Frostwave Sonic Alienator
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The Frostwave Sonic Alienator is a bit-rate/depth reduction device, to add grit, aliasing and distortion to your pristine sounding recordings. Up until now these types of effects have only been availble in plugin form. Frostwave have combined aliasing with built in soft distortion and a true analog filter to create something truly unique.
Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price: $237.00
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User Reviews of the Frostwave Sonic Alienator
- Submitted by burnn_out! from Roseville, MI (78 points) on Oct 26, 2010
- Nice bit crusher/ sample rate reducer. one of the best i've used/owned. the low pass filter works nice to shape the sound. i use the filter mostly in pre mode to effect the sound going in. one small beef i have is the center dial isnt very logical to me. pretty much just rotate to taste.
- Good Points: Well built pretty if somewhat cryptic looking design better sounding than most bit crushers your going to find.
- Bad Points: Rare prices have sky rocketed since i bought mine many years ago the power supply is funky so if you lose it like i did, it might be a minute till you find a replacement.
- Price Paid: US$175.00
- Purchased At: craigslist
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- Submitted by K. from Sealy, TX (532 points) on Feb 14, 2004
- Basically a decimator combined with a low pass filter which is configurable via the orientation button to apply the filter to either the input prior to the decimator, the output following the decimator, filter alone, or decimator alone. The decimator itself is the core effect on this unit, it basically digitally degrades/distorts a signal to varying degrees depending on the position of the center knob/switch. Something on the order of 24 different decimation settings are available, some subtle, others more severe, though at times there seem to be only small differences between some settings. Not quite certain how the settings differ, but half the settings for the central switch are labeled "magnitude decimation/binary decimation (flashing)" while the other half are for "fold" and "swap", perhaps those with more of an understanding of digital processing can make sense of this. Seperate control for sample rate which controls the amount of degredation, controls for "input/drive", which apparently adds a bit of overdrive to the signal at higher levels, "output", and "cutoff" and "reso"(resonnace) for the LP filter. Inside the unit you can adjust a jumper to make the output control either overall effect volume, or mix of straight signal and the effect. No bypass switch on the unit, but this prob can be solved by using the mix setting on the output. Only mono input and output jacks, and like all Frostwave effects requires an AC wallwart.
- Good Points: solid construction, wide range of varying decimation effects, configurable low pass filter
- Bad Points: no bypass switch, pot shafts are plastic and output control on mine is very wobbly
- Price Paid: US$203.00
- Purchased At: e-bay
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- Submitted by Harm from Mechanicsville, VA (86 points) on Nov 9, 2003
- Like most new equipment, this thing inspires all sorts of ideas and possibilities. I love the control, its real unique and flexible. The picture i've been staring at for months is a little deceiving. I thought all the little dots by the knobs were peak lights, sample rate lights. There just little black dots. The cool thing about this pedal is that you can open it up and change the jumpers to switch the job of the volume knob. It also has a on and off switch. The power supply that comes with it is really small which is nice. This thing like the ring modulator i have is built like a tank, there is no play between the knob and the unit so dust and wear will take a long time. I have this set up at the end of a chain of distortion pedals, mostly boss like the DS-1, MT-2, HM-2, and a NS-1. I use my mixer and the aux sends to route sounds through the different effects and to create feedback loops. This thing can make some of the most boring boss distortion sound thick and interesting. In combination with the ring modulator in feedback loops and sampled loops, you can get some really awesome rhythms. Especially if you pan the individual channels opposite of eachother.
- Good Points: Built like a tank, great control, great tone, base, and texture, smaller than you'd think. Power Switch. Sounds fucking great after anything. If you're bored with the straightforward feedback distortion pedal application, this thing will make it all sound fresh again.
