Bo0tsy

My list would change daily as I always have music on in the background whilst I'm working. I've been doing a lot of digging in the crates of old some pretty obscure old funk and jazz and break beats recently as well as some newer stuff... Lonnie Smith - Spinning Wheel Labi Siffre - I Got The... Kleeer - Intimate Connection Bernard Wright - Haboglabotripin' A Tribe Called Quest - Jazz (We've Got) Medline - Tiens le an mouvement Thundercat - Show You The Way Apache - Incredible Bongo Band George and Gwen McCrae - The Rub Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves the Sunshine Edit: And here's a playlist...

The Micro-Tron is pretty much a Mu-Tron III in a 9v small package. If you liked the original you'd definitely like the Micro-Tron. I like the MXR very much too, (as I do most filters 😂), but it's band-pass and up sweep only and sounds quite different from a Mu-Tron IMO.

Yes, that's definitely the case with the Micro Tron III and IV. Whilst I don't find it difficult to dial in either the up or downsweep, having it as a footswitch is a strange decision. I have both original Musitronics Mu-Tron III's and a Mu-Tron 3x and for both of these the up/down drive switch is all you need to flip to change direction, with little else in the way of adjustment, so it is possible. Both the Musitronics and Mu-Fx versions are much bigger though so wonder if this is part of the circuit that they had to sacrifice as they couldn't squeeze it into the Micro-Tron? The Micro-Tron is a killer filter regardless though.

The Matryoshka is definitely usable as a mini sized synth IMO. If you crank the Out2 yes it gets pretty out there, but dial back on Out2, dial in the Out1 and add some Blend and there's some great sounds in it. There's a distortion setting too, though it's pretty synthy, glitchy sounding. Amazon are selling the Bananana pedals now too, so if you don't like it you can always send it back

Two of my favourites (Artists and Envelope Filters) new and old: New: Thundercat using a Moog MF-101 LPF... Old: Bootsy with a trusty Mu-Tron III

I can vouch that the Mu-Tron Micro-Tron is excellent and excels at finger style funk. It's pretty flexible and has a lovely slightly dirty quack. It's incredibly close in tone to an original vintage Mu-Tron III. The MXR BEF is ever so slightly smaller and has a nice rubbery snap to it too. No Downsweep though and you really need that blend control to thicken up your sound as it is bandpass only. I wasn't a huge fan of the Proton v1 (I found it to be an anaemic sounding Mu-Tron clone) but suspect 3Leaf has improved it since then. I tried the Fwonkbeta a few months ago and it sounds great with all the settings maxed, but less good at subtler sounds. It's digital but it sounds analogue and filthy. In lower settings you can also potentially blow your speakers with some of the lows it can output. Up sweep only too. If you are looking to go even smaller than that then your choices are a bit limited. There's the 1590a sized Mooer Bass Sweeper which is a Bassballs clone and the Mooer Envelope Analogue Auto Wah. Both sound pretty decent on bass, but don't expect them to sound like a Mu-Tron or Moog or be particularly flexible! 😆 Also the harder to find Malekko Envelope filter which sounds pretty good if a bit limited. Other than those I've not found any 1590a sized filters that really bring the funk.

Sorry Peter I missed that part. I just read about it in the new Micro-Tron IV user guide on the Mu-Tron site. https://www.mu-tron.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Micro-Tron-IV_Quickstart-Guide_v1.pdf Not clear if the 3 Mu-Opto mod cards (Blue/Red/Gold) have to be purchased separately or if all three advertised come with the IV, or how each of them differ in their set up. That also doesn't look like a quick process to change over Opto-mods. I have to say (and I'm a huge fan of Mu-Tron) this approach seems a little anachronistic.

The 3x does have a internal control to adjust the sweep range and attack speed however they are calibrated to be the exact same settings as the original Mu-Tron III and Mike Beigel recommended not to change it, so I've never messed with mine. The Micro Tron III is set to the same as the middle of the trimpot value of the 3x but there's no option to adjust it. There is an internal jumper to switch from Mu-Tron III or Tru-Tron 3x settings and they do sound different (Tru-Tron setting is slightly cleaner and has bit more 'oomph')

