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- <article>
- <h1>A Tour de Chorus</h1>
- <p>I&#39;ve been talking a lot about chorus on my mastodon, like, A LOT.
- So I thought it would be fun to explore my chorus pedals a bit and
- present this information in some shareable way, since no one wants to
- listen to 18 minutes of audio in a row.</p>
- <h2>What&#39;s on display</h2>
- <p>So I have three chorus pedals to show off today:</p>
- <ul>
- <li>Boss CE-20</li>
- <li>Warlus Audio Julia</li>
- <li>Multivox CB-1 Chorus Box</li>
- </ul>
- <h2>The other gear</h2>
- <p>I will be playing each of these pedals through my THR-100HD (see
- <a href="/blog/music/2023-01-06/"
- rel="me noopener"
- target="_blank">my previous music blog post</a> in which I deep dive a
- bit into this amp). It&#39;s running on the crunch channel, just at
- the edge of breakup, with little to no reverb.</p>
- <p>As for guitar - I am using my Reverend Descent RA Baritone.</p>
- <h2>The demos</h2>
- <p>For each of these demos I will be playing the same loop (mostly). I
- recorded a loop into my Boss RC-3 to remove any playing bias towards the
- more warbely chorus tones, and to make it easier for me! Each demo is
- about 48s long (depending on how good my trimming was). I added a bit of
- EQ in post to cut out some digital hum introduced when pairing my CE-20
- with my RC-3 so sorry about that...</p>
- <p>Let&#39;s start with the clean tone:</p>
- <figure>
- <audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/clean.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href="/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/clean.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>This loop is something I had been noodling on all week, while on
- my chorus kick. I feel it&#39;s actually a decent demo because it calls
- on a lot of classic chorus sounds. Individually picked notes, bright open
- strings, and then at the end some Nirvana-like dark power chord picking.
- All classic chorus sounds to me.
- <h3>CE-20</h3>
- <p>Next we can go through the CE-20. The CE-20 has 4 modes we&#39;ll be
- demoing, but there are a total of 6. We are demoing the &quot;Rich&quot;,
- &quot;Standard&quot;, &quot;Dimensional D&quot;, and &quot;CE-1&quot;
- settings. I skipped the &quot;Acoustic&quot; and &quot;Bass&quot;
- settings as they&#39;ve always felt like some slight EQ on the
- &quot;standard&quot; mode.</p>
- <h4>Standard</h4>
- <p>We can start with &quot;Standard&quot; as it&#39;s the most &quot;boss
- chorus&quot;. Though I personally feel it lacks a bit of the bite the
- CE-1 and CE-2 offer. But it wouldn&#39;t surprise me if
- &quot;Standard&quot; was just a CE-2.</p>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CE-20 Standard Mode - Rate 10 o&#39;clock, Depth 2 o&#39;clock
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-standard-r10-d2.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-standard-r10-d2.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CE-20 Standard Mode - Rate 2 o&#39;clock, Depth 10 o&#39;clock
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-standard-r2-d10.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-standard-r2-d10.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <h4>Rich</h4>
- <p>Let&#39;s compare this with the &quot;Rich&quot; mode. And keep in
- mind the only settings I will be changing between these CE-20 modes is
- the rate and depth. There is actually quite a bit of tone controlling you
- get in the CE-20. But I generally keep those fairly static based on my
- guitar and amp settings, and for the purposes of these demos are
- static.</p>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CE-20 Rich Mode - Rate 10 o&#39;clock, Depth 2 o&#39;clock
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-rich-r10-d2.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-rich-r10-d2.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <h4>Dimensional D</h4>
- <p>This mode is a recreation of the SDD-320 Dimension D effects unit,
- later made into the Boss DC-2. This effect is one of my favorite
- choruses. It&#39;s so unique. On the CE-20 there are 7 modes: 1 - 4, as
- well as 3 &quot;combo&quot; modes: 1+4, 2+4, and 3+4. These map directly
- to their SDD-320 counterparts, which also let you stack the modes
- together. This really shines in stereo, but since the Julia is mono, I
- felt it&#39;s only fair to use these how I use them on my board.</p>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CE-20 Dimensional D Mode - Mode 3
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-dimensional-d-3.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-dimensional-d-3.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CE-20 Dimensional D Mode - Mode 4
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-dimensional-d-4.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-dimensional-d-4.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CE-20 Dimensional D Mode - Mode 3+4
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-dimensional-d-3-4.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-dimensional-d-3-4.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <p>These are always so cool to hear. When you get into the combo modes
- you start getting more &quot;chorus&quot; and less just
- &quot;width/movement&quot;. But these are interesting to listen to
- compared to the clean. There is subtle differences - but they&#39;re
- there! It&#39;s almost like it is now less stark and smoother. Like the
- notes are lathered in butter, mmm!</p>
- <h4>CE -1</h4>
- <p>Okay, now on to the real show, the CE-1. Not much to say about this
- one. It&#39;s a CE-1, you have an &quot;intensity&quot; knob, and
- it&#39;s so rich. The delay rate is much slower than you would expect,
- almost logarithmic. But when you get past noon it starts to get quite
- seasick.<br>
- <small><em>Editors note: 7 o&#39;clock may be a bit higher than 7. None
- of these pedals have freaking numbers on their knobs, so it&#39;s all a
- guess. But it&#39;s a bit up from off</em></small></p>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CE-20 CE-1 Mode - Intensity 7 o&#39;clock
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-ce-1-7oclock.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-ce-1-7oclock.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CE-20 CE-1 Mode - Intensity 10 o&#39;clock
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-ce-1-10oclock.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/ce-20-ce-1-10oclock.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <h3>Multivox CB-1 Chorus Box</h3>
