I’ve recently acquired a used ALM MFX. I like it and will likely keep it. The primary question, as usual, is if effects are really “worth” having in the rack versus stand alone. Though surely at least one is, right? Of course my problem is I have, let’s see…
- ALM mfx
- Erica Stereo Delay
- Erica Black hole DSP
- Synthrotek Echo
- Erica Pico DSP
- 2hp delay
- 2hp reverb
- what else? probably more
So, what to do? Well. I don’t know.
But about the MFX – I do like it. The bit corrupter was the main draw for me. I want those glitches and repeats. I’m not entirely happy with the bit corruptor though. I can’t put my finger on why/what but most of the things I like about it could nearly be done with a delay with hold/freeze.
The bit reduction options actually did somethings I like. I normally hate and despise all bit reduction (is my language too strong?). At the lowest rate you get very nice “synthesizer becomes shoegaze/noise guitar” effect). At various other settings I for once got some nice “reminds me of game boy” tones (note to game boy audio purists – I am not a purist so don’t rely on my comments at all). A few settings also gave me instant “this is now an early fm chip” vibes.
The real “problem” with the MFX is more that the other effects are so good – or at least average quality yet highly useful. One could keep it parked on the distortion, compressor, or even the panner forever.
The supposed quadraverb clone didn’t do much for me. Though I own nearly all the early Alesis products so perhaps my expectation are high. The issue with most of the delays and reverbs seems to be a lack of cohesion with the original source. This may be down to a “gain staging” (oh I hate that phrase) issue. On the midiverb, etc. the output seems to be a very complete “whole” voice. On the MFX (so far) my output always feels a bit “on top” of the effect.
The other issue for me is that while the MFX has a good amount of cv inputs (to make up for zero knobs), saving the preset saves the cv assignment and not the value they are set to. The same issue exists on the MCO mkii (which I’ll likely sell). There needs to be a save mode that saves either a.) the cv assignments (ie. “save this performance setup I’ve made) or b.) the values the cvs are set to and then removes the cv assignment (ie. I’ve used the cv attached knobs to find a good config – now save the config for later use).
A commenter on muffwiggler mentioned the great presets and I agree. The go a great job of showing off what each algorithm can do. They are welcome as well as the ability to save our own presets.
As stated – I like it. The criticism is only because it does enough to make me want to use it and thus notice the places it could be improved.