How is the ZVex - Instant Lo-fi Junky and should I get one?

[donPedro]

I was wondering if i could emulate the lo fi junky sound with just compressor and vibrato/chorus pedal?
Particularly the Ibanez PC10 and MXR M68 UniVibe.
I'm sorry for digging up an old thread, but i don't think that creating another one is not necessary.

ps. my first post, i've been registered for a year. This forum is great.

[Hyphen Nation]

Ok Syl, buy a Fairfield Accountant. It's the right colour too.
Accountant>Cosmi>Midfi Overdrive = win.

Here's the closest I can come to that signal chain:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdbmqo21tbY[/youtube]

Search function for the win, but sorry to revive too old a chain. I have been really curious about the combination of chorus and compressor that the LFLJ does so nicely, yet know I will want more control. Curious about the compressor you brought in, as well as others people have that can push towards the lo-fi space. I was thinking about an accountant, or even one of the Analogman CompRossers, but it's a pedal type I haven't paid too much attention to. Even wondering about one of these: https://origineffects.com/product-category/cali76/

Dig the use of Cosmichorus a whole bunch in this demo. I'd been thinking I'd need to go all warped vinyl, but not so sure any more.

[goroth]

It was just a simple henretta orange whip, which is a dan Armstrong orange squeeze clone. Or whatever it is called. Anything that levels out the dynamic range a bit should do the trick. At first I thought the cosmi would be too symmetrical but it is great at subtle pitch changes. If I was being smart I could have set the rate to a bit more than 0.5 Hz to approximate a 33. All light lofi ods sound good but the fuck crackle is soooo good.

[Hyphen Nation]

It was just a simple henretta orange whip, which is a dan Armstrong orange squeeze clone. Or whatever it is called. Anything that levels out the dynamic range a bit should do the trick. At first I thought the cosmi would be too symmetrical but it is great at subtle pitch changes. If I was being smart I could have set the rate to a bit more than 0.5 Hz to approximate a 33. All light lofi ods sound good but the fuck crackle is soooo good.

Awesome. Thanks for the quick reply. This demo is perfect for what I have been weighing. Super helpful.

[psychic vampire.]

Thread delivers super hard. Really been wanting to do some shit with stereo generation losses or ILFJs, but probably a cheap alesis comp and two behringer uv300s could get me good. Or whatever. Thanks, y'all.

[goroth]

As an FYI Cosmichorus is fully stereo. It only has one input and output jack, but they are both TRS jacks. You can do mono in, stereo out, or stereo in stereo out. And you can control the rate and or the sweep of the oscillator with either CV or expression...

[psychic vampire.]

Oh fuck.

[rustywire]

(No need to apologize for bumping old threads, that's what search function is for)

@hyph
Couple of things to consider. LFLJ is different in sound/response than the ILFJ.
Each has its own sound & purpose.

Cali76 is great pedal board candy, I was GASing hard for one winter 2015 but spent a bit more & wound up getting a reissue UA 1176 for ze rack when a right+time+right+place deal materialized. I went a bit overboard, there are many great *colorful compressors* on the market. I could see myself getting another MXR Custom Comp... only the Deluxe now that they've moved the trimpot controls to the outside for extra usability.

@psyvam
Cosmichorus is an exceptional sounding pedal (manual sweeping via EXP is extra fun) just be advised I found it prefers to be pre-dirt; and is prone to clipping like every mn3007 chorus pedal I've tried if you slam it with fuzz in wet-heavy mix settings. Nonmusical clipping that sounds like clicking drove me away from chorus until I discovered the PolyFlange (PolyChorus) lets me punish it far down the signal chain. Another stereo in/out Dr Sci pedal you should look into is the Tremolessence. Miss mine

[goroth]

I have mine post distortion. There is a tradeoff between headroom and noise floor. You can raise the headroom via a trimmer. But yeah, it's not going to like signals that are massively over unity.

[Hyphen Nation]

(No need to apologize for bumping old threads, that's what search function is for)

@hyph
Couple of things to consider. LFLJ is different in sound/response than the ILFJ.
Each has its own sound & purpose.

