Re: Thoughts on the Eclipse, Fireworx, G-Force, and PCM81

["Krispen Hartung" <khartung@cableone.net>]

Thanks for anwering this question, Rainer. That was way out of my league.

Kris

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rainer Thelonius Balthasar Straschill" <rs@moinlabs.de>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 3:15 AM
Subject: AW: Thoughts on the Eclipse, Fireworx, G-Force, and PCM81


> I'd like to chime in here, 'cause Kris might very vell be referring to a
> text written by me here...:
>
>> > I have been reading a lot of reviews on the Eclipse and Fireworx.
>> > Oddly, there appear to be a lot of mixed reviews on the
>> Eclipse for it
>> > lack of flexibility,
>>
>> What is it lacking in flexibility? Do you want to build your
>> own reverb (etc.)? Does the Eclipse not give you enough fx
>> that you know you will use? And what reviews are you reading, H-C?
>
> You can only load a maximum of two algorithms at once, and you can't
> feedback between those two algorithms. True, you can do completely crazy
> stuff with those algorithms, but it's rather counter-intuitive to have 
>to 
> go
> through a list of hundreds of algorithms to find which ones to select to 
> get
> a combination of two pitch shifters, four delays and two chorusses.
>
> What really pisses me off is the fact that the manual tells you that 
>"some
> algorithms can't be loaded together", but doesn't tell you which ones!
>
> Personally, I never wrote audio algorithms myself (meaning writing DSP 
> code
> or something), but I like to work on an abstraction level one step below
> that of the Eclipse: put together lots of small building blocks instead 
>of
> two big ones. The approach of the FireworX, the Nord Modular G2 (which I
> believe would also be excellent as an effects processor if you can live 
> with
> the fact that it doesn't have any UI) and the Kurzweil KSP8.
>
> A few of the deficits of the Eclipse are smaller details: maximum LFO 
>sync
> cycle time is one bar. Reverse delays only work to a length of one bar 
> when
> MIDI-synced. Hard bypass only affects the XLR connectors.
>
>> > in my experience, the stability is not as good.
>>
>> Did the person writing that review have the latest OS? I tend to
>> doubt it.
>
> I got this thing with OS 2.50 and never had any problems. Upon upgrading 
> to
> 3.00 (which according to eventide's website is "the latest OS"), I 
> sometimes
> experienced the following: upon loading one of my own patches, the unit
> would simply freeze. Power reset worked around this problem. It never
> happened when loading factory patches or at another time than when 
>loading
> patches. And it hasn't happened for a long time.
>
> There are a lot of great things about the Eclipse as well. A decimal
> keyboard, the multitude of connectors, great sound quality and some very
> interesting algorithms for crazy stuff are only some. If I was to compare
> hardware effect processors in roughly the price range discussed, it would
> be:
>
> FireworX: Quite flexible and good UI for an acceptable price. Lacks some
> processing power. Great for completely whacky stuff.
> Eclipse: Problems - see above. Best pitch shifters of the batch.
> Kurzweil KSP8: most expensive of the batch. Most flexible choice of 
> reverbs.
> Very flexible system structure, very powerful. DOESN'T HAVE ANY PITCH
> SHIFTERS.
> Nord Modular G2 Engine: very powerful, very flexible, cheapest of the 
> batch.
> Would be my choice if I could live with the fact that it doesn't have a 
>UI
> whatsoever. Or you could get the keyboard version (still cheaper than an
> Eclipse).
>
> Rainer
>
>