Pair 'm Up! Spatialist / DMD-2 / Deflector / Hydra

Feral Feline

Feral Feline

Well-known member
I've scoured the forums regarding pairings of these delays and reverbs.
I've read reviews and build reports of each effect on its own terms.
Nonetheless, I'm still undecided.

While I'm mainly looking at pairing a delay with reverb, I'm open to delay+delay and reverb+reverb considerations.

Spatialist & DMD-2
Deflector & Hydra
or
Spatialist & Hydra
Deflector & DMD-2
or
Delays together and reverbs together...


So which would you pair up, and WHY?
 
Although I haven’t built a Deflector or. DMD-2, they both still retain interest for me, it seems like they would make a good combo as well because the Deflector( afterneath) can do the ambient thing really well. The Hydra and specialist combo I can speak from experience is a good combo, they Hydra IMO should be on everyone’s list because it’s a very unique project and fairly easy build. The Spatialist covers a lot of ground but is pretty utilitarian, now the wildcard here I think would be the Hydra and Deflector. That would be a sound scape machine. Where I think the DMD-2 and a Spatialist would be the way to go if you wanted really crisp and defined sounds some times you want a sharp repeat.
 
My 2 cents is that the deflector is VERY overpowering. I just plugged mine in again this weekend and it is a lot of fun but also, finding a subtle setting takes some work. It is very much a pedal that you hit to do that one thing, but it's not the pedal I would use to add some room ambience during a jam. So if you want this to be versatile and useful in multiple styles of play I would just build the deflector as a standalone (because it is still great) and lean towards the Spatialist + Hydra combo.

I haven't built the Spatialist yet though. Seems similar to my digitech Polaris in ability.
 
I would agree with @GizzWizzKing. The Deflector is fantastic, but I find that it doesn't play well with my delays. The sounds becomes too washed out, and that is the fault of the Deflector. I would probably go with the Spatialist and the DMD-2. I think that pairing would allow for some ambient love, but not become too washed out.
 
Thanks folks.

I'd read the Hydra-Spatialist was a pretty good combo from Paradox916's comments in other threads (and other people's comments, too). I was hoping you'd chime in here, Para, thank you.

GizzWizzKing and Synchrony Pedalworks have both touched upon points NOT brought up in other threads I've found — very valuable info, thank you both.

I was thinking of keeping the Spatialist as the stand-alone, but now ...
Moving forward I think the Deflector will be standalone.

That helped narrow things down...

Questions Sebastian...

JF Sebastian, Pris and Roy Batty.jpeg

1) SPATIALIST met HYDRA OR DMD-2?​
2) About Para's question above ... the wet/dry set up... ?​
 
  • Hydra and Hydra. Wire 'em so that you can use in series or individually. You could get some great heterodyning with 8 switches.
  • Unison Double Tracker (w/ stereo mod) into the Bianaura. Could sound huge.
  • Arachnid + EEPROM Builder. Get 6 of Robert's digital delays and 2 bonus programs. Combine with the Spacialist. Lots 'o variety.
 
Feral Feline said:
Thanks folks.

I'd read the Hydra-Spatialist was a pretty good combo from Paradox916's comments in other threads (and other people's comments, too). I was hoping you'd chime in here, Para, thank you.

GizzWizzKing and Synchrony Pedalworks have both touched upon points NOT brought up in other threads I've found — very valuable info, thank you both.

I was thinking of keeping the Spatialist as the stand-alone, but now ...
Moving forward I think the Deflector will be standalone.

That helped narrow things down...

Questions Sebastian...

View attachment 91631

1) SPATIALIST met HYDRA OR DMD-2?​
2) About Para's question above ... the wet/dry set up...​
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t mine trying the wet/dry like this

Split the signal
Wet: hydra>deflector (both full mix) really wash it out so it’s like an ambient pad
Dry: DmD-2

both into a mixer> into the spatialist to polish it off…

That might be fun.
 
jcpst said:
  • Hydra and Hydra. Wire 'em so that you can use in series or individually. You could get some great heterodyning with 8 switches.
  • Unison Double Tracker (w/ stereo mod) into the Bianaura. Could sound huge.
  • Arachnid + EEPROM Builder. Get 6 of Robert's digital delays and 2 bonus programs. Combine with the Spacialist. Lots 'o variety.
Click to expand...

I like the Dual-Hydra idea!


HOWEVER...
This thread's only about my remaining proprietary FV-1 delay and reverb boards — here's why:



I've got some Dual-Eeprom daughterboards (wish they were 3xEeprom daughterboards) for both platforms ...

the Arachnid platform, for which there are the following choices (various shades of Green Show their pairings):
  • Module8
  • Octagon
  • Spatialist
&
the Pythagoras platform, for which the following choices are available:
  • BuGGFX Daydream
  • D3lay
  • 3Verb
  • Radium Springs
  • Double-Tracker
As you can see, for the Arachnid, I've already paired the Module8 and Octagon, which leaves the Spatialist on its oddy-knocky.

The Pythagoras-pairings are both delay-eeproms on one PCB and both reverbs on another PCB for a Delay/Reverb Dual-Build (actually quad, thanks to the dual-eeprom daughterboards).

I've already designated the Double-Tracker to be a stand-alone.






The purpose of this thread is to pair up the proprietary one-offs of the PPCB FV-1 stable:

  • Hydra
  • DMD-2
  • Deflector
  • Leprechaun
  • VHS
  • HAARP
  • Organ Donor
  • Binaura

Of those proprietary FV-1 PCBs, I've singled out the following for standalone enclosures because I think these effects would be better off on their own than paired with anything else:
  • Leprechaun
  • VHS
  • HAARP
  • Organ Donor
  • Binaura



Given all the above info, that left me with no plans for three proprietary-PCB effects and one Arachnid:
  • Hydra
  • DMD-2
  • Deflector
  • Spatialist

Two reverbs and two delays — so I was thinking I'd pair the last four up into two 1590XX enclosures. However, after reading others' thoughts on the Deflector, I think it'd be best to make that FV-1 a standalone pedal.

My thoughts on the Spatialist are to add a dual-eeprom daughterboard to it as well, make it an ALL reverb pedal.
However, the PedalPCB EEPROM-Builder only has 3 additional algorithms (Radium Springs) to add to the Spatialist's 8; which means I'll need to get another five (5) reverb algorithms from elsewhere — possibly from MAS Effects' repository.



Given that I've decided to make the Deflector stand-alone, that kind of wrecks my pairing the last two delays and two reverbs...

So maybe the Spatialist becomes a standalone, and I stick the Hydra and DMD-2 together...
Or standalone the Hydra and shove the Spatialist and DMD-2 together.
That Hydra & Spatialist combo has proven popular though.
I could say WTH and stick the Deflector and DMD-2 together in spite of each other...
 
Despite the Deflector’s dearth of diversity, that boisterous ‘verb does indeed have that mix knob on it. The cavernous cacophony can be tamed- although to everyone else’s point, it’s really fun when you get really reflective.
 
Paradox916 said:
@GizzWizzKing @Synchrony Pedalworks

You guys think the deflector would work better on a wet/dry set up?
Click to expand...
Honestly I don't think so... No matter where it sits I think you're gonna get a whole lot more than you expect, like a really wide pad. It does have the mix knob which is helpful. The deflector feels very cinematic. I think it would pair well with a synth. It's a reverb I couldn't run into the front of my amp. Way too big to not overload the front of your amp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top