Eventide Eclipse

It is very easy to get a good sound out of the Eventide Eclipse. After working with another effects processor for several months, the Eclipse was like a breath of fresh air. My advice, however, is to read the manual carefully, several times, before you get into the unit. You can download it from Eventide's website. Do yourself a favor and download it before you purchase it, learn what the unit can do, how to use the controls, and play with the presets for a while so you get the hang of what it does.

Editing patches isn't difficult, once you know what the parameters do, and how the machine's logic works. Again, you need to work with it for a little while, and be patient. I bought an Eventide realizing that it wasn't a "plug-and-play" effect.

The manual is written in a very conversational style, but being a communication professor, I think Eventide might be able to work users through the unit more conveniently. Still, the manual is better than many out there! My unit has the 2.0 operating system.

I'm using my Eclipse in a guitar rack with a CAE 3+ SE, a Rocktron Super C, a BBE 882, and a VHT Two/Fifty/Two. It is extremely quiet. The effects sound great, but you have to tweak them--sometimes--to make them usable for guitar.

I control the Eclipse with a DMC Ground Control MIDI controller and an Ernie Ball 6166 expression pedal. They both do a good job.

I haven't used the distortion programs much. I've used the delays, choruses, reverbs, phasers, pitchshifting, and other modulation effects mostly. These effects are very good: what you would expect from an Eventide.

Yes. I have found the Eclipse to be very reliable. I have read about others having problems, however, so maybe I'm just lucky because I'm not playing out.

Excellent customer support. The Yahoo! group "Eventide-helps" is a godsend. Free operating system upgrade. Frequent communication from the company. I think it's great.

I play hard rock and heavy blues. I've been playing for over 25 years. If I lost this unit, I'd probably buy another, although depending on the size of the insurance settlement, I might look into a DSP-7500 or even an Orville. I'm sold on Eventide.

People make a big deal about the dropouts that occur when you change programs. If you're smart, you can design programs where this won't happen. That is, don't be a glutton with your effects, so you can take advantage of the unit's "X-Fade" feature, that elimates dropouts. Or, build programs that allow you to use MIDI continuous control to turn off various effects as needed, so you don't have to change programs. I do both, and have no problems with dropouts. Put another way, you just need to work around the problem, especially if the effects are good enough not to ignore.

Having been an Eventide User for almost a decade!.
This thing is a snap.. (im sure all OTHER ppl familiar with Eventides arent having any problems)

Eventide invented the flippen Harmonizer... Hello!!
Of course the sound quality is incredibke!!
I will agree that the verbs arent as nice as some of the uppoer end TC stuff but now we dont buy Eventides harmonizer's for the verbs now..do we... well you shouldnt...
I will say that you need to get the global lebvels set cdorrectly if you dont want to hurt your ears or blow a speaker... (as with all eventides the levels need to be set before you go dinkin around with it) Id start at _6bd and work from there... TRUST ME ON THIS!

Never had any problems with any of the units I bought!
GTR 4000, DSP 4000, H 3000 DSX and Eclipse...

EXCELLENT!
I talk to Eventide all the time.. they are freindlky and willing to help you out....
Perhaps the ppl who had bad experiences with them had a slight attitude caused by frustration or lack of knowledge..
Ive been dealing with Eventide for ovef 10 years so i know what Im talkin about!

The Eclipse is the revolution to all 3000 and other inferior units!
While its not an Orville or 7000 series... it does its job and is worth the money!

If you're in the market for any Eventide, let me know as Im also an Authorized dealer for them
www.vwallguitars.com

Not difficult if you read the manual. The presets are awesome. If you want to tweak, it's not hard at all. Very versatile. My OS is version 1.2.

I won't give it a 10, because I would say that T.C.Electronic has better user interface, but I returned their units after playing through them, so that may tell you something.

Top-notch effects. I use it for guitar and am quite, quite pleased. Not noisy whatsoever. Really nice.

Rock solid. No problems so far.

Italo on the user help group is excellent. I read the help group for a while before buying one, to see if there were complaints, how they dealt with user requests, etc. Other companies should be that helpful and public with their user support. Really unmatched.

Been playing 15 years--played through tons of gear from crap to mega-expensive and collectible. This unit is very, very good and will be a tool for years to come.

I'm writing this because I'm kind of annoyed that some of the other reviewers here have done hatchet jobs on what is a great piece of equipment. The Eclipse sounds great, is solid and I prefer it to the competition. The complaints I'm reading here sound like they came from people who didn't read the specs before getting it, or think a free OS upgrade means no effort on their part. You know, it also doesn't have voice recognition patch switching, a holo-deck and won't bake me cookies. Please...

