I need some sort of cheap compressor/sustainer.

[ekwatts]

To stick before the Microsynth and POG. Problem with the Microsynth is that the notes crap out after a few seconds, so while you can wring some pretty crazy shit out of it you can't really sustain the note very much. With a compressor it seems a little easier, but I'm not really interested in using it as a "proper" compressor at all, nor if it colours the original guitar sound as it isn't going to make much difference. Many smaller, cheap compressors don't have a sustain knob at all though so I'm wondering what to look for. Failing that I might just get a new Ebow.

[Fran]

I cant see how that will work. Does the EHX have a gate? Are the notes cutting out due to that? Surely the Sustainer would have to go after the EHX.

[Johno]

Behringer CS100 is cheap & has sustain knob

[johnnyseven]

How about the EHX Steel & Leather, can be had for less than £50. I have an MXR Dynacomp that I don't use but it's not really mine so I can't really sell it to you.

[lorez]

mike did a video on one of the behringer compressors, I think it was the dynacomp copy. They can be found for less that £20. I think they also do a boss compressor/sustainer clone as well for less than £20

[George]

Guyatone ST2 is what I use. Not as colouring as a DynaComp and has a switch that mixes 50/50 wet/dry signal. Pretty cool.

[lorez]

this one

[youtube][/youtube]

[youtube][/youtube]

[Mike]

Problem with the Microsynth is that the notes crap out after a few seconds, so while you can wring some pretty crazy shit out of it you can't really sustain the note very much

Weird. Have you tried guitars with higher output pickups/more natural sustain. Is it a Jaguar only issue?

[S. Thompson]

Problem with the Microsynth is that the notes crap out after a few seconds, so while you can wring some pretty crazy shit out of it you can't really sustain the note very much

I believe one of the trimpots inside the pedal will alter this... though it still won't sustain super long. The other trimpot (I believe) controls the output level - I basically adjusted this so the guitar signal would sound the same volume when the effect was on and off.

I thought it was funny you said you didn't want a compressor/sustain that would color your tone when the micro-synth pretty much rapes it anyway.

Having a compressor will definitely help with the finnicky trigger control on the micro-synth though!

- Steve

[S. Thompson]

Oops, misread your first post about NOT caring if it colors your tone.

My bad.

- Steve

[timhulio]

You could go for one of these. Apparently it REAMS your tone.

[Doog]

To stick before the Microsynth and POG. Problem with the Microsynth is that the notes crap out after a few seconds, so while you can wring some pretty crazy shit out of it you can't really sustain the note very much

Out of interest, does it sustain longer with neck pickup with the tone rolled down?

Have you tried using an overdrive pedal with a low gain setting before the Microsynth? If you've got such a pedal kicking about, it may perform the right level of compression to prove useful.

[James]

Compressors don't sustain anything. They create the illusion of sustain by making the louder parts quieter so you can turn your overall level up without increase the total output making the quieter parts relatively louder. Quieter notes are made closer in volume to louder ones and the ADSR envelope of the sound is less extreme. It lowers the output volume at the AD part making the SR part seem louder than it was.

Here's a basic ADSR envelope which is what happens with the vast majority of sounds (volume is vertical, time horizontal).



All I'm trying to say here is a 'sustain knob' is a feature generated for guitarists to try and make compressors easier to understand when really all it's doing is increasing the amount of compression (possibly increase a few factors like the threshold and ratio), but ultimately a knob labelled 'compression' will do the same job.

[Doog]

Do make sure your compressor pedal has dials for 'Tastendruck' and 'Taste Losgelassen' though.

[timhulio]

Ein tasse Tee bitte.

[othomas2]

Boss CS3 works brilliantly with my Micro Pog.

He's one of my little demo tings.

[youtube][/youtube]

Compare from 2.15 without compressor & then 3.00 onwards with... should give you an idea.

O

[avj]

I agree with a lot of what S. Thompson said. As a fellow Micro Synth owner of many years, I can tell you for certain that there's little you can do about the gating effect. There's a trimpot inside labeled TRIM1 that you can adjust for preamp gain, but that does little to mitigate the problem. In my experience, a compressor in the chain before helps by giving the input a more consistent level and makes the envelope trigger a bit more predictable, but it doesn't do much to help hold out the notes; placing it after doesn't help this problem either.

I have an EBow that I use with the Micro Synth for recording once in a while, but I have found myself using the MS less often since acquiring a proper Moog synth. I think we briefly discussed this in another thread somewhere, but I'm also planning on getting a more board-friendly compressor than the EHX Black Finger -- like the MXR Dyna Comp or EHX Soul Preacher -- to smooth out the attack a bit as I mentioned above.

So yeah -- it kind of sucks, but it's just how these units are. The original big-box versions also had this awesome "feature", so it's not unique to the XO guys.