Hit it, Maestro!

[chromium]

A couple months ago, I picked up a Maestro W-2 "Sound System for Woodwinds" from the late-sixties/early-seventies.  This was an early multi-effect processor intended to be used with an included microphone to make saxophones and clarinets sound far out and groovy.  It's basically a fuzz-box and octaver with an elaborate spread of "organ stop" inspired switches to impose various filter settings that shape the characteristics of the sound.  There's also a built-in tremolo, but that part does not seem to be functional on my specimen (plan to dig into that when I have time).








The aesthetic of the unit is such that it would feel right at home atop granny's Lowrey organ – pastel blue and yellow switches adorned with names like "Oboe D'Amore", "English Horn", "Contra", and "Fuzz Tone" (which does sound a lot like the pedal of the same name).  The input is 1/8" presumably for the mic (which has gone AWOL on my unit), and to use it with bass, you need to bump up the signal a bit with a preamp.

It does pretty much what you'd expect, given the type of effects that are involved.  All the sounds are buzzy, with varying EQ and octave settings depending on how the switches are set.  It looks like it does a lot, but you'll exhaust the tonal options in about ten minutes.  Still – if you're looking for an old fuzz box, this gives you more versatility than most.

I've had this one sitting here for about two months now, and haven't had time to do anything with it - but I finally got around to recording something with it:



The melody line was created by running my Alembic Distillate thru the Maestro.  There are four parts layered, each with different settings, and one with additional processing from a Sola Sound Wah pedal.  I also used the Maestro to crunch a portion of the drum track in the middle section of the song.

For the bass part, I played the Gibson Triumph.  Still has the dead flats on it, but I thought they fit the part well here.  It was recorded direct thru an Alembic F2-B preamp, and there's a bit in the middle where I used an Ashdown envelope follower on it.  There's also some Oberheim and Moog synths, and a Gibson SG Std. in there.

[Barklessdog]

Great song, I think it's one of your best yet. It's really cool all the way around.

[chromium]

Thanks!  I tried out some of those mixing/mastering suggestions from that recording thread a while back.  Mixed it at low volume, and used an RMS meter.  The mix all seemed to come together A LOT easier this time - although I've only auditioned it on two different stereos, so I'll probably have some more tweaks yet to do.