I, for one, am stoked on this box, and get more pleased the more I play with it--which is a sign of good gear. I had some reservations before buying it, because it's a chunk of cash--but I have no regrets after playing with it now for several months. A great unit and maybe even a classic. I give it a 9 because nothing is a 10, but compared to the other guys it's an 11.

This is written in response to Beppo's email, to clarify

Eventide has both PC and Mac ways to upgrade Eclipse.
The software is downloadable for free, for both platforms. The procedure is very simple and we have successfully upgraded dozens of Eclipses w/our French distributor, who runs Macs only, besides countless customers world-wide.
The procedure w/Macs involve the use of a CFC card reader, a 20$ usb device, also useful for preset mass storage/backup. An even cheaper device is a CFC>PCMCIA card adapter that allows to plug the card into a Mac having a PCMCIA slot, copy the unzipped FREE downloaded files, take the card out of the Mac, insert it in Eclipse and follow the simple power on procedure described on the website.
Emulation software which has been adviced as "known of" people using it is Virtual PC. We don't use Macs so we can't gurantee our procedures on Mac native softwares. Some people use Virtual PC to use the Windows PC upgrade procedure.
Buying a CFC reader or a CFC>PCMCIA adaptor is still much cheaper than buying an emulator software just for this application.
Companies have the right to use different platforms of their choice.
Eventide has always been a PC company that has just started including Mac platform and ProTools, on which has developed the "Eventide Clockworks Legacy" plug-ins.
The customer was correctly adviced, by different people, on how to proceed to the upgrade process w/2 preferred Eventide free procedures, involving the use of a CFC or CFC>PCMCIA adaptor we DON'T sell or by purchasing a Card w/software, that can be used as later storage media, or use a pc emulating software and the standard pc procedure.

Well, the user surface is quite straight forward and it is easy to edit a presets most basic parameters. Although it always takes me a while to dig deeper in the preset ( for the "less basic" ) and change exactly the parameter I wanted to.
Automation with a Midi sequencer is easy to do.
But I think that the manual should be rewritten by somebody who has a clue about arranging a manual - it is very chaotic and seems unsorted !
You will not find the passages you are looking for quickly. Some things I have been looking for are not in the manual at all ! Regarding the size of the handbook I think it could be a lot more informative!
The preset sound quite ok when you switch through them. But, who wants to use presets only???
When it comes to editing on the machine I wish there would be a external software editor or at least an adaption for emagic's Sounddiver software (which has to be done by eventide as the manufacturer).
Editing a complex setting is ruining your eyes as you have to stare at the small display.
Unfortunately, nothing available or planned for external editing from eventide so far....

I use it as Multi-FX unit for my Midi-Studio.
The modulation algorithms can get really massive. Nice.
On the other hand i cannot follow the opinion of people stating below, that the reverbs would be so great....for me the reverbs alone, without any other effect, sound quite lame....i prefer my very small and much cheaper Lexicon LXP-1 for reverbs. Stop laughing, it is irritating but true, even if the eclipse costs about 20 times as much....

I did never gig with it.
When i recieved it new from the US, i had to change the battery first to make it work.....since then I never experienced a problem anymore.
As I only have it for a year or so I do not comment on the reliability yet.

That is a VERY SAD story......
I had contact with eventide quite a few times: first because of the battery that was faulty. The eclipse just lost it's memory all the time. With this problem they could help me and advised just to open the machine and change the battery.ok.
BUT, WHEN IT COMES TO UPDATES, EVENTIDE REALLY SUCKS !!!
They are the only company that I know which won't give you the update for free!!! To be exact, they don't give Macintosh users their update for free.
1. with eventide updates everything is different: their Sysex is soooo top secret that they make special applications that transmit the Sysex data to the machine, opposed to give you the sysex data to play it into the machine with nothing special but your normal sequencer (as absolutely most other manufacturers do).
2. eventide is not able or willing to make just such a program for Macintosh!!!! They can do it only for PCs....
3. on their homepage they claim that there would have been people successfully updating with Macs, using "emulation software".
When I wrote mails to eventide WHICH emulation soft is working for updating, they did NOT even know (also Super Mario Italo not)!!! None of them, 4 eventiders of 5 did not even answer !!! Shame on you!!! When I wrote an email before, asking about the date of the update release ( and i wrote ONE mail to info@eventide.com) i got 5 answer mails within 4 days, all from 5 different people !!!!!!!!!! Disorder?
4. the one and only advise the have: "buy our update card for 100 $ + shipping" or "buy a cfc reader an a flash rom card to burn your update card"..(means: "if you paid that money for the gear and your Mac, there must be more to get from you!")
5. and that's a fu*king joke: they are not even planning to change their neandertaler update procedure or make an application for Macs.
When there was the last update (1.200) they said that they will make one "for the next time" for Macs, but now they say they will never plan one...

