EXTENSION CHORDS

EXTENSION CHORDS

SONIC SPICE

Allen Hester

OK, Mousketeers, the party's over. Put away your Fanner 50 cap guns and listen up. Uncle Matty Mattel has got a new gizmo fresh from his hidden laboratory, and this one ain't no toy. It's called the Synsonics Drum, and it's a computer-controlled machine that produces realistic drum sounds and stores them in memory banks, then plays them back exactly as you recorded them.

Big deal, sez you. So it's another drum machine. Lots of people make those. True. But they don't have actual drum pads—four of them, neatly arranged like an electric stove—that are touch sensitive, and they aren't all programmable, and none of the programmable units on the market nowadays are anywhere near as inexpensive as this thing. It only costs 150 bucks!

The Synsonics machine is great for the aspiring drummer, who can carry the unit anywhere (it is battery or AC-powered) and practice at home without making any noise whatsoever (which should come as great news to the Mothers of America). The professional can also use the headphone jack and while away his time on the Lear jet, sipping Dom Perignon and tapping out the drum track to the band's next double platinum single. And last but not least, the home recording buff can use the Synsonics in conjunction with the Fostex Multitracker or the Teac Portastudio, or some other setup, and record drum tracks for practice or composition.

The big advantage that this unit has over other more sophisticated, more expansive units, which have more memory capability, tone controls, and so forth, is the fact that the Synsonics unit is a very human piece of equipment, as far as electronic drum synthesizers go. Why? Because you have to put your hands on it, or hit it with a pair of drumsticks to get the sounds. You don't just push a button, you p/ay the thing. See, Uncle Matty Mattel didn't forget how much fun we had with those cap pistols; you know, loading them, triggering them, storing them in our holsters for further use...so he made this drum synthesizers with plenty of buttons and knobs to play with, as well as four pads to beat on.

The bass drum sound is programmed into the machine, and functions like a metronome, the heartbeat of the Synsonic. The other four pads produce snare, tunable tom, cymbal and floor tom sounds. The tunable tom sounds a lot like the electronic drums such as the Syndrums, in that it has a variable wah filter sound. The cymbal can be played as a ride cymbal or, by pressing the Accent button, as a hi-hat cymbal. Each of the four pads has a bank of three buttons, for different sound patterns, and the three cymbal buttons double as memory activators. When one of the memory banks is activated, the unit will record a 16-bar phrase, and then begin to repeat that phrase, allowing the player to add other beats to the phrase as it repeats itself. When all three banks are loaded, the user can play them back and alternate them by pushing the appropriate buttons.

The Mattel Synsonics drum unit is not to be compared to something like the Oberheim DMX or the Lihn Drum Computer—those are far more sophisticated and expensive units that are in another class altogether. The Mattel Synsonics is a breakthrough on the low end of the electronic drum market because it costs so little, it is programmable, and it is a very human-oriented piece of equipment that can be used for education of young drummers.

The Modifiers: Effects Units In The '80s.

A few years ago, effects were looked upon as a hodge-podge of cheap gimmicks, usually unreliable, and most certainly beneath the consideration of the "serious" musician. The odd looking and even more oddly named (remember the Big Muff? The Electric Mistress? Bass Balls?) conglomeration of pedals that were around a decade or so ago have grown and matured into an arsenal of sound modifiers and signal processors. In these recession years, when money is tight and high-ticket items like new guitars and keyboards are selling slower than usual, effects sales continue to climb. Musicians now accept these units as part and parcel of their electronic medium, and while it

may cost a bundle to buy a new instrument, it costs as little as 50 or 60 bucks to enhance the sound of a guitar or keyboard with a new effect.

Many of the long-standing problems with effects pedals—such as short battery life, no AC option, cheap casings, noisy mechanical switches, faulty potentiometers, and lack of any kind of status indicator lamp—have been addressed by the companies now manufacturing professional quality gear. Companies like MXR, DOD, and, most recently, Pearl, have introduced products onto the market that merit the consideration of even the most demanding musicians.

MXR is a pioneer in the field of top quality effects units. Their Phase 45 phase was one of, if not the, first effect pedal that was housed in a case rugged enough to withstand the rigors of the touring pros. They introduced a whole line of effects units—phasers, distortion, flanger, compressor/limiter, stereo chorus, analog delay, envelope filter, graphic equalizer, and noise gate—that set a new standard for performance and reliability in the effects market.

MXR has countered the arrival of new competition by upgrading their already top-notch equipment. The latest improvements are called the Reference Series. Chief among these new units are the Distortion II, the Limiter, Micro Chorus, Micro Flanger, and Micro Amp, as well as a handful of useful accessories: a power converter, a back plate adapter, a remote footswitch and a loop selector. These improved units, combined with the prior existing phasers (of which there are three models), flangers, stereo chorus, analog delay, graphic equalizers, noise gate and envelope filter, make for an impressive and complete line of useful, reliable effects units.

