FIDDLING WITH FACTORY PROGRAMS
Or you can just press Program and go back to fiddling with the factory patches, which range from well behaved to completely out-of-control. The Eclipse ships with over 300 factory presets, with slots 0 through 99 reserved for storing your own effects silliness. Preset slots 500-999 are available for storing more of your own programs on a CompactFlash card. The use of standard CF cards is good news, since you can get an 32MB card, way more than enough to hold presets 500-999 and a backup of the rest, for about $25.
The 100-series programs show off the range of internal Eclipse algorithms, and they’re all here — delays, reverse, eight kinds of pitch shift, reverbs, dynamics and EQ. There are even utilities like an oscillator, an instrument tuner and an algorithm for dithering. Presets with familiar names from the H3000 or DSP-4000 families produce the same effects, and names ending with a ³2² are similar, but have minor sonic differences. Locations 200 and above include both variations on these legacy programs and many new, double-algorithm presets. You can also create your own dual-algorithm presets by loading individual single algorithms into either effects block.
With so many presets, it can be tough to find a particular program quickly. But pressing the CRITER softkey from within the Program page lets you sort the programs, either alphabetically or numerically. They can also be searched based on what sound source the program was created for (guitar, vocals, drums, etc.), by the effect type (pitch, reverb, delay, etc.) or both. Each time you save a preset, you also can flag these categories for later retrieval. Third, and most important for the working production human, there are 10 user groups that can be customized with the project’s name so it’s quicker to find them later. Finally, searches can be limited to internal memory or to the Compact Flash card.
Once you’ve loaded a program by pressing the LOAD softkey, any minor tweaking can be done through the Hot Keys. For example, the Hot Keys associated with a dense room reverberation program control level, early reflections, position, diffusion, decay, size, pre-delay, and high-cut, and are more than sufficient for 90 percent of the applications for dense reverb. The stereo pitch-shifter program has Hot Keys associated with it for level, pitch, delay, feedback, low note and crossfade time. These parameters are also completely sufficient for most needs.
The majority of programs involve some LFO modulations or delays, which normally synchronize automatically to the master tempo as set by the Tap Tempo button. A lot of the algorithms also employ amplitude envelope followers to modulate a particular parameter or even the LFO or tempo rates. You can tweak the envelope follower sensitivity, attack and release times, as well as a multitude of parameters associated with the LFOs — speeds, modulations, wave shape, and so on. There’s a whole lot to fiddle with here, much more than I’ve been able to touch in allotted review time. It’s deep.
I did find it necessary to tweak the presets, many of which tend to lean towards the out-of-control side of the scale. I used the Hot Keys to excess here, and they never failed to display the control I needed to grab to either bring the program back into line, or send it completely over the top. The more I tweaked, the more comfortable I became with programming the Eclipse.
The sound of the Eclipse is just amazing. The delays are clean and crisp, while the phasers and flangers are smooth and deep and the fuzz programs are just plain fun. The filters and dynamics are highly flexible and can be set to ridiculous extremes without breaking up. The reverbs are lush and smooth, although they lack the warmth of a Lexicon (which may or may not matter to you). The pitch-shift programs are glitch-free, and in my opinion the best feature of any Eventide product. When you start stacking effects and morphing between them, you’ll quickly realize that the Eclipse is a multi-effects processor for grown-ups.
UPGRADING
The Eclipse I’ve been using came with software version 1.20. However, Eventide has just announced version 2.0, which adds their DynamicDistortion distortion module and Predictive Vocoder module. According to the company, “DynamicDistortion models some uniquely analog types of distortion using a proprietary curve-fitting process. The resulting characteristics are highly responsive to the input signal. The Predictive Vocoder module uses a high-resolution physical model of the human vocal tract to implement a stunning vocoder.” I’m guessing that this means there’s even more factory presets to play with, and I’m just bummed that I didn’t get to try them before this review was due.
But it’s nice to know that the upgrade process is simple. You can either send Eventide sixty bucks and they’ll send you a CompactFlash card with the latest version stored on it, or you can download the newest version from their website. By then connecting your PC’s serial port to the Eclipse’s serial port using a straight-through serial cable, you can install the download using their OUpdate software (Windows-only, 95 through 2000).
The manual comes in a loose-leaf notebook, and it’s a good bathroom read. Obviously written by someone who has actually done studio work, it’s clear, well-organized and funny. The index is Spartan, but between the table of contents and the index I was always able to find what I needed to know. It includes detailed descriptions of every preset, along with written lists of the presets sorted number and name. Nice.
BUT I DON’T WANNA RETURN IT!
The Eclipse has several times the power of the H3000, fits in one rack space, has every gozinta and gozouta you’ll ever want, and the sound and raw DSP power of an Eventide. The manual is good, the software is upgradeable, and the box looks very sexy in a rack.
Although it’s positioned as an entry-level Eventide product, it still tips the price scale at nearly three kilobucks. That’s a lot of jack for radio. But if I had to pick just one outboard effects box for my room, the Eclipse would be a serious contender. Budget allowing, Steve sez check it out.
The Eventide Eclipse retails for $2,995. For more information in the US, contact Eventide, 1 Alsan Way, Little Ferry, NJ 07643. Phone (201) 641-1200, fax (201) 641-1640. For more information worldwide, visit www.eventide.com.
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