Where's the grime?

This forum is for discussing Rack Extensions. Devs are all welcome to show off their goods.
strangers
Competition Winner
Posts: 793
Joined: 06 Mar 2017
Location: NJ

21 Jul 2017

Curious to hear what everyone likes to use to dirty up, distort, overdrive, mangle, toast, etc. their sounds. Preferably within the RE world but feel free to throw in a VST if you can't live without it.

Anyone have experience with D16 products? I demoed Decimort 2 recently and thought it was great. So, I'm interested in trying out Devastator 2 for additional dirt. Are there any similar RE's that are on par with the D16 RE's I should check out?

User avatar
challism
Moderator
Posts: 4642
Joined: 17 Jan 2015
Location: Fanboy Shill, Boomertown

21 Jul 2017

Some of the favorites in my rack.

* I'm a huge fan of both D16 Group's REs. I use them both A LOT. I would highly recommend them both. BTW, they do go on sale. You can usually get them both for $50.
* The Kuassa distortion units are great, as are their amps.... all their stuff is top notch.
* Sononic's Revival is a synth, but you can use it as a fx device with the audio inputs. I think this is THE MOST underrated synth in the shop. The fx are amazing and so is the synth.
* McDSP's Futzbox is great at dirtying up the sound. It has a ton of different possibilities to shape your sound or alter it in some creative ways.
* Rob Papen's RPDistort is excellent. I love how it has built in LFOs. That really makes this fx device shine.
* FXPansion's EtchRed. It's an amazing filter and it also has some great distortion.
* Peff's CRAPRE #2. This is a must have device. At $9 it was a steal (promotional price), but $26 isn't a bad price at all.
* Love One's Phonetic. It's not a "distortion device" by the standard definition, but it can alter the sound in some very nice ways. Dial back the wet dry knob and it'll had quite a bit of color.
* Softube's Saturation knob. It's FREE. Go grab it. It's worth the money, for sure.
* Honorable mentions: Prop devices: Scream4, of course (duh). Audiomatic (amazing device). Synchronous has a few nice distortions and other fx (very creative device). Pulverizer rocks... we all know that, The Echo (tube, dist, overdrive), turn the delay and feedback all the way down if you don't want delay.
Players are to MIDI what synthesizers are to waveforms.

ReasonTalk Rules and Guidelines

User avatar
jayhosking
Posts: 613
Joined: 28 Nov 2016
Contact:

21 Jul 2017

Decimort 2 is pretty fantastic, yeah. I use it on a lot.

I love that the synthesizer Kraft has bitcrushing, overdrive, and distortion all on board. Lots of interesting tonal options in that synth for smashing it up in pretty ways.

That free Softube saturation RE can add a lot.

And finally, I'm surprised at how often I've been turning to the Pulverizer for that dirty sound.

I use plenty more, but there's a few, anyway.

User avatar
decoder
Posts: 92
Joined: 04 Nov 2016

21 Jul 2017

Another good dirty trio of REs (and FREE) to check out would be from ThatMusicCompany. Distort Chain, Mr. OverDrive and the T2 Phaser are really great for adding grime.

User avatar
aeox
Competition Winner
Posts: 3222
Joined: 23 Feb 2017
Location: Oregon

21 Jul 2017

saturation!

strangers
Competition Winner
Posts: 793
Joined: 06 Mar 2017
Location: NJ

22 Jul 2017

Lot's of great suggestions that I've been looking into and trialing because of you guys.
challism wrote:
21 Jul 2017
Some of the favorites in my rack.

* I'm a huge fan of both D16 Group's REs. I use them both A LOT. I would highly recommend them both. BTW, they do go on sale. You can usually get them both for $50.
* The Kuassa distortion units are great, as are their amps.... all their stuff is top notch.
* Sononic's Revival is a synth, but you can use it as a fx device with the audio inputs. I think this is THE MOST underrated synth in the shop. The fx are amazing and so is the synth.
* McDSP's Futzbox is great at dirtying up the sound. It has a ton of different possibilities to shape your sound or alter it in some creative ways.
* Rob Papen's RPDistort is excellent. I love how it has built in LFOs. That really makes this fx device shine.
* FXPansion's EtchRed. It's an amazing filter and it also has some great distortion.
* Peff's CRAPRE #2. This is a must have device. At $9 it was a steal (promotional price), but $26 isn't a bad price at all.
* Love One's Phonetic. It's not a "distortion device" by the standard definition, but it can alter the sound in some very nice ways. Dial back the wet dry knob and it'll had quite a bit of color.
* Softube's Saturation knob. It's FREE. Go grab it. It's worth the money, for sure.
* Honorable mentions: Prop devices: Scream4, of course (duh). Audiomatic (amazing device). Synchronous has a few nice distortions and other fx (very creative device). Pulverizer rocks... we all know that, The Echo (tube, dist, overdrive), turn the delay and feedback all the way down if you don't want delay.
This was a monster of a list. Thank you for the additional comments on each one, too.