All of the Reference Series knobs are mounted on top of shock absorbing washers which protect the sensitive resistance element of the potentiometer—you can stand on them, but I wouldn't recommend it!—and the input/output jacks are mounted with lock washers which secure them so that there can never be an electrical break with the chassis. All of the battery-powered products have protective circuit to keep the electronics from being damaged if the battery is accidentally hooked up backwards (not an unlikely event in the dark nightclub at one in the morning). Best of all, MXR effects are engineered so that the settings are musically useful no matter where you turn the knobs, making the effects virtually failsafe in live performance.

When MXR has been busy both upgrading their effects and developing a new lower-priced line, DOD Electronics has been busy simply improving their FX Series with the introduction of the Performer Series: Compressor Limiter 525, Wah Filter 545, Distortion 555, Chorus 565, Flanger 575, Analog Delay 585, and Phasor 595. (Those numbers aren't prices, by the way, they are just model numbers!).

DOD is definitely abreast of the latest developments in the effects industry; each Performer Series unit has a die cast metal case, an AC adapter included in each unit (these usually cost extra on other brands), high intensity LED status indicators, noiseless active switching, plug-in circuit cards (meaning that the unit is easily servicable), and a three-year limited warranty.

As musicians develop the application of these effects units, the demand for more exact control over the sound of each of each effect continues to grow. In response to that trend, DOD has taken care to design the Performer Series with a trio of control knobs on each effect. For example, the Distortion unit has, in addition to a Gain and an Output control, a Tone control which adjust the amount of treble or bass boost. Likewise the Phasor has a 'Tone control in addition of Regeneration and Speed controls.

The DOD Stereo Chorus is a time delay effect that mixes a delayed voicing of the signal with the original signal. The delayed Voicing varies slightly in pitch to create the chorus effect. A stereo output allows the use of two amplifiers for a full stereo effect. The Delay Time control varies the amount of chorus depth, the Width control adjusts the amount of chorus deviation, and the Speed control varies the rate of the chorus.

The DOD Compressor/Limiter makes all signals which pass through it have the same average output level, regardless of the original input level. In other words, it compresses a wide frequency range into a much smaller one, thereby giving an instrument more sustain by increasing the gain as the note begins to decay. This makes for a smoother, more even sound, with less empty space between notes.

The Delay 585 is used to simulate echo and reverberation by completely electronic means, which, when combined with the active electronic switching, means that the unit is noiseless, and has no moving parts. So it's pretty hard to break, right? The delay is continuously variable from 60ms to 300ms (milliseconds). In addition to a Repeat and a Delay Time control, the unit has a Mix control that balances the output between the dry and the delayed signals. The 585 can be used to create a variety of echo effects, reverb and controlled feedback.

An outstanding feature of the Wah Filter is that is has a peak frequency which is determined by the level of the input; in other words, the harder you strike the guitar string or the piano key, the more dramatic the effect becomes. So it is a touch-controlled wah, one that is especially useful on bass, guitar, as well as on other instruments.

The latest entry in the effects sweepstakes comes from a company that is best known not for its electronic devices, but for its drums. The Pearl Musical Instrument Company entered the race just this year, and although they are newcomers, they have the benefit of being able to analyze what all the other effects manufacturers are offering before they introduce their product The result is an extremely well-designed complement of effects. The Sound Choice series consists of the CE-22 Chorus Ensemble, the AD-33 Analog Delay, and the PH-44 Phaser. These are called sound choice because they each have dual settings that are footswitch selectable.

For example, the Chorus Ensemble has Program I, which produces a chorus effect with a variable rate, and Program II, which has chorus with independent rate control, chorus plus vibrato, delayed vibrato and delayed ensemble sound capability. The unit has stereo outputs, LED status and peak indicators, and optional 18-volt AC adaptor. Likewise the delay unit has two independent delay settings. The PH-44 Phaser has a separate setting for a slow and a fast phasing speed, and when the unit is switched between the two, the sound speeds up or slows down gradually, like an old Leslie cabinet, thus making for a much more realistic organ-like effect.

All three of these "Sound Choice" effects were designed with the keyboard player foremost in mind, because in addition to the footswitched on each unit, all of these units have an optional remote footswitch. This enables the keyboard player to locate these units on top of a keyboard setup, rather than in the floor. By doing this, the user can quickly chance the settings between songs. But more importantly, the user can switch between the two settings during performance, without ever having to remove his/her hands from the keyboars.

For the stringed instrument players and others, there is the "Sound Spice" series from Pearl, a complement of five units— Overdrive, Compressor, Flanger, Phaser and Chorus—that have the distinguishing feature of not three, but four variable controls each. For example, the Chorus unit has in addition to Mix Balance, Depth and Speed, a Tone control which effects the chorused signal. Also, when both outputs are used, the apparent sound image may be moved in space. In this case, the Mix Balance controls the spread of the sound image, and the Speed control determines the speed of the moving sound, while the overall sound characteristics still depend on the Mix Balance control setting.

From looking at all of these effects, it is not easy to pick one brand that is a clear winner oyer all the others; each of these brands mentioned has some unique features. What is apparent in the fact that the effects market in general has come from the age of gimmickry to an age of sophisticated electronic design and thoughtful packaging. As music grows, so do the products that musicians come to rely on.