As if they weren’t cheap enough in the first place, I picked up an NTS-1 second-hand for £67 inc postage. Very neat little box, built to a price but sturdy enough.
I have yet to plug in an Aux send from a mixer, so all sound tests so far have used the NTS built-in synth, which is nice enough but basic. The keyboard ribbon is good enough for auditioning noises only, but MIDI in (3.5mm TRS MIDI Type A) works well.
All the Mod effects (Chorus, Ensemble, Phaser, Flanger) seem to work well, but until I run a polysynth through it, I can’t say if they have any magic about them. Delay effects are good, with the Highpass and Tape variants nicely affecting the tone of the repeats.
The factory reverbs thus far I think of as good but not great, though I really need to do some A-B tests against other gear. My guess is that they are as good as other pedals in a similar price bracket (this was the original question) but nowhere near the character of pedals around £200+ such as the BlueSky.
Apart from the basic character of the sound, one of the options I like on a reverb is to turn up the decay and to hear a long reverb tail, which changes the effect from just ambience to sound design. The Hall and Plate reverbs have a fairly limited duration. Space, Riser and Submarine last longer. Riser is a shimmer effect with distinct upper octaves being added, almost in steps. Not very subtle. Submarine adds a lower octave to pitched sounds and is nice if it fits your music/mix.
However, downloading the HammondEggs reverb models is a bit of a revelation. Cathedral, Theatre, Mist and Haze. I won’t attempt to describe them too closely other than to say that they sound massive, and can go from very long to infinite. Mist and Haze offer low pass and highpass filters (can’t recall which way around). Overall, just what I was hoping for, but still need more critical listening and comparing with various pedals/Rack FX. I can be pretty sure that this combination fills a sonic gap for me.
Each model comes in HD and Pro versions, with the Pro versions offering ‘higher density’. The HammondEggs notes state that the Pro versions should not be used on the NTS-1 with Delay as the CPU may max out, but adding Mod FX should be OK. I have added the four Pro and the four HD models into the eight slots available and again aim to have a critical listen to the difference, but it is nice to have the option of Mod + Pro Reverb or Mod + Delay + HD reverb.
Sadly I don’t have a Bluesky/Bigsky against which to compare, but based on listening to many examples on YT, I would say that the NTS-1 + HammondEggs reverbs probably does not reach the sonic heights of the BlueSky/BigSky reverbs, but is a very creditable hardware Reverb/FX and well worth the money.
There are no presets, so every time you turn on, you set up the sound again, which is easy to do. I doubt that I would want to gig with this, as compared to a robust pedal solution, but for the bedroom producer on a budget, it is excellent value. Added to which the open architecture means that there are likely to be new options to try in the future.
I’m not up to YouTube production, but will try to get some sound samples on Soundcloud in due course.
Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
Moderator: Moderators
Re: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
Thanks for the follow up!
My interest in the NTS-1 would be purely as fx for live gigs instead of hauling the pedal board out. Would it be possible to achieve results similar to what I am doing now with two NTS-1s? (Realizing that stacking rooms within plates within space reverbs will probably be a no-go)
My interest in the NTS-1 would be purely as fx for live gigs instead of hauling the pedal board out. Would it be possible to achieve results similar to what I am doing now with two NTS-1s? (Realizing that stacking rooms within plates within space reverbs will probably be a no-go)
Re: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
For great effects in a small, cheap, easily powered (USB) package, my choice would be the Zoom MS-70CDR. And seek out the hack that lets you load it up with effects blocks from all the other similar Zoom pedals.
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.
Re: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
Re: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
Thats actually quite good. The '70 has stereo ins, so its good for synths but its delay based effects only. I like some of the amps and fuzz from the other models and have hacked a couple into my pedal. It was straight forward to do from PC. The only complication is deciding what delay FX to get rid of to make room and similar for deciding what to put in their place.
The USB also comes up in cakewalk as a MIDI device but Ive not found out what it does, if anything.
Re: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
Cool idea, Nigel
Ref Zoom CDR-70, that’s one of the pedals I want to compare against. Also a Behringer Reverb Machine RV600 and a Boss RV-6.
