taking your moogerfoogers out...

[smallsynth]

want to take care of my moogerfoogers because
they look and sound so nice. they are also
cumbersome and the power source is
annoying (no battery, reverse plug).

so instead of
taking my moogerfoogers out to shows, i'm thinking of
taking my moogerfoogers out of my live setup.

does anyone have cheap alternatives they recommend?

analog delay?
phaser?

there are quite a few cheap ones out there,
so a few suggests would be nice.
i would like them to be simple, and small.
analog for the delay. and for the
phaser, i use it mainly for very fast and
exaggerated sounds -- experimental land.

thanks,

geoffrey smallsynth

[Bitexion]

Get some "guitar" pedals. They're easy to carry around, runs on batteries, and sound great. Like the Electro-Harmonix stuff. They have many phasers and delays and whatnot. Their Smallstone phaser is probably the most well-known among synth heads since it makes the trademark swirl sound of Jean-Michel Jarre's early albums.

All analog electronics, no fake digital stuff.

[aXL]

The Boss RE-20, like most Boss pedals, is built like a steel brick. If you're looking to replace an analogue delay unit, it's probably one of the better options if durability is the main concern. The reverb, though a bit limited, isn't that bad either.

And yes, I know it's digital, but it's modelled after the original RE-201 tape echo. And IMO, Roland's COSM modelling isn't that bad.

[synth3tik]

When I was originally looking for an analog delay I wanted the Moogerfooger, but it was just way too much money. I ended up grabbing a Memory Lane pedal by the company Diamond for like $250-275ish. Great delay and modulation.

[smallsynth]

thanks for the suggestions so far...

i used to have a small stone (i sold it to some one here...), but it couldn't get crazy enough for me. i use the mooger on the more experimental parts, so i need to have a little more from the pedal. i need rate, depth, and what i refer to as the crazy, though this is often labeled as something else on the pedal.

as for delay, i guess you get what you pay for, huh? nothing between 50 and 100 that works and sounds good? am i better with digital at that price point? maybe i have something around i can use.

-geoffrey smallsynth

[nathanscribe]

MXR Carbon Copy (not used one but the demos look good)? The new Boss DD-7 has analogue emulation mode. Also consider PT2399-based pseudo-analogue delays like the Biyang AD-7. They sound good.

As for phasers, I hear good things about the EHX polyphase. If you can find an old Boss RPH-10 it has plenty of control and switchable stages (6,10 or 12), is analogue, and is cheap. But you'd have to find one. and it's not a pedal, it's a microrack.

[pricklyrobot]

Also consider PT2399-based pseudo-analogue delays like the Biyang AD-7. They sound good.

Here's another PT2399-based delay, if you're into DIY at all: http://www.buildyourownclone.com/pingpong.html, they also have an analog delay coming out shortly: http://www.buildyourownclone.com/analogdelay.html

I don't have any of their delays yet, but I've built other BYOC kits—including the phaser which sounds quite nice (although it's a Phase 90 clone, so probably better for classic sound than for crazy)—and found them to be very well put together, and easy for beginners.

If you decide you just want a cheap, digital delay, the Digitech Digidelay sounds decent enough to my ears, has several fun options (mod, reverse, etc.), and can easily be found used around $50.

[Stab Frenzy]

I'm gonna move this to Sound Production, where all the interesting threads live.

I've found that a lot of guitar pedals either can't handle a synth's line level signal, can't get a wet enough effect or don't have enough range for tweaking to get the sounds I like. When we gig we use a Russian Small Stone for phasing duties, but that's what we use in the studio anyway so it's not a compromise for gigging.

For delay we use a Behringer digital delay pedal for one synth and an Eventide Timefactor (formerly an RE-20) for the other. The Behringer sounds great for a straight digital delay, although if you tweak the delay time it cracks up rather than pitch-shifts, which could be a dealbreaker for some. The Timefactor is mindblowing but it's pretty expensive too, although still about half the price of the Moog (over here at least). It doesn't do a BBD delay though, but the tape is fantastic. It also has a Mod delay which is like a delay with phasing/chorus on the feedback loop, which could give you your delay and phaser in one. The sound quality is a step above the RE-20 which sounds muddy in comparison, although the RE-20 delay algorithm does sound good. The Eventide won't run off batteries but most good delays will either chew through batteries at a rate of knots or not even give you the option.

