Frostwave sonic alienator

Anyone use this thing? I just want to know if it is good on drums -- to make a 16 bit sampler sound more like 12bit. Can you adjust the dirt on this alienator and make it subtle or does it just take over every sound you throw at it?

thanks in advance

Yeah I use it. It makes your drums sound like an atari 2600 or commodore.

It can range from subtle to extreme, and the analog filter on it helps a bit too. You can technically dial in 12 bit, but the range of sounds from this box are much wider, even at 12 bit, you can get a good variety.

thanks for the info. Can it get close to a sp1200 or mpc60 sound for drums?

It depends. I can't really tell you that since I run 12 bit anyway, I used it for drums a few times, but now I generally use it on meloies and stuff. It's a really good mangler, you can use it subtly, but I tend to go to the extreme. I wouldn't equate it to a 60 or sp1200, but you can dial in some crazy low bit stuff. There is a lot going on in a 60 or SP 1200 giving it the sound, not just the bit depth, but with this box you have a bit crusher, resonant analog low pass filter, and distortion stage at the input (you use the input level to overdrive). Some of the nicest distortion I've ever heard.

It won't give you the SP or 60 sound, but you may be able to get close,

thanks again. I heard some of the sound demos on the frostwave sight.
It seems to add alot of flanging sound to everything. Can you adjust this? Cause i just want to give my drums more punch and more of a lo fi sound.

That's probably aliasing you're hearing. You can control it very well, you can put the filter before or after the bit reduction or eliminate it altogether, and you have 24 modes which work differently on different things. the best thing to try may be to mix a bit of the alienated signal with the original.

If you want low bit depth, and crazy grime control, it will give you that and more.