Metasonix?

[sucram]

I'm looking around at options for screwing up my sounds and stumbled upon the Metasonix TM 1 (waveshaper/ring modulator) and TM 2 (double notch filter), which look really interesting. The Hellfire looks even cooler, but way out of my budget.

Has anyone ever used Metasonix products?

Any other suggestions for adding new colors to old synths? I'm also considering the Roger Linn Adrenalinn (sequenced filter w/ amp models+effects), and guitar modelers (POD 2, J-Station, VAMP2). If you know any STEREO boxes like these, what are they? All my synth stuff is run in stereo, so I'd be losing a channel with any of these things (though the Akai MFC 42 has one stereo filter and one mono).

As an aside, I'm really really interested in the Sherman Filterbank2, which would make the TM 2 look less interesting since it's only a notch filter.

If you've ever used any of these things on synths or percussion, what are your thoughts? Praise or criticism of anything would help. Things like the Filterbank and the Metasonix products would be difficult or impossible to test first, so I want to know what to expect.

Background info: for synth use and percussion. I don't know what any amps sound like, so I'm not concerned with how accurate models are. I want a box that can give me DIVERSE sounds, with a low noise floor. I already have a tube preamp (ADA MP1) which I've thrown into the signal path, and like the analog-ness of it more than i expected to, and want more!

Thanks in advance for any comments!

-marcus

 

[Logician]

I'm also very interested in the Adrenalinn module and the Sherman Filterbank 2, though have never actually used them myself. If I had the extra cash, I would confidently buy either or both of them without ever testing them first. I know that *I* would be able to use them a lot with the stuff that I make.
I own a Metasonix Agonizer. It is the loudest, noisiest thing I have ever encountered. It will completely obliterate anything you run through it (if you want). Distortion almost doesn't seem like an accurate enough term. Transmogrify seems much more appropriate. It sounds incredibly beautiful... in a car accident kind of way... if you're into that kind of thing. It's big and heavy. Built like a tank... with glass tubes on the inside. When you have it on for a few minutes- it gets very hot. Not just warm. Hot. When the dials are turned "properly"- the waveform displayed in my sequencer is just a consistently solid block. It could very easily kill your speakers. Yeah- *kill* your speakers. Seriously. Use a compressor/limiter/turn the volume down or off before you plug this monster in... do anything it will take to make sure you have control over the volume/gain, and then experiment. You've been warned.
Is it worth the price tag? If you're into really insane sorts of distortion, offensive cartoons, an insulting owner's manual, pieces of equipment you could simultaneously bludgeon someone to death with and burn your own hand while doing so, then- yes: it is completely worth the price tag. It's what makes me want to own the entire line of modules. No joke.