TC-1210/TC SCF

It is really really nice - I raised the rate and depth a bit, and now I am a very happy camper. I also tried your 1210 settings. These sound super cool too.

These are my 1210 settings based on this thread
1210 settings.png

I experimented with the width control. I think, I like it better at 100%, but the difference is small to my ears.
 
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@Smittefar , here you go!

I'm quite happy with how it turned out. The sound clip is one half Axe-Fx III, one half TC SCF plugin (can you tell which is which)? The sound clip is mono, but the attached blocks are stereo. Place the filter in series before the chorus. For mono, remove the filter block and turn off the phase reverse in the chorus block.




Some interesting things about the plugin/pedal:
  • The speed knob lies to you. The speed is generally slower than the knob is indicating.
  • Depth scales with speed, but so does the min delay time.
  • Depth shortens the width of the sweep, but also reduces the minimum delay time slightly.
  • Max depth and slow speed gives a sweep from about 3.8-12.4 ms.
  • The intensity (mix) can't turn off the chorus completely. There is still a noticeable amount of chorus at zero.
  • The waveform is pretty much a perfect sine.
  • When used in stereo, the right dry signal is phase reversed. The chorus stays in phase (mono).
  • It's cleaner (less saturation) but darker (lower high cut) than the TC1210.
  • I'm pretty sure that there is a gently high cut at the input of the pedal. It's very minimal compared to the high cut for the chorused signal though. You can add some high cut with the filter block and reduce the high cut in the chorus block if you like that aspect of it (I don't). Plus, it's so subtle, it's not really in the frequency range that a guitar cab can reproduce anyway (too high).

I just spoke with an old sound technician who has also run sound demos for TC. He insisted that the actual pedal phase reverse the right side of effected signal and not the dry signal. I have confirmed that the plugin does what you describe (mono chorus + phase reverse of the dry right signal), but now I gotta track down a real pedal and test what it does :)
 
I just spoke with an old sound technician who has also run sound demos for TC. He insisted that the actual pedal phase reverse the right side of effected signal and not the dry signal. I have confirmed that the plugin does what you describe (mono chorus + phase reverse of the dry right signal), but now I gotta track down a real pedal and test what it does :)
I'd be interested in seeing if the pedal does the opposite. But a part of me would be surprised if TC got something so fundamental wrong with the plugin
🙃

The old manual for the pedal states that it is the wet signal that is phase reversed. But then again, those old TC manuals are full with errors. Intriguing, this is!
 
It would be surprising if TC messed up their plugin this bad.

I should be able to borrow a pedal fairly soon
 
It would be surprising if TC messed up their plugin this bad.

I should be able to borrow a pedal fairly soon
Cool!

I found a really good YouTube video of the SCF, recorded in stereo. Identical dry signal on both sides. I did some phase reversing to see what was cancelled out, and TC DID mess up the plugin. It's the right effect signal that is audio phase reversed, the dry is unaffected. I'll update my earlier post.
 
In short, the TC1210 is a wonky unit. It has some unique interactivity between the speed, width (depth) and delay knobs. And the manual lies to you. The manual for the TC1210 plugin corrects and adds to the original manual.

Try this for a standard chorus using one engine of the TC:

Analog stereo
Voices 2
Rate 0.5 hz
Auto depth off
Delay 2.6 ms
Depth 22 %
Width 0 %
LFO phase 180 degrees
High cut 15 k
Drive 5.05

Mix to taste.
since the controls on the original 1210 seem to be interactive, would you know if the Delay Time changes when using a slower Rate? I prefer my Stereo Choruses on the rather slow side (speed 0.2 hz) and was wondering if Delay time would change as well?

also, on a slow Rate setting, Auto Depth off (as suggested by you) works much better for me, since the whole Chorus is far less extreme wobbly. that's most likely nature of the beast and that I still haven't gotten my head quite around what Auto Depth actually does...
 
since the controls on the original 1210 seem to be interactive, would you know if the Delay Time changes when using a slower Rate? I prefer my Stereo Choruses on the rather slow side (speed 0.2 hz) and was wondering if Delay time would change as well?

also, on a slow Rate setting, Auto Depth off (as suggested by you) works much better for me, since the whole Chorus is far less extreme wobbly. that's most likely nature of the beast and that I still haven't gotten my head quite around what Auto Depth actually does...
I did some quick measurements. At these slow speeds (0.1-0.5 hz), the rate doesn't change the minimum delay time. The depth does though. The delay line is modulated both longer and shorter from the starting delay, not only longer like in the Axe-Fx.

But, it depends on the delay knob setting. Knob at minimum, and the delay line is only modulated longer. Knob at maximum, the delay is only modulated shorter. Anywhere in between, and the delay line is modulated both shorter and longer in varying amounts. That's why depth at maximum and slow rates yields a delay knob on the hardware that does pretty much nothing.
 
I did some quick measurements. At these slow speeds (0.1-0.5 hz), the rate doesn't change the minimum delay time. The depth does though. The delay line is modulated both longer and shorter from the starting delay, not only longer like in the Axe-Fx.

But, it depends on the delay knob setting. Knob at minimum, and the delay line is only modulated longer. Knob at maximum, the delay is only modulated shorter. Anywhere in between, and the delay line is modulated both shorter and longer in varying amounts. That's why depth at maximum and slow rates yields a delay knob on the hardware that does pretty much nothing.
Kudo's for working out all the interactions. I started down that road w/ my 1210, but with all the interactions, it is quite the feat. I still wish we had all the advanced features in the flanger for the chorus.
 
Kudo's for working out all the interactions. I started down that road w/ my 1210, but with all the interactions, it is quite the feat. I still wish we had all the advanced features in the flanger for the chorus.
+1!

I would love that. It would make it much easier to emulate gear like this. Right now, you have to measure the behaviour for any given setting, which is kinda tedious.
 
I did some quick measurements. At these slow speeds (0.1-0.5 hz), the rate doesn't change the minimum delay time. The depth does though. The delay line is modulated both longer and shorter from the starting delay, not only longer like in the Axe-Fx.

But, it depends on the delay knob setting. Knob at minimum, and the delay line is only modulated longer. Knob at maximum, the delay is only modulated shorter. Anywhere in between, and the delay line is modulated both shorter and longer in varying amounts. That's why depth at maximum and slow rates yields a delay knob on the hardware that does pretty much nothing.
awesome! thanks so much for working that all out! really interesting actually and proves my point once again, like you said, that it's really only possible to get different settings by having to measure the original unit. had the same "problem" many times with some of my gear and why I stopped trying to emulate anything and just keep using the real pedals etc.. if I want that specific tone...
 
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