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Cabala and SE-50

6/1/1999 12:11 PM
aron	Cabala and SE-50 GFR, I'd like to go into some detail about how you use your SE-50 since I have one as well Aron

6/2/1999 5:51 AM
gfr	I like it (SE-50) overall but there are some things real bad about it. - While the distortion works alright for a high gain sound it is absolutely AWFUL for an slightly overdrive tone. I have to use a TS clone for this. - You can't use the harmonizer together with any other effect - not even distortion - You can't use the vocoder together with any other effect - not even distortion And what's worse, you can't "turn off" the mic input when you switch programs. I've tried to use it as my main FX (distortion, chorus, reverbs) onstage (with an ART midi pedal board) but I gave it up. Using channel switching amp or some fuzz boxes with it in the loop just to give some compression and reverb works better for me. For home recording, however, I really like it. The rythm guitar in Cabala was recorded with the SE-50 as a direct box, with some compression. I like going direct for the funk type rythms. The main theme was recorded with the Fat Screamer into a Fender Twin clone with a 4x12", played loud. I put a SM57 very close to the speakers. The SM57 plugs into the SE-50 (with a Little Imp adapter). I use the SE-50 as a "mic preamp" so that I can plug into the line input of the soundcard and not into the mic input. The SE-50 is not that good as a mic preamp but it surely is better than the mic preamp of a Soundblaster! I also added some compression and reverb. When using it like this it's worth to check the recording/vocal/keyboards programs, since they usually have a more hi-fi performance than the guitar programs. I also like to use a Dynacomp clone as a mic preamp (it adds some nice coloration) but the hiss level is much higher than the SE-50. For vocals I use almost the same setup: a SM57 or a RS-PZM (moded for ballanced output) into a Little Imp then into the SE-50 (compression and reverb) and to the soundcard's line input. I added some phasing using CoolEdit. For the harmonizer solo I had a problem. I had to use a distortion unit before the SE-50. When using distortion I like to use a mic so the SE-50 had to be the last thing before the soundcard because it's my mic preamp! So I had to play through an amp with distortion, mic it and send the mic to the SE-50 where I added the harmonies (5th up and 4th down). It would be better if the harmonizer was processed by the guitar amp because the freq response of the amp would help to "smooth" it a little. The amp I used was a small Washburn VGA-15. By the way the clean solo on "Noite (Night)" was played on the Washburn. There's a nice trick you can do with the SE-50 that works real nice with distortion (altough I have not used it in these sample tunes): set the delay level to 100%, delay time to 1ms and the feedback so as you have only one repeat. This creates notches in the frequency response somewhat like the ones that happen in a 4x12" cabinet. Another way to get this sound is to set the chorus with rate=0, depth=0, the shortest delay you can, and feedback=0. This has the advantage that you can use the delay for long echoes. For high gain distortion I use the turbo OFF, set the mid freq to 4kHz and boost it to taste.

6/2/1999 5:51 AM

gfr

I like it (SE-50) overall but there are some things real bad about it.

- While the distortion works alright for a high gain sound it is absolutely AWFUL for an slightly overdrive tone. I have to use a TS clone for this.

- You can't use the harmonizer together with any other effect - not even distortion

- You can't use the vocoder together with any other effect - not even distortion

And what's worse, you can't "turn off" the mic input when you switch programs.

I've tried to use it as my main FX (distortion, chorus, reverbs) onstage (with an ART midi pedal board) but I gave it up. Using channel switching amp or some fuzz boxes with it in the loop just to give some compression and reverb works better for me.

For home recording, however, I really like it.

The rythm guitar in Cabala was recorded with the SE-50 as a direct box, with some compression. I like going direct for the funk type rythms.

The main theme was recorded with the Fat Screamer into a Fender Twin clone with a 4x12", played loud. I put a SM57 very close to the speakers. The SM57 plugs into the SE-50 (with a Little Imp adapter). I use the SE-50 as a "mic preamp" so that I can plug into the line input of the soundcard and not into the mic input. The SE-50 is not that good as a mic preamp but it surely is better than the mic preamp of a Soundblaster! I also added some compression and reverb.