As for running two NTS-1’s in series, they are stereo in/out so no reason not to, but they are a fixed effects order: Mod>Delay>Reverb per box. But two together would give you a fair bit of mayhem!
Don’t forget, though - no memories, and knob positions are not ‘read’ (they can’t be, because the three knobs perform different functions for Osc, Filter, FX etc). So if you get a power blip, you are straight back to dry Sawtooth oscillator and no FX, until you start pushing buttons and spinning knobs. Most FX pedals will either allow you to reload a preset or will just read the knob positions, after a power outage.
Re: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
Hmmm. This Retrokits RK002 cable changes things a bit, or opens up the possibility - but surely not viable for a minimalist live setup!
https://duy.retrokits.com/34b498da-a40b ... ca6437566/
https://duy.retrokits.com/34b498da-a40b ... ca6437566/
Re: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
BillB wrote: ↑Sun Sep 19, 2021 4:40 pm
Cool idea, Nigel
Ref Zoom CDR-70, that’s one of the pedals I want to compare against. Also a Behringer Reverb Machine RV600 and a Boss RV-6.
As for running two NTS-1’s in series, they are stereo in/out so no reason not to, but they are a fixed effects order: Mod>Delay>Reverb per box. But two together would give you a fair bit of mayhem!
Don’t forget, though - no memories, and knob positions are not ‘read’ (they can’t be, because the three knobs perform different functions for Osc, Filter, FX etc). So if you get a power blip, you are straight back to dry Sawtooth oscillator and no FX, until you start pushing buttons and spinning knobs. Most FX pedals will either allow you to reload a preset or will just read the knob positions, after a power outage.
I have a CDR70, it’s very good for the money, a Swiss army knife that could be your only pedal, but, it can sound a bit small, it’s difficult to describe, but it doesn’t have that huge very dynamic sound of some of the more expensive units when you think it could actually be a real big space, but that’s not an issue if you accept it for what it is.
Re: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
I had a good listen last night to the Zoom CDR-70, Behringer Reverb Machine RV600 and a Boss RV-6, and compared them all to the NTS-1.
The headline is that if I could only keep one for reverb/ fx duties, it would be the NTS-1.
The CDR-70 certainly wins the award for most versatile unit, and that’s without doing any firmware hacks to make it even more versatile (see Elf’s postings on the CDR for more details). However, the basic sound of the reverb is not great, tending slightly towards metallic or grainy. The same is true of both the RV600 and the RV-6, although there is usually at least one setting where a fairly smooth effect can be obtained.
None of the above do that huge ambient Vangelis ‘sound of the city’ kind of reverb, whereas the NTS-1 does - or can. As noted previously, the HammondEggs reverbs can go from short through very long to infinite. The filtered versions are fun as an effect in their own right. Some folks may not be bothered about this kind of effect and will be perfectly happy with the above or other pedals. But as already stated, this unit really fills a gap for me. So much so that I am looking at other effects around the studio and thinking ‘an NTS-1 would probably do a better job there’.
Two other thoughts. It was fun to rig up the pedals and NTS-1 in series and go for a Ben Asaro ‘too much is not enough’ effect - it did result in massive ambience that had a character that no one unit could generate on its own.
The other is about patch memories. I’m not about to buy an Retrokits RK002 and a Novation Launchkey, just to get patch memories. But an iPad and MIDI Designer (both of which I already have) is a possibility. The CCs to control all NTS-1 parameters are simple enough and MIDI Designer can store 20 patches, so that would do the job.
All in all, it’s is not difficult to set up a repeatable sound patch for the FX directly on the NTS-1. If Osc, Filter, Env and LFO parameters were also to be recalled, that would certainly push my memory’s ability, but as I only really want the FX, it’s not much of an issue. I do expect to set up the CCs on a handy Novation Remote Zero - having all parameters on their own controls should make using the NTS-1 a breeze.
Hope that is of some interest and I will try to set up some sound examples on Soundcloud or similar, but don’t hold your breath.
The headline is that if I could only keep one for reverb/ fx duties, it would be the NTS-1.
The CDR-70 certainly wins the award for most versatile unit, and that’s without doing any firmware hacks to make it even more versatile (see Elf’s postings on the CDR for more details). However, the basic sound of the reverb is not great, tending slightly towards metallic or grainy. The same is true of both the RV600 and the RV-6, although there is usually at least one setting where a fairly smooth effect can be obtained.
