Sax effects....

[Roel]

I didn't really know where to put this...

Any of you ever worked with a saxplayer that used effects? I'm not talking about adding a little reverb, some chorus, some delay... I mean really play with effects kindof like a guitarplayer does it.

I have ordered a clipon, which will go to the symmetrix voice channel in my rack (own reliable phantompower, a little compression maybe and all sidechains/possibilities for effects routing I could which for). From there on I'm planning to take it to the filter of my modular (which is not yet finished yet...) which I can control completely using a midicontrol pedals (via midicv)... So that is a very flexible wahwah...

Any other effects? I can offcourse expand the modular...

Another thing I was thinking about is maybe give our singer control over some effects. He can play with delays and filters on his sampler etc... (He's pretty good at this. Makes complete songs that hardly need any remixing just using his sampler...)

So, any other ideas? Distortion will probably give major feedback problems since I need amplification. (Our guitarplayer is L O U D, and I don't want to blow my longs out...)

Any ideas welcome...

 

[BrettB]

hey Roel

I see you're also from Belgium and we have a great Belgian Sax player who uses lots of effect, Johan Vandendriessche!! He played on the last record of Marc Moulin, but he uses his effects more on his own band 'The Demagogue Reacts', who will have their second album out in a little while.

I think he often uses delay, Digitech Whammy, wahwah and phaser. He uses them tastefully, not just as a gimmick. He is also a great drummer, guitarist and Flute-player. At the moment, he's one of my teachers in the producing departement of the conservatory in Ghent.

I'll ask him a few questions about it if you want. I think he uses a preamp before his effects.

 

[Roel]

Yes please... Very cool. Can you ask about his (exact?) setup, and just in general what you have to consider if you want to use that live? It'll be interesting to you too since you're a saxplayer yourself, I guess...

I think the preamp is needed for the phantom power. Depending on what mic he uses offcourse. Mine needs it anyway...

I already played a gig with a wahwah. Our drummer reminded me, I'd forgotten about it. Was pretty cool...

 

[TimOBrien]

I've been experimenting with using a Johnson J-Station effects processor with my saxes. Cool sounds and cheap.

I just take the line out of the pre-amp and into the J-Station and then record S/PDIF into the computer. The J-Station is great because you can have the J-Edit software running on the computer to tweak settings in real time and then save the patches on the computer for use later.

 

[Roel]

The price is an issue, but since I already have most parts needed to finish that filter, it will be cheaper than buying a JStation. Another thing is that I don't really enjoy working with a pc. Besides, my main goal is to use these effects live, so the only way I can modulate the effects is using a pedal. But I found an easier and cheap way to interface a pedal with my modular-in-progress, so I don't have to use the midicv convertor, which will also allow me to use it even before I finish that midicv.

Nevertheless, what effects do you use on it?

The guy that sells the pcb's for my modular, also has a voltage controlled phaser module. So that's another option, a phaser controlled by wahwah.

 

[BrettB]

Sorry I waited so long to react Roel, I didn't have acces to the internet earlier.

I didn't have the chance to ask Vandendriessche about his setup, but I certainly won't forget it the next time I see him, promised.