Boss SE50 - Techno FX

[core2]

Techno Friends.

Saw a SE50 going cheap & I've bought it to check out the vibez. Delivery next week.

Anyone ever use one?

Would love some pointers to good settings / practices with it. I've only ever used plugins til now.. so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm gonna be runnin it with Live & my soundcard is a firewire Safffire. I think it'll be cool. I've been checking out how to route out/in with Live already.. Think it'll be cool.

[Alex Aliferis]

I used one a lot back in the early '90s. It has a huge range of usable, decent-sounding effects but is noisy as hell, so hopefully that isn't a real concern of yours. Editing is not very much fun either.

[Llitsor]

Great, classic effects boxes I have an SE-70 which is very similar..
These things are not exactly quiet, in terms of noise. But they are still highly useable.
They do a lot of things very well, and not too many things badly. They are no Eventides of course.. But they do have character and charm all of their own. Nice and easy to use too.
I think the distortion and vocoder effects are really cool (That said, i've not actually used mine for a while, I should dust it off and get it back in the game)

[audioconsult]

i only used the rhodes program..but that pretty much constantly.. the units go for 50 euro..not much that can gor wrong with this price really

[core2]

Originally Posted by Alex Aliferis

I used one a lot back in the early '90s. It has a huge range of usable, decent-sounding effects but is noisy as hell, so hopefully that isn't a real concern of yours. Editing is not very much fun either.

I know man.. I DL'd the manual & tbh after reading it, I'll know more after a bit of time pressing buttons. Whoever wrote that is probably in an asylum now

What were you doing back then? Sounds interesting.. you probably had a desk or were you using software much?

Big ask.. but it would be great to hear about your set-up and any favourite "magic tricks"

[core2]

Originally Posted by Llitsor

Great, classic effects boxes I have an SE-70 which is very similar..
These things are not exactly quiet, in terms of noise. But they are still highly useable.
They do a lot of things very well, and not too many things badly. They are no Eventides of course.. But they do have character and charm all of their own. Nice and easy to use too.
I think the distortion and vocoder effects are really cool (That said, i've not actually used mine for a while, I should dust it off and get it back in the game)

Thanks for letting me know Llitsor. I saw it was used back in the day, so had to grab the chance. Very intrigued to explore its sound.

Heard it was noisy too.. and yeah, I think that will be a nice thing. I'm excited about character. Good news about the "nice & easy"

Would you stick it over the entire mix & just send a bit of everything to it? or be more selective on which parts got the treatment? Know every track is different, but would be cool to know how these were used, especially if someone only had a single unit.

Did people sidechain these, for gating type reverb fx? I do that all the time on percussion / riffs with lives reverb.

[core2]

Originally Posted by audioconsult

i only used the rhodes program..but that pretty much constantly.. the units go for 50 euro..not much that can gor wrong with this price really

Hey AC,

Thanks for getting back. Saw that one.. looks interesting alright. Reading the manual & the list of fx, I'm surprised at the amount of seemingly quality fx for the cheap as chips price. Cant wait to try it out

[audioconsult]

on thistrack its a send fx on allmost evrything but strongest on the 303 and hh.. a distorted chorus from the rhodes preset

[dimconcept]

I still have three of these units leftover from the 90's. I don't use them anymore, but they were cool back then. The reverb is a bit brittle abd the vocoder is "mushy". The delay is not bad and will bring you back to many techno era tracks.

When the battery goes the screen presets get garbled. Sometimes this yields interesting results.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Gearslutz.com

[core2]

Originally Posted by audioconsult

on thistrack its a send fx on allmost evrything but strongest on the 303 and hh.. a distorted chorus from the rhodes preset

Class AC - Only got listening to that this morning. It sounded just like I hoped. Excellent. Those roland sounds never age.

Perfect amount of reverb man.. it sounds really tight.

Chorus is wicked!

[core2]

Originally Posted by dimconcept

I still have three of these units leftover from the 90's. I don't use them anymore, but they were cool back then. The reverb is a bit brittle abd the vocoder is "mushy". The delay is not bad and will bring you back to many techno era tracks.

