Boss VF-1 effects processor.

[jazzystu]

I remember first getting my Nord and going "Wow, this is more awesome than all of my old gear put together".

I have had some gripes with the Nord, namely with the Rhodes and Clavinet sounds, but really, the thing is missing something. I didn't know what, but it's possibilities had holes in it.

Today I received my Boss VF-1 (which is a pretty serious multi effects unit, one of the real epic models - £125) and it "made" the Nord. It has addressed one whole load of the shortcomings and is amazing. It has breathed fresh life into the nord and the effects are utterly off the scale.

I am frothing over this thing so much and I have barely scratched the surface of it.

It's an exceedingly powerful tool and has a whole load of controller/midi possibilities I have not investigated.

If you have the sense that something is missing on your stage, this thing will perhaps make it shine.

http://www.bossus.com/gear/productdetai ... ductId=413

[organuts]

Which effects in particular are you using in the VF1?

[Gustavo]

Isn't this model 14 years old? What particularly are you using? Amp simluation? Overdrive? Chorus? Delays?

I hesitate to believe that there hasn't been anything as good or better developed in the last 14 years, so here are a list of things you can buy new that also have stereo in/out that may be useful:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MS70CDR/
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MS100BT/
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/M5pedal/
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PODHD500X/
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GMajor2/
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Epitome/

If I would chose something, I'd go for the Zoom MS100BT or two Line 6 M5. But well, I still have to try them out in the flesh.

Saludos,
Gustavo

[jazzystu]

The Suitcase Pan is a nice thing. The reverbs are excellent, the leslie simulator has more variables than you can imagine, it sounds very good when you get it right....It's can be more subtle than the nord. I have been mucking about with a saw wave and the vocoder. The low-fi crackle is pretty cool and there are realms of phasers/chorus/delays. There is a 10 band equaliser which is good for sorting out the Rhodes and there is this "stereo thing" which makes stuff sound better. there are all sorts of mic/cab simulators which alter the electric pianos quite fundamentally. It essentially enables you to tweak your nord to sound like how you hear it in your head.

It is an exceedingly well thought out unit and editing the patches is quite intuitive after a while. I know virtually nothing about midi, but I imagine I can hook up a lead to interact the program number (Nord) with the effect number (VF-1) and have it "set up".

It's a proper weapon and if you are thinking "My nord isn't quite there" £125 odd will sort you right out. It comes highly recommended

[Gustavo]

Sounds very flexible, specially with the 10-band EQ and even including a very customizable Leslie sim. Unfortunately for me, it is highly likely I will never be able to grab hold of one.

But I just found a guy who could sell me a Zoom MS-100BT via internet, this has been hard since most people in the USA wont ship Zoom Products outside of the USA. Compared to what you used, it does include 1 rotary simulator, a lot of delays/phasers/chorus, but only a 6-band EQ, it also seems overall less "powerful" than the VF-1, but I'll have to actually test it to give judgement on the quality and flexibility.

You can find some more info about the zoom ms100bt available effects here: http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/ms-100bt/spec/

[Mr_-G-]

I wonder for a synth which is better, the MS-100 or the MS-70? It seems to me that the first one is more guitar orientated as it has lots of cabinet emulations and drive effects. What would make these models perfect is a MIDI input so we change the effects for each patch via PrgChng.

[Gustavo]

I wonder for a synth which is better, the MS-100 or the MS-70? It seems to me that the first one is more guitar orientated as it has lots of cabinet emulations and drive effects. What would make these models perfect is a MIDI input so we change the effects for each patch via PrgChng.

Definitely, midi could be useful. But it does allow you to cycle through a list of up to 25 programs endlessly, which is very useful if you only use so many programs.

I do not know which is better for SYNTHS, but the ms100 seems to me more flexible overall.