WMD Geiger Counter (tell me about it)

[Keasley]

I find this pedal very appealing:

It's original, seems very robust, looks cool and can really bring the noise. From what I can tell, there's nothing else on the market that's like it (am I right about this?)

But it doesn't seem to get alot of mention here. And there aren't tons of youtube videos or reviews.

So how many people here have hands-on experience? I'm particularly interested in practical application (because I know alot of people have been drawn to this pedal for its unique properties then not found alot of use for it in the band) and the type of music you play.

Finally, I'm curious about any 'pleasant sounds' it might have (if any). I've heard some of the crazy sounds via youtube: ring mod, intense distortion, etc. But can it do anything subtle? I know I'd find some uses for the noise assault sonic obliterations but it would be great to know if it can do any little 8-bit glitchy things, farts, etc like you might hear on an ambient techno record.

Any feedback, input, criticisms, praise, etc would be great. I've definitely seen complaints about the lack of presets. How big a dealbreaker is that for you?

thanks.

[guitarslinger21]

I had one. It did a bunch of screeching blips and screaming bloinks. I could never reproduce any sounds achieved on it.

it really wasn't useful for me at all. First time I ever spent over $200 on a pedal. Not really worth it, IMO.

It didn't really sound anything like an 8 bit video game. :( I'm still looking for something that can truly sound like an old Nintendo. Nothing is even close.

[lux_interior]

There are at least six of seven good threads already about it, and some with my impressions as well during the time that I had it. Insane amount of sounds possible, but no presets. This makes it considerably harder to use.

[shikawkee]

I love it. Endless possibilities. Great clean sounds, 8-bit, you name it. But you have to have patience. Maybe try the civilian issue. Much easier to use and the sounds it has are everything most people would use anyway 98% of the time.

[Stevil]

there are a handful of "bit crushers" on the market.
OTO Biscuit, Frostwave Sonic Alienator, Alesis Bitrman.
other pedals ToneCore Red Panda Bitcrusher, Squarewave Parade Downgrade
then there's the low rez fuzz pedals: fx doctor 8-Bit fuzz, Devi Ever Legend of Fuzz

I have OTO & a WMD Civilian Issue. the OTO is insane, i love it. but i tend to run drums thru that so i picked up the WMD for guit. it's not currently on the board, but i like what it does & occasionally put it to work.

[lux_interior]

@shikawkee: No, in my opinion the Civilian Issue lacks many of the unique features of the bigger version, to an extent that the sounds available are considerably limited. It feels like a version that is too light. Of course, I don't know who will be able to tell if they don't spend time with the bigger model, but that's the way I see it.

[musica23]

I bought a GC, messed with it for nearly 3 days straight (got some sleep, but not a lot) and ended up sending it back. But I missed having it, so I bought one later when a 15% off sale came along. I considered the Civilian Issue, but figured I'd feel cheated after having the full-fledged GC.

Now that I own it, I seldom use it. I haven't used it for more than 6-8 hours since I bought this one, but I'm still glad it's there. :huh

I wouldn't say it makes any/many agreeable sounds, but it goes beyond sheer noise. It can do fuzz and distortion, for example. I'd say it's well worth the price ONLY if there were available presets...at least 6. It does have the LFO capability which is great if you've got something like a Goatkeeper or a theremin. Lotsa fun, but not extremely practical.

[shikawkee]

@shikawkee: No, in my opinion the Civilian Issue lacks many of the unique features of the bigger version, to an extent that the sounds available are considerably limited. It feels like a version that is too light. Of course, I don't know who will be able to tell if they don't spend time with the bigger model, but that's the way I see it.

Yeah, the big model is pretty awesome. I just think most people don't have the time to spend with it to truly see all it can do. Some presets would be useful. I still love it though.

[jwri9790]

Apart from my ProCo WF 1985 Reissue RAT the WMD Geiger Counter is my go to dirt box. It can give me lots of conventional fuzz (50) and distortion (1-4) tones and a great overdrive (20). Really versatile and fantastic. I love it. The only problem is that you ahve to write down all your favourite settings.