When the battery goes the screen presets get garbled. Sometimes this yields interesting results.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Gearslutz.com

Hey Dim,

Garbled screen? So you get random settings? cool haha

Cant wait to try the vocoder. I've seen some metal guys using the pitchshifters for demonic vocals.. maybe that could be the new pitched down vocal for techno

[clixor]

I really regret selling mine years ago. The flanger/pitchshifter is quite good for use on for instance hats/snares. Reverb is decent, i especially remember used the gated reverb preset a lot.

If you can get one cheap def go for it!

[core2]

Originally Posted by clixor

I really regret selling mine years ago. The flanger/pitchshifter is quite good for use on for instance hats/snares. Reverb is decent, i especially remember used the gated reverb preset a lot.

If you can get one cheap def go for it!

Thanks for letting me know Clixor.. will definitely give that a try mate.

Were you using it for techno? What sort of elements would you use the gated reverb on? If you dont mind me asking.

_________

Would you would be using the flange / pitchshifter.. would you be just mixing a % of the signal.. or everything all in wet.

Sorry if its a stupid Q man.. just want to try and build up a picture of how these were used.

I've read loads of posts from people saying that they are great, but not much as to which particular fx were gold. Really appreciate you telling me about the flange / pitchshifter - and everyone else - thanks SO much

[clixor]

Well, i had it for so long and in this time i made drum&bass and later more electro orientated music. Which suits the SE50 good especially for the more really FX orientated stuff (like the gated reverb). For bread and butter reverb i think for instance a lexcion M(P)X is more suited.

I used it on an AUX of my mixer so usually 100% wet. Controls are really easy so it's easy to experiment with it.

It's hard to give an example but on some drexciya stuff you hear the snares being flanged/pitchshifted which gives a really organic feel to tracks. This is something the SE50 can do really well, being present but without being harsh and TO effectish if that makes sense.

Originally Posted by core2

Thanks for letting me know Clixor.. will definitely give that a try mate.

Were you using it for techno? What sort of elements would you use the gated reverb on? If you dont mind me asking.

_________

Would you would be using the flange / pitchshifter.. would you be just mixing a % of the signal.. or everything all in wet.

Sorry if its a stupid Q man.. just want to try and build up a picture of how these were used.

I've read loads of posts from people saying that they are great, but not much as to which particular fx were gold. Really appreciate you telling me about the flange / pitchshifter - and everyone else - thanks SO much

[core2]

What was the distortion settings on it like guys?

Was it used much in techno back in the day?

[core2]

Cheers Mate!!

100% on the Aux - cool.. so you would just add a touch in on whatever channel.. or more depending on what you were going for then?

PS on the snares sounds wicked man. Getting lots of good ideas in this thread - thanks again

Originally Posted by clixor

Well, i had it for so long and in this time i made drum&bass and later more electro orientated music. Which suits the SE50 good especially for the more really FX orientated stuff (like the gated reverb). For bread and butter reverb i think for instance a lexcion M(P)X is more suited.

I used it on an AUX of my mixer so usually 100% wet. Controls are really easy so it's easy to experiment with it.

It's hard to give an example but on some drexciya stuff you hear the snares being flanged/pitchshifted which gives a really organic feel to tracks. This is something the SE50 can do really well, being present but without being harsh and TO effectish if that makes sense.

[Llitsor]

Originally Posted by core2

What was the distortion on it like guys?

Was it used much in techno back in the day?

The Prodigy were known for having 6 of the things.. One of the members (Liam?) Said, "You can never have enough SE-70's"

Back to your other question.. I don't think it's suitable for entire mixes, mostly due to noise. Plus it doesn't really have a whole lot in there that lends itself to any kind of mastering. That said, Try it!? You never know, maybe it will work for some track..

[core2]

Originally Posted by Llitsor

The Prodigy were known for having 6 of the things.. One of the members (Liam?) Said, "You can never have enough SE-70's"

Back to your other question.. I don't think it's suitable for entire mixes, mostly due to noise. Plus it doesn't really have a whole lot in there that lends itself to any kind of mastering. That said, Try it!? You never know, maybe it will work for some track..

haha - yeah, seen that Prodigy quote.

I like the idea of a bit of grit.

Actually - I was thinking more about the distortion settings in it Llitsor.. and whether they were used much?

Sorry, the way I worded it was confusing (if you didnt get my intention).