Source Audio Reflex Expression Pedal Beta Testing Review
Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 2:19 pm
So i recently had a unique opportunity to beta test the upcoming Source Audio Reflex expression pedal. I've just got word from them that they started shipping direct orders and about to ship to the dealers so I decided to post my review early as i'm not completely finished. Still have to try out the midi aspect of the pedal (which is a huge part of it!) but thought i'd throw up the review so far and add as i go for those interested. Hope it's helpful!
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The boards i'm using it with for reference:
What I was looking for: A single expression pedal to control at least 3 expression outputs across multiple pedals at once…. Or so I thought. Upon receiving the Source Audio Reflex and reading the manual, I discovered there were more to my needs or rather my wants than I had previously thought of.
What I found: A well built, user friendly, no nonsense expression pedal that was capable of far more than I would have even considered to be available. I’m fairly new to the world of expression and my midi knowledge is even more rudimentary. However the user guide walks you through everything you need to know. This has already changed my entire creative process and is itself, a creative tool capable of opening doors that were before hidden to me. This is not only the product I was looking for but far exceeded my expectations. The unit not only allows you to use 3 analog expression outputs simultaneously but you can control an additional 3 by MIDI as well. It also has 1 sensor output allowing you to control up to 7. Each output expands far beyond simple control allowing you to control a large amount of parameters on each individual output. You can control the taper, polarity, range, and even LFO. You can save up to 128 presets and recall straight from the pedal itself or a midi controller. We’ll get more into that shortly. Lets discuss further….
Build Quality: Like a tank. Everything is solid and looks great as well.
Software/Firmware: Plug n’ play. Got the pedal, hooked up the USB. Open the downloaded the software, updated the firmware and was ready to go. The software is easy to understand and you can set up much of your pedal options from there as well.
User Interface: Extremely user friendly. All of your controls are laid out in a way that’s easy to understand. No digging around through a bunch of menus to do what you need. Just select the output and pick your parameters right there from the top of the pedal.
Universal Connectivity: Initial worry I had was only being able to use it with some pedals since some take different voltage, some passive, some active, different plug configurations, etc. Each of the 3 analog expression outputs have dipswitches on the bottom so you can make it work with just about any kind out there from what I can tell.
So at this point I’ve already covered my basic needs and then some of being able to control up to 7 outputs with this pedal. I would have been fine with that but now is where the testing got fun!
Parameter Editing: You can control Min Paramter, Max Parameter, and Depth Parameter.
Taper- This was something I found to be extremely useful. My first test was hooking up the Reflex to 3 Moog pedals (104m, Clusterflux and Midi Murf). I didn’t want to mess with the midi stuff yet as it’s not my forte, so I plugged each in using the 3 analog outputs. Each of the Moogs have several options for what you can control with an expression pedal. I played around plugging them in to random combinations and finding all sorts of useful new ways to play these beloved pedals. This is where new creative ideas were already created simply from simultaneously controlling a parameter on each (or sometimes controlling more than one on a single Moog). The creative juices are now flowing… this Is where I realize the shortcoming that would have happened if my original goal was met but didn’t have the options Source Audio put into this pedal. I realize if I’m controlling all 3, some have much wider expressive qualities and need to be tamed within the min and max while others need full range. Well now with the taper I can set the minimum value and maximum value (and depth if I choose) on each pedal separately. For example, on the 104m I was controlling the feedback. Well if I have the pedal all the way up then there is no feedback and if it’s all the way down it goes into self oscillation freak out. I want to start with where the feedback is present and constant for the song I’m playing with the pedal all the way up and when pushing it down all the way get to the point before it self oscillates so I can have far more control. With the Reflex I can do this. Now, for the ClusterFlux I wanted to control the rate but I wanted it to be the full sweep or close to it. So I set the min and max tapers to a setting I liked. Now when I’m all the way up I have the amount of feedback I want on the 104m and the rate where I want it for the core of the song I’m working on. Now when I start pushing down on the pedal I have the feedback on the 104m rising and the rate increasing on the Clusterflux increasing simultaneously until I get it fully pressed down and the feedback is at my chosen max setting and the rate is at the highest speed I want creating some really great possibilities. That’s just one example of several configurations I tried.
· LFO – Now it gets even more fun! I’m able to use the LFO and choose which wave I want. To be honest, I use LFO settings on a lot of pedals but I’m mostly just a “turn a knob till it sounds cool” kind of guy. With the Reflex, it’s easy to just select the wave you want for each output and try out different possibilities. I got some really cool results being able to control this especially on pedals that wouldn’t normally have this feature. You can control the min, max and depth parameters on these as well! I had a lot of fun experimenting with this and setting up perfect sweeps of finely tuned sounds that I would never have been able to get before owning this.
