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Author Topic: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR  (Read 60011 times)

WhyKooper

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #15 on: February 13, 2005, 04:44:28 PM »

These aren't other-wordly, but I always wondered about the Stephens capstanless 32 track and the Quad8 digital reverb.  

I'd see them at every AES in the late 70's, but never in real life.  Don't know if they ever actually made it out for anyone to use.
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wwittman

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #16 on: February 13, 2005, 05:01:35 PM »

I also use the Castle phaser and the Dimension D.

I also like the MXR rackmount flanger and the Studio Technologies Stereo Simulator.

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William Wittman
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compasspnt

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #17 on: February 13, 2005, 05:10:34 PM »

WhyKooper wrote on Sun, 13 February 2005 16:44

These aren't other-wordly, but I always wondered about the Stephens capstanless 32 track and the Quad8 digital reverb.  

I'd see them at every AES in the late 70's, but never in real life.  Don't know if they ever actually made it out for anyone to use.


Leon Russell had one of the Stephens 32 or maybe 40 tracks; he brought it in to use on something in about '73-74.  Very strange machine.  32 (or 40) tracks analogue on 2" tape, I think...I guess it would have been half of the "audio power" of a 16 track!

Randy Ezratty had Stephens in the early '80's, but I don't know if he had a 32; I know he had a 24.

TM
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neve1073

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #18 on: February 13, 2005, 05:28:50 PM »

for some strange other-worldy gear you must check these people out:

http://www.crammed.be/craworld/crw27/e/index.htm
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compasspnt

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #19 on: February 13, 2005, 06:00:43 PM »

neve1073 wrote on Sun, 13 February 2005 17:28

for some strange other-worldy gear you must check these people out:

http://www.crammed.be/craworld/crw27/e/index.htm


Sorry, not "different" enough.  Everybody's recorded a group like this...
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wwittman

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #20 on: February 13, 2005, 10:58:12 PM »

Roy Thomas Baker had a 40 track Stephens in fllight cases that he used for years (including on the Cars records).
It actually sounded great... at least as good as most 24 tracks.
And 40 tracks on one reel of 2"!!!

John Stephens once said it was about the heads... he said he spent more on heads than any other manufacturers, (like 5 times as much) which made it possible.
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William Wittman
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oldgearguy

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #21 on: February 14, 2005, 08:51:53 AM »

Here's a few from my racks:

In addition to the Dimension D, tc electronics made the 1210 chorus/spatial enhancer.  A similar effect to the Dimension D plus more.

A nice delay that isn't mentioned much is the Bel BD-80.  Very musical sounding delay.  Kind of a poor-man's PCM-42.

Publison had a couple of interesting pieces (if you can keep them running).  The DHM 89 B2 delay/pitch shifter and the IM-90 reverb/effects unit.  The DHM could loop or reverse loop a sound and you can change the start/end points of the loop with dedicated knobs.

Senneheiser VSM-201 vocoder.  More than just Kraftwerk in a box, it's great for processing just about anything.

Gerd Schulte Compact Phasing 'A' - Tangerine Dream in a box phaser.


Tom M.
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j.hall

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #22 on: February 14, 2005, 10:15:22 AM »

i have a "symmetra peak" passive limiter.

not sure of it's vintage but i'm guessing somewhere between the 50's and 60's.....maybe earlier.

no power cord.

the thing weighs a ton.  barrier strip I/O.  huge trannies on the input and output, the signal goes into a "control box" inbetween each trannie.

i took it apart to see just what it was doing passively.  BLACK EPOXY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  whatever is in there is the coolest sounding circuit for kick and bass.

i haven't unpatched from kick drums in months.

whatever goes in comes out absolutely crushed (in a great way) and there is some EQ'ing going on.  i ran pink noise through it, with an RTA on the output.  it had a bump at 60Hz, another one at 250, and a third ar 2k

it just sounds insane.

i have a rack of four Sphere 3 band parametric EQ's (with space for 4 more if i can find them).  an API type sound but different.
i use them all the time.

two Boss RPH-10's.  half rack space phasers.  the operating level is low (-10), but these units are pretty cool.  sort of a trashy phaser.  they have a "buss out" on the rear, that you can hook together so each unit will phase together.  each buss jack has an invert switch next to it, so you can invert one unit and have them run exatly opposite each other as well.....

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Barry Hufker

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #23 on: February 14, 2005, 10:29:07 AM »

I think we should pay homage to true innovators -- the inventors of the direct box.  Click here to see what the first one looked like!  And yes, this does fall squarely into our topic.

Barry


http://www.larking.com/tlc_vintage.htm
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nuke rockne

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #24 on: February 14, 2005, 10:49:51 AM »

a Marshall Time Modulator is a rare find.   a lot of Bowie vocals were processed thru these in the early days.    wish they had a plug in of it!
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Phillip Graham

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #25 on: February 14, 2005, 10:58:14 AM »

compasspnt wrote on Sat, 12 February 2005 02:12

I thought it might be interesting to see what oddball pieces of gear people are using, or have used at one time...

