Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Scoop! Metasonix TM-7 Unveiled


TM-7, originally uploaded by M.M._.

Thanks to my secret source I think I might actually be first to the web with this, probably the only piece of NAMM news I could actually give a flying crap about.

(So thank-you Mr. Secret Source, I owe you one, once again.....)

Here it is, the much anticipated Metasonix TM-7 Ultra Distortion Scrotum Smasher. Needless to say I'm drooling... It's got retarded animal babies, it's got a BN6 tube, it's got Ghostbusters references. What isn't to love about this?

Looks like my earlier speculation about the 'enable BN6' switch was on the mark, as the hunch about TX concepts moving into the TM line. I wonder if there will be any more TX modules in the future?

Finally, gotta love those control names. Hehehe.

Great stuff, congrats to Eric and Metasonix.

Metasonix website here

Super-giant version of the above image, probably for press reasons and such

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately marketing products
with profanity and sexual disfunction does little to add value and credibility to the Metasonix organization.

Muff Wiggler said...

Funny, it's exactly this approach that moved them from being a company you've never heard of, who didn't sell anything, to a company you have heard of, who routinely has more orders than they can keep up with.

the 'value' is in how the users feel about their products. The credibility is in their ability to deliver products the users enjoy.

Only issue I see is the inability of many people to see past the marketing material to the actual product behind. Which tells you a lot. Not about Metasonix, but about the huge numbers of idiotic consumers who can't think beyond the ad copy they've read. A lesson for us all perhaps.

I think it's absolutely brilliant, and I also think it serves to scare away a lot of the people who would be clueless about how to use a product like this.

Keep it up Metasonix! When people who aren't customers bitch and moan, you are doing something right!

Anonymous said...

hey people said the same thing about Alice Cooper when he started his schtick

legend has it, after the first newpaper reports about how foul and evil Alice Cooper concerts were, Frank Zappa phoned up Mr. Cooper, and said "whatever you are doing, keep doing it"

I guess history can tell us if the approach worked for Alice Cooper or not.

Anonymous said...

Can we look forward to new Metasonix products such as the Turd Burgler, featuring suitable fecal graphics, or maybe the Child Molester (I think he's already done a rape reference on one of his boxes)? Hey, let's just cut to the chase and have a Goatse processor, with the tube window where the infamous hole is!

Yes, stupid ads are easy to ignore, until they're printed