None of the above do that huge ambient Vangelis ‘sound of the city’ kind of reverb, whereas the NTS-1 does - or can. As noted previously, the HammondEggs reverbs can go from short through very long to infinite. The filtered versions are fun as an effect in their own right. Some folks may not be bothered about this kind of effect and will be perfectly happy with the above or other pedals. But as already stated, this unit really fills a gap for me. So much so that I am looking at other effects around the studio and thinking ‘an NTS-1 would probably do a better job there’.
Two other thoughts. It was fun to rig up the pedals and NTS-1 in series and go for a Ben Asaro ‘too much is not enough’ effect - it did result in massive ambience that had a character that no one unit could generate on its own.
The other is about patch memories. I’m not about to buy an Retrokits RK002 and a Novation Launchkey, just to get patch memories. But an iPad and MIDI Designer (both of which I already have) is a possibility. The CCs to control all NTS-1 parameters are simple enough and MIDI Designer can store 20 patches, so that would do the job.
All in all, it’s is not difficult to set up a repeatable sound patch for the FX directly on the NTS-1. If Osc, Filter, Env and LFO parameters were also to be recalled, that would certainly push my memory’s ability, but as I only really want the FX, it’s not much of an issue. I do expect to set up the CCs on a handy Novation Remote Zero - having all parameters on their own controls should make using the NTS-1 a breeze.
Hope that is of some interest and I will try to set up some sound examples on Soundcloud or similar, but don’t hold your breath.
Re: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
Hey, I resemble that remark!
Great PS on this whole thread, very interesting, indeed!
Re: Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1 as hardware FX unit?
Just thought I would report back. I did set up a Novation Remote Zero with the control CCs and it does make editing the FX very easy - although the only ‘shift’ function on the unit (for FX) is the 100% wet/dry balance achieved by holding down the Delay or Reverb button and turning the depth (knob 3) - so not difficult, even without a MIDI controller.
I compared the NTS-1 reverb (briefly) to a Bluesky pedal and a Lexicon Reflex, all plumbed into a little Mackie mixer. The NTS-1 holds up very well indeed, particularly for ‘modern ambient’ sounds that are a bit unreal and a bit grainy - not in a bad way, it’s just the character of the thing. Actually the built-in reverbs (Hall, plate) are pretty smooth, but don’t have long tails. I am loving the HammondEggs options. As I have now bought another NTS-1 to serve another keyboard sub-mixer, I owe HammondEggs a donation. Their add-ons really expand the NTS-1 FX palette.
I noticed that, with *very* sharp attack resonant sounds, it was possible to hear a rapidly repeating element to the sound of the HE reverbs - almost like a very fast mandolin pick effect. However, with anything other than very sharp attacks, all the HE models sound smooth. Maybe not quite so smooth and dense as the Bluesky or the Reflex, but really nice in its own way.
In summary, definitely something to look at if you were thinking about a reverb or multi-fx pedal in that price range, and don’t need it to be ‘stomp-able’.
I compared the NTS-1 reverb (briefly) to a Bluesky pedal and a Lexicon Reflex, all plumbed into a little Mackie mixer. The NTS-1 holds up very well indeed, particularly for ‘modern ambient’ sounds that are a bit unreal and a bit grainy - not in a bad way, it’s just the character of the thing. Actually the built-in reverbs (Hall, plate) are pretty smooth, but don’t have long tails. I am loving the HammondEggs options. As I have now bought another NTS-1 to serve another keyboard sub-mixer, I owe HammondEggs a donation. Their add-ons really expand the NTS-1 FX palette.
I noticed that, with *very* sharp attack resonant sounds, it was possible to hear a rapidly repeating element to the sound of the HE reverbs - almost like a very fast mandolin pick effect. However, with anything other than very sharp attacks, all the HE models sound smooth. Maybe not quite so smooth and dense as the Bluesky or the Reflex, but really nice in its own way.
In summary, definitely something to look at if you were thinking about a reverb or multi-fx pedal in that price range, and don’t need it to be ‘stomp-able’.
Last edited by BillB on Sat Jan 08, 2022 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.