When using it like this it's worth to check the recording/vocal/keyboards programs, since they usually have a more hi-fi performance than the guitar programs.

I also like to use a Dynacomp clone as a mic preamp (it adds some nice coloration) but the hiss level is much higher than the SE-50.

For vocals I use almost the same setup: a SM57 or a RS-PZM (moded for ballanced output) into a Little Imp then into the SE-50 (compression and reverb) and to the soundcard's line input.

I added some phasing using CoolEdit.

For the harmonizer solo I had a problem. I had to use a distortion unit before the SE-50. When using distortion I like to use a mic so the SE-50 had to be the last thing before the soundcard because it's my mic preamp! So I had to play through an amp with distortion, mic it and send the mic to the SE-50 where I added the harmonies (5th up and 4th down). It would be better if the harmonizer was processed by the guitar amp because the freq response of the amp would help to "smooth" it a little. The amp I used was a small Washburn VGA-15. By the way the clean solo on "Noite (Night)" was played on the Washburn.

There's a nice trick you can do with the SE-50 that works real nice with distortion (altough I have not used it in these sample tunes): set the delay level to 100%, delay time to 1ms and the feedback so as you have only one repeat. This creates notches in the frequency response somewhat like the ones that happen in a 4x12" cabinet. Another way to get this sound is to set the chorus with rate=0, depth=0, the shortest delay you can, and feedback=0. This has the advantage that you can use the delay for long echoes.

For high gain distortion I use the turbo OFF, set the mid freq to 4kHz and boost it to taste.

6/2/1999 6:22 AM
gfr	My recording environment when I recorded those samples was a "third world poor man's studio" The soundcard was a SB16, one the first (that had a proprietary CD-ROM interface, not an IDE). I couldn't make the full duplex driver from the SB site work with it. The computer was a 486DX2-66MHz running Windows 3.1. The HD was a Western Digital IDE. I used SAW demo for "Noite" and "Odd". Since full duplex didn't work and that version of SAW demo didn't sync to midi, I recorded the sequenced parts (drums, bass, synths) to a cassete deck and then recorded the guitars in the computer while listening to the cassete. Then I record the sequenced parts as an audio file too and synced all parts in SAW by hand. Since SAW demo doesn't save the edits, I had to edit and mix the whole thing at once, altough the recording of the parts may have took several sessions. I mixed down to a Hi-Fi VCR. "Cabala" was much easier to record, because I got Cakewalk 5, and it could record audio synced to midi. But I was not able to hear any audio track while recording the others, since the full duplex didn't work. I've upgraded since them - now I have a Pentium II with a SB PCI64, and Cakewalk 6. I'm working on some demos with this gear but it may take long to complete them - I'm going to be the proud father of a little girl by July!

6/2/1999 6:22 AM

gfr

My recording environment when I recorded those samples was a "third world poor man's studio"

The soundcard was a SB16, one the first (that had a proprietary CD-ROM interface, not an IDE). I couldn't make the full duplex driver from the SB site work with it. The computer was a 486DX2-66MHz running Windows 3.1. The HD was a Western Digital IDE.

I used SAW demo for "Noite" and "Odd". Since full duplex didn't work and that version of SAW demo didn't sync to midi, I recorded the sequenced parts (drums, bass, synths) to a cassete deck and then recorded the guitars in the computer while listening to the cassete. Then I record the sequenced parts as an audio file too and synced all parts in SAW by hand. Since SAW demo doesn't save the edits, I had to edit and mix the whole thing at once, altough the recording of the parts may have took several sessions. I mixed down to a Hi-Fi VCR.

"Cabala" was much easier to record, because I got Cakewalk 5, and it could record audio synced to midi. But I was not able to hear any audio track while recording the others, since the full duplex didn't work.

I've upgraded since them - now I have a Pentium II with a SB PCI64, and Cakewalk 6. I'm working on some demos with this gear but it may take long to complete them - I'm going to be the proud father of a little girl by July!

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