[cribcage]

I'm still looking for something that can truly sound like an old Nintendo. Nothing is even close.

I'm curious to know how many people would be genuinely interested in (i.e., "would actually purchase") such a pedal.

I would, also.

[guitarslinger21]

I'm curious to know how many people would be genuinely interested in (i.e., "would actually purchase") such a pedal.

I would, also.

Yeah, recently there was a thread about this, and an old video Game programmer shined some light on the subject.

"A long time ago I was an NES programmer.

The NES sound chip is just complicated enough to make it difficult to simulate with a guitar.

It had two square wave voices with four duty-cycle settings. These voices had a 16-step volume control that could be used by the program for volume dynamics and "soft" envelopes. The 'zipper' sound of the volume control is probably why some people associate bit crushers with NES sounds. A lot of people used these two voices for chords. Obviously, two ain't enough voices for most chords, so they multiplexed them over a short period of time, sort of like playing very fast arpeggios. If a pedal could separate the notes of a chord, produce a very clean square wave of each note, and then rapidly rotate through the notes so that no more than two were playing at any one time, you'd be very close to the 'classic' NES sound

It also had one triangle wave voice, but this was fixed volume. Good for very basic synthy string sounds. This should be pretty easy to reproduce with a pedal, but without the warbly chords it wouldn't really give that NES vibe.

There was also a noise voice that had 16 volume and 16 pitch settings. Often used for percussive sounds.

The closest thing to real digital audio was the differential pulse code modulation voice. There were two ways to play this voice. In 1-bit delta mode you could select between 16 sample rates, and it would step through memory 1 bit at a time, either incrementing or decrementing the sample register depending on whether the bit was a 1 or 0. The fidelity sucked but it saved memory. Or, you could feed the PCM register 7-bit samples on a regular basis under program control. This chewed through precious cartridge memory rapidly, and consumed a lot of the relatively weak 6502's processing power. It did sound a lot better, though.

People used the DPCM voice sparingly. I think the only thing I ever used it for was the bongos in the original Star Trek theme song. I wanted to use it in a couple of other games, but just didn't have the ROM space to spare. It wasn't easy to shoe-horn an entire game into a 1 mbit ROM."

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=958590&highlight=nintendo

[JamonGrande]

one of my favorite pedals - i've used it for synthy wedding band sounds and a whole range of "experimental" settings.

I tend to use a lot of settings with the gain from 0-3. Also, engaging the tone circuit helps uncovering some of the less distorted tones. It is very responsive to volume changes - as much as any fuzz pedal I've used, though volume changes don't necessarily lead to cleaning up). And rolling down the guitar tone mellows out the sounds a little as well.

I use a lot of 5d with the tone engaged (cc-wise) and gain down low. lately b6 with the tone disengaged and gain barely on.

joe

[lux_interior]

I'm curious to know how many people would be genuinely interested in (i.e., "would actually purchase") such a pedal.

I would, also.

As I've written in the previous threads, it's not such a strange and unusable pedal once you get to know it. Apart from exciting atmospheric sounds that can be used with delay for a greater effect, it can also give heavy distortion a la early Marilyn Manson, a lo-fi tone full of digital artifacts a la Radiohead, and also a light hollow OD sound as well.

[ogam]

I can't find any demos that shows how this pedal sounds with no overdrive whatsoever. Can it do a clean, scratchy lo-fi sound?

[whoismarykelly]

Everyone here who is saying this pedal produces no usable sounds must not understand how to tweak the controls on a pedal. There are an unbelievable amount of awesome simple rock drive sounds in this pedal. Then there is a whole massive set of noisier chaotic sounds. I am confident that I could record an entire record with only the sounds in this pedal and people would guess that I had used 20 amps and 20 synthesizers to get those tones. You just have to understand what the wave shapes do to a simple guitar signal and experiment.

