Boss RDD10 delay, great for warming up keyboards.

[Wonks]

Nothing to worry about here with this unit. 99.9% of all modern effects pedals use the Boss standard barrel connector with a centre negative connection. Some early Boss units used an AC supply, but for a very long time they've used DC. So all pedalboard PSUs come with loads of cables designed for centre negative supplies, with a crossover cable or two for the occasional centre positive requirement and normally a 3.5mm jack lead for old Ibanez (and the like) pedals.

Personally I much prefer positive centre supplies as they are far less likely to cause a short if the plug falls out.

[N i g e l]

Personally I much prefer positive centre supplies as they are far less likely to cause a short if the plug falls out.

Im with you on that, it just makes more sense to have the exposed metal as ground / 0V / -ve.

[Random Guitarist]

RSD10 is centre neg, I'm looking at it right now.

[Arpangel]

Warning ! My Boss pocket studio uses the "Boss standard "; center -ve as stated but all my other d.c. PSUs are center +ve.

I think my only other -ve center was for a very old Casio.

One way to check, if in doubt, is to buzz out from the PSU connector to the battery compartment with a meter.

Warning, when buzzing through wall wart supplies, I had to check the polarity of a Lexicon PSU one day, and had my hand around the mains pins, when I buzzed through I got quite a big shock, of course, I was feeding in 9v from my meter, and the transformer was stepping it up to what felt like around 100v!

[Arpangel]

The RSD10 arrived yesterday, OMG! OMG!
This is incredible, the delay sound is super creamy, really creamy, and goes to 2000ms, the sampler is crazy, I don’t know what’s happening, I’m still getting my head around it, but whatever, it sounds cool.
I recorded three tracks with it yesterday, I’m feeding my modular straight into it, my 2HP Play with this thing is just mind blowing, beyond, got some lovely acoustic loops going, tracks in themselves, very Tom Recchion.
Don’t know what to say, when a piece of gear has this immediate effect, it’s just a revelation.

[Adam Inglis]

Try sending the keyboard input a pure monophonic tone with an organ type envelope - you can actually change the playback pitch mid-sample if you're smooth and quick enough on the keys. Great fun, and a great sound!

[Arpangel]

Try sending the keyboard input a pure monophonic tone with an organ type envelope - you can actually change the playback pitch mid-sample if you're smooth and quick enough on the keys. Great fun, and a great sound!

Thanks, yes, there’s lots to experiment with, I’m a bit confused as to how the sampler actually works, but I’m getting results, albeit a bit random!

[BillB]

I was looking for something to inject a bit more stereo movement into the mono output of the Minibrute 2S, when I remembered I had a Zoom G1on lying around. Plugged in, set a stereo chorus, followed by a stereo delay, followed by a bit of phasing on the Delay taps. Set system clock to 120bpm, same as the MB2S. Holy heck! Lovely rolling, rhythmic sound that really complemented the sequence. Also created some presets with particle verb and chorus, enough to know that I am barely scraping the surface. Best part, the G1on cost me £20 S/H. There is one on Gumtree at the moment for £25, but I mustn’t be greedy!

I know Elf likes the new (2012+ ish) generation Zoom pedals and I can see why. I also have a CDR-70 which is particularly nice because of its stereo inputs. I am looking forward to doing some firmware hacks to bring some other reverb/delay/mod FX into the G1on and maybe dump some of the amp sims and distortions! There is a world of Synth FX goodness in any of those Zoom pedals, especially if you ignore the guitar presets!

[BillB]

Sorry, the above was a blatant hijack of Tony’s enthusiasm for the old boss hardware boxes, which I am sure I would share if I got hold of any. Just saying, there is a lot of hardware fun to be had out there, and the gear is mercifully low-cost. I have been lining various synths and mixers up with a range of low-cost hardware FX gathered over the years: MicroVerb4, Lexicon MPX110/200/550, Nux ModForce and TimeForce, Boss ME-50 & GT-6, Korg AX-3000, Alesis Wedge, Vox DelayLab, even the original Alesis NanoVerb. None of them cost more than £100, many much less. It’s great fun seeing what works with what, for example the KingKorg has very good onboard mod and delay FX, but the reverb is rubbish, so it just needs pairing with a decent stereo in/out reverb, MPX200 in this case.

Hours of noodling heaven whilst building the dream hardware studio inspired by 1975-2000. Some old gear, some new gear making old legends available and affordable, e.g. Prophet 08.

And I haven’t even mentioned my secret weapon yet - the Zoom 1201, obviously!

[muzines]

[Adam Inglis]

Thanks, yes, there’s lots to experiment with, I’m a bit confused as to how the sampler actually works, but I’m getting results, albeit a bit random!

I explain a little about how it works here
https://mezzoauto.blogspot.com/2019/06/ ... gital.html
It's based around a clever chip Roland designed back in the eighties used in various devices such as the Boss pedals and half racks. The peripheral circuitry changed with each device: in the case of the RSD there is a brilliant little circuit called a Phase Locked Loop that monitors the incoming pitch frequency and controls a VCO that determines playback speed.
Of course, all the fun is to be had in the glitches from feeding in crazy pitches! (we might have a lyric there...)

[Arpangel]

Thanks, yes, there’s lots to experiment with, I’m a bit confused as to how the sampler actually works, but I’m getting results, albeit a bit random!

I explain a little about how it works here
https://mezzoauto.blogspot.com/2019/06/ ... gital.html
It's based around a clever chip Roland designed back in the eighties used in various devices such as the Boss pedals and half racks. The peripheral circuitry changed with each device: in the case of the RSD there is a brilliant little circuit called a Phase Locked Loop that monitors the incoming pitch frequency and controls a VCO that determines playback speed.
Of course, all the fun is to be had in the glitches from feeding in crazy pitches! (we might have a lyric there...)

Thanks Adam, I came across you’re article, very useful.
However, I’m having trouble actually getting a sample into the unit, and simply playing it back, I select Auto Rec/Play, and nothing happens, I just get the original signal, with no playback?
The delay side of things is fantastic, and works well.

[Adam Inglis]

Are you using a keyboard or some kind of trigger signal such as a footswitch?
Using a keyboard you start in Mode B, hit the 'base' key to determine the sample resolution, then switch to Mode A. It should be primed ready to record, and the LED should flash when it detects a signal and is recording. You then switch over to Mode B, C or D and hit a footswitch, key, or pad to play it back.
Another way to do it, if you're quick, is in Delay mode, after it has captured some audio, quickly switch it over to playback. Although it's a bit hit and miss, it's fun and very quick!

[Arpangel]

Another way to do it, if you're quick, is in Delay mode, after it has captured some audio, quickly switch it over to playback. Although it's a bit hit and miss, it's fun and very quick!

I think this is how my friend used to use it, thanks for the info!

[nathanscribe]

All four Microrack delays (RDD, RPD, RPS, RSD) are good sounding boxes and still not ridiculously priced. The RSD is definitely the most confusing though! The microracks generally are well thought through and have just enough features to be worth picking up I think.

Something I only realised the other day was that with the RSD in the shortest delay mode, you can use the 'keyboard' input to set the flange time in semitones.

[Arpangel]

Something I only realised the other day was that with the RSD in the shortest delay mode, you can use the 'keyboard' input to set the flange time in semitones.