D16 Devastator I'm not getting along with as much as I thought I would. Probably need to sit with it a bit more. When have you seen the two together for $50? They're currently on sale for $35 each. Decimort is phenomenal. I'm close to snagging that but if they both go on sale or $50, I may hold off until I see that pop up.

Rob Papen's RPDistort is, like you said, excellent. I already have Nucleus Beat Crush that covers a chunk of the same ground but the $19 sale price is hard to pass up. Especially with all of the distortion modes. Even the widener feature is a really cool addition.

I already use my trial for Decimort a few months back. If you had to choose between Decimort and RPDistort, which would you go with?

User avatar
moneykube
Posts: 3447
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

22 Jul 2017

it is inside conusion...
Screen Shot 2017-07-22 at 8.15.06 PM.jpg
Screen Shot 2017-07-22 at 8.15.06 PM.jpg (148.3 KiB) Viewed 4157 times
https://soundcloud.com/moneykube-qube/s ... d-playlist
Proud Member Of The Awesome League Of Perpetuals

User avatar
challism
Moderator
Posts: 4642
Joined: 17 Jan 2015
Location: Fanboy Shill, Boomertown

23 Jul 2017

strangers wrote:
22 Jul 2017
This was a monster of a list. Thank you for the additional comments on each one, too.

D16 Devastator I'm not getting along with as much as I thought I would. Probably need to sit with it a bit more. When have you seen the two together for $50? They're currently on sale for $35 each. Decimort is phenomenal. I'm close to snagging that but if they both go on sale or $50, I may hold off until I see that pop up.

Rob Papen's RPDistort is, like you said, excellent. I already have Nucleus Beat Crush that covers a chunk of the same ground but the $19 sale price is hard to pass up. Especially with all of the distortion modes. Even the widener feature is a really cool addition.

I already use my trial for Decimort a few months back. If you had to choose between Decimort and RPDistort, which would you go with?
Yes a monster list, for sure. I have a LOT of REs.

I agree with you, Decimort is much *better* than Devastor, our opinions, of course. I use it much more and find its output much more interesting. I bought them on sale on 2016-05-27 for $25 each. Who knows if they will ever be that cheap again. $35 doesn't seem like a bad price, though.

Tough call.... Decimort or RPDistort...... They are both excellent. I would say get RPDistort if it's on sale for $19. No-brainer, there. Maybe Decimort will go on sale again for $25? If not, maybe it will go on sale for $35 again in the future.
Players are to MIDI what synthesizers are to waveforms.

ReasonTalk Rules and Guidelines

strangers
Competition Winner
Posts: 793
Joined: 06 Mar 2017
Location: NJ

23 Jul 2017

moneykube wrote:
22 Jul 2017
it is inside conusion...
I know I've seen this before. I'm going to have to take a look into this wormhole you've opened up.
challism wrote:
23 Jul 2017
Yes a monster list, for sure. I have a LOT of REs.

I agree with you, Decimort is much *better* than Devastor, our opinions, of course. I use it much more and find its output much more interesting. I bought them on sale on 2016-05-27 for $25 each. Who knows if they will ever be that cheap again. $35 doesn't seem like a bad price, though.

Tough call.... Decimort or RPDistort...... They are both excellent. I would say get RPDistort if it's on sale for $19. No-brainer, there. Maybe Decimort will go on sale again for $25? If not, maybe it will go on sale for $35 again in the future.
Care to explain about Devastor's outputs a bit more? I feel like it's an RE I need to dive further into before buying it. I'll give it a good test run with the trial. I like your logic on RPDistort vs. Decimort. RPDistort has been a lot of fun with tons of practical uses even for only being on day 2 of the trial. Instant buy for sure. I'll keep on eye out for future D16 sales even though I'm thinking Beat Crush and RPDistort are more than covering my needs.

scratchnsnifff
Posts: 1423
Joined: 21 Sep 2016

24 Jul 2017

For generating sounds.
Expanse, predator, and quad

Distortion

Kiloheartz distortion or faturator
ELEMENTS DISTORTION!!!!
That music company mr overdrive. (Free)

And iv been taking a liking to devastor2 by d16 but I only use it's presets lol I'm lazy with that device

For vst I love the free melda productions waveshaper it's like fl studios waveshaper where you draw distortion curves

Izotope trash 2 is a must have

And if you have xfer serum, you can use just its effects on other devices so I'd have to say serum's effects tube!