Further, experimenting is what this pedal is all about. If you want the same settings over and over, write them down. You have to do that with any complex pedal if you cant remember every funtion. This one is no exception as there may be 15 things to write down for any one setting. I embrace the organic nature of tweaking this pedal. If you know the specifc wave table you were using before then the rest of the controls will be in the same neighborhood. From there just take advanatage of the fact that what you hear will always be a little different but also controllably different. Its sort of like a fuzz factory but with dramatically more versatility and many more sounds. If you want simple drive sounds that are the same every time, just buy a fuzz face or a tube screamer or a rat. If simplicity is your thing, just dont buy pedals in the first place. If you want new sounds and aren't afraid of something where you cant save your "perfect" tone but can always get an awesome new one then buy the Geiger Counter. I have both the full size and the civilian issue. The full size is infinitely more powerful but the civilian issue also does a wide variety of cool drive and noisy fuzz tones. If you are afraid of being overwhelmed buy the civilian issue.

[digiTED]

^^^ great post whoismarykelly! The musical inspiration from seeking and discovering is what this pedal is all about.

I only have the Civ Issue but find TONS of great sounds from straight-ahead dirty rock into nintendo into the universe is imploding. Fits nicely above my volume pedal on the main board, too :) convenient chaos.

[guitarslinger21]

Everyone here who is saying this pedal produces no usable sounds must not understand how to tweak the controls on a pedal.

That's quite an assumption, bro.


I just didn't like it, it didn't work for my music, and the lack of presets is a deal breaker that makes the pedal difficult to use for my live shows.

[lux_interior]

I agree with everything you wrote, except this:

Further, experimenting is what this pedal is all about. If you want the same settings over and over, write them down. You have to do that with any complex pedal if you cant remember every funtion. This one is no exception as there may be 15 things to write down for any one setting.

...

If you want simple drive sounds that are the same every time, just buy a fuzz face or a tube screamer or a rat. If simplicity is your thing, just dont buy pedals in the first place.

That's completely wrong. Wonderful pedals can be complicated as well. Modern technology has offered us the possibility for presets, which is a very compact and easy way of instantly recalling sounds from a pedal that can deliver many different ones. This almost becomes a necessity if the controls are too many. Furthermore, experimenting with one pedal doesn't mean that you have to be stuck to only one sound. And this becomes a real pity when there are so many on offer (in this case, hundreds more than a Fuzz Face, a Rat or a TS). As a previous owner of the Geiger Counter, I consider this its biggest handicap, and so do other people I've spoken with.

[whoismarykelly]

That's quite an assumption, bro.


I just didn't like it, it didn't work for my music, and the lack of presets is a deal breaker that makes the pedal difficult to use for my live shows.

Its one thing if you didn't like the sounds you were able to get. But to just say it "did a bunch of screeching blips and screaming bloinks" is a very closed-minded approach to this pedal and suggests that you didn't spend very much time with it. I actually find clear amp-like distortion as often as the crazy settings on this pedal.

The preset issue isn't that big of a deal to me. The fact that you wont get the same safe and predictable setting every time is 100% of the appeal of this pedal. If you need a safe and predicable pedal then you are right and the Geiger Counter wont work for you.

[whoismarykelly]

I agree with everything you wrote, except this:



That's completely wrong. Wonderful pedals can be complicated as well. Modern technology has offered us the possibility for presets, which is a very compact and easy way of instantly recalling sounds from a pedal that can deliver many different ones. This almost becomes a necessity if the controls are too many. Furthermore, experimenting with one pedal doesn't mean that you have to be stuck to only one sound. And this becomes a real pity when there are so many on offer (in this case, hundreds more than a Fuzz Face, a Rat or a TS). As a previous owner of the Geiger Counter, I consider this its biggest handicap, and so do other people I've spoken with.

I was being hyperbolic to make a point. Obviously we dont live in an absolutist realm and there is a huge middle ground between no pedals and 20 geiger counters running at once.

