NPD: Alexander Syntax Error!

[Winston Psmith]

Where to begin?

 

I wanted to get something weird for my birthday, more particularly, something to go with the Infinite Jets. Looking for some sort of high-tech Crapulator*, I saw a nice, used Syntax Error and decided that it would more than do.

 

To start with, let's get past some of the marketing silliness. If you read the promo material, you'd think this thing was going to turn your Guitar into Ms. Pac-Man, or Super Mario Bros. with strings. Not exactly . . .

 

While you can definitely use the Syntax Error as a Glitch Box, it's not just a "chiptune" device for Guitar, it's much deeper, and much more interesting.  It can sound incredibly weird,  but it can also sound weirdly beautiful.

 

The Syntax Error has 4 onboard effects:

Stretch, which stretches and bends your input signal, much like Granular Delay. Stretch reminds me of both the Infinite Jets and the Malekko Charlie Foxtrot.

 

Cube, which is described a Cubed Distortion with a Low-Pass Filter. The LPF can get pretty squishy, more than just acting as a simple Tone Control.

 

Ring, which, not surprisingly, is a Ring Modulator with an added Sample-&-Hold Waveform. S&H modulation has a distinctive, and peculiar "random stair-step" sound to it, and it's one of my favorite LFO Waveforms to play with in my Analog Synths. You can dial back or shut off the S&H, and tune out the higher output frequencies of the Ring Mod, which makes for a much more stable sound . . . if that's what you want.

 

Freq isn't exactly what you'd expect from the name, as it's nether a Ring Mod nor a Resonant Filter. It's essentially a Pitch Shifting effect, where the degree of Pitch Shift is determined by an internal Frequency Shifter, not by fixed intervals. It's more likely to randomize than to harmonize, but it can sound very Musical.  With a bit of tweaking, you can generate some very interesting Modulation effects with Freq.

 

Like the TC Toneprint series, it has a USB port for firmware upgrades and storing or loading new presets. Yes, you can save presets on it, four just as it is, and up to 16 via MIDI. There's a Multijack In jack that accepts some MIDI-TRS controllers, but will also work with a conventional Expression Pedal.

 

It's NOT a plug-&-play device, by any means, unless you're such a sonic anarchist that you really don't care what's coming out of your rig, so long as it's bent or broken-sounding,  in which case, you have my profound respect, and we should probably meet up IRL.

 

I'm definitely going to have to spend some time with it, to fully explore its potential, but I can already say that it's exactly the companion piece I wanted for the Infinite Jets.  Originally, I'd planned on assembling an Ambient Pedalboard around the Infinite Jets, but with the addition of the Syntax Error, I'm working instead towards a sort of Anarchy Box, which I've tentatively named Pandora's Box. Right now, it includes the IJ, the Syntax Error, the Subdecay Harmonic Antagonizer, a Catalinbread Bicycle Delay, and a Boss GT-1, mostly for Delay effects. Not for the faint-hearted, nor those with Perfect Pitch.

 

*My personal term for any device that de-constructs your signal, Ring Mods, Glitch Boxes, Bit Crushers, Extreme Filter effects, that sort of thing.

[Scott Fraser]

Sounds hugely interesting. Stretch has me very intrigued. Going to do some searching & researching.

[Dannyalcatraz]

I remember seeing these a while back, and thinking it was very much a “You” kinda device.  Glad you scored one, and eagerly await your reports or recordings!

[KuruPrionz]

I wish I had that when I was in the Vortexans (the original Fresno insanity band, not the later punk band from somewhere else).

I would have run it through the nut pickup to hazardize "the notes that are wrong" which is all the nut pickup could play. 

 

I don't have any crazy pedals any more. I'd rent some if I thought I could play for thousands of people. The Vortexans headlined a show that had about 200 people in a club in Fresno. I no more than got all my insanity rig up and cooking, looked up and there were 5 people still there, counting the bar staff. Mind you, these folks had all paid $5 cover and were happily drinking beer when we started. Probably my greatest moment as a musical performer. 🤣

[Winston Psmith]

What I particularly like is the interaction among, or between, crazy pedals, Ring Mod into Resonant Filter, for example. You could spend a weekend night with those two alone.

 

There's a great degree to which I view my Guitar as a Tone Generator, providing the initial signal for me to process and play with. I long ago realized that once you'd taken up the Electric Guitar, limiting yourself to some ideal of Pure Tone was just that, imposing a needless limit on a potentially limitless means of expression.

 

Every component in an Electric Guitar rig adds some element, or influences the sound, in some way, from woods, to hardware, to cables, to Tubes or IC's or A/D/A Converters, even the power outlet on the wall. I just decided to embrace the whole range of Signal Processing, way back when. FWIW, I'm very grateful to have lived long enough to see some of the current tech, so I can explore realms of sound that would have existed solely in my imagination, otherwise.