White noise generator

[veteransdaypoppy]

I'm looking for a battery powered, hand-held white noise generator. Or something that I can just slip in my signal chain and turn on/off while still being able to play guitar, maintaining audible levels of both the white noise and the guitar. Honestly, I'd like to have a white noise generator as a pedal on the floor in my signal chain, turned on/off by a switch and just have it produce white noise (or something similar) in the background without affecting the tone of my guitar, or not altering it in too horrible a way... Like, both.. at the same time.

A volume knob on the thing would be a plus. I'm looking to keep my guitar clean, but add white noise in the background. Ideally through the same amp, but it doesn't really matter. I could always A/B Switch it.

The Sirkut Electronics White Noise Generator is something I'm pretty curious about. Anybody got any insight on it, or know where I could find one?
I'm looking to integrate it into live shows, and if it doesn't have a 1/4" output I could always just drill into it and make one of my own.
I've been looking around and all the ones I've found are too tame for my tastes.

I wouldn't mind building a kit, either.

Any advice? Help me out!

[iblamesummers]

Flower Electronics use to make something called a Battery Powered Noise Generator. she discontinued them but i would contact her directly & see if she would do a custom build for you. or i would put out a feeler on various noise forums. i HIGHLY recommend Flower Electronics.

a walkman (w/o the tape in it) ran into a distortion pedal, makes for an decent White Noise Generator. finding a dirt pedal that has stereo would maybe work for what you need.

i really did want a Sirkut White Noise Generator but at this point, unless you can find one on ebay, then i would not even try to go that route. i am being flat-out honest with you. i am not saying it is a bad pedal. but trying to get one. just forget. it is never in stock at Noise FX & i think it has been a good while, like a year plus, since it was even available there. this is based on literally years and years of trying to get one. next to impossible. you can try to contact him direct if you want but i do NOT advise you to do so. but if you do, i hope yr experience ends up better than mine...

the Audible Disease Convulsion is "supposed" to do a white noise thing. but it is really anemic.

Certain shortwave radios serve as excellent White Noise Generators. i own two SOLELY for this purpose.

if i have read what you have stated correctly. i think yr biggest problem is the signal thing becuz most of those pedals don't accept an incoming signal. you would have to A/B like you said.

[edit:] after about 2 years or so i contacted him & he eventually sent the pedal. it was a "bro deal" anyway i think maybe he forgot about it. anyway i have a Sirkut WNG & tbh i think its great esp for HN although i don't use it much now.

[veteransdaypoppy]

Thanks for all that info man. Bummed about the Sirkut Electronics thing, but that Flower Electronics white noise generator sounds fantastic. I'll shoot her an e-mail tomorrow and we'll see how that goes.

The cassette thing and the radio thing was something I was considering for studio work, but in a live situation I'd prefer to have a bit more consistency, yanno? That's why I'm looking out for simply a white noise generator. The more convenient, the better.

And yeah, I highly doubt that I'm going to find something that I won't have to a/b, unless I find a real hot-shot dude who'll put up with my antics
Thanks again.
If anybody else has any ideas, keep 'em comin!

[iblamesummers]

yeah i highly recommend Flower Electronics. for the most part, she keeps everything she makes in stock (or you can RESERVE one if it is not in stock...) and sells direct & she is a decent person & will more than likely return your replies in a prompt & civil manner. i am not saying that she will make you one. but you can at least give it a try. my biggest regret is that i never got a Flowner Electronics BPNG & i was really bummed out when i found out she discontinued them. i really only know two people that actually own one. & i've never seen one up for sale on ebay.

also. i am not exactly sure about this but check out the 4ms Noise Swash. i would email them about this though. or maybe they can put a White Noise Mod on the Noise Swash. EMAIL THEM !!!

so you are really adamant about having it in pedal form. that's fine. there is one non-pedal piece of gear that has a white noise synth patch that i really want to get soon. & Pure Data also has some killer patches as well that i hope to exploit in the future.

good luck & godspeed w/ yr white noise generator acquisition.

