Frostwave Sonic Alienator

I kinda dont understand how people could rate this bad (or low) for ease of use. It's quite basic and i dont think you need much, if any, pre-knowledge before starting with it. I did initially have a little trouble getting it to work in the manner i wanted, but it is a desktop pedal and i wanted it going through my guitar chain with other effects. I now have it plugged through a Boss LS-2 after my loop pedal at the end of the chain in my effects loop. By having it through the LS-2 it can be triggered via footswitch like any other pedal and works wonders for manipulating loops.

So now it is all very basic, just turn the knobs to find the sound you want, or use it on the fly. The manual is extremely minimal, and perhaps could include more, but i dont think that it's entirely important. Says enough for me and i had no problems figureing things out for myself.

No one should expect to understand something completely right away. It's great to be getting new idea's and sounds after months of use. Doesn't mean it is hard to use, there is just alot to get out of it.

For my setup i have a Labsystems 30 watt head and the cab is 50 watts (Class A amp). And also a Maton MS2000. Both fantastic bits of gear (and also from Melbourne like the Frostwave). There are also quite a few other effect pedals in my chain. The Frostwave is being used in the effects loop on the head of my amp.

There are many, many settings on this thing. Some more noisey than others, but thats just part of the pedals sound. The actual quality of the sound from the pedal is top notch! It's so dirty and gritty, and smooth and subtle when you want it to be, but the sound quality is really amazing! I couldn't compare it to the Alesis Bitrman or any Plugin's though as i dont have experience with these.

Because you can control both the input/output levels on the pedal you dont have to worry about tone loss that you get with certain other effects. You can make it louder than your guitar signal if you like, or quieter. I haven't noticed any unwanted noise or hum from the thing. But certain settings can be intense! It is a Bit Crusher / Decimator.

I couldn't say if i get the sounds of my favourite artists with this... I dont really know or listen to anyone that uses something like this. But you can replicate alot of the sounds you could hear in certain types of electro / techno music. It just has a very unique sound!

I am using both a really high quality amp and a great guitar, so the effect sounds fantastic! Though i can imagine, as with any other kind of effect, the poorer the quality of your guitar and amp the poorer the pedal may seem to sound. But with good equipment it has amazing sound quality!

I have only had the unit for 3 months now so i can't look to deeply into this. It's built very strong and does seem as though it would last a long time. It is backed with a 3 year warranty, so you would hope it would at least last that long.

Not to mention, it isn't a foot pedal. And with the lack of being continuously trotten on, it just sits there. It shouldn't ware out too quickly.

I would definately use it on a gig without a backup. There wouldn't be many people walking around with two of these things.

I have had little to do with the company, only when i first purchsed the unit. But they were very helpful and friendly. And because Frostwave is such a local and small company i did speak to one of the makers and designers of the pedals, which was comforting.

My music style is filled with loops, and ambience, loud sounds and samples of field recordings. The Frostwave does indeed fit in quite well with my music style, and i know it's also extremely good, and was designed for, post-production recordings and electronica based music. It could be used in many styles and is very flexible just depending on the creativity of the owner.

It is used with my Labsystems Amp, Maton MS2000 guitar and effects:
EHX Frequency Analyzer, Zvex Fuzz Factory, Boss HR-2, Boss PH-3, Boss TR-2, EHX Deluxe Memory Man, Boss RV-5, Boss DD-3, Boss LS-2 (too many Boss, lol), Digitech Jamman and also the distortion from the Labsystems other channels.

What drew me to this pedal was its sound. It is just so unique and different to any other kind of effect i have heard out there! I really do love everything about its sound and that it has the ability to have a huge potential of sounds. There isn't anything i HATE about it, but it would be nice if it had a footswitch. But that was a problem i worked around by getting the LS-2.

It is generally not the kind of pedal you would use too often, but it can add a lot of subtle changes to your guitar tone. Dont just think of it as purely an extreme effect. It helps me alot with making the music i do, and helping me generate more idea's and create the sounds i want to make. It is much smaller than i thought, so it doesn't take up much room. But because i like to use it on the fly for loops the pedal doesn't sit on the floor like the rest, it is up on the table to make it easier to change settings.

I would be very annoyed if this was stolen! It is just so different and no other pedal can make the sounds this makes, that YES, i would definately buy another!

I recommend it to anyone who likes experimenting with noise, loops and post-production recordings.

