Thinking about picking up a Micro synth...

[Concretebadger]

I've been looking for one of these things for lo-fi bleeps and interesting envelope/filtering noises in the vein of Boom Bom Satellites and 65dos for a while now, and just found a 90s reissue on the 'bay for £160 plus postage...which at first glance doesn't seem to bad considering how everything's overpriced on this side of the pond to begin with.

I've read that the newer XO chassis version isn't as good, but I'm interested to hear some specifics on that. The enclosure and power supply aren't an issue, since it'll be something I plug in and play with occasionally instead of the usual 'slap Velcro on it and stick it to the pedalboard'.

Thoughts?

[rps-10]

I've been thinking of picking up a microsynth and slightly pissed that I missed one on ebay the other night that went for £67, most seem to sell for £90 upwards.
Don't really know what to make of the old vs the new arguments, I'm taking it with a pinch of salt as this kind of debate happens for all items of gear.

The Dirty wurlitzer sound on this demo got me hooked.

[youtube][/youtube]

Tried the same settings on Guitar rig the other night but no where near the same sound.

[ekwatts]

The XO enclosure ones are fine. The Bass MS is better than the regular MS for everything, not just bass, no idea why that is, but it is.

Not so good for bleeps, but it's basically just a filter section so you can get quite a range of sounds. Watch some youtube vids.

[Brandon W]

The hog 2 just came out also and that thing looks amazing for synth sounds.

[rps-10]

Hog 2 looks fun (EHX Effectology released their demo of it yesterday) but will cost a million £s. Does anyone know why the Bass version is considered the better pedal over a standard microsynth?

Frequency range, response or something?

[GreenKnee]

Hog 2 looks fun (EHX Effectology released their demo of it yesterday) but will cost a million £s. Does anyone know why the Bass version is considered the better pedal over a standard microsynth?

Frequency range, response or something?

Could you direct me to the effectology review? Had a quick look but can't find it

[rps-10]

[youtube][/youtube]

[avj]

The only thing you may find annoying about the Micro Synth -- old or new -- with a stringed instrument is the unnatural, abrupt decay. It almost has the feeling of a noise gate with its threshold set too low. There's an internal preamp gain adjustment pot, but as the name suggests, it only adjusts how hard your input signal hits. A compressor really helps with this whole issue, but as ekwatts can confirm, it may annoy you if you don't care for the effect.

As for the vintage vs. reissue big box vs. XO discussion: the vintage units fetch stupid prices and have an internal transformer that will not be much fun to replace when its dies; the reissues have a gash bypass, run at 24V and require the 24V adapter, and are also unfairly creeping up in price. I have an XO unit and wouldn't have gone any other way. It's 9V, true bypass (important to some, I don't care), and smaller. One advantage to the vintage and big-box reissue is a mysterious "squelch" pot that I've yet to look for on the XO. Apparently this can be adjusted to fix the decay problem, but it's incredibly difficult to find anyone to talk about these things with any sort of depth.

According to the schematic for the guitar vs. bass version, the only difference is a resistor and three capacitors to improve tracking in the lower range. Anecdotal evidence seems to point to the bass version being more useful for that reason alone, but who knows.

After extensive testing, I find the Micro Synth completely useless in a band context unless you're going to be the only one playing a stringed instrument or you want to disappear completely in the mix. I keep it around now and use it for non-guitar things like drum machines and making shitty toy keyboards sound awesome.

A couple of non-stringed-instrument examples:

[youtube][/youtube]

[youtube][/youtube]

[dezb1]

Boom Bom Satellites.

Out loud... is one of the best albums of the 90s.

[Thomas]

I wanted one of these for ages, got the old big box version but all in all I found the Micro Synth fun for messing about with and OK to record with but totally useless for live stuff. More of a toy than a really useful pedal.

[S. Thompson]

I have a broken one I'm trying to get rid of for teh cheap (~$60). I emailed the guy at Shotgunn mods and he said he would estimate 100$ to fix it. $160 for a modified 90's era micro synth is still fairly cheap.

It's a 90's big box one that has been modded to be a bass micro synth and have a two-color LED so you actually know when the effect is engaged (changes to green). The issue it's having could be as simple as just a broken trace or something, but working with the circuit isn't something I feel comfortable with.

- Steve

[Dingus]

Hey S. Thompson, if he's not interested, I'll buy it off ya for $60.

[Concretebadger]

Hey S. Thompson, if he's not interested, I'll buy it off ya for $60.

Don't hold back on my account - go for it. I've had guitar gear shipped from the US before, but by the time Arselfarce had done their delivery delays and ransom fees with Customs I wished I hadn't bothered. It's more trouble than it's worth unless the item's super-rare and impossible to obtain from elsewhere.

[S. Thompson]

Hey S. Thompson, if he's not interested, I'll buy it off ya for $60.

Don't hold back on my account - go for it. I've had guitar gear shipped from the US before, but by the time Arselfarce had done their delivery delays and ransom fees with Customs I wished I hadn't bothered. It's more trouble than it's worth unless the item's super-rare and impossible to obtain from elsewhere.

It's all yours then, Dingus. Please oh please just let me know what the issue with it is once you get it repaired. I've been beating my head against the wall for a while now...

- Steve