(MORE TO COME INCLUDING MIDI AND AUDIO CLIPS)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The boards i'm using it with for reference:
What I was looking for: A single expression pedal to control at least 3 expression outputs across multiple pedals at once…. Or so I thought. Upon receiving the Source Audio Reflex and reading the manual, I discovered there were more to my needs or rather my wants than I had previously thought of.
What I found: A well built, user friendly, no nonsense expression pedal that was capable of far more than I would have even considered to be available. I’m fairly new to the world of expression and my midi knowledge is even more rudimentary. However the user guide walks you through everything you need to know. This has already changed my entire creative process and is itself, a creative tool capable of opening doors that were before hidden to me. This is not only the product I was looking for but far exceeded my expectations. The unit not only allows you to use 3 analog expression outputs simultaneously but you can control an additional 3 by MIDI as well. It also has 1 sensor output allowing you to control up to 7. Each output expands far beyond simple control allowing you to control a large amount of parameters on each individual output. You can control the taper, polarity, range, and even LFO. You can save up to 128 presets and recall straight from the pedal itself or a midi controller. We’ll get more into that shortly. Lets discuss further….
Build Quality: Like a tank. Everything is solid and looks great as well.
Software/Firmware: Plug n’ play. Got the pedal, hooked up the USB. Open the downloaded the software, updated the firmware and was ready to go. The software is easy to understand and you can set up much of your pedal options from there as well.
User Interface: Extremely user friendly. All of your controls are laid out in a way that’s easy to understand. No digging around through a bunch of menus to do what you need. Just select the output and pick your parameters right there from the top of the pedal.
Universal Connectivity: Initial worry I had was only being able to use it with some pedals since some take different voltage, some passive, some active, different plug configurations, etc. Each of the 3 analog expression outputs have dipswitches on the bottom so you can make it work with just about any kind out there from what I can tell.
So at this point I’ve already covered my basic needs and then some of being able to control up to 7 outputs with this pedal. I would have been fine with that but now is where the testing got fun!
Parameter Editing: You can control Min Paramter, Max Parameter, and Depth Parameter.
Taper- This was something I found to be extremely useful. My first test was hooking up the Reflex to 3 Moog pedals (104m, Clusterflux and Midi Murf). I didn’t want to mess with the midi stuff yet as it’s not my forte, so I plugged each in using the 3 analog outputs. Each of the Moogs have several options for what you can control with an expression pedal. I played around plugging them in to random combinations and finding all sorts of useful new ways to play these beloved pedals. This is where new creative ideas were already created simply from simultaneously controlling a parameter on each (or sometimes controlling more than one on a single Moog). The creative juices are now flowing… this Is where I realize the shortcoming that would have happened if my original goal was met but didn’t have the options Source Audio put into this pedal. I realize if I’m controlling all 3, some have much wider expressive qualities and need to be tamed within the min and max while others need full range. Well now with the taper I can set the minimum value and maximum value (and depth if I choose) on each pedal separately. For example, on the 104m I was controlling the feedback. Well if I have the pedal all the way up then there is no feedback and if it’s all the way down it goes into self oscillation freak out. I want to start with where the feedback is present and constant for the song I’m playing with the pedal all the way up and when pushing it down all the way get to the point before it self oscillates so I can have far more control. With the Reflex I can do this. Now, for the ClusterFlux I wanted to control the rate but I wanted it to be the full sweep or close to it. So I set the min and max tapers to a setting I liked. Now when I’m all the way up I have the amount of feedback I want on the 104m and the rate where I want it for the core of the song I’m working on. Now when I start pushing down on the pedal I have the feedback on the 104m rising and the rate increasing on the Clusterflux increasing simultaneously until I get it fully pressed down and the feedback is at my chosen max setting and the rate is at the highest speed I want creating some really great possibilities. That’s just one example of several configurations I tried.
· LFO – Now it gets even more fun! I’m able to use the LFO and choose which wave I want. To be honest, I use LFO settings on a lot of pedals but I’m mostly just a “turn a knob till it sounds cool” kind of guy. With the Reflex, it’s easy to just select the wave you want for each output and try out different possibilities. I got some really cool results being able to control this especially on pedals that wouldn’t normally have this feature. You can control the min, max and depth parameters on these as well! I had a lot of fun experimenting with this and setting up perfect sweeps of finely tuned sounds that I would never have been able to get before owning this.
(MORE TO COME INCLUDING MIDI AND AUDIO CLIPS)
Thanks for the infos--I'll have to tap down on this, see how it compares to the Moog MP201....