One of the many reasons why I love using pedals and effects is because of their ability to enhance even the most inexpensive, ordinary instrument and make them sound extraordinary. Click on this link to hear what happens when you put a cheap Yamaha keyboard that has been circuit bent (I bought the Yamaha for $80.00) through Fairfield Circuitry’s Randy’s Revenge Ring Modulator. I love this one and use it more than my Moog Moogerfooger ring modulator. It is more musical, to my ears, than the industry standard Moog.

In this example, once I get the loop going, all I do to manipulate the sound is turn the frequency knob on the Fairfield. The circuit bent circuitry on the Yamaha keyboard only gets introduced at the end. I could have sat there for hours, manipulating the loop and playing a few notes on the keyboard to hear what happens to the tone of the note as it hits the ring modulator.  After a few minutes, I got so excited that I grabbed my laptop, threw down the loop, grabbed my bass and then blasted out a bass solo (I had a bass line but I thought I should save it for a future project).

What I really want to convey in this post is that, although I play bass, I spend as much time with my pedals and effects on other instruments as I do my my own. Some pedals work equally well on bass, guitars, keyboards and drum machines so the point is to experiment and see what you can create.  The Fairfield is a great example of this because it sounds great on every instrument I own.  One thing I can assure you is there is always a use for any pedal- you just have to find its compliment and the music will follow.

Please check out my other Soundcloud audio samples. Your feedback is appreciated.

Juan