This little machine can perform magnificent miracles! I’m serious! ER-1 is very capable and for about $250 bucks you get – 4 Indi Outputs, Tremolo, Vibrato, Filter effects, Chorus Flange Modulation, Stuttering individual parts, EQ, sequence manipulation, pattern manipulation, Melodies and leads, Gated Effects, Effects processor, dual delay, compression, distortion, and the list goes on and on!!!! And best of all, all these tricks can be done live simultaneously by the ER-1 By itself!!! (well most of them anyways.) Please put these tricks to use!!!

Every singe limitation on this machine can be overcome! I wanted indi out, but Er-1 had only 3 outputs (L-R-H). But I thought hmmm. I found a way to make the ER-1 a 4-indi audio output machine:)

This is what you do (my example), you need 2 regular trs(MONO male-to-male 4th" cables) and one Insert Patch cable (Stereo male-to-(2)MONO male) Patch output 'L' into MONO input '1' of your mixer... output 'R' to input '2'... Headphone (L2-R2) socket outputs to mixer input '3' and '4'. And vwhalla you separated the ER-1 into four input channels.

"BUT WAIT" you must be asking yourself "it will sound the same anyways", oh I’m not done yet, When customizing your ER-1 Parts and Patterns, Pan Synth Part 1 Hard Left, Part 2 Hard Left, Part 3 Hard Right, Part 4 Hard Right, Input’s Left and or Right, or in-between, and I stress that you Put the Clap and HH sections to the same location(either HARD Left or RIGHT)

(Example)

Now you should dedicate programmed Parts as follows

PART1: Your Low end Kick Section PART2: Misc. Bass or Bass Effect Section PART3: Snare Section PART4: Misc. Snare layer or Midrange Effect Section INPUTS: Up to you HH/CP: Up to you

NOW EQ Input Channel '1' of your mixer with a boost around 80hz (about 5-10~ Db, how much Rattling bass do you want?) and start cutting off frequencies above 180-200 Hz (-15-~) this will be your Dedicated ER-1 Kick and Bass Input Channel :) Hard Pan Part 1 and 2 LEFT

Input '2' will be your Snare Channel Cut off Freq range above 2.6-4Kh (-15 - ~) and below 300 HZ (-15 - ~) Clap and Snare Is strong and distinguished in the 1.5kh-2kz Range. This will (hopefully) silence or nullify the High Hat sounds from appearing in the snare Signal. :) HARD/PAN Part 3 and 4 and Clap Right

Mixer INPUT '3' would be your HH/Crash Channel, Eq. all frequencies below say 4.5-6 HZ to (-15 - ~) This way BASS/Snare Sounds won’t leak (too noticeably) into the HH channel, but clap sound may still Leak thru, but that’s ok :) Memo: Make sure you PAN the HH/CR Section the same direction as the BASSKICK (PART1/2 SECTION)

Now for mixer Input '4' This Will be your Global ER-1 Sound - Just leave EQ alone (+/- 0 Db) Use this channel to blend the other ER-1 channels.

With this setup you are free to Apply effects such as Distortion/ Reverb/ Delay/ Modulation etc to the individual ER-1 sounds and or Globally Simultaneously. You may Also Adjust all the levels of each parameter as you choose and pan them anywhere in the stereo field. (EG Distorted Bass To the left, Snare AutoPan Delay, and Reverbed HH sounds) All in this assuming you have some form of external Hardware. You can even use Guitar Stomper Pedals for each ER-1 output for more fun :)

If you with to use the ER-1 delay Feature, I stress that you Solo only designated parts (Bass, Snare, HH sections) before tweaking Delay on ER-1.

There are also some Dynamic tricks. To do a Global Tremolo on the ER-1, Just Play with the master Volume knob, and Twist it to the rhythm at regular Intervals. Yes this sounds Really Phat in the Mix when you Switch To Full Volume to SILENCE to Half Volume To Silence to Full Volume to Silence To Half Volume again, at 1/8th Note Intervals. You can Create Awesome Rhythm Variations this way, as it will make it sound like a different Drumbeat:)

If you want to do a manual Expander, Compressor Trick, Sorta same as the Dynamics Trick above, But keep your Volume about 3/4ths the way from Full volume, and At Beat Stresses (Typically Count 2 and 4) Move to full Volume then back down to 3/4 Volume again. For pumping compressor effect, Move From Full Volume to Half volume Quickly During the Strong Beats then back to full volume on weak beats. This is a very cool effect but takes some time and practice to master. Try It NOW! Its badass once you get the hang of it.

Don’t think bass Kick sounds don’t Sound Punchy Enough? Well you can get the ultimate Grungy HARD HARD TRANCE or even DnB Kick By making a Typical Kick on the right but Move the low end knob toward the Middle position and Pitch knob about 9 o'clock or so. And Ring Modulate it with Part 2' Part 2 should have a noise Waveform With Pitch All the way to Zero position and Play with the MOD Depth setting a Bit, and Make Noise Speed In the mid range, BOOST the PART 2 LOW boost to Maximum, Nuff sed :)

Tired of hearing the same pitch sound in a sequence? Create Tight Baselines! Activate your Sequencer CC# to control the Pitch of your would be bassline. Each Increment of CC# y x (1-127) obviously sound like half steps (but some steps are quarter tone also). Set your ER-1 to slave mode to receive CONTROLER information. And think of a Sequence of a bassline. Click TRIGGERMODE motion sequence and Convert Notes of a bassline relative to the numbers of the CC, right now I cant think of the CC codes, but its in your Midi Interpitation for your sequencer (I hope). Say for instance you want a drop from (C# QUARTERNOTE QUARTER NOTE QUARTERNOTE to F# QUARTERNOTE) you would transmit numbers 04 for 12x16th notes to 11 for 4x16thnotes. If you find this too confusing just don’t worry about it, you can still get great basslines by trial and error using TRIGGER motion sequence recording the Pitch movement.

If you wish to create a modulating chorus/flanging effect select SMOOTH Motion Sequence for Delay Part and Fix the Delay Depth to about 3/4ths the way. And as sequence is moving twist the time knob from 0-about 1/10th the way at a regular temp interval.

TREMOLO:

Smooth Motion Sequence applied to the AMP level part (or pan for that matter)

Stuttering Effects:

Record with TRIGGER Motion Sequence. Record Amp level movement at 20 BPM, and Continuously Move from 0 to Regular Volume Back to Zero back to Regular Level and so on.

Put them Square/ SAWtooth/ Triangle Waves to use! I don’t know how to say this... hmm damn I should be a fucking magazine review editor, cuz when I read magazine reviews on this thing, they only scratch the surface of the thing

If you have any trouble with your ER-1 performance wise, drop me an email and maybe at a later time I can share more tricks. Me to tired now...

If you want to ear MY ER-1 in action cheat out my music (link at botom) its my main drummachine and it accounts for almost %90 of my drum arsonal, you wont beleive your ears.

-- Miek

-- Mp3.com/miek