Blamsofts shredder series, I think it's an emulation of the boss guitar pedal distortions

Hope this helps :)
Mayor of plucktown :evil:

User avatar
challism
Moderator
Posts: 4642
Joined: 17 Jan 2015
Location: Fanboy Shill, Boomertown

24 Jul 2017

I insta-bought both D16 devices when they went on sale for $25 each. Like you, I didn't get along well with Devastor at first. It's still not my favorite distortion unit by a long shot, but have warmed up to it a bit. I feel it is way too strong, so I dial the wet/dry way back. It IS a nice device, and very high quality, just not my favorite. My 3 favorites are probably RPDistort, Futzbox and Decimort.

Anyway, as far as the "outputs" you asked about, I'm not sure what you are asking. It has a L & R audio output. Something tells me you weren't asking about that, though. I feel the knobs, different sections and functions are pretty self-explanatory, so I really don't know what to say to answer your question. The sound quality is good, it just seems a bit too strong, so, like I said, I dial back the wet/dry knob. I kicks out some decent distortion, and i like how you can change the signal routing to just about every configuration. I am not all that excited about the filters. More filter types would be nice. They don't sound all that great to me, honestly. Not compared to something like Etch Red (which also goes on sale for $25 from time to time... definitely a must have). I usually run a separate filter before or after, if I want it.... and it's a great excuse for me to use one more of my RE toys. :)
Players are to MIDI what synthesizers are to waveforms.

ReasonTalk Rules and Guidelines

scratchnsnifff
Posts: 1423
Joined: 21 Sep 2016

24 Jul 2017

Def try air raid audios distort RE it's cheap, simple and the pre EQ on it when modulated makes for such a nasty BP sweep and the width can be adjusted as well. I love air raid audio products so I might be biased, but if I had to pick one RE for distortion that would be it :)
Mayor of plucktown :evil:

EdGrip
Posts: 2343
Joined: 03 Jun 2016

24 Jul 2017

I mainly use Devastor as a preset machine to quickly audition lots of variations on the theme of filth. Try not to concentrate on the preset names.

strangers
Competition Winner
Posts: 793
Joined: 06 Mar 2017
Location: NJ

24 Jul 2017

scratchnsnifff wrote:
24 Jul 2017
For generating sounds.
Expanse, predator, and quad

Distortion

Kiloheartz distortion or faturator
ELEMENTS DISTORTION!!!!
That music company mr overdrive. (Free)

And iv been taking a liking to devastor2 by d16 but I only use it's presets lol I'm lazy with that device

For vst I love the free melda productions waveshaper it's like fl studios waveshaper where you draw distortion curves

Izotope trash 2 is a must have

And if you have xfer serum, you can use just its effects on other devices so I'd have to say serum's effects tube!

Blamsofts shredder series, I think it's an emulation of the boss guitar pedal distortions

Hope this helps :)
I believe I have Faturator from the mixing & mastering rig and will have to revisit it. Last I used it I feel like I over-thought it and wasn't too thrilled with it, so time to dust it off and give it another shot. I do have Mr. Overdrive and like that one quite a bit. The distortion can get a little harsh on that one but that's not always a bad thing when you're looking to get nasty.

I missed a really good deal for Trash 2 on two separate occasions. Both, of course, were before VST's within Reason were real life. It'll pop up again so I'll be sure to grab that without thinking. Blamsoft has a Boss DS-1 emulation? I'll have to check that out. I've had and still have a ton of guitar pedals. Pretty sure I've bought and sold the old Boss DS-1 multiple times. I should really try out some of my pedals with Reason. I've got some reading to do to find out what it takes to make it happen.
challism wrote:
24 Jul 2017
I insta-bought both D16 devices when they went on sale for $25 each. Like you, I didn't get along well with Devastor at first. It's still not my favorite distortion unit by a long shot, but have warmed up to it a bit. I feel it is way too strong, so I dial the wet/dry way back. It IS a nice device, and very high quality, just not my favorite. My 3 favorites are probably RPDistort, Futzbox and Decimort.