HELLO EVENTIDE, LISTEN: I WON'T BUY NOTHING FROM YOU ANYMORE!!!!!
YOUR GEAR IS HORRIBLY OVER-EXPENSIVE AND I WILL NOT SPENT ONE MORE PENNY OR CENT OR WHATEVER ON YOUR PRODUCTS, ESPECIALLY NOT ON THINGS I NEED JUST TO MAKE AN UPDATE!!!!

EVENTIDE ARE A CONSUMER GEAR COMPANY, THE ONLY THINGS PROFESSIONAL SEEM TO BE THEIR PRICES!!!!

I am producing electronic dance music.
My setup includes my mentioned Mac, TC electronic D-TWO and TC 2240, Jomox Airbase, Waldorf Pulse, Access Virus KC, 3 SPL machines, Lexicon LXP-1 & 5, 3 Behringer things,Novation K-Station, TC Powercore, Hammerfall AD/DA, ect....
The eclipse is the most expensive of all of them and it cannot stand the expectations you may have....

-Absolutely over-expensive !!! Don't expect something in the sound that justifies that price!
-My honest tip: for Modulation, get an TC Fireworx. For reverbs get a Lexicon. Or one of them. They can handle both processes.

Do not get this eventide semi-pro shit for your hard-earned money.
It is a big bluff!

It's a very sophisticated unit which can be used by only using the presets. There is a lovely amount of great sound standard inside this machine, but you can some very great things just tweeking the machine, If you want it you can go very deep very fast. The manual is helpfull, but not everything is documented. One of the things which amazed me is the free updates of the OS. Just send in the card to eventide and you can download a new OS from their website. Most units do not have free OS-updates!

I'm using it in a NUENDO based recording studio with motu 2408 converters, home build conversters (crystal chipset), homebult mike pre-amps (based on opa 627) PCM 91, Audiolabor amps, JBL speakers, Neuman microphones. I love the sweet tone and the quality of the A/D converters. The algoritms are astunishing. The presets are not rely as good as can be, because for example the distortion patches need some tweeking. And you must know what you are doing. The poly driver for example gives you a very powerfull way of making distortions.

It has occasional hang-ups, sometimes I need to clear the machines head. And the digital input on mine is not working. Not a very big preoblem in my setup, but it probebly needs some sending to little Ferry soon.

Eventidehelds and eventideusers are great places to be. Italo is very helpfull and even helps me get started with my first patches I made. The upgrade I got very quickly, so support is till now very good

I use it in my studio as my main effect-unit next to the PCM 91 and I love it. Very good sound. And after some tweeking I love the sounds it makes and can make!

This mail is to inform all Eventide fans and users that the prestigious New Jersey company has an official Customers Support/Forum on Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eventidehelps
Membership gives access to services like online customer support, real time Voice and Text Messenger Support, Patch Design with Eventide VSIG graphical editor for 4000/7000/Orville processors, patch design for Eclipse, support for older products like H3000 and 4000 lines UltraHarmonizers(R), patches downloading, tutorial documents, online real time programming classes and general information. Everybody is welcome to join and exchange knowledge on these awesome musical processors.
Best Regards
Italo De Angelis

In terms of ease of use, I have to say that it depends a lot on your previous experience. Every manufacturer uses different interface. For instance, if you just changed from TC you may find the Eclipse slightly difficult to understand at first. But then again, the Eclipse is, objectively, fairly easy to use if you read the manual paitiently for 2 hours or so. You want good music? Then you better understand your gear thoroughly.
The manual is...damn ugly! Man! It looks worse than my own lecture notes from college. And so's the packaging! But I must say that this probably is for the best: if you want good packaging and pretty manuals, then maybe you should be doing fashion design and stuff. I have no problem whatsoever with it as I tell myself that the guys at Eventide is probably just saving us some money...
There's suppose to be a software upgrade available for download on the website but I cannot find it! Hmmph, that sucks...

Sound quality? As a multi-effect unit, nothing in the similar price range can compare to the Eclipse. Yes, I'm damn sure of that.