Yes I'd seen it thanks @Quatschmacher (I subscribe to their newsletter 😂). I'm not in any rush to buy the IV, other than their new in house opto-couplers and a standard CV input (but I don't really use the Mu-Tron with expression pedals) I can't see there's a significant amount of difference from the III. I personally would have been more interested if they'd put in additional controls for attack and decay speed, and putting the Mu-Tron III/Tru-Tron 3x jumper switch on the outside of the casing. Here's the blurb from their newsletter and some news on other future pedal plans... The new Micro-Tron IV is based upon the award winning Micro-Tron III and improves it with our very own MU Opto-Mod technology. These are some new parts which we have developed to be direct replacements for the original Musitronics Mu-Tron which are no longer made. We are very pleased with the amazing sound and the consistency of these devices. In the near future we will offer swappable options for even more curve control of your Microtron. Another feature is standard CV input to accept an expression pedal such as the Dunlop DVP4 without modification! Furthermore, you can send envelope control voltage to other units such as the Phasor III and Bi-Phase pedals. The Microtron IV will be available on 11/25 at 11am PST. Also on this new platform we have been developing the new Bi-Phase II, the modern, streamlined version of the historic BiPhase. About a quarter of the size of the original units, the BP2 will also employ the MU Opto-Mod, technology for better calibration, tighter tolerance and swappable character control. New features like 4/6 stage and CV OUT will open up even more possibilities. The unit is more pedalboard friendly as it routes the signal from right to left and can run off 9V DC power. We are pretty excited for this one and we know you guys are too. Next up is the Boostron II. This amazingly transparent gain box just makes the world a better place. Based upon the same power section as the Microtron and Octavider, the Boostron II will have a choice of 3 classic preamp boost circuits. The Blaster is a JFET-based boost circuit from the legendary Stratoblaster. The Ranger is the Transistor-based boost circuit of the Dan Armstrong Red Ranger manufactured by Musitronics MU-TRON. Finally, the MU is something that kind of existed before: The sound of your guitar running through a Vintage Mu-Tron in bypass mode. Since they were not true bypass, the gain stage would bleed through the effect and do magical things to your subsequent pedals and amplifier. On the other footswitch there is a dedicated Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer compressor with squeeze and level controls. Running at the higher voltage, this compressor is so amazingly quiet that you may just leave it on. Last in line is the Octavider+. Octave and Fuzz make such a fine pair and since a lot of folks may not use the bass-only feature of the Octavider, we figured “what the heck.” There are so many different fuzz circuits, but for historical purposes and general usability, we decide to marry the MXR Distortion+ and the Dan Armstrong Blue Clipper. After some tinkering, we came up with a hybrid diode/LED circuit running at the same high voltage as the Octavider. With a single fuzz knob and a dedicated footswitch, the effect may be controlled by the volume knob on the guitar and may be used independently of the Octave effect. Turn on the octave, blend in some Green Ringer, engage the fuzz……... KILLER analog fun. Thank you for your continued support of MU-TRON!

@Quatschmacher those new v3 patches sound great. The Fwilter Tin and Boot Z 1 & 2 patches prove there are strong envelope filter sounds in the FI!!. I really like the Rootless patch too, great work 👍

Reads well and is understandable to me Q (which is saying something! 😂)

Whilst I'm overall really impressed with the sounds you can get out of the Spectrum, that Mu-Tron patch doesn't sound all that much like a Mu-Tron to me, it doesn't have the dirty quack and the decay isn't the same. Maybe you can fine tune it? I heard a few really good Moog MF101 emulations out of the C4 previously so it's probably likely those sounds are in there somewhere.

You can program the Chunk Octavius Squeezer on the fly too, but you need to seriously understand synthesis to do so.

I think the vintage Musitronics/Mu-Tron effects would apply here. If they weren't used by so many pro musicians I doubt the vintage units would reach the prices they do today. Mu-Tron III - Bootsy/Parliament/Funkadelic/Eddie Hazel/Stevie Wonder/Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia/ Flea / George Duke / various 70's funk musicians Octave Divider - Sly and the Family Stone/Larry Graham Bi-Phase - Smashing Pumpkins

Yes completely. I tend to play a lot of funk and through a lot of effects with these. That said, I also play funk with my "normal" shaped Warwick Corvette$$! 🤩

Cheers @Al Krow🤩. The Chunk is an excellent envelope filter. A little tricky to dial in with sensitive controls, especially the down sweep. Very wet and squelchy compared to most if not all other envelope filters. Most similar sounding to an IE Xerograph Deluxe or the even rarer Frostwave Funk-a-Duck. If you can find a Brown Dog gated fuzz to go with it, or an Octavius Squeezer, it is synth heaven.

Of the two I actually liked the sound of the Wonderlove better. Both filters sounded pretty subtle in that demo. I wonder if the Wonderlove or the Chromatron get any wilder than that? I like my envelope filters pretty unruly 🤣.

I'd be keen to hear your comparison of these filters. I didn't think there was much in the way of decent sounding (on bass) 1590a sized envelope filter, but it sounds like you've got a few promising ones on the way

Turkuaz's Digitonium album is well worth checking out too.

I buy a lot less bass gear than I used too. I think all I've bought are two pedals this year and they were both envelope filters that admittedly I didn't really need, but was curious about. That doesn't stop me wanting to spraff about new gear though and see what else is out there... I'm just not really gassing for anything currently. I love the gear I've got and have been instead focussing on improving my playing and learning new songs, which is kind of refreshing (for me anyway).