Sounded like recordings of miced amp. My suggestion for table top guitar processor is AMT SS-11b pedal. Its tube preamp with clean crunch gain channelss and has cabinet sim output which actually sounds Really good! Check it out
Thanks for demoing those guitar sounds. Gives me a really good idea of what the different distortion circuits sound like. I think I can get away with using a bunch of distortion pedals I've got laying around! But def would love to snag one of these units one day! Thanks, loopop!
Hi, an idea for a follow up video : Use the cue out of Octatrack into AH to use it to spice up whole tracks, resample them and then use different settings on the next one. The whole last link in the chain approach is limiting it to a mix effect which i find too intense in all videos i have seen. But using it as a send/insert is pure gold :)
Thanks for this extensive demo! As always :) With the guitar section I believe you should have adjusted the input sensitivity in settings, because the input seemed to be around 50% and you hardly pushed the various circuits with it.
Is it pricy? Yes, you get 8 stereo distortion circuits in total but it is the mod matrix, envelope follower, filters and freq panning, EQ and other features that make it much more deep and useful. You can buy secondhand mk1's for a decent price now anyway. Pairs nicely with my digital and digitone - love it. Loopop, thanks for this review, learned a bunch of new tricks.
In my opinion, the Analog Heat is like a big, fancy and expensive guitar pedal. Sure, it's great quality item and probably sounds unique, but for the price it would want to be!
That would be 16 different guitar pedals for the 8 stereo drives(not many stereo guitar drive pedals) plus a stereo filter pedal, with envelope follower, LFO, and EQ pedal, Only this is midi controllable, has presets, a built in interface and plug-in to use as a plug-in in a daw. It’s a deal.
13:24 the screen image reminds me of Escape from New York. Got to say this machine sounds amazing, so many useable features. I would love to hear a Roland JV-1080 put through this.
Thanks for this, it’s a much deeper machine than I first suspected. The +fx would be nice but I have better reverbs and delays so a used mkii might be my best bet 🤔
I have Mk1. Not important enough piece of equipment for me to justify switching up. It's 90% the same. My Heat usually just sits there with all my digital stuff running through it.
Elektron's policy is just terrible for the user. You buy some elektron gear, and then few months later, elektron release the MK2 version, with just a few updates ( wich im sure they could have incorporated in the 1st version) leaving you with an equipment worth nothing on the second hand market... I will never buy elektron ever again, they always fuck their own clients. F*** them
sideasoundlab well, they released the first batch of analog stuff in 2014 so that's not too bad, about 4 years between them and the MKII. The Heat though, it's only been like two years. I understand your frustration but I'm not as bothered because I got my Rytm MKII as my first Elektron Instrument. Any piece of gear you buy though, if its been out for a few years, is likely to have a new version follow at some point.
@@sideasoundlab dont be such a pussy, just buy it used. Got my whole rig (second hand) for a price of two new machines. And I mean dark trinity + heat + Digitone for less than €2,5k.
MrHollabk I don't prescribe to your analog purism. Their last delay/reverb algos are lush. Plus it didn't stop them from adding them to their analog line.
I wouldn't process guitar with this myself but it was great to hear it on a source that I'm used to hearing distortion on as I think it was easier to hear the quality. Ooohhh just got to the sines also... Thank you!
I see a lot of complaints about price but you won't find a distortion unit that is this comprehensive for cheaper. 8 analog distortion units, with an LFO, envelope follower, EQ, multiple filters, dry/wet mix. No distortion pedal comes close. Analog plug-in for your DAW AND sound card for recording at high quality. The only thing that is this comprehensive is actually MORE money, the Culture Vulture for instance is a rack unit that is stereo with quality filtering and drive circuits and it's like $1500-2000, and not nearly as portable.
Ugh love it. And I’m a distortion junkie when I use my daw but I feel like if I went to hardware only I’d rather get a few different dist pedals and reverb delay etc instead of getting this one box with distortion as it’s focus. I love it regardless, just not something I need :)
great review. as usual. I do love my Mk1 and have often thought how good a second unit would be when multitrack recording my hardware units into my DAW. I do love the new display and as i use a bit of old analog mono output synths, the mono input of the Mk2 is good. should have been on the Mk1 tho.
couldn't you run the mono source through a mixer first and then out to the analog heat? Or run it into digitakt or digitone and have that source go out stereo to Mk1? I'm asking because I just bought a mk1 used for a reallllly good price and since this and the screen are the only differenct, I'm happy to save 400 bucks.
Good review. I think its the only one that shows it on guitar. That's really useful because on synth its hard to tell what part is the Heat and what part is the synth. My only wish is that you would have used more of the filtering on the guitar tone. There's a million distortion pedals for guitar. What does it sound like filtered... in stereo?
Have watched so many reviews of the heat, trying to convince myself i like it, perhaps its time i admit the sound is just not for me. Just been offered a really good deal on one & so tempted to try it 🤔 but thats daft. Thats it moneys going towards the meris lvx for guaranteed satisfaction!!!
Ive tried to use the Heat to saturate drum loops and it works well. But I've never understood (or been able to make sense of ) applying the LFO to the effect... It ends up sounding like 2 opposing rhythmic things and makes a mess. Eventually I kicked the heat to the curb in favor of an EP Booster pedal, which is the warmth of the Echoplex tape delay machine. When stereo is required, the Strymon DECO is glorious. I know the HEAT has an analog filter, but so do all my synths and my Tempest (which is my drum machine). I get the Analog Heat mkII, but I just don't need the modulation routing/envelopes/LFO.
