Ugly Truth: Digitech Dirty Robot Synthesizer Emulation Pedal

It is undeniable that in the last few years, electronic music has grown from an odd niche to something that has permeated its way into nearly every genre of music. EDM artist are among the highest paid artist and it has never been easier to join the ranks of DJs and artist creating new and more progressive sounds. So it has been for guitarist. Recently there has been a surge in tools to make your guitar not sound like a guitar. We emulate organs, keyboard, and rainbow... We delay, loop and shimmer to make pads and swells. We've come a long way from 'Cranking It Up To 11'... Recently we got news from Digitech about a new pedal to give us yet another tool to make crazy noises with.

It's A Filter

Yes, another filter. BOSS just gave us a Vocorder and EHX released the Cocked Wah. Auto-wah pedals have been around a long time. Talk Boxes are nearly a relic of the past now. So now we have a vocal filter that seems a little late to the game. What makes this relevant now? Most notably, the controls are expressive and functional. Turn any of the 7 knobs and change to sound dramatically. Mix, Mod, Start, Stop, Sens, Time, and Drift (not to mention the toggle to change the voice) help you wrangle your desired sound out of this box. Yes, it is another filter, but one of the best I've seen shoved into a compact pedal. This pedal easily fits in with the Polara, and Obscrua. In that it is pretty and shiny, but compared to its sister pedals, this one seems to be the first one on the scene.

It's Late

This pedal seems to be in a series of pedal that Digitech have been developing. It seemed that they are rebooting some of their core effects (delay, reverb), but this pedal is something that would fit it with more edgy builders. The sounds are unique and controllable. The pedal seems we developed. This almost excuses the wide gap in time that it took for Digitech to come to market with this pedal. The Polara and Obscrua both seem like they had to keep up with other pedal manufactures putting out similar pedals, but the Dirty Robot is a offering that doesn't seem 'directly influenced' by another pedal. This is a good thing.

It's Familiar

Guess what!? I've heard this effect before. It was in a very unlikely place. An RP series pedal. The Robot Voice effect has been around for a while. While this effect seems to be refined and very usable, this pedal has history in the pedal series that occupy the bargain bin of nearly every music store. It might have been wrong timing, or maybe the fact that they stuck it a pedal that next to useless, but it's not Digitech first attempt to make some weird robot noises.

Conclusion

This pedal is a breath of freash air. I actually like it a lot, despite the fact that I think it would basically useless for me personally. It expected more form the Delay and Reverb in this series, but they have average features, decent sound quality, but nothing groundbreaking. This pedal however exceeds expectations. So it took three tries, but Digitech did it...

Ugly Truth About The Eletro Harmonix MEL-9 Mellotron Emulator

So Mike Matthews and company have been at it again. Offering us yet another pedal that we didn't even know that we wanted, EHX have served us a new polyphonic pedal that emulates... Mel... Gibson? Wait, that can't be right...

That's Right, It's a Mellotron Emulator... Whats a Mellotron?

Not only is this a pedal that we didn't know that we wanted, it is a pedal that emulates something that we don't know what is. The description provided by EHX never says "mellotron" outright. I'm guessing that it is trademarked by its makers. So, the suggest it. A mellotron, as I have recently learned was a type of keyboard that reproduced different voices by looping sample that have been recorded to tape or disks. So no one knows what a mellotron is, so why emulate it? Turns out that the sounds of this antiquated beast have been used by bands such as Genesis, Beatles and The Grateful Dead. Chances are, you've heard one of the those bands, or you may even like these bands. More importantly, bands around the country, and probably the world, are paid good money to cover these bands, so now guitarist are able to emulate the actually instrument played rather than play the riff while sounding like a guitar...

Another 9 Voices

If you have followed EHX's theme with these pedals, There are 9 voices in each box, this isn't surprising. It is a little frustrating. At this point, it's like buying a keyboard with 9 voices only for another keyboard to come out 6 months later with another 9 voices. The hardware in the pedals are staying the same. It's the software that gets the revamp. Why can't we shove a few more one and zeros in there to hook us up with a few more voices, or all the voices, or let us edit and create the voices... Come on Mike.

There Is A Pattern Here

It now seems like there is going to be a "9" pedal every 6 months or so for the rest of our lives. As long as we keep plopping down $200 for these things. Electro Harmonix is going to keep selling them to us. I'd love to see something like TC Electronics' Toneprint tech in EHX's polyphonic emulators. Let us edit and customize the 9 voices that we get to play with.

In Conclusion

I was impressed with the video that EHX released with this pedal. They have the promotion for these pedals really nailed. Show someone playing the pedal and make it sound great. If you make it recreate an iconic lick 'spot-on' then that's a bonus... There are several sounds in this pedal that sound great on the video. The Choir voices are pretty stellar. Also, I was impressed with the last little bit of the video where they strummed a acoustic guitar and made a guitar+fill sound. Making this a pedal that has a range of applications other than 'make you guitar sound like ________".

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