I'm pretty much a one-man band so I play the guitar, bass and drums on my own, while my 'specialty'lies in vocal. I purchased the Eclipse for a general purpose. So far, it sounds just amazing. If you can afford it (even if that means putting it on your credit card or getting a loan), ALWAYS gor for something that'll really satisfy you, instead of buying some other 'toys' that might appear to be fun for like 3 days and then left to collect dust...Compare to TC Fireworks, which is great in its own right for its flexibility and sound (which I was gonna buy before finally buying the Eclipse), this little cutie IS the real deal! Lemme put it this way: decent products like the TC Fireworks CAN work very well if what you wanna get is something conventional (or slightly Bzar), but, it's like, putting together a lovely Mini with respetable parts yourself. However, with the Eclipse, because the tiny bits of the effects and the way they're put together are way more sophisticated, you get a bad-assed sports car...not cool enough for you? Well, I tried my best to stretch my pocket already and if you dare to go further, I'd recommend the DSP7000, or even better, the Orville.

The power needs to be tamed, I must add, of course...

BUT, there is always a but in everything...the distortion? Oh man...I'm not sure what to do with it. I tweaked every possible thingy already and it still sounds like toilet flushing to me...well, maybe I have bad taste, who knows? And also, there can be, from time to time, so glich noice when I change the programme. Not sure if it's an Evetide thing or just my unit...Other than these two points, the Eclipse's sound quality is simply "dreamy"--it can sound so Bzar, and yet, so very convincing at the same time--kinda like what you may encounter in your dream...when you wake up, you know it can't be real, but the sensation of the dream remains as true as reality. There, I said it! Feel it if you can manage to try one out and get that dreamy feeling yourself.

The hardware of Eclipse is both elegant and realiable as hell. Will I use it on a gig without a backup? Well, the question should, can I afford to buy another one?

There's supposed to be a software upgrade but I can't find it anywhere on the Eventide website. I e-mailed them yesterday but haven't heard from them yet. Probably too early to tell...

I must say that none of the Eventide product is for the weak-hearted. It blows your previous imagination away...sophistication is what Eventide is all about, and the Eclipse, even though the cheapest so far in the range, is no exception at all.
I've been playing for 10 years or so and this thing, makes my heart tremble...of course there are some even more powerful machines out there, but this is all I can afford so far. It's got its limitations (when compare to the Orville, of course), but I LOVE it.
My favourite has to be its modulation and of course, some althogorisms with reverb. Pitch shifing for vocal? Man, forget it, it's NOT feasible at the moment and even the Orville can't handle it. If you know how to sing, then you know what I'm talking about--altering one's voice is not just about how high or low a sound is. The whole dynamic can change through a human. But for other applications such as guitar, yes, the Eclipse works very well (but of course, only within standard scales so far).
Does it help me make music? Oh yes. But does it get in the way? Erm, I have to say yes as well, cos I couldn't stop playing with it to amaze myself!
In terms of application and value, I must say that if you add the cost of a decent reverb and delay, plus chorus and pitch-shift...the total value will be far more than that of the Eclipse. But then again, if you're looking to get an Eclipse, chances arem you probably have some very decent stuff already and may not be able to justify for the overlapping in some functions between the E and your existing gear. Nevertheless, it's a damn fine piece of art!
If it's stolen or lost, hmmph, I must say that I'll probably get an Orville (in case if you don't know, it costs more than twice as the Eclipse). Why? Because I'be got a taste of the good stuff and now i want more!!


My last suggestion: you might wanna try reading the manual (which is available on the Eventide website) before you go to your local music shop to audition it. It'll help you get a lot out of the beauty.

First up the manual is not complete, there are parameters within the unit that are not even mentioned in the manual. EG: Expert mode in the set up area. The manual should be far better than it is given the heritage of the unit, its complexity along with the amount that it costs. On the basis that you are familiar with their other products the Eclipse will not pose a problem to navigate as it is "very" similar to their other Harmonizer models.

As you would expect from Eventide the sound quality is first rate. It has dual DSP engines for what I still don't understand?? I won't bore you with details of my set up but at a glance I am using a Soldano SLO100,Marshall TSL and a Boogie Triaxis and VHT set up to give you a rough idea to support my comments.

Cannot not say, however if I were a betting man I would have no hesitation in saying that it would be very road worthy. It is very solid hardware wise, add to that the unit takes about 20 seconds to boot up its operating system I would say it should be reliable???

Too bad if you have a lock up during live performance and you have to reset the unit by swithcing it off and on again. Just tell the audience to stand by and be patient. Yeah, right!!!