Oh, I didn't realize they weren't quite the same as far as chorus and compression. Love my LFLJ. Would love some in a non-loop manner, and maybe with more tweak-ability.

Cali76 is great pedal board candy, I was GASing hard for one winter 2015 but spent a bit more & wound up getting a reissue UA 1176 for ze rack when a right+time+right+place deal materialized. I went a bit overboard, there are many great *colorful compressors* on the market. I could see myself getting another MXR Custom Comp... only the Deluxe now that they've moved the trimpot controls to the outside for extra usability.

Thanks man, good insights. I really want a distressor for the rack, and something like a the Purple Audio take on the 1176. I have probably paid more attention to studio compressors than pedal board compressors over the last decade...

@psyvam
Cosmichorus is an exceptional sounding pedal (manual sweeping via EXP is extra fun) just be advised I found it prefers to be pre-dirt; and is prone to clipping like every mn3007 chorus pedal I've tried if you slam it with fuzz in wet-heavy mix settings. Nonmusical clipping that sounds like clicking drove me away from chorus until I discovered the PolyFlange (PolyChorus) lets me punish it far down the signal chain. Another stereo in/out Dr Sci pedal you should look into is the Tremolessence. Miss mine

Really interesting to hear. Not sure I want my chorus super high in my signal chain. I have been on such a binge of boost and fuzz up front that I had to pull my Disaster Transport Sr off the board, as it sounds like shit as far as how much it's clipping. I was actually looking at bit at the foogers, like the cluster flux, but not sure I want to give up that much real estate...I may need to experiment with the Cosmichorus none the less...

Thanks again for the insights.

[fcknoise]

This video is relevant for this

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T--1oXtpF4[/youtube]

Behringer vibrato, fuzz face and an EQ. A dirty compressor could probably make it even better

[rustywire]

Oh, I didn't realize they weren't quite the same as far as chorus and compression. Love my LFLJ. Would love some in a non-loop manner, and maybe with more tweak-ability.
...
Thanks man, good insights. I really want a distressor for the rack, and something like a the Purple Audio take on the 1176. I have probably paid more attention to studio compressors than pedal board compressors over the last decade...
...
Really interesting to hear. Not sure I want my chorus super high in my signal chain. I have been on such a binge of boost and fuzz up front that I had to pull my Disaster Transport Sr off the board, as it sounds like shit as far as how much it's clipping. I was actually looking at bit at the foogers, like the cluster flux, but not sure I want to give up that much real estate...I may need to experiment with the Cosmichorus none the less...

Thanks again for the insights.

Sure thing
As a followup-

Yeah LFLJ's 2 sections are essentially looper preamp+modulation, ILFJ is compressor+modulation. The ILFJ is attempting to emulate the LFLJ sound but doesn't quite nail it. However, it isn't far off base...although there have been complaints (here as well as elsewhere) of a clicky attack when the ILFJ comp engages, something absent in the looper. I couldn't replicate the behavior in a music store, but it's been echoed by several users.

I looked closely at a Purple mc76 and would have gotten one had it not been for the rare deal on the proper UA reissue. I've mentioned this before. The Cali76/transformer models I was interested in were limited (as well as sold out) and pushing $700...but incapable of doing the "all-button" mode. The real deals also have transformers on both the input and output stages whereas the pedals only on the output. In addition, you can bypass the compression in 1176s while still using them as a pre-amp, attenuator, saturation box etc. The class A output stage can brighten signals without making them harsh.
At the time I was looking at the Cali76 mostly for use with samplers, synths & drum machines and getting the full benefits of the rack unit became the more practical and versatile solution. Another consideration was the Warm Audio WA76, and I could have easily wound up with one had the UA deal not fallen into my lap.

Goroth mentioned a trimmer inside the Cosmichorus which helps with headroom, you might be able to find a usable setting compatible with how you run your other gear. I run most of my almost-always-on fuzz up front at its extreme settings, so it wasn't practical for me to change how I gain stage to accommodate more of a supplemental effect, for how I use chorus. It's foolish to put cart before the horse