[eti]

Got a spare Big Muff?

http://www.ehx.com/forums/viewthread/1208/#11447

I needed a white noise effect and found the Big Muff Pedal was perfect as a noise source. Plugging a guitar cord into the Big Muff turns the unit on, but
having a cord connected to the input creates a lot of buzz which I did not want. I wanted just the hiss noise.

To solve this problem, use a dummy 1/4” phone plug to turn the Big Muff on without it actually being connected to anything. You can get a 1/4” plug at any Radio Shack or music store.



All the knobs on the Big Muff were cranked to the max to produce a wall of noise.

I'd imagine this method could work with other fuzzes.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

a few of my devi's produce mass amounts of white noise. never drive in particular, but others as well. kinda like the big muff trick eti suggested. just get a mean fuzz and crank that shit.
the 4ms noise swash as iblame mentioned above can produce white noise but it also does lots of crazy and unpredictable things that might make it hard (atleast time consuming) to set it each time and get it to stay there.

my dyna comp is also mad noisy but i think thats mostly b/c of the noise in my signal chain. and i guess that probably would blend very well w/ the guitar since hwen u start playing that noise level would drop. just thinkin outloud on this one.

2c

[eti]

Oh, silly me; you can also get white noise with the Red Panda bitcrusher If you have a stereo dock, just plug the right output into the left input and set the crush just shy of noon, adjust freq to taste. No need for another input unless you want other kinds of noise. It's not very loud, though.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

Oh, silly me; you can also get white noise with the Red Panda bitcrusher If you have a stereo dock, just plug the right output into the left input and set the crush just shy of noon, adjust freq to taste. No need for another input unless you want other kinds of noise. It's not very loud, though.

i just thought of this too! mine gets pretty loud actually esp w/ the crush all the way crushed. any type of bit crusher would work really.

[the raytownian]

Certain shortwave radios serve as excellent White Noise Generators. i own two SOLELY for this purpose.

I've recently discovered my old, dumpstered radio/8 track is the perfect tool for HNW, haha.

as for the WNG, there was, IIRC, a batch of WNG2's on NoiseFX as recently as this year or last, but they weren't there for long.

Anyway, the WNG is probably a bad choice for what you want in that it outputs a very hot signal, and it has no external controls beyond the on/off switch (meaning you might have to put other pedals after it to modify the output a little). It actually has dual 1/4 outputs, though.

I fancy the radio idea, and tape players are very effective, too.

I have a tape recording on which I added a 1/4 input for distortion, and playing a second tape recorder through the input makes the most sexiest white noise come out of the speaker... It really has to be mic'ed up, though, and it doesn't sound the same from the 1/8 output.... firmly taping a contact mic over the speaker may be a solution, though.

[WaveForm3]

Certain shortwave radios serve as excellent White Noise Generators. i own two SOLELY for this purpose.

mmm...numbers stations....

try this mofo:
http://www.freewebs.com/radiolariax/

[iblamesummers]

also. to be fair. i have the CN-1. not the CN-2. & i think that White Noise blend knob might be better on the CN-2. not sure though. but i am guessing w/ the CN-2 it is more effective adding white noise to a signal than actually using it as a stand-alone white noise generator.

[pillof]

SPAE can do this.

Patch output and input together, guitar into loop return and loop send to amp. mode on, loop on, both foot switches on. mid output (33 volume) off. use feedback knod as whit noise/ guitar signal balance.

left footswitch is now white noise/fuzz on off and right footswitch is guitar signal on off.



I love mine to death.

[iblamesummers]

SPAE can do this.

Patch output and input together, guitar into loop return and loop send to amp. mode on, loop on, both foot switches on. mid output (33 volume) off. use feedback knod as whit noise/ guitar signal balance.

left footswitch is now white noise/fuzz on off and right footswitch is guitar signal on off.



I love mine to death.

god. all the more reason to get a SP-AE if what you say is true...