-mole - make this mode sound perfect, then the other mode was thrown off. Todd solved this problem finally by doing some analog wizardry that isolates the way each mode's circuit responds to the pots.
So yes, I admit, and Todd admits, this has taken way too long. However, if there hadn't been so many delays and setbacks, we wouldn't be delivering you the pedal we're going to - the best damn analog modulation pedal this world has ever seen.
Please feel free to write back with any follow up questions you may have, and THANK YOU once again for your faith and patience.
Sincerely,
Mark
(& Todd)
-
Chankgeez
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Re: EA Spectravibe
viewtopic.php?f=149&t=22138&p=1221661&h ... e#p1221661EndangeredAudioMark wrote: I got a notification that there was a new post here, but I don't see anything - maybe they deleted it? Anyway...
…...........................…psychic vampire. wrote:The important take away from this thread: Taoism and Ring Modulators go together?
Sweet dealin's: here
"Now, of course, Strega is not a Minimoog… and I am not Sun Ra" - dude from MAKENOISE
#GreenRinger
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EndangeredAudioMark
- interested
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Re: EA Spectravibe
@chankgeez - thanks!
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Chankgeez
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Re: EA Spectravibe
You're welcome. Spectravibe sounds good and people be speculating it's arrival. 
Interested in hearing more vids.
Interested in hearing more vids.
…...........................…psychic vampire. wrote:The important take away from this thread: Taoism and Ring Modulators go together?
Sweet dealin's: here
"Now, of course, Strega is not a Minimoog… and I am not Sun Ra" - dude from MAKENOISE
#GreenRinger
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comesect2.0
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Re: EA Spectravibe
...300 or under? ....and in an great wedge shape enclosure....yow! 
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EndangeredAudioMark
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Re: EA Spectravibe
@comesect2.0 - yeah! We got them made locally in Asheville, too
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actual
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EndangeredAudioMark
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Re: EA Spectravibe
@actualidiot - good beer, good grass, good views, good music - it's a perfect storm!
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actual
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Ugly Nora
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Re: EA Spectravibe
I don't know if I'm sold on this one yet, but I like my Gristliezer, my Ad4096 mk1, and I pre-ordered the Ad4096 mk2. Are you offering a package discount if I pre-order this and I already received a $50 discount on the Ad4096 mkii ( I was one of the first 10 to order)?
Nora
Nora
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EndangeredAudioMark
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Re: EA Spectravibe
@Ugly Nora - the $50 discount only applies to people who got less than $50 off - so if you'd gotten $30 off, and then ordered Spectravibe, you'd get an extra $20 off to match the $50 packaged deal.