Effects Pedals

Effects pedals—more commonly used by electric guitars, basses, and synthesizers—can drastically change the sound of the bassoon. However, not all pedals designed to work with guitars will have exactly the same effect on the bassoon as they do for guitars. This is due to the bassoon's more complex sound, difference in envelope shape, and strength of overtones.¹ Still, the various different types of pedals allow for new exciting sounds when carefully paired with the bassoon.

There are four main types of effects pedals: (1) distortion, fuzz, and overdrive, (2) modulation, (3) echo, delay, and loops, and (4) filtering and equalization.¹ The first category tends to boost the sound until additional sounds are present. The second category has many effects that often entail copying the original sound and playing it back out of phase or transposed. Common effects in this category are phasers, flangers, chorus, vibrato, tremolo, ring modulators, octave pedals, pitch shifters, and harmonizers. The third category also copies the sound, but instead plays back the copy at a later time than the original. The fourth category changes the strength of certain frequencies of the original sound.

Distortion, Fuzz, Overdrive

Distortion, fuzz, and overdrive effects are common, but they operate in slightly different ways. Overdrives and distortions both boost the original signal until it overloads the system (or clips), but overdrives take a softer approach to the high frequencies. Overdrives were originally made to get tube amps to create the distorted sound.

Distortions have a harder edge when the sound clips. There are also fuzz effects that send distortion through the entire frequency range. These effects can be the trickiest to work with for the bassoon. Trent Jacobs notes that:

"distortion effects add harmonic content to the sound... Because the bassoon’s harmonic content is already quite complex, distortion effects need to be chosen carefully or the sound can easily become over-saturated with harmonics resulting in a harsh white noise. Distortions effects also increase the gain of the signal which will promote feedback issues already problematic with current pickup units."³

It has been the author's experience that this statement is accurate. If the effect is not tuned carefully, the overtones can dominate the overall sound and it becomes mostly noise. Fuzz effects seem to be a little better with this issue than true distortion pedals. The feedback can be a real issue. Even taking the mouth off the reed can cause feedback. It is recommended to have some way (like a volume pedal) to neutralize the sound quickly if feedback starts. However, these effects can be a lot of fun to play with and are frequently called for in pieces with guitar pedals. Additionally, key clicks and other softer noises put through distortion pedals can create interesting timbres. As with all electronics, it is necessary to take time to learn how to play with distortion effects and experiment with which types work best with the instrument.

Other pedals often grouped in this category are compressors and volume pedals. Instead of drastically boosting the signal until it clips, these effects change the volume of the signal in other ways. Compressors make the soft sounds louder, and the louder sounds softer. For the bassoon, this usually means they dampen the tonguing attack of the note and boost the sustained and release portions of the sound.⁴ A volume pedal simply boosts or decreases the signal based on the position of the pedal. For the bassoonist, this is extremely important, especially when playing in ensembles with other instruments. It gives the bassoonist the freedom to play with more dynamics, as using a bocal pickup decreases the dynamic range of the instrument. Many volume pedals can also be used as an external expression pedal for controlling other effects on some pedals.

Modulation

While the complexity of the bassoon's sound can be a problem with distortion-based effects, it can be an advantage in other effects, such as modulation effects. Modulation effects take the original signal and change it in various ways, either through copying, phasing, pitch shifting, or other combinations. Phasers mix the original sound with an out-of-phase copy of itself. At different points in the sound, the two signals can be be out of phase by 180 degrees. When this happens, the signals cancel each other out and create small notches in the sound. This creates a "swishing" sound. Flangers operate in a similar way but use more copies of the sound and change the way the notches work when the signals are opposite each other.⁵ Chorus effects copy the sound and slightly change the pitch or timing to change the tone of the original signal. Ring modulators combine the original signal with another signal called the carrier signal. This operation does not preserve the relationships of overtones, so it creates interesting sounds often described as "otherworldly," "metallic," or "robotic." Tremolo effects modulate the volume of the signal to give a "shimmering" effect.

Pitch shifting effects allow the bassoon to play more than one pitch simultaneously. Simple effects reproduce the sound at an octave, either above or below the original sound. Some units will allow the performer to choose any interval above or below the original note. Complex harmonizer pedals can create triads, based on the input note, that fit within given scales, or even—in expensive pedals—completely customized harmonies. An interesting pedal is the DigiTech Whammy, which is called for in Black Lion by George Fetner. The Whammy has a built-in expression pedal that can be used to glissando between two pitch shift settings. This could be a change between a fourth and a fifth, or an octave above to an octave below, and many other options.

Echo, Delay, and Loops

These pedals also copy the original sound, but only alter the timing of the copies. Reverb pedals simulate the sound of playing in large spaces with lots of echoes. Delay pedals simply repeat the original sound at a specified interval after the original. Since the bassoon is traditionally a monophonic instrument, these pedals can create limited opportunities for polyphony. The delay interval can be very short or very long. Many pedals have a feedback parameter, which determines if the delayed sound is also processed and delayed. Very high values of feedback can make a sound repeat many times for an extended duration. Very low values produce only a single delayed sound for every input.

Looper pedals record the original sound for a certain time and then play that signal repeatedly until signaled to stop. Most feature an overdub function that allows a performer to record more material on top of the first loop. Through successive overdubs, a complex texture can be created, usually serving as a background for other material. Loopers come with various different lengths to record, and some high-end models can store multiple loops that can be alternated. Other effects include playing the loop at half speed, backwards, and other varieties. Looper pedals can be a great way for a performer to accompany themselves or to add interest to an otherwise unaccompanied piece.

Filtering and Equalization

Filter-based effects boost specific frequency bands to alter the tone color of the input signal. The most common effects are the wah pedal and the envelope filter (sometimes called an auto wah). The wah pedal is an expression pedal that changes the pole of the filter. Pushing the pedal down sweeps the filter and creates its characteristic wah sound. Envelope filters work based on the strength of the input signal. Softer attacks are subdued, while harsher attacks trigger a wah sound. This often gets triggered every time the bassoonist tongues a note. Equalization pedals boost or cut different frequency bands, such as highs, mids, and lows.

Effect Chains

Combining these effects creates a palette of sounds for the electric bassoon. The order of the effects is called the "effect chain," and has a more or less preferred order. In multi-effect units, this is often preprogrammed—although more modern units like the Line6 Helix units can alter the order—but using individual stompboxes can change the sound of the chain by changing the order of effects. A typical ordering is to begin with filters and equalization, then boosters and distortions, then modulation pedals, and finally delays. The middle two are the most frequently switched group in this setup. A volume pedal ideally would be placed first in the chain to manage the dynamics of the input signal, although an additional volume pedal could also be used at the end for controlling the output signal. Keeping the delays last is usually preferred so that all the other effects only process the input signal once instead of each time the delay is triggered.

Demo

Reading about these different effects is nice, but music is all about sound! As a small glimpse of what these different effects can sound like on the bassoon, here is a video demoing some common effects.

For more demonstrations, listen to the recordings of pieces in the list of works in the effects pedals sections.

What Effects Do I Actually Need?

Unless you have certain effects that you really need—for example the Whammy pedal for Black Lion—getting a multi-effects unit will likely be a better bargain for the money. Most multi-effects units will have all of the effects that you need. But if you want to know what effects are most commonly used, here it is.

So you can see that if you got a delay pedal, a basic pitch shifting pedal, and a distortion pedal, you would be prepared for the majority of pieces with effects pedals. Of course, consult each pieces page in the list of works to make sure.