This is a general purpose analog effects box combining several separate high quality effects. This includes two tape saturation emulators, a delay, a phaser, a spring reverb and two LFOs to control all this. This is set up for experimentation too, for instance the Phaser circuit uses an LDR (light dependent resistor) that you can distort with the addition of an external light source.
It’s now available for order. 400€.
This is the first of a series the “Arkive Effects” from Finegear. You might think of this compared to the Dreadbox Hypnosis or the KOMA Elektronik Field Kit FX.
Finegear’s website:
Article at.Sonic State:
This was mentioned earlier in Elektronaut threads on Superbooth 2019 and 2020.
I’m surprised more hadn’t been said of this box. It’s super affordable considering there’s a physical spring reverb inside of it, as well as two LFOs for modulating the phaser, delay and reverb. I’m tempted, but want to hear more of the two tape saturation emulators.
I agree though, the videos aren’t the best. I think routing a groovebox or modular into the individual inputs would be pretty great.
I’ve been considering the Vermona Retroverb Lancet recently because of the delicious spring reverb, but it costs almost as much as this does and is a lot less flexible.
It is great value any of these individual analog effects could cost the same.
I would have liked it if they had put an Envelope Follower instead of an LFO. Maybe one day devices like this will come with little Function Generators that can be configured as LFOs, envelopes and envelope followers.
Does it say anywhere how many stages the phaser has? Or minimum delay time?
They are planning more gear in their Arkive Effects line, an Envelope Follower would make a lot of sense as a part of another unit.
This seems like one of those kind of things that you need to use for a while to really get a feel for. There is character and a particular sound that comes with each of the parts, so you really need to experience it with your own music.
I just bought The Dust Collector. Sort of an impulse buy (which, for whatever reason, I’m susceptible to this time of year) but I have high hopes for its usefulness. It is hard to tell from the demos online about the tape saturation circuits but from what I can tell it sounds like you can dial in a fairly subtle distortion, which is what I have been in search of especially for vocals and synths. Who knows how long shipping will take but I will report back when I have had a chance to put it through it’s paces.
Thanks for sharing this video. It shows off a lot of the possibilities of this thing. In particular, it seems to show off a lot of the sound mangling it is capable of. I am wondering if it will also be capable of sounding good just as a set it and forget it effect. In particular, I’m hoping the tape saturation and spring reverb are going to sound good in that way, although I am excited about the experimentation this thing seems geared toward as well. I am still waiting for mine to arrive but hopefully my questions will be answered sooner rather than later. Anyone have a Dust Collector yet? I’m curious what other people’s firsthand impressions are.
How can it not be great to just set and forget ? Especially if you set up something with a little modulation whether using the built-in LFO, or very especially if you use an external CV modulation like maybe an envelope from a monosynth that you are affecting and playing.
I’m curious about the phaser and using an external light source to modulate it. For instance there’s a new device that generates light either randomly, or from MIDI control from Instruments of Things. It’s really inexpensive, and does both light input and especially for this – light output.
I bought it after seeing HainBach using it, Was falling in love with de DreadBox Hypnosis, but then after digging a bit deeper I stumbled on the Dust Collector, witch seems to have much more value for money. The are some videos on youtube, but nothing that blows my mind, I think Hainbach showed more de possibilities, the tape saturations are a bit disappointing, I couldn’t hear it, its very subtile. But I like the possibilities of CV and the routing options, Wish that there was a stereo output in it, but for the price I understand it. I will hook it up to my RD-8 drummachine
It seems its not having the kickstart, I guess this will be a Niche? The first 100 are sold out, So I had to place an pre-order. The ship mid February. Until then I hope to get some more examples/videos. here are some i found on youtube.
I barely could hear anything as well. Real tape saturation is going to be frequency dependent and be more artifact than effect so i’m hoping the DC will have some qualities with other inputs.
Hainbach explains why It is subtile, but to overdrive this effect is what many of us would like to do.
when you use them both, on max, it gives the distorted sound what I like
In the DC manual in the Tape Saturation section (page 7) it says:
DIY tip: The schematics for the Tape Saturations are based on five pairs of diodes. The Dust Collector uses one pair of 1N4148 and four pairs of 1N60 diodes. Different diode models can be mixed and matched for (slightly) different saturation effects.
Actually all the various DIY tips in the manual are very interesting – i definitely see this as an experimenters platform.
ADDED: I haven’t found a schematic yet, i’m wondering if these might be very tame diode ladder filters ?
I am still waiting on mine. I ordered it in late November so I’m hoping it arrives soon. I’ve never had something shipped from Romania (to the states) so I am not sure how long it takes. I agree the tape saturation is pretty subtle. For me that is probably a good thing. I want something that adds just a bit of juice to the sound without being overbearing. But I am very curious how it sounds to feed one tape saturation into the other. I’m hoping that approach will add a little more bite when needed. Overall I love the design. It seems to be laid out in a really intelligent way. It is just a waiting game to actually see how it works in my set up. I will definitely post something as soon as it arrives.