The Sonic Alienator is very easy to use, since it is comprised of just a few knobs and one button. Before the signal even arrives at the digital effects, you can increase the input drive, which allows the user to add a bit of warmth or completely overdrive the signal. The "Magnitude Decimation" knob is an endless rotary that dials in various levels of bit-crushing. The first 360 degree rotation seems to work like a standard bit-crusher, while the second 360 rotation introduces ???Binary Decimation??? with names like "Fold I" and "Swap II". I have no idea what exactly is going on with these latter decimation effects (my unit did not come with a manual to explain these things), but they sound distinct from the first set, offering more or less digital harshness and low-end, depending on how the input drive is set (each digital decimation settings sounds quite different depending on the preceding input drive setting). The sample rate knob works exactly like any VST down-sampling plug-in; it is pretty much a one-trick pony, but it is very useful to have on board. There is also a resonant filter that can be placed before or after the bit-crushing/down-sampling portions of the effect for even more sound shaping possibilities.

The sound destruction capacities of the Sonic Alienator are broad and extreme. It is an ideal device for musicians who make aggressive music (noise, industrial, experimental electronica, drum and bass, etc.). It is especially effective for crushing and mangling drums and basslines. Currently, I'm running one of the mono outputs of my Triton Extreme keyboard into the Sonic Alienator, the output of the Alienator then goes into a Korg Kaoss pad for additional effects and sampling.

Guitarists might be interested in this effect since it produces digital distortion effects that are very distinct from analog overdrive, fuzz, etc.

For a distortion effect as extreme as this one, the Sonic Alienator is surprisingly quiet when no audio is being put into it. Any small amount of hiss can be dialed down with the filter.

Send the nicest melody into this thing and what comes out at the other end will sound like some time-travelling emissary from the apocalypse.

The Sonic Alienator is very solidly built. It has a professional quality that isn't normally associated with boutique effects pedals. This thing isn't just a metal box with a sticker slapped on top. I wouldn't hesitated to play live with it.

Most digital audio workstations feature some kind of bit-crushing/down-sampling feature for adding digital distortion effects to your music (and there are also a number of freeware VST plug-ins that can be downloaded that accomplish the same task) so you might legitimately wonder why you should spend money on an outboard box for signal decimation. The short answer is that the Sonic Alienator is capable generating a far wider range of distortions than can be had by turning virtual bit-crushing/down-sampling knobs in your DAW.

I have tried recreating the signal path of the Sonic Alienator in various software applications (using, for example, Reason???s filters and "Scream" distortion effects in series) but nothing sounds like the Alienator. I love the tactility of a real box with knobs; there is just something about reaching out, turning a knob, and pulverizing a signal that cannot be matched by pointing and clicking with a mouse (though substituting a MIDI controller can get you pretty darn close). The combination of interactivity and the surprisingly broad range of distortion effects it can generate make the Sonic Alienator a much-cherished part of my studio.

My only complaint is that the inputs and outputs are monophonic. You cannot process signals in stereo. This is fine for guitarists, but I work with synths, drum machines, and samplers. I am sorely tempted to buy a second Alienator so that I can run the effect in stereo, but for the time being I just use a splitter to send the signal into stereo effects.

not so easy minus manual which is a good thing because it means you can play. the sample rate, res, cutoff, volume knobs are easy enough but when you get to this galactic centre with the 'binary decimation [flashing]' knob and 'orientation' button it gets complex, with names on each setting like 'fold 1' fold 2, magnitude decimation, swap1 swap2// wtf?? youve really gotta play for hours to get a hold of this. i still havent. im also still looking for bypass!!

hmm.. yes it sounds like crap most of the time, which is the point. but there is excess noise that i dont like when i want to bypass i just cant. but otherwise there are some really interesting tones found here, from destroyed game boy to pure wall of sound fuzz/distortion, to clean with some damage to it and ring mod sounds. but i cant get over the lack of bypass, i have to literally remove it from the chain to use other effects properly. using it with marshall valvestate, boss reverb/delay, ibanez fl303, super shifter, boss cs1 and a magnitude of other stuff which can sound good [rv-3 sounds great with this!] to awful [regular reverb]..

frostwave makes really great lasting pedals. dont think id be brave enough yet to use in gig though.

no idea.

BYPASS PLEASE!! NOT JUST A LITTLE BUTTON YOU HAVE TO PRESS WITH YOUR FINGERS TO GET SOMETHING KIND OF CLOSE TO BYPASS.. TRUE BYPASS PLEASE!

This is the easiest effect I have ever used. Plug it in, turn a knob and the sample rate starts degrading the signal as much or as little as you like. I have never heard such a great effect either. For myself, this effect cannot be used "too much", which may be my downfall in the future. I love to make my synth sound old and digital.

