Okay, this has been touched on before but I thought I'd make a dedicated thread.
I've been playing on POD farm and I'm quite enjoying trem. I've heard the Line 6 M5 or M9 is the best you can get because it's completely programmable. And, what with Trem just being volume down and up again in various patterns and speeds...
Why would analogue ones still exist? Do they sound different? Do they do more than just make the volume go up and down in time?
Apologies if this is a daft question
I quite like the idea of doing the Line 6 model of the Zvex trem that lets you set several bands of volume up...
Comments
I am a big fan of analogue trems, the optical trems like the tremulus lune are just freaking amazing... I'd love to make a tremulus lune that's effectively a buffer till the depth knob (a 35mm knob like the fulltone supatrem) is turned then wub wub wub.
The tremulus has symmetry, spacing and smoothness and frankly those could be switches, I reckon the gain option could work on a dual rail pot with the depth, increasing the gain a little as the depth increases creating a perceived volume loss... although the tem that goes from unity to gain sounds good too..
Non-optical trems like the EA and Tuna melt have a greater variety of rates but I don't think they sound as good.
I think Midi for the tricksy stuff like beat synching, tap tempo, midi clock synched, sequenced stepped etc and for real mans tremolo optical all the say.
The most simple answer is that it does not involve having to have your signal converted to digital and then back to analogue. It's the same reason that so many modern digital delays go to great lengths to claim unaffected analogue through on the original signal.
Honourable mention for the Adrenalynn and the Boss SL20 Slicer
If a midi or tap tempo was fitted up via an LED/LDR optocoupler it might sound great but all it might be the magic of the wave form skewing, shaping, spacing etc that the analogue pedals have might buggar up the timing (albeit in a constant fashion).
It might even be that that the excentricity of the waveform means wub wub sound could weaken when sync'd.
Ultimately an M5 makes the right noises for gigs.. but I like a trem with beefy depth and speed knobs ... or a "brake button"
I'll have to go out and try some. I have a really simple chord progression and a catchy octave riff (in case you hadn't heard enough!) and having some kind of trem on that octave could really set it apart and make it a bit more bonkers, either wub wub or stepped a la muse.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
I quite fancy a special effect distortion too, I'm on the lookout for an Ibanez lo fi for that. But christ knows, they will be used once in a blue moon...
Screw boss, soundblox is way more nuts.
I need it to have that 'never mushy' digital sound though. Pete thorn made me want one...
I have got a Goatkeeper on the way, and i'll be very keen to see and hear how this stacks up.
I'm so glad ehx exist. Totally bonkers.