Taming a Swarm of unruly bees?

Keefy

I recently purchased a Beetronics Swarm from the esteemed @merlin of this parish. His advice to me was, 'You're going to love it or hate it.'

I love it.

Having said that, if this were a love affair it would be more flaming rows and wild sex than hearts and flowers. Sorry, bit of an OTT metaphor there!

First impressions of this pedal are that it sounds deliciously bonkers but does what the hell it likes. Second impressions are much the same. I have a mad plan to include this on an auxiliary pedal board, so I have been making a concerted effort to understand how to drive it - or at least stay seated during the sonic rodeo (sorry, another gratuitous metaphor).

(1) The side-mounted MASTER knob is straightforward enough. However, the huge volume on tap can make it tricky to set accurately, so I have ordered a much bigger knob that matches the existing middle row in style and can be foot-operated. Really!

(2) The WORKER control sets the level for the straight fuzz sound. It's either on or off, there are no player-controlled dynamics (unless you count sputtering). With QUEEN and DRONE set to minimum, the other controls become redundant. It's fun, but there's more to come.

(3) The SPECIES rotary switch selects the harmony intervals whose levels are controlled by the QUEEN and DRONE controls. I worked my way through these and found that the QUEEN is always pitched an octave above the DRONE. This table shows the relationship to the input note:


(4) The FLIGHT and STING controls are the hardest to grasp, not least because they are very interactive. FLIGHT controls the way that the harmony signal is modulated. This video kind of explains their action from about 1:38, but I intend to explore it in more depth in the coming days.

DLM

That is proper mental. Love the sounds, but think you might be needing to print this out before plugging it in:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DkgLvI2XgAIsfsy.jpg

Keefy

O.. K...

I've been spending more time with the FLIGHT and STING controls. The text accompanying the above video says:

"The FLIGHT and STING control the modulation applied to the harmonies. ... STING sets how fast or slow the harmonies will follow your playing. Turn it CCW for it to feel like the harmonies sting you at every note you play. Turn it CW and the harmonies will sound like a drunk bee hovering up and down around the root. FLIGHT will set the response of the modulation. CCW the harmonies will keep it oscillating up and down, while CW it will glide and hold from one note to the next."

This seems to apply only to the actual harmonies (SPECIES 1, 3, 4, 5, 7), not to unison and octave settings, which is handy when you don't want the note to bomb downwards when it cuts off.

I will be trying the Swarm at rehearsals this week. I anticipate I may end up pissing off the keyboard player...

Keefy

That's not a knob:


THIS is a knob:

Keefy

I am still trying to get to grips with the Flight and Sting controls. I spent a while making an Excel sheet of various settings, and I feel I am somewhat closer to understanding what it's doing. The trouble is, another factor is the pitch of the note you're playing!

Anyway, I revisited an old home recording of the intro to Gold on the Ceiling by the Black Keys, and used it to replace a part previously recorded via the 'Zorgan' sound of a Zoom MS50G:

Keefy

I never did tame those bees but I have used the pedal on a gig. My Bowie tribute has added Scary Monsters to the set and the other guitarist (who takes most of the leads) was struggling with Fripp’s loony second solo. I volunteered to take it on, but instead of trying to match Fripp I picked a setting with a harmony note a perfect 5th above. On a regular harmoniser this would be nothing special, but the trained bees inside the Swarm create glissandos as they try to track your playing. It sounded completely fucked-up, but in a good way.

Greatape

Keefy said:

That's not a knob:


THIS is a knob:

I am definitely impressed by your massive knob, sir. Kudos. 

Keefy

Greatape said:

Keefy said:

That's not a knob:


THIS is a knob:

I am definitely impressed by your massive knob, sir. Kudos. 

Why thank you Mr Ape!