[whoismarykelly]

I had the big version GC for a while when they first came out and had a lot of fun with it. One thing that I liked was the fact that it could cut through the dense mix of my band in a live setting, even with very high amounts of gain. That's not easy to do. I eventually sold it and ventured down other high gain paths and ended up just using old school MKI Tonebender replicas.

Thats a huge jump from one extreme to another :omg

From super modern and high tech to the most spartan and simplistic.

[shikawkee]

I have to concur that if glitchy is all you got out of your GC then you didn't spend enough time with it. Just saying....

[whoismarykelly]

I dont remember exactly but the first dozen tables or so are all just awesome heavy distortion tones without the glitchiness. You can add glitchiness with the bit rate knobs but if you change the modes there its all solid amp tones.

[Keasley]

Everyone here who is saying this pedal produces no usable sounds must not understand how to tweak the controls on a pedal. There are an unbelievable amount of awesome simple rock drive sounds in this pedal. Then there is a whole massive set of noisier chaotic sounds. I am confident that I could record an entire record with only the sounds in this pedal and people would guess that I had used 20 amps and 20 synthesizers to get those tones. You just have to understand what the wave shapes do to a simple guitar signal and experiment.

Further, experimenting is what this pedal is all about. If you want the same settings over and over, write them down. You have to do that with any complex pedal if you cant remember every funtion. This one is no exception as there may be 15 things to write down for any one setting. I embrace the organic nature of tweaking this pedal. If you know the specifc wave table you were using before then the rest of the controls will be in the same neighborhood. From there just take advanatage of the fact that what you hear will always be a little different but also controllably different. Its sort of like a fuzz factory but with dramatically more versatility and many more sounds. If you want simple drive sounds that are the same every time, just buy a fuzz face or a tube screamer or a rat. If simplicity is your thing, just dont buy pedals in the first place. If you want new sounds and aren't afraid of something where you cant save your "perfect" tone but can always get an awesome new one then buy the Geiger Counter. I have both the full size and the civilian issue. The full size is infinitely more powerful but the civilian issue also does a wide variety of cool drive and noisy fuzz tones. If you are afraid of being overwhelmed buy the civilian issue.

Interesting post. You make a strong case for the usability of the pedal.

I'm a tweaker, and play largely improvised experimental music, so I don't mind if I stumble into a cool tone and never quite recapture it. I'm also accustomed to using reasonably complex pedals, keeping notes on cool settings etc.

What maybe concerns me a little is it sounds like alot of the versatility and usability with this thing is in its functionality as a dirt/distortion pedal. But I've already got a fuzz factory (which I love) and a PTD Feederbone on the way. So I've got a fair bit of crazy fuzz/dirt territory already covered. Should I expect alot of overlap between GC dirt and Fuzz Factory dirt and Bone Machine dirt? Also, can you describe in some detail some of the usable sounds you get in the non-dirt dept?

thanks.

[whoismarykelly]

The Geiger Counter is way different from a fuzz factory. I dont have any experience with the Trombetta stuff but I think the Geiger Counter will be different there too. Both those boxes are analog circuits with straightforward control. They are producing fuzz by overloading cascading stages. Again not familiar with the Trombetta stuff but thats generally the way fuzz works.

The Geiger Counter is using wavetable processing on your input signal to let you control the way the wave is altered in the pedal. This gets to the base level of what an audio wave looks like with fuzz or with clean or bitcrushed, etc...

I cant really describe the tones in detail. There are video demos of the pedal out there that you can watch for that sort of stuff. No written description is going to provide a quality assessment of this pedal's sounds. If you're into experimenting and fuzz/bitcrushing sounds then I'd recommend just buying one and seeing what happens.

[Stevil]

I cant really describe the tones in detail.

+1
i'd catgorize the tonal possibilities from lite fuzz to fax machine squeal.
here is a PDF of the wave tables. (the Civilian Issue has a handful of the wave samples shown.)
http://www.wmdevices.com/GeigerCounterWaveTables.pdf