Frantone Kickstarter for those of you who may be interested

[Chankgeez]

I don't think she's making her own pcbs anymore, but they still good great:



Yeah, the Glacier is definitely one I'm interested in.

[Gigahearts_FX]

Kinda disappointed yet appreciate it makes no sense to etch your own pcbs in this day and age for production runs

[Chankgeez]

Cream Puff Kickstarter (these'll go fast):

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/17 ... cream-puff

[Confuzzled]

I find it amazing that someone with such an even metered personality creates such raucous sounding pedals.

[whoismarykelly]

I don't think she's making her own pcbs anymore, but they still good great:



Yeah, the Glacier is definitely one I'm interested in.

The Glacier was a cool pedal when the only other options on the market for ring modulation were a giant Frequency Analyzer and the one-pitch Gonkulator. It was priced insanely high because there wasn't anything else available that could compete but it was really just a Frequency Analyzer clone that took advantage of some extra wave shape options on the chip that EHX ignored.

Now that there are a dozen other vastly-superior ring mods available for half the price I cant imagine going for a Glacier unless you really really like the look/format.

[Chankgeez]

Thanks, whoismarykelly, yeah, the Glacier's gonna be expensive in terms of the number of features you get for the money.

What does "vastly-superior" mean though? Is that as far as sound quality or is it something else? Not looking for bells & whistles.

[whoismarykelly]

Thanks, whoismarykelly, yeah, the Glacier's gonna be expensive in terms of the number of features you get for the money.

What does "vastly-superior" mean though? Is that as far as sound quality or is it something else? Not looking for bells & whistles.

Well the Glacier only offers frequency, mix, and wave shape. In practice all the wave shape options do is make the modulation sound dirtier since the wave form is less smooth on the sawtooth and square forms. That's essentially the minimum number of options you could have on a ring modulator. The new Gonkulator with adjustable frequency is less than half the price of the original Glacier and has dramatically more options that are useful to a player. The XO EHX FA is the same size while retaining the fine tune and filter options which are very useful depending on how you use the pedal. The Moog MF Ring is a very affordable alternative as well.

My main thing with the Glacier is that it wasn't nearly as clean and clear as the FA despite being a copy of it and running at the same ludicrously high voltage. Every other ring mod on the market now is very clear and clean and runs on 9V. It also had oscillator bleed issues that were incredibly annoying that more recent designs don't have.

There are a bunch more options that I dont have experience with. My main thing about pedals like the Glacier and other only-option-available pedals from the early 2000s is that we put up with a bunch of shortcomings because there wasn't anything else to use. In 2016 there are so many options for every single type of effect that we no longer have to put up with shortcomings. Other case in point - if you wanted sample and hold on your board in 2000 you bought an Xotic Robotalk where the designer didn't bother to design a bi-polar power supply. They literally made you use two separate wall warts to power the pedal. We don't deal with that kind of BS now because there are 20 pedals on the market that do sample and hold filters.

All of that is not to say I don't fondly recall the days of some of these pedals. The Glacier was cool. Its just obsolete in every way at this point.

[Chankgeez]

Thanks for the detailed response.

I hadn't realized the Glacier ran at the same voltage as the Frequency Analyzer. I wonder if Fran'll redo the circuit to improve it instead of just reissuing the old one? You're absolute correct in that there're better options available now than there were back then. The only reason to buy a pedal like the Glacier is if it sounds better.

[whoismarykelly]

IMO it doesn't and I've had a LOT of ring modulators.

[taco satori]

Thanks for weighing in on this, whois!

I have a Glacier, largely because I wasn't super impressed during the time I had with a Randy's Revenge. Might sound ass-backwards

What the RR had that I liked, though, is that it had additional volume on tap, and had what I'm trying to remember as a tone knob, as well as a few options w/r/t expression and CV that I never really tried out.

I still have a Frequency Analyzer, and I can see now why the Glacier sounds all right to me: according to you, one is basically the clone of the other! The impact of the sine / triangle wave ring modulation that I hear with the FA & Glacier was lacking in the RR. I have no idea if or to what extent voltage played a role in my subjective reading of the RR.

I also have a Ring Thing (which is handy for live approximating via presets) and let a Copilot Android go because I had to have my bell-like sine tones.

[whoismarykelly]

Oh man I cant imagine taking a Glacier over a RR in a million years. Different strokes I guess. IMO the RR is the very best ring mod on the market.

[lordgalvar]

Eh, I don't like the RR that much. Sure it has a lot of options for the price but I would take a FA or glacier over it at the moment (mostly go try a glacier...but if it is like the fa..then cool). And yes, I have tried a lot of ring mods...I have around 30 right now and I play that almost exclusively.

I personally think the old melos clone sounds miles better than the RR and the routing options of the moog are superior. Different Strokes though.

The blue ringer, SPK, and a few others were floating about during the glacier's lifetime too. Both are great.

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, I vastly prefer the big box 40v FAs if I'm not going full-on digital crazy.

[Chankgeez]

I dig the RR for its warmth, but the FA is a classic for a reason. They each have their applications.

(No pressure, Fran.)

[lordgalvar]

I dig the RR for its warmth, but the FA is a classic for a reason. They each have their applications.

(No pressure, Fran.)

Totally agree with that. I like the RR, it just ain't end all, you know? I like it for its warmth too. I ain't gonna lie, RR is a blast.