I'd be keen to hear what people who've used the Maxon 999 delay have to say about it, also the Ibanez AD-9 is one I've wanted to try out for a while. The Diamond Memory Lane looks great but the v.2 is more expensive and has apparently had the feedback tamed a bit for less spaceship noises, which is a negative in my book. I've played with a Deluxe Memory Man a few times and it seems like a decent analogue delay, I could get quite a few good sounds out of it but it's never blown my mind to the point where I just had to buy one. It's got the same thing with the no batteries and it's $300, but I reckon it could be the closest to the MF-104 for gigging purposes.

edit: Is this for your Yamaha organ? Ours outputs at guitar level so works great with guitar pedals and opens up a lot more options. I'd check out the Ibanez AD-9 if it's for that.

I've got a Biyang AD-7 and it's kind of cool, but the feedback path seems to be bandpass filtered so it doesn't sound much like an analogue delay. Also it doesn't freak out in a way I like when you crank up the feedback. It has its uses, but not as a direct replacement of a BBD delay IMO.

[stikygum]

I don't know, I just saw the band ohGr the other night and they had a LP and a Moogerfooger - sounded like it was the Ring mod one. And live, it sounded grrrrreat! The LP sounded pretty dang good. But it looked even sweeter. Man is that a gorgeous design.

[clusterchord]

get EHX Small Stone for phasing duties, and a small echo pedal like Ibanez or Maxon AD9/MXR CarbonCopy/EHX Echo etc..

of course, Polyphase and Memoryman are real nice, but it kinda defeats your original idea to scale down - as these are also valuable/expensive, need power socket, and are barely smaller than mooferfoogers themselves.

mind u , 4-stage small stone is not the same sound as 6/12-stage MF-103. i got both, and btwn the two, i think you are covered for almost any classic phasing sound you can think of.

[code green]

the dd-3 is under $100 and gives forth liquid, gorgeous delays...and plays well with synths. i have the mf analog delay in my studio but gig with the boss. love it.

[Carey M]

Maxon AD-999 and Maxon PH-350. Super simple, yet versatile (especially the Phasor), sound great.

- CM

[redchapterjubilee]

I'm gonna go to h**l for saying this...

Line 6 Echo Park. Built like a tank, has tons of options (analog & tape emulation, modulation, reverse, stereo, tap tempo, etc.) Pretty much everything the big green pedal has except for looping. and you can get these used for under $100 no problem. Eats batteries but I daisy chain it so no worries.

As for the phaser. I'd look at Boss's green phaser. If I recall right it shifts between 4 and 6 pole phasing. I always liked the Small Stone or Phase 90 but both of those are smooooove. If you aren't stomping on it maybe try an Alesis Faze? It can get crazy and does stereo asynchronous phasing.

[tallowwaters]

I'm gonna go to h**l for saying this...

Line 6 Echo Park. Built like a tank, has tons of options (analog & tape emulation, modulation, reverse, stereo, tap tempo, etc.) Pretty much everything the big green pedal has except for looping. and you can get these used for under $100 no problem. Eats batteries but I daisy chain it so no worries.

Behringer actually cloned the echo park in a 30 dollar pedal. Cant remember the name...

[novielo]

I'm gonna go to h**l for saying this...

Line 6 Echo Park. Built like a tank, has tons of options (analog & tape emulation, modulation, reverse, stereo, tap tempo, etc.) Pretty much everything the big green pedal has except for looping. and you can get these used for under $100 no problem. Eats batteries but I daisy chain it so no worries.

Behringer actually cloned the echo park in a 30 dollar pedal. Cant remember the name...

i think you're talking about the ECHO MACHINE EM600