I feel exactly the same. I've got a Heat mkII but basically use it for a bit of warmth and drive on the master bus. Just not bonded with the LFO or envelope follower. So have admitted defeat and bought myself a used OTO Boum and the Heat will be sold. It's undoubtedly a very capable device, just I'm not capable enough to utilise every thing it offers.
Hey Loopop, amazing description! Just curious if there are any other competitors who offer this sort of analog filter and compressor situation in a less expensive box? I have plenty of overdrives so the whole thing isn't entirely necessary for me. Thanks!
Hi, I use MOscilloscope and MAnalyzer by a company called Melda - they’re free with some limitations in the MFreeFXBundle. Occasionaly I’ll use scopes by VCV
I had the MKI, but ended up selling it, because the Overbridge plug-in was giving me the most annoying sound. Hopefully the MKII won’t have the same issue. I’ll give it another try
I believe you had the input signal set too low. That's why the first 3 circuits don't even get close to their potential. U can set the input sensitivity in the settings menu
Hi... Does anyone out there know : if I input a single MONO source., say, for example, a MONO lead sound. With only a slight wet signal, would both the resulting STEREO signals be different enough from the input signal in terms of wave-form, to not incur phase issues?. Would I be able to hard-pan the stereo result Left & Right, AND use the original input signal panned down the center of my mix??. Great review btw.
As always, good job, thanks ! Btw I looked for the software you use (at the top of the video) to see what's going on in the machines, but couldn't find it, what is it ?
I've seen some videos showing the specs, but I was hoping someone would compare it to alternatives out there. Like can Ableton Saturater with a filter achieve similar results? Because I already have that.
Actually you can make the comparison yourself quite easily - the drums I used are the 808 kit from Ableton, so you have an identical source. Then drive it through Saturator. I just tried it now, and I think Ableton's Saturator just falls apart to digital bits when you crank up the drive (bass and especially on the hats) whereas you can hear in my clip what the Analog Heat drive does. Maybe it's subjective, and some people like the bit crush sound of course in which case Ableton is the way to go. The Heat drives the sound while maintaining its integrity. Try it and see for yourself - compare to my 808 part.
Hey I was wondering if you've found the heat mk2 to be kind of noisy. Obviously on distortion circuits it's to be expected but even on the clean boost circuit I noticed a fair amount of noise introduced into the signal. It's not necessarily bad because it has the analog feel but it's just a bit fuzzy. It's not a wire thing becuae of swapped them out
I really appreciate your in depth reviews. Would you say its a better sound quality to use the inputs and outputs or if the usb cable alone will be the same quality?
hi. after research and lots of it. i finally realised i can get these exact same effects using a boss br multi trackers effects as an auxiliary. sound so big. i use the br series because the effects are plenty and varied plus they are some of the best around for such a low price. truly opens up sonic abilities. i get this unit but it does nothing i cant already do. just saying so viewers can save lots of money and not buy this hash and money grabbing gear
Boss BR, you mean the old digital multi fx units? They were great back in the day but there's not a chance you're getting 'exactly the same effects' as on the Analog Heat. But as long as you're happy with that then I wish you all the best.
This should come with a very real 'warning', you can blow speakers and ur ears with this product. Seriously. Just be a bit careful when using heat, especially with 8 inch monitors!
Elecktron always put out interesting boxes but is this one for me. I am not sure if I really need something like this. My A4 already has built in distortion that works well enough for me. I also have quite a few gtr pedals to work with. Sometimes working with what you already have puts out some interesting results.
It honestly sounds like garbage on the drum loop. The highs get trashed on every setting. I would probably process both separately if possible. My use for this would be to thicken Software Synth and Sampler sounds more so than something that's already analog.
Hey man, thanks for all your helpful videos! I just got this thing but was disappointed when I found out that overbridge isn't available for the MK2 yet. I find this to be a little misleading on Elektrons part considering even the manual talks about how you can use the MK2 with overbridge, seems like they kind of hid the part about how they're not finished designing it. But anyways I was just curious if you knew anything about when they're going to change this or had any thoughts. It just seems like a pretty integral part of the machine has yet to be realized. thanks again
My pleasure - and yeah - as I’m mention in the clip it’s not out yet. I think it’s coming soon - they just announced the beta so hopefully the wait isn’t long
What about the 3db difference on the output. I mix with headphones and the mk2 does sound a bit quiter then mk1 .. is it possible? Why there is a difference on this and no one mentions. heat Mk1: balanced ins/outs: +22 dBu peak heat Mk2: balanced ins/outs: +19 dBu peak thanks
I do not have one, and am not familliar with them, but it seemed like it would be kinda the opposite of a compressor - a noise gate. i.e., one sound surpassing a limit will make other things happen, not squealch the original (but it may be possible to make it squealch the original with all the fancy routing it looks to have? that would not be real compression, but would get ya kinda close.)
But you won´t get perfect DAW integration, total recall, saving presets, different distortion- and overdrive -modes, a stereo filter box, a good eq, a audio interface etc by using pedals. Believe me or not.
I'd love to know where you'd find 8 stereo analog distortion units for the price, never mind an an LFO, envelope follower, stereo EQ, multiple stereo filters, dry/wet mix and a comprehensive free VST for controlling your guitar pedals. But I hope you do and that they make you happy!