- <p>The Multivox CB-1 Chorus Box is a CE-1 clone, according to the gear
- page, it&#39;s literally just the same circuit and components. I got my 5
- years ago because, well, I love chorus. Currently, a part of my rack unit
- to be used with my synths, this chorus is just so smooth. But the biggest
- trouble is dialing in the right level. You&#39;ll notice for the CB-1
- demos it&#39;s a different demo recording. I had to move my setup and I
- accidentally wiped the RC-3. But because the CB-1 can be a bit tricky to
- dial in, it&#39;s a bit quieter than the other demo tracks. But the level
- control is one of my favorites, as it can add some crunch to the tone on
- the peaks, adding a lot of flavor. I am running my guitar through the
- &quot;hi&quot; input, because it gives me a bit more play with the input
- level.</p>
- <h4>Chorus</h4>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CB-1 Chorus Mode - Intensity 7 o&#39;clock
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-7oclock.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href="/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-7oclock.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CB-1 Chorus Mode - Intensity 10 o&#39;clock
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-10oclock.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href="/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-10oclock.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CB-1 Chorus Mode - Intensity 2 o&#39;clock
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-2oclock.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href="/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-2oclock.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <h4>Vibrato</h4>
- <p>While this is mono, so it&#39;s acting like a straight vibrato. When
- playing in stereo this creates it&#39;s own chorus, the stereo outs are
- &quot;dry&quot; and &quot;wet&quot;. This differs from the CE-1 chorus
- too, so it&#39;s like 2 chorus pedals in one. These demos are in
- mono.</p>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CB-1 Vibrato Mode - Rate 10 o&#39;clock, Depth 2 o&#39;clock
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-vibrato-d2-r10.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-vibrato-d2-r10.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CB-1 Vibrato Mode - Rate 2 o&#39;clock, Depth 10 o&#39;clock
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-vibrato-d10-r2.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-vibrato-d10-r2.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <h4>CB-1 Off with Level Boost</h4>
- <p>The CB-1 when over driven (just by the guitar itself) gets really warm
- crunch to signal, and it&#39;s a lot of fun. I usually run my Model D
- through this and I love it.</p>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- CB-1 Off - Level to a point where when I dig in it clips heavily
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-off-with-level.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/cb-1-off-with-level.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <h3>Walrus Audio Julia</h3>
- <p>I picked up the Julia because it&#39;s such a versatile chorus: giving
- you control over the rate, depth, lag, waveform, and mix. This lets you
- craft basically ANY chorus sound you want. Exploring sounds, I&#39;ve
- noticed the major limiter being the rate. The Julia is just SO fast. Even
- at min rate, it&#39;s still faster than like 1/3 of the Boss rates. But
- the sounds are still amazing!</p>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- Julia - Triangle Wave, Rate 7 o&#39;clock, Depth 2 o&#39;clock, Lag 3
- o&#39;clock, Mix 12 o&#39;clock (chorus)
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/julia-chorus-1.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href="/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/julia-chorus-1.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- Julia - Sine Wave, Rate 10 o&#39;clock, Depth 2 o&#39;clock, Lag 9
- o&#39;clock, Mix 12 o&#39;clock (chorus)
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/julia-chorus-2.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href="/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/julia-chorus-2.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- Julia - Sine Wave, Rate 9 o&#39;clock, Depth 3 o&#39;clock, Lag 9
- o&#39;clock, Mix 12 o&#39;clock (chorus)
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/julia-chorus-3.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href="/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/julia-chorus-3.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <figcaption>
- Julia - Triangle Wave, Rate 8 o&#39;clock, Depth 12 o&#39;clock, Lag
- 12 o&#39;clock, Mix 5 o&#39;clock (vibrato, max)
- </figcaption><audio controls=""><source src=
- "/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/julia-vibrato.mp3">
- <p>Download <a href="/blog/music/2023-03-18/audio/julia-vibrato.mp3"
- rel="me noopner"
- target="_blank">MP3</a></p></audio>
- </figure>
- <h2>Thoughts</h2>
- <p>Realistically? I love every single one of these choruses. It&#39;s
- such an amazing effect, and I was messing around with the dirty channel
- too, which still sounded great! The CB-1 was by no means a steal, but
- it&#39;s my favorite chorus tone. But it comes with some quirks being a
- late 70, early 80s device. The CE-20 is amazing but very much a &quot;mid
- 00s digital pedal&quot; giving some of that digital-ness to it,
- especially when mixing with other digital pedals. I&#39;m sure you heard
- the high pitched wine in the background. I EQ&#39;d it out, but it&#39;s
- there, and it bothers me. I think getting a CE-2w would give me a lot of
- the options I want from this, without those digital artifacts. The CE-20
- would be perfect if it had a vibrato mode, given the CE-1 has one, and
- really make it the perfect all-in-one. But given I&#39;ve had this pedal
- for at least 12 years (probably closer to 13. I can dig out the box and
- see if I kept the receipt). I got in in college as my first ever chorus.
- I was enamoured with it. I&#39;d be on my board today if it wasn&#39;t so
- big. The Julia is the perfect multi-tool chorus, and I&#39;ve been really
- happy with it. But it lacks that really SLOW rate that the Boss pedals
- have, making it a BIT harder to really dial in the CE-1 tones.</p>
- <p>I joked on mastodon that I was did this to convince myself I don&#39;t
- NEED a CE-2w or DC-2w...and now I want them even more!</p>
- </article>
- <div id="footer">
- <i>March 18, 2023</i>
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