Anyway, as far as the "outputs" you asked about, I'm not sure what you are asking. It has a L & R audio output. Something tells me you weren't asking about that, though. I feel the knobs, different sections and functions are pretty self-explanatory, so I really don't know what to say to answer your question. The sound quality is good, it just seems a bit too strong, so, like I said, I dial back the wet/dry knob. I kicks out some decent distortion, and i like how you can change the signal routing to just about every configuration. I am not all that excited about the filters. More filter types would be nice. They don't sound all that great to me, honestly. Not compared to something like Etch Red (which also goes on sale for $25 from time to time... definitely a must have). I usually run a separate filter before or after, if I want it.... and it's a great excuse for me to use one more of my RE toys. :)
I misread your original post where you said "...I use it much more and find its output much more interesting." Looking back I totally understand what you were saying. Sorry about the confusion!

Back on track... I'm determined to run Devastator through its course since it's getting a lot of good word on here. Decimort is really easy to like off the bat and I'm sure I'll get there with Devastator just with a little more trial and error. I really liked RPDistort and had to buy it. Couldn't help myself from adding to cart and purchasing. The layout, sounds, options and features really caught my attention, especially with a $19 sale price.

As for Devastator, interesting to see a lot of preset surfing going on. I'm going to run some presets and see what this RE is really capable of. Initializing probably wasn't the smartest way to start off my trial. Thanks for all of the input everyone. Good chance I would have shelved Devastator and missed out on some cool other RE's if it weren't for you all.

scratchnsnifff
Posts: 1423
Joined: 21 Sep 2016

25 Jul 2017

Yeah blamsofts shredder series has 3 distortions

T00B
Distortion
Overdrive

I saw an advertisement for boss pedals and the writing on the blamsoft REs looks exactly like it :p I think in the product description it says they are modeled after those pedals but I'm not 100% sure

My only thing with those distortion units is that they have a tone knob and I prefer the distortion to alter the entire signal, when you sweep the tone knob it appears that the distortion mainly alters where the tone knob is set, il have to read up on what it is actually doing but that's what it sounds like to me. That's why the elements is my favorite it's one knob, and the mini EQ in it is awesome for getting movement :)
Mayor of plucktown :evil:

strangers
Competition Winner
Posts: 793
Joined: 06 Mar 2017
Location: NJ

25 Jul 2017

The tone knob scenario sounds familiar. The Boss DS2 Turbo Distortion was the first distortion pedal I ever bought for guitar and I felt the exact same way you do but never knew how to explain it to others without sounding crazy. The tone knob sounded like it only affected a specific range rather than the entire signal, even though that's very odd for guitar pedals. The DS1's tone knob didn't react the same way but, unless my ears were hearing things out of whack, I was so sure the DS2's tone knob sounded unnatural.

I'll have to demo the Elements RE. I did spend some time with D16's Devastator last night after everything that's been mentioned in this thread. I'm thankful you guys spoke up. I'm still not all that thrilled with running it in conjunction with any synths just yet but Devastator surely turned drums samples into a whole new beast. I tried A/B'ing Scream and Pulverizer to ballpark results I was getting with Devastator but really couldn't quite get close enough. Scream with some EQ settings my eyes don't like to see got kinda close but still didn't sound as natural as Devastator. Take my money D16.

User avatar
aeox
Competition Winner
Posts: 3222
Joined: 23 Feb 2017
Location: Oregon

26 Jul 2017

scratchnsnifff wrote:
25 Jul 2017
Yeah blamsofts shredder series has 3 distortions

T00B
Distortion
Overdrive

I saw an advertisement for boss pedals and the writing on the blamsoft REs looks exactly like it :p I think in the product description it says they are modeled after those pedals but I'm not 100% sure

My only thing with those distortion units is that they have a tone knob and I prefer the distortion to alter the entire signal, when you sweep the tone knob it appears that the distortion mainly alters where the tone knob is set, il have to read up on what it is actually doing but that's what it sounds like to me. That's why the elements is my favorite it's one knob, and the mini EQ in it is awesome for getting movement :)
I think the tone knob is just EQ.

EdGrip
Posts: 2343
Joined: 03 Jun 2016

26 Jul 2017

I found the Kuassa stomp boxes to be more useable/better sounding than the Blamsoft ones, and I bought the Distortion one. That's just my experience, but do check them out.

Also, I find sometimes that I think I want distortion, or clipping/saturation, but it turns out I actually want some bit/ratecrushing.

