Ableton Forum

Seriously... I've watched a load of videos of people messing around with these things and i can see it must be fun.
But can these things be used for actually making music? (I mean i the conventional sense, if you get what i mean )

Analogue circuit awesomeness and cv fun

They're effects processors. Typically you need to drive them with a signal source such as a synth or other instrument.

Here is an example of an MF-105M processing white noise; here's an MF-102 processing the output of an NS stick (an instrument similar to an electric bass guitar).

If i wanted to get external hardware effects i would definitely go for the OTO Biscuit, but thats just me (and probably get some kind of spring reverb, maybe the vermona...)

I have the MF-101 low pass filter and it's amazing to fun play with. I also have a Lexicon MX400 which I find more useful than a single Moogerfooger as most MFs lack stereo ins and outs. But I'm really interested in Akai's new line of analog pedals. Even still, if I had the money, I would own at least 2 of each Moogerfooger and enough rackmounts and desktop racks for them.

scutheotaku wrote:

gromgrom wrote:If i wanted to get external hardware effects i would definitely go for the OTO Biscuit, but thats just me (and probably get some kind of spring reverb, maybe the vermona...)

Eh, I prefer the Moogfoogers.

Moogerfoogers and Biscuits are cool, but the comparison is a weird one. The Biscuit is an 8bit gater/bitcrusher (and now a synth/sequencer with the Der Oto update), there's no moogerfooger that has even vaguely comparable features. By the same token, the only thing in the biscuit worth comparing to the analog effects of a Moogerfooger is its filter, and I think it's reasonable to expect that the Moog filter is better, but it's also mono.

So if you compare two MF-101s to the stereo I/O Biscuit, you'll spend about the same ($500-600) the Moogerfoogers are almost certainly a better stereo LPF, the Biscuit does a ton of other stuff no Moog device will ever do, and I still can't really make sense of this matchup.

The Moogerfoogers are cool effects pedals, but they're not necessarily better or worse sounding than other brands in general. To be honest I think a big part of their appeal is their packaging - they're just plain cool to look at. Their CV features are what really sets them apart - it gives them a lot more flexibility and keeps them from being one trick ponies.

All that being said, I've got the first four set up between my controller and my monitors and have them hardwired to 4 channels of I/O and set up as External Effect presets in Live. Since I usually render my sequenced sounds pretty early in the mix process it's a great way to add some analog flavor to softsynths. They react well to real time control too, helps keep things real in the age of unlimited automation...

It's a bit sucky that signals passing through them are summed to mono, but in general it's no big deal, just add the panning/ping-pong delay/reverb effects later in the FX chain and it works fine. Half my hardware synths are mono anyway.

If I had unlimited money, space, and AD/DA channels I'd add a bank of the old large format E-H pedals too. Nice big controls, wacky sounds, and the cables-in-the-back form factor lets you set up a bunch side by side. Hmm...

I like to play guitar. I have a Moogerfooger delay. I can't play guitar without it.

I have a lot of boutique pedals, there are a lot of cool ones out there. None sound quite like the moogerfoogers. Also, 100% analog signal path. They sound great. It ain't the packaging.

So how would you use one of these with Live?

Gaetano CAPUANO wrote:So how would you use one of these with Live?

External Effect

is there no latency using it this way with live?

o0o wrote:is there no latency using it this way with live?

just use the "external audio effect" plugin and set the latency.

By the way... : http://shop.koma-elektronik.com/products.html

o0o wrote:is there no latency using it this way with live?

No more than is made necessary by the hardware. Just about any nontrivial signal processing has to have some latency.

There's a place in the External Effect module that lets you tell it what the hardware latency is.

Sweet post clips

I have 3 moogerfooger; the MF-104SD Super Delay (limited run, only 250 units made), Mf-105M Midi Murf and the MF-108 Cluster Flux. I've not worked on it for a few months, as I've been too busy, but I was using them as effect sends in a live dub techno project, along with a Moog slim phatty doing the bass lines.

Couple of samples here, mainly using the midi murf to create some nice crunchy analog movement and shimmer across the spectrum

http://soundcloud.com/flippo/live-ablet ... g-dub-tech

http://soundcloud.com/flippo/live-dub-improv-2


and here is just the Clusterflux and Super Delay together to create a dub siren type 'synth' for fun (self oscilating feedback)

http://soundcloud.com/flippo/moogerfooger-dub-siren-old

The thing I find about the moogerfoogers is that they have such an extreme range for all parameters, particularly if you're using them as a guitar pedal. It's easy to send them into orbit to the point where they just sound like not particularly musical noise (ableit really cool noise, hehe). The dub siren sample is a perfect example of that.

This gets tiring after a while, but once you learn to tame them, and become familiar with what settings will sound good with what source material, they are provide a very rewarding analog juice to your sounds.

I was thinking of picking up an MF-101, as there is a cheap second hand one going around nearby. Hard to justify when I have the same filter in my slim phatty, though, which has audio in also.