- Bad Points: I thought it had lights but i was wrong. but big effing deal. I wish it did have a bypass switch, though there are ways to get around it as listed below. And you can change the jumper inside to allow the out put volume to become a balance knob between dry/wet. 200 dollars seems a little expensive but its worth it. I would never pay 200 for a boss pedal and i laugh when i see people using mooger fooger, especially multiple ones.
- Price Paid: US$200.00
- Purchased At: Birthday Present
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- Submitted by dave from Redwood City, CA (74 points) on Aug 4, 2003
- This is a great addition to my roster. I just got this but heres what I've done with it so far. The Frostwave Sonic Alienator can create a wide range of sounds (depending on the sound source). Using a self oscillating delay or filter, this beauty can do it all from low rumbly crackles, to high frequency squelches using the sample frequency knob. The Lowpass Filter is also a great aspect for its true analog sweeps and tones. Using the Decimator in the center of the pedal along with routing between it's decimator and filter using its fancy orientation switch gives you unlimited ideas. It's tones are unlike any other and can be changed by the decimator knob, selecting the preset clipping types. I'm really excited for what this pedal can do and am looking forward to what I'll find as time progresses.
- Good Points: The sounds and tones, hands down. The multiple decimation bit depth algorithms.
- Bad Points: When the LED on the Orientation Switch is set to PRE, it's hard to hear the Filter.
- Price Paid: US$219.00
- Purchased At: www.bigcitymusic.com
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- Submitted by d. l. from Wakefield, MA (204 points) on Jul 23, 2003
- This sexy "pedal" is fucking awesome and my favorite: a bitcrusher, low-pass filter, and clip distortion circuit in one! The SA has about seven modes or something via the central dial (offering several distinct flavors of sample rate bastardization and clipping) and is configurable: filter post or pre or alone, bitcrusher alone, etc. All the modes can be used at once. Anything from mild aliasing to full-on lo-fi digital walls of noise are possible. I've coaxed some light envelope filter sounds when paired with a couple other fuzz devices and scraping some guitar strings... could almost make it sound like an E-H Microsynth. A multi-mode switch for the filter would've been awesome. More suitable for table-top operation, the tiny post/pre button can still be stepped-on. The SA costs a bit more than most pedals, but it's highly unique. The only other compact box I can think of that's even remotely similar is Alesis' Bitrman, which is much cheaper, but has nowhere near the capabilities/control and noise specialty that the Frostwave possesses.
- Good Points: many modes (r2d2 to Atari blips to ring mod to harsh noise...), extremely responsive controls (I can't see a difference in knob placement sometimes!), effect order configurable, sheet-metal construction, juicy-sounding resonant analog filter, the knobs, the sound!
- Bad Points: filter can't self-oscillate, low-pass only, I guess the FSA can't fully bypass? (with the filter alone (neither "post" nor "pre" led's are lit), you can turn the cutoff fully clockwise and the res fully counter-clockwise to simulate bypass... the filter must be negative then, since the highest cutoff value is the original sound)
- Price Paid: US$240.00
- Purchased At: ebay
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- Submitted by Tim from San Francisco, CA (42 points) on Apr 27, 2003
- I was chomping at the bit when I heard that Paul Perry was designing a new frostwave effect. It was well worth the wait. The Sonic Alienator is 2 effects in one: a lowpass filter and a bit rate reducer. The lowpass filter is pure analog Frostwave goodness. cut-off knob and resonance knob controlled. The decimator has a control for various algorithms and for the sample rate. This thing makes a variety of cool sounds: filter sweeps, ring modulation sounds, dirty digital bleep and bloops, rumbling lows, etc... A very cool feature is the orentation button which allows you to select lowpass filter only, decimator only, or Lowpass into decimator, or decimator into lowpass filter. very nice before a distortion pedal...
- Good Points: See review
- Bad Points: not true bypass 9v DC jack is positive tip. Not compatible with Boss type adaptors which are Negative tip. Be very careful and get the polarity correct. Didn't include adaptor.
- Price Paid: US$237.00
- Purchased At: warmcola
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