Ring Modulation: pros/cons

[STOMPBOXSONIC]

I first fell in love with Ring Modulation when I bought a Yamaha CS-50 synth in the early 90's.
Tried a few stand alone effects over the years and ended up with the MoogerFooger. Not only does it get close to the over-the-top qualities of the CS-50 but it can be a bit more subtle and "musical" than some of the other things out there not to mention it works amazing as a tremolo pedal.

I am curious though what else folks here love/hate.
What are the pros and cons of your beloved Ring Mod pedals?
Are some better suited for keys and drum machines and others for guitar/bass?

My apologies if this is addressed elsewhere!

[modernage]

I think I might be in the minority here when I say that I don't really like Ring Mod on guitar. Maybe I just haven't heard enough examples of it used tastefully. I did like how Howard used the Heliotrope on the "DLS Does Shoegaze" video. But then again, most things Howard does is pretty spectacular. So why doesn't Catalinbread have a subforum here? They should ditch their forum and come join our family here!!!!

[STOMPBOXSONIC]

Yeah, ring mod is a tricky effect. A little tends to go a long way. And most fuzz pedals get at least a bit of that raw, renegade robot voice that attracted me to rind modulation in the first place. Could it be that Ring Modulation, on it's own, is an evolutionary dead end? (Just kidding!)

[Gunner Recall]

I think I might be in the minority here when I say that I don't really like Ring Mod on guitar. Maybe I just haven't heard enough examples of it used tastefully. I did like how Howard used the Heliotrope on the "DLS Does Shoegaze" video. But then again, most things Howard does is pretty spectacular. So why doesn't Catalinbread have a subforum here? They should ditch their forum and come join our family here!!!!

I'd love them around here, not sure how attached they are to their own forum or if there is ill will from the epic Devi vs Nick threads.

It's becoming something of a buzzword/deadhorse but the randy's revenge by fairfield circuitry is VERY "musical", at least more so then every other ring mod I've heard.

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

[phantasmagorovich]

I love my Moogerfooger!

Think it's better for either rhythmic chord playing or totally a-rhythmic drone stuff. Combined with Fuzz and playing lines I rather set it to tremolo which makes me think I am Spacemen3.

[univalve]

i think it is quite tricky to get the song coming out of the ring mod effect (hope you know what i mean: the effects gives you ideas you may never have had without it).
i only had this one time yet with the ring mod (posted it in the burford fuzz thread). for me it is hard to tune it right and not being totally off...
so i would differ between two ringmods: one with an osci inside and the other one where you can use your own signal (e.g. squarewave parade made some passive ringmods)
With the second ones i can work a little bit better - on the downside i have also more possibilities what is not always good

[nbabmf]

Personally, I like it... but I have a zillion ring mod PCBs to go though.

[bubstance]

.

[ashdown]

there is a lot of ring mod undertracked on the them crooked vultures album. its usually clean or pretty close to it.. i have an ehx frequency analyzer i've been sorta struggling to find a use on guitar for. my brain wants to say ring mod could be used much more musically if it was added to existing tracks sparingly, like drums or maybe for a vocal/keys spot.

[bigchiefbc]

It's becoming something of a buzzword/deadhorse but the randy's revenge by fairfield circuitry is VERY "musical", at least more so then every other ring mod I've heard.

Yeah, I really like around 2:00 to 2:30, it sounds really interesting.

I don't know, I'd like to think that ring modulation could be really interesting in ambient music as a harmonic thing, but I've never really heard it used that way. I mean subtle ring modulation, not Mars Volta batshit crazy.

I could be wrong though. Anyone got any suggestions for clean(-ish) guitars with really subtle ring modulation in a song context?

To me, the way Omar uses ring mod at the beginning of Eriatarka is not over-the-top batshit. It's still musical, in-tune, and pleasing, at least to me.

The totally cliche'd one to mention is Iommi's solo in Paranoid, which doesn't smash you over the head with ring mod.

[nad]

How can there be a con with ring modulation?! That's unpossible!

Riiiiiiiing Mooooooooooxi8u9xfsusd8ud...

[smile_man]

To me, the way Omar uses ring mod at the beginning of Eriatarka is not over-the-top batshit. It's still musical, in-tune, and pleasing, at least to me.

I never noticed any ring mod on that, that's a fucking great line though.

[sjtele]

Had a Moogerfooger that I loved to play around with but I had to keep it in a switched loop because I was getting some faint oscillation sounds when it was off. It also took up much needed real estate so I sold it. Now I use a EHX Ring Thing, tons of sounds to be had, some whacked out, some more mellow. The part that sold me is it can auto tune to the note, or notes, you play, including chords. No having to dial it in every time.

[DarkAxel]

never played one... but i like those sounds Mike Einziger from Incubus is making with the DOD Gonkulator (that is not great, as i heard)

the intro of eriatrika also sounds great

i'm kinda thinking about the Logan 5 ring mods over at the B/S/T... good price, but i'm afraid of the simple sound shaping options... the price is great though! However - that will eventually happen next year...

Do you think a simple ring mod just with the tune and volume would be a good for getting a first impressions? or should i wait for a reasonably priced EHX Frequency analyzer? is there something reasonably priced you could recommend? (circa about a 100$]

[smile_man]

To me, the way Omar uses ring mod at the beginning of Eriatarka is not over-the-top batshit. It's still musical, in-tune, and pleasing, at least to me.

I never noticed any ring mod on that, that's a fucking great line though.

Just listened again, fucking awesome.