Big Muff Hardware Plugin

roberty · September 2022

Interesting idea. Can't help thinking a Rat would be more useful in a studio context. Or even an effects loop where you can bung whatever into. But still this is a cool concept

https://www.ehx.com/products/big-muff-pi-hardware-plugin/

roberty · September 2022

Not a hit then! Probably should have posted this in recording. I'll move it

stonevibe · September 2022

I guess it will depend on how noisy it is and how it processes mono or stereo inputs. Where is the compromise? I wrote about it 2 years ago for Gearnews and again when it finally was announced. I would like to try one, but it might be a bit of a gimmick.

dangriffiths · September 2022

The UAD platform has Rat, Muff and TS as plugins - both pretty good but you obviously need the hardware

roberty · September 2022

@stonevibe I think they missed a trick by not making it an effects loop. I can see dance music nerds being into this type of Big Muff more than guitarists, I suppose it makes it more accessible to producers. It's less accessible than any normal Big Muff for guitarists

mojofilters · September 2022

roberty said:

@stonevibe I think they missed a trick by not making it an effects loop. I can see dance music nerds being into this type of Big Muff more than guitarists, I suppose it makes it more accessible to producers. It's less accessible than any normal Big Muff for guitarists

When I first saw a brief description of this along with the surprisingly high price, I assumed that some form of effects loop would be included. Ideally two loops, for both before and after the Big Muff hardware element of the interface.

I think it's still a neat idea as is, but I'd have hoped for some extra functionality given the £290 price point. They could have included some of the more esoteric digital EHX effects as software plugins, or bundled some extra 3rd party software plugin effects - at least enough for users who might just be starting out with digital recording to fully process a basic guitar track, without having to insert other effects, plugins etc after the Big Muff.

Also, maybe I'm a bit out of touch with current standards, but the use of a USB-B socket seems like it will be more annoying in use, in terms of having the right cable and spares (assuming most folks will be plugging into a regular USB input on their computer) compared with either a regular USB socket or one of the neat little USB-C types. However I may just not be up to date on the type(s) of digital sockets commonly used on the latest home studio oriented gear.

I can see how this form factor might be more appealing to dance music producers and others who incorporate a lot of electronic instruments, both hardware and software. It still seems like a lot of money for something so rudimentary and simple. I guess you are technically getting two analogue Big Muffs, though the demonstration video didn't show any way to seperate out control of each channel, to allow individual processing of two simultaneous inputs or inserts.

If I was looking to add a mono Big Muff to a relatively modest studio, I'd probably go for the added flexibility of the Big Muff pedal of my choice, plus a nice reamping box from Radial. I might even have enough change left over to buy the cheapest Behringer recording interface.

Speaking of Behringer, I'd be interested to see how cheaply they could build something similar. They could start with an existing analogue TC Electronic distortion pedal design, for example their Rat clone seems to get good reviews and would offer a nice variety of driven and distorted effects.

That circuit could then be added into the 2 by 2 model of their current popular inexpensive recording interface, or the pedal element could be retained by designing an enclosure that works both on the floor or desktop. It certainly wouldn't be the first time Behringer have borrowed some "inspiration" from a popular company building innovative equipment!

roberty · September 2022

@mojofilters I think the price is where it is to cover the cost of R&D for the analog plugin side of it. I imagine they will make a variety of these and the price will eventually come down with economy of scale

mojofilters · September 2022

roberty said:

@mojofilters I think the price is where it is to cover the cost of R&D for the analog plugin side of it. I imagine they will make a variety of these and the price will eventually come down with economy of scale

That's a fair point. I don't know enough about the technical side to understand how easy or difficult it is to develop a product like this. However with digital gear I suspect it's not always as simple as one might expect.

For example I don't know if EHX already have products that use analogue signal processing, but with all controls managed digitally. I'm quite familiar with their product line, and I can't think of an analogue pedal with a "digital brain" to borrow from Chase Bliss.

The output of the analogue element has to be converted, and then there's the hardware controls for that, before the signal is then output to the computer where there's a proprietary program that also can control the analogue processing, which also needs to work as an insert with all the different DAWs. After which the whole thing has to safely arrive back in the pedal/interface, where it needs to be able to be controlled both from the computer and via the hardware, which also needs to convert the output back into the analogue realm where it's split into monitor outs, independent headphone jack and so forth.

So having thought about it in more detail, I probably wasn't fairly accounting for all the work that needs to be completed before EHX can even build the first production unit!

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Big Muff Hardware Plugin

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