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Mats Orbation « A swiss army knife updated from Boss earlier half rack Multi-FX »
Published on 10/18/16 at 04:25
Value For Money :
Excellent
Audience:
Anyone
For which specific applications or uses have you chosen this product?
Mainly bass guitar really, second electric guitar, and studio mainstay effects processor.
In what context do you currently use this product?
Studio resident, "all-in-one" effects processor. Time dependent, tempo follower when slicer effects are used.
Have you tested other comparable or competing products before purchasing this one?
Yes, their own SE-50 and SE-70 products. As well as SONY ones.
What are the pros and cons of this product?
The pros are that the COSM technology nails the high-gain and modern metal sounds of today, pretty much. It has a little more variation and editing details of the distorted sounds from the era. Not so much to nail vintage sounding amps as modern ones.
Another pro is that it is geared slightly more towards the DJ' and sampling artists of the day, thanks to it's possibilities to SYNC everything to MIDI and tempo. You can sync delay, phaser speeds, and reverb time to tempo (whatever that means, but early reflections and pre delays can benefit from exact tempo matching). And finally, as both the SE-50 and SE-70 had shortcomings for using an electric bass guitar, they've finally nailed it on this one. The patches and effects that are geard towards bassists only are immense here, and I've seen no one before this, or at that time, even focusing on these things. There's Ampeg cab sims, and "fretless" simulators and whatnot. An attempt has been made to concentrate on the ambient side of things in terms of room ambience or cab ambience, even with certain MIC idiosyncrasies in phase shifts, eq anomalies, and whatnot. Good attempt at that one. Mind you that the same COSM technology are used in todays multiFX from Boss.
The reverbs and other effects are in the middle ground on this one. While it works excellent on guitars and basses, I find this unit to be a little too "dull" when using it with keyboards, like - say - Fender Rhodes, which has a pristine or delicate sound and timbre. It IS mostly geared towards guitarists, bassist, and DJ producer this time around.
It has a digital SPDIF out, which can free up space for an analog input on your soundcard/mixer. Some people have discovered its traits as a AD converter, for which it is almost worth the price alone! It's that good, especially for the price you get for it today.
Slightly better display and menu editing than SE-50, SE-70, but you still have to deep-dive and cycle through menus. One minor snag is that the input and ouput gain can be confusing. Which means that you should always connect the (a) guitar at the front input (which has 1 mOhm) and not at the back panel inputs. The back panels should only be used for keyboard, or mixer send/returns. If you connect the guitar to the back panel input, all presets and distortions sounds quite dull, and lack of high end treble on all patches. Use the front input at all times! You must check out, though, that you have the latest firmware, which can be upgraded, one of the first units available to do this. It's about the slicer and tempo markings which were off, in certain patches and settings. Everything is now fixed.
Haven't needed to change internal battery as of yet, even after 15 years. But I opened it up anyway, to see if it was an easy one. It is. It's a no brainer.
Mainly bass guitar really, second electric guitar, and studio mainstay effects processor.
In what context do you currently use this product?
Studio resident, "all-in-one" effects processor. Time dependent, tempo follower when slicer effects are used.
Have you tested other comparable or competing products before purchasing this one?
Yes, their own SE-50 and SE-70 products. As well as SONY ones.
What are the pros and cons of this product?
The pros are that the COSM technology nails the high-gain and modern metal sounds of today, pretty much. It has a little more variation and editing details of the distorted sounds from the era. Not so much to nail vintage sounding amps as modern ones.
Another pro is that it is geared slightly more towards the DJ' and sampling artists of the day, thanks to it's possibilities to SYNC everything to MIDI and tempo. You can sync delay, phaser speeds, and reverb time to tempo (whatever that means, but early reflections and pre delays can benefit from exact tempo matching). And finally, as both the SE-50 and SE-70 had shortcomings for using an electric bass guitar, they've finally nailed it on this one. The patches and effects that are geard towards bassists only are immense here, and I've seen no one before this, or at that time, even focusing on these things. There's Ampeg cab sims, and "fretless" simulators and whatnot. An attempt has been made to concentrate on the ambient side of things in terms of room ambience or cab ambience, even with certain MIC idiosyncrasies in phase shifts, eq anomalies, and whatnot. Good attempt at that one. Mind you that the same COSM technology are used in todays multiFX from Boss.
The reverbs and other effects are in the middle ground on this one. While it works excellent on guitars and basses, I find this unit to be a little too "dull" when using it with keyboards, like - say - Fender Rhodes, which has a pristine or delicate sound and timbre. It IS mostly geared towards guitarists, bassist, and DJ producer this time around.
It has a digital SPDIF out, which can free up space for an analog input on your soundcard/mixer. Some people have discovered its traits as a AD converter, for which it is almost worth the price alone! It's that good, especially for the price you get for it today.
Slightly better display and menu editing than SE-50, SE-70, but you still have to deep-dive and cycle through menus. One minor snag is that the input and ouput gain can be confusing. Which means that you should always connect the (a) guitar at the front input (which has 1 mOhm) and not at the back panel inputs. The back panels should only be used for keyboard, or mixer send/returns. If you connect the guitar to the back panel input, all presets and distortions sounds quite dull, and lack of high end treble on all patches. Use the front input at all times! You must check out, though, that you have the latest firmware, which can be upgraded, one of the first units available to do this. It's about the slicer and tempo markings which were off, in certain patches and settings. Everything is now fixed.
Haven't needed to change internal battery as of yet, even after 15 years. But I opened it up anyway, to see if it was an easy one. It is. It's a no brainer.