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I see that the Pedal Playground website has a new feature where you can save and share your pedalboard creations, so I’m making use of that here to show what I use on my tenor saxophone pedalboard. You can see the layout at Pedal Playground. I use this for “live” playing (just experimenting so far) rather than as a recording rig. Therefore the non-effected saxophone sound dominates everything and would swamp any subtle effects like chorus.
The board itself is a D’Addario XPND1. The effects pedals on it are fed by a NUX B-6 wireless clip-on mic with the wireless XLR receiver plugged into the Zorg Blow. The Blow has an effects loop for guitar pedals which I have arranged with the signal path going from right to left. (NUX now offers a B-6 Pro which includes the functionality of the Zorg Blow in its own pedal.)
After the noise suppressor, I have a pitch-shifting pedal - the Electro Harmonix Pitch Fork. When this pedal is engaged and combined with the dry sound, a single note becomes a two or three note chord.
The Tera Echo is a heavy time-based effect, echoing the sound of the saxophone back with additional effects added that are sensitive to volume and articulation.
The Deep Freeze can be used to hold a drone, or a chord if the Pitch Fork is engaged. This can then feed the Slicer, which takes the input note and returns it as a chopped note in a preset rhythm, with the option of having effects such as flanger added. The drone and rhythm are independent of any echo effect - this is achieved through the use of the JHS Buffered Splitter and Summing Amp pedals mounted under the pedalboard.
The echo and rhythm are then combined and fed into the RC-5 Looper. The looper and slicer are kept in sync by means of a Boss MIDI cable and a silent drum track at a set tempo (drums can be enabled if more rhythm is desired). The looper then plugs back into the Blow and out to a desk via XLR.
The noise suppressor is necessary when using a mic as it stops feedback or ambient noise from being pitch-shifted by the Pitch Fork or split into rhythms by the Slicer. I have put it as early in the signal chain as possible.
Please share your comments, or link to your own effects boards if you have any.
The board itself is a D’Addario XPND1. The effects pedals on it are fed by a NUX B-6 wireless clip-on mic with the wireless XLR receiver plugged into the Zorg Blow. The Blow has an effects loop for guitar pedals which I have arranged with the signal path going from right to left. (NUX now offers a B-6 Pro which includes the functionality of the Zorg Blow in its own pedal.)
After the noise suppressor, I have a pitch-shifting pedal - the Electro Harmonix Pitch Fork. When this pedal is engaged and combined with the dry sound, a single note becomes a two or three note chord.
The Tera Echo is a heavy time-based effect, echoing the sound of the saxophone back with additional effects added that are sensitive to volume and articulation.
The Deep Freeze can be used to hold a drone, or a chord if the Pitch Fork is engaged. This can then feed the Slicer, which takes the input note and returns it as a chopped note in a preset rhythm, with the option of having effects such as flanger added. The drone and rhythm are independent of any echo effect - this is achieved through the use of the JHS Buffered Splitter and Summing Amp pedals mounted under the pedalboard.
The echo and rhythm are then combined and fed into the RC-5 Looper. The looper and slicer are kept in sync by means of a Boss MIDI cable and a silent drum track at a set tempo (drums can be enabled if more rhythm is desired). The looper then plugs back into the Blow and out to a desk via XLR.
The noise suppressor is necessary when using a mic as it stops feedback or ambient noise from being pitch-shifted by the Pitch Fork or split into rhythms by the Slicer. I have put it as early in the signal chain as possible.
Please share your comments, or link to your own effects boards if you have any.
