Review: Mooer Lo-Fi Machine
Video here.
Apart from the crazy high-end stuff like the Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl, it sort of seems like chorus as an effect is out of vogue at the moment; you don’t really see it on other players’ boards and you don’t hear it on records. However - and perhaps this says more about the kind of pretentious music that I listen to than anything else - it seems like at the same time ring modulation is very much ‘in’, both in the sense of a ring-mod pedal and in the poorly-tracked, bitcrushed noises that older Whammy and pitch-shift pedals generate in the one and two-octave up positions.
Anyway, if you’re on a budget and looking for a dramatic effect without the bells and whistles of the EHX Ring Thing, Zvex mega-pedals or price of the EQD Bit Commander, then the Lo-Fi Machine is a good option at a low price point. Simply put - it does one thing, and does it well.
Like other effects of this type, it responds very strongly to changes in picking dynamics, pickups, intonation et cetera, so it’s hard to give one-size-fits-all advice about getting a good sound with it; however, given there’s only three control knobs on offer, it hardly requires a manual to navigate.
Pushing the three-way switch up to synth seems to generate the most dramatic effects, then it’s simply a case of adjusting the sample rate and mix to taste. I’ve found that when switching guitars or pickups I’ve needed to move the bit control in order to find the sweet spot, but other than that, it’s all very self-explanatory. Compared to other ring modulators, it definitely feels somewhat more like a Game Boy noise generator rather than a classic ring mod - something that may or may not appeal to you - and especially when paired up with a pitch shift pedal, the results are gloriously retro.
Though it can be used for subtle effects, that’s not really its forte, and it’s probably going to appeal mostly to guitarists who have the space to experiment with more out-there sounds, such as those in instrumental or math-rock bands. It’s hard to see how a more straight-up alt-rock player, say, could use it anywhere but in a solo or song intro, but that may be a false assumption.
To conclude: cheap, cheerful, radical.