To be fair to Eventide they do respond promptly, but on the basis that the Eclipse will be further supported with upgrades is another story. I contacted Eventide regarding software updates, in particular the harmonizer functionality and the response as quoted was " Due to the programming limitations of Eclipse the ability to create user defined scales will probably not occur.This ability is available is our DSP7000,DSP7500, DSP4000B+ and Orville? models."

So much for purchasing a lasting product!

I have to say that given the fanfare of the Eclipse from Eventide that it is a grave disappointment. Eventide are greatly recognized for their ability to provide outstanding Harmonizers however the strength of the Eclipse is in its delay and modulation ability. It is bizarre that the H3000 series which are based on 80s technology can provide CUSTOM pitch shifting intervals and the current Eclipse does not. Again I ask Eventide how is the Eclipse 5 times more powerful than the H3000? Routing ? dual engines for what, delay? For what the Eclipse is offering/providing I would look to a high end Lexicon unit which they are noted for.

It would appear that Eventide have aimed the Eclipse at guitarists? but taken away the ability to be truly/comprehensively creative which is the very reason guitarists would purchase an Eventide product.
Sure the unit has the standard sclaes to harmonize against but so do other products in the market place.
Ionian Dorian Phrygian
Lydian Mixolydian Aeolean
Locrian Major Minor
Harmonic Minor Melodic Minor Chromatic
Whole Tone Pentatonic Major Pentatonic Minor
Enigmatic Neapolitan Hungarian

It is the customisation of user defined scales that we come to expect from Eventide.

Hasn't the market place got enough of these so called multi effects units from the likes of TC Electronics, Zoom, Digitech, Alesis and Boss.

From a guitar player's point of view the unit does not fill it's promise of being an update on their previous Harmonizer lines and it is not financially viable, let's be realistic, most guitar players are not going to notice 96K which is NOT (48k only)available on the pitch shifting programs, the strength of the Eclipse should be its ability and creativity regarding harmonization. Guitar players in 99% of all instances already have time and modulation effects. If the Eclipse had comprehensive custom parameters for its pitch shifting programs and was marketed correctly with it's creativity side being highlighted add to that providing a complete manual Eventide's unit sales would increase, I guarantee it!

I would certainly not purchase this unit again, I always wanted an Eventide like most of you all out there but given its cost and previous limitations of swithching programs (delay in loading programs) during live performance I always opted for something less expensive and aimed at live performance. I am still using a 1990 Digitech IPS33B (Super Harmony Machine)Whilst I agree it is joke in comparison to Eventide on the onset but I have to say that it does change programs with no delay like the Eventide, it has 64 slots for "custom" pitch shifting which the Eclipse does not. Sure the tracking is questionable but if you set it up correctly and run it parallel it does get by in live situation very well. And yes the manual was written logically and comprehensively.

Eventide need to go back to the drawing board and concentrate on the broadcasting market and leave the musicians market alone. Leave it to companies such as Roland,Digitech,TC Electronics etc etc who appear to be aiming their products at musicians with realistic pricing structures.

I hope someone from Eventide reads this review and takes it on board for what it is.

In closing I can only hope that this review has saved someone from making the same mistake I did. If you can afford and justify $5,600 odd dollars on the Orville you will be satisfied but anything under that forget it!

At first it seems a little confusing but after a quick poke around the manual it is actually quite obvious. The "hot keys" function allows you to get to the heart of a patch quite quickly and make the critical adjustments. The manual is concise and a maybe little brief although it's not particularly missing anything.

I tried it as a send effect from the desk, direct input for a guitar and also on an amp loop. The sound quality is first class! You really get what you pay for in terms of lovely sound. There is a little volume change between some of the patches but this is expected.Individual FX are great and the reverb will surprise a lot of people. Pitch shifting is up to the expected standard. I really like the distortian as well. The effects quality is fantastic although please read on.

Happy with it since I've had it.

Nothing as of yet. I would like a Computer based editor please.

I always wanted an Eventide. When I got one I loved the sound (not the price!)however a couple of things were dissapointing. Firstly in common with practically all modern DSP FX units there is a delay when switching patches (you even get a LOADING bargraph!)This is not a particular Eventide issue as TC and Lexicon both suffer from this.The other thing was that there are only two fx slots available within in a patch. This limits the creative possiblity and I would prefer the dynamic DSP assignment employed by TC fireworx.
Overall I think its one of the best sounding units in the world let slighty down by it's limited architecture and high price.