There are no patches to edit. Just turn the knobs, listen to the sounds it is making, and decide if the effect sounds the way you want it to. I have lots of different sounds from just small turns of the sample rate knob. CRAZY!!!

The manual is small and simple. Not a whole lot to explain about it.

The sound quality is awful/excellent? I mean, it's a signal decimator. It makes your sound source sound like it has a slight layer of digital grime, or full on square wave distortion madness. It can sound like a video game unit from the 80's, or whatever. It's bypass is also signal perfect, to my ears. No loss at full sample rate.

The effect always sounds great/terrible. It's a digital signal decimator. God...

It is noisy. Not all the time.

So far, so good. Sure!

Very friendly.

I create ambient music with delay and looping pedals and my Alesis Micron. It's perfect for my rig. Nobody else on the planet makes this effect in a single box. Boss and Alesis might toss it in with their multi-effects units, but that doesn't count.

I wish it could spawn more of itself.

This thing is easy once you figure it out. The manual is a terse 2 pages but if you read it and think about it then it comes to you. Be sure to use a dynamic sound source like a drum machine for starters so the effects are obvious. It really is 2 stages - A filter section and a bit reduction section. You can have either/or on and then switch the order of precedence.

You can get great interesting sounds from the sweet spots and pure trash at the extremes. It's a great way to really grit up an otherwise boring synth. Try a Yamaha TZ81Z which is soooo 80s pop but with an Alienator it gets to be modernly sick. It makes noise 'cause that it is what it is supposed to but not circuit noise. It really is for interactive tweaking. I wish it were stereo. It works best as a line level source although you can turn it down to go into a guitar amp. It will also take guitar or line input. This is mostly for edgy dance or electronic music. Super for drum and bass.

So far so good. It is well built and nothing cheesy. I can't imagine needing a backup. Its only an effect so if it went out during a performance, c'est la vie.

Frostwave is top notch. Three year warranty. I bought mine used and had some doubts about it til I figured it out, but they offered to fix/swap it for free if it had problems and I'm not even the original owner. Only downer is that you would have to send it back to Australia, but hey that's better than China.

If you do any hard edgy electronica interactively this is a great tool. It's a lot pricier than an Alesis Bitrman (which is stereo), but offers much better sounds. I've had mine a month and this is now a favorite among many other many other sound tweeks.. If you're tired of the same old flangers, phasers, delays and autopanners, give this one a try. I'd replace mine if stolen. It's also hand made by real people who seem to care about a lot about it and will make it right.

It can get pretty complex. There are literally an infinite number of sounds I can get out of it. Each knob is very effective, and just a little tweak can dramatically change the sound. The manual was very short and simple- it wasn't very helpful.

When I first plugged it in (guitar>amp), it was beyond what I had dreamed it to be. Nintendo Distortion! All of the effects, which are all similar but different, sound extraordinary. It makes a strange sort of harmonizer sound- it reacts to what pitches and ranges you play in (but I can easily tweak how loud I want the harmony; from all harmony to no harmony). It reacts to how hard, or loud I play. It seems to react to my tone knob too. It does hiss a little on one or two settings, but other settings utilize a very effective noise-gate (complete silence when you're not playing- and it reacts immediately). I used a Keeley True-Bypass Looper to see if it colored the sound of my guitar while it was off, and I didn't notice a difference. I can use the looper to "turn it on/off," with my foot, which is very convinient for guitar.

First of all, the sounds are 100% consistent. It's definitely reliable in what it does. But, Right out of the package, I pulled up on a knob and it came right off. I simply put it back on, no problem. The metal casing seems a little thinner than I'd like. It doesn't look like it's made for going places. I've only had it for one day, but I'll post another review if something new comes up.

foo.

THIS IS NOT A PEDAL- it doesn't have a footswich, and it is not made for guitar. It's simply an all-purpose effect. It's for anything you can plug into it.
I play 80s metal (where this effect probably wouldn't fit in) to 90s rock, to more experimental indie-sounding stuff. It can work with 90s rock, but It is definitely at home with experimental indie music. This is really my first "weird" effect, besides the Fender-Blender which is borderline weird. I don't have a lot of experience with effects other than what I reserch online.
This is obviously a unique effect that covers its own little area of sounds. I havn't found anything that sounds even remotely like it. It probably isn't a good idea to use it all the time, cause we all need variety, but who knows. I love that nintendo sound. For what it does, it does it great.