I will start by mentioning a few I have, that can really come in handy at times:

•LOFT 450-An analogue, bucket brigade delay/modulation device that is very cool on electric guitars.  Made in probably the late 70's-early 80's.  I have two, and used one this week...

Best to all,

Terry


Hey Terry, just as a curiosity, the LOFT was designed by a fellow named John Roberts who went on to design a wide variety of products for Peavey.  John is quite active on the live sound forum side of Prosoundweb.
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Phillip Graham

Fig

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #26 on: February 14, 2005, 12:09:21 PM »

What a great topic!

Strangest?  In a word "SCAMP".

Terry, seems you're into modulation devices.  Excellent.  Here's some of the oddities around our place.

How about a Countryman Phase Shifter?  I think its Type 96, not the 968.  Its over a half rack width and more than a rack space high.  Corny, but cool.

Of course the Eventide Instant Phaser (have two!).  Use it all the time:  vox, gts, highhats (think Kashmir).  LFO based, envelope triggered, manual and remote control of the sweep.  Lush!

We also have the rackmount of the Moog 12-Stage Phaser (not the moogerfooger!).  Any phaser with a switch that says "motor start" is good in my book.

We also have the reverred Mutron Bi-Phase with Opti-Pedal.  The most flexible dual phaser.  Use it as two, use it in stereo, chain one into another.  Control of almost any parameter via the rocker pedal.  Devine.

A really old phaser from Systech (4000B?).  Can't remember the number off hand, foot pedal control of the sweep, plus remote on/off.

We also use the Eventide Instant Flanger (have two).

The most "otherworldy" piece of kit is the FREQue from DACs.  A stereo ringmodulator that has a special mode (FREQ Mode).  Quite unlike anything you have heard before, I'm certain.  Good for percussion and guitar solos.

I also use a bizzare EchoPlex called the Groupmaster (its in my Avatar).  A four-channel mixer with a tape loop to boot.  Intended as a PA head with delay?  I can't even imagine.  I like to use the sound-on-sound feature, but of course tape delay of any sort is pretty neat!  Noisy as hell but one of a kind sound.  The largest VU meter in the place.

An original Boss CE-1 and DM-1 - thanks Roland for getting this effect thing off the ground.  Also have a strange Leslie simulator called a Revo-30 from Roland - good luck finding one!

Let's see, the Yamaha E1010 analog delay, a couple Effectrons from Deltalabs and a 4 second version called Echotron.

Anybody remember UREI LA-5s?  I love a device that says Audio Leveler right on the front panel.  Agressive but sooooo important to have around.

What else?  Oh yeah - The LevelLock from Shure.  Seems everytime engineers come in and look at the dynamics rack (over 40 spaces!) they always call that one out - strange for certain.

We got plenty of synths to run your audio through if you're into that.  Oberheim SEMs (total of four), MiniMoog Model-D and even a pair (!) of Korg MS-50s.

Y'all make fun of the Cooper Time Cube, but there was a time when that was the best stereo piano sound available.  Primitive, sure, but pretty inventive.

I found this neat site you may not be aware of regarding effects devices some very rare and unworldly:

http://www.modezero.com/

and also this extensive, yet incomplete:

http://www.effectsdatabase.com/index.html

Enjoy!

Hey what about mics or speakers?  Anybody got somethin' wierd goin' on there??

Osci-later,

Thom "Fig" Fiegle
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Fibes

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #27 on: February 14, 2005, 12:41:09 PM »

Two whole pages and no mention of the Ursa Major Spacestation? Cool delay, not for everyone but always had a tone worth trying.

The MXR Mini Limiters, auto Flangers and auto phasers rock!

The Orban "stereoizer" (don't recall the name) was always interesting for things other than stereoizing.



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Phil

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #28 on: February 14, 2005, 03:28:15 PM »

Fibes wrote on Mon, 14 February 2005 09:41

The MXR Mini Limiters, auto Flangers and auto phasers rock!

The Orban "stereoizer" (don't recall the name) was always interesting for things other than stereoizing.

Dammit Fibes, I was just about to mention both of those! Smile
I have four of the Mini-Limiters in my rack, and two 245E Orban Stereo Synthesizers. I'll hook the Orbans up L/R, and the other one R/L. They make great panning devices, and they are all mono compatible. And yes, the MXRs do rock!

Phil
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Phil Nelson

zmix

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Re: STRANGE, OTHER-WORLDLY GEAR
« Reply #29 on: February 14, 2005, 05:17:15 PM »

Come on people... DDLs, Dimension Ds, these are not "Strange Other-worldly gear" this stuff is in every decent studio...

How about more obscure stuff?

Has anyone ever used the AMS 'Tape Phase Simulator' ? It is somewhat like the Eventide Instant Flanger, but shorter delay times.  Very popular in the late 1970s (Gary Numan's "Replicas", for example). I have encountered them in the UK and in France, but not in the US...
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