The Other Deco

[niftyprose]

Hello guys, I like Toadworks and recently found out about their DECO line from ten years ago, a range of 'DSP' (presumably SPin FV-1) pedals. This includes a stereo chorus with a random function. Don't suppose anyone has heard this elusive unit? Best, NP.

[Chankgeez]

I've heard of 'em.

I think it was sorta ToadWorks last gasp rebrandin'. Possibly even vaporware?

I was mildly interested in their parametric EQ (as I'm interested in any parametric EQ).

Good luck findin'.

[The Eristic]

Don't think I ever saw a "real" example of that line in the wild, sadly. Shame, Toadworks made some nice stuff, but just couldn't figure out the marketing once the pedal craze really kicked off. I had one of the very first Death Rattles, won the contest way back on HCFX to get a quote on the production PCB. Wish I'd bought a Phantasm, too.

[Dandolin]

Yeah, Toadworks were interesting - had a lickle fuzz from them that i liked and yes, that re-branding indeed smacked of desperation and the poof when they disappeared was also quite...lickle.

also - nice new avvy, Mr. Chanks!

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, I think ToadWorks never quite got the marketing/promotion part of the pedal company equation right. Back when their Pipeline first came out (one of the few harmonic tremolo pedals on the market at the time), I asked when they'd have a demo video of it up. He directed me to something that was shot at NAMM (and it wasn't even the production version of the circuit).

also - nice new avvy, Mr. Chanks!

new/old. I've had it before.

[Dandolin]

haha - tbh I'd have a hard time telling, except for Furry Lewis

[repoman]

Website is still up, that harmonic trem sounds really nice.

[Dandolin]

ok, i found this about Toadworks rebranding to "TEN Effects" in 2013,with a rash of negative comments from around 2018 in the comments.
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/ ... EN_Effects

Also remembered that I have an Enveloope, which is a cool idea that never caught on (envelope controlled bypass loop).

all of which is no real help with Deco Pedals....

but this, about the Deco line, from 2011:
https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars ... als-357823
but...
...$550 each, retail?

Shame, the chorus looked cool, and the Signal Blender looked to up the Enveloope's game

TEN Effects website is still up too

[niftyprose]

Thanks, guys, esp. Dandolin.

Guess the Deco Chorus is hors de combat.

Hijacking my own thread: as I understand it the Enveloope is a better version of the DOD FX30B. How do you find it?

Best, NP

[Dandolin]

My pleasure NP

Yes, it looks like the DOD and Toadworks are doing pretty much the same thing, but the Enveloope has some additional modes. Not sure if the Enveloope really improves on the triggering or "tone" tho

I like the Enveloope - it triggers reasonably well, and it's nice to have the option to switch functions - either dynamically controlled fade-in or fade-out of the fx in the loop. It's not quite up to my fantasy task of mixing in a touch of noise on note attack or decay to simulate woodwind instruments (I think you might have to go with something a little snappier than vactrols to get there), but it is a cool effect nonetheless. It's very helpful if you've got an effect you like with an annoying characteristic in the attack phase, like a Belton Brick reverb with an audible fixed pre-delay time you don't always want to hear....

If you have the patience to set it up, it can be fun fun to put an octave down in the loop and have your drummer's kick trigger that. And it functions perfectly well as a straight-up bypass loop as well.

It's also fun to put a feeback looper in the loop and fade chaos in and out

I guess it can be a bit subtle, but that is probs an advantage in the long-run. My only complaint is that it doesn't do all the other mixing tricks I want to do, like parallel and feedback looping and order switching, which would have helped make it a constant presence on my board. It is fun to set it up for certain "projects" sometimes though, for sure. I haven't checked on how much they go for used, but it might be worth a flier if you can find one cheap.

[whoismarykelly]

The Deco pedals looked awesome but AFAIK they were all vaporware. They were trying to do $499 digital pedals about 10 years too soon.

[Dandolin]

yeah, they jumped the line