User avatar
pedrocaetanos
Posts: 252
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: LX Portugal
Contact:

26 Jul 2017

scratchnsnifff wrote:
25 Jul 2017
Yeah blamsofts shredder series has 3 distortions

T00B
Distortion
Overdrive

I saw an advertisement for boss pedals and the writing on the blamsoft REs looks exactly like it :p I think in the product description it says they are modeled after those pedals but I'm not 100% sure
"DC-9 Overdrive is a circuit modeled overdrive that emulates the famous Ibanez® TS9 Tube Screamer.";
DC-1 Distortion emulates Boss DS-1;
t00b Distortion is possibly an emulation of a Marshall JMP-1 Pre-Amp: "popular triode preamp stage", "circuit modeled tone stack from the Marshall JCM800 series";
http://blamsoft.com/rack-extensions/shr ... ries/dc-9/
http://rackextensionreview.com/like-bos ... ortion-re/
http://blamsoft.com/rack-extensions/shr ... ries/t00b/

Kuassa distortion units emulate a lot of stuff, but by the description only two are obvious.
Efektor FZ3603 Fuzz - Big Fuzz: EHX Big Muff Pi;
Efektor OD3603 Overdrive - Pro Overdrive: Ibanez Tube Screamer;
Kuassa circuits are often inspired in real devices, but not a direct emulation, maybe more a blend of several devices. It may be the case for several of the modes.
Based on a true story. No Musical Instruments Were Harmed in the Making of This Forum Post. | :arrow: SoundCloud set | :reason: :record: :recycle: :reload: :refillpacker: :refill: :re: :ignition: :PUF_figure:

User avatar
CaliforniaBurrito
Posts: 574
Joined: 11 Nov 2015
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:

27 Jul 2017

The D16 devices are great and have been covering my needs. I pull up the TMC Distort Chain specifically for ring modulation which I tend to do a lot.

GRIFTY
Posts: 658
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

27 Jul 2017

decimort2 may be IMO the most essential drum distortion unit that exists anywhere in the world

User avatar
manisnotabird
Posts: 475
Joined: 20 Feb 2015
Location: Austin, TX

27 Jul 2017

I really like this free VST version of the famous ProCo RAT pedal: https://www.tseaudio.com/software/tseR47 Sounds very much like I remember the RAT pedal I used to own sounding.

dhruan
Posts: 311
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Contact:

31 Aug 2017

Really not loving the digital character most devices like RPDistort imparts. Never really got a handle of decimort2. But yeah, moving on to the devices/FX that I love/use.

VSTs... Ohmicide:Melohman. It is the King of "In Your Face" distortion plugins IMHO. If only they would rework the UI, capability and sonic character wise it is pretty much unbeatable (esp. if you like the kind of texture/grit say, Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails has in their music). Would love to have some time with iZotope Trash 2.

REs & native devices... that have the kind of a functions or character I like/love:

Scream 4
- Workhorse of a device, still loved and used, very versatile.
SM Tritone
- Multiband goodness.
PredatorRE (namely, the Waveshaper FX)
- The character that FX can impart is just gnarly!
Kuassa devices...
- Another plug for them, top notch stuff through and through.
Devoloop Dynarage
- Tube compressor/distortion.
Primal Audio filters
- Great when pushed.
Distortion Chain (That Music Company)
- Managed to tweak out some nice FXs from that too.

Also worthy of a mention: Revival, Echobode, Synchronous
soundcloud.com/armsgrade

scratchnsnifff
Posts: 1423
Joined: 21 Sep 2016

31 Aug 2017

Kiloheartz has a cool distortion effect as well and they literally (not even an hour ago) released a unique distortion module that does phase distortion :)
Mayor of plucktown :evil:

User avatar
CaliforniaBurrito
Posts: 574
Joined: 11 Nov 2015
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:

04 Sep 2017

I bought the Soundtoys bundle yesterday. I just barely took Decapitator and Devil-Loc for a little taste this morning on some pre-programmed basic elements and oh my goodness I think I'm in love! :-P Good thing I'm off work for a few days! :twisted:

I've had Trash 2 lingering in the back of my mind but I don't think I can justify going for it when I have the two D16 RE's as well as the D16 Redopter VST plus the Soundtoys. I do have RP Distort but have to admit it is collecting dust and then That Music Company's RE's are pretty damn cool!

I'm going through a distortion craze phase and I'm wondering about the potential in Trash 2. Can any Trash 2 users sell me on it considering what I have? I won't have Internet to download for a while but I see there is a ten day trial available if somebody wants to take one for the team and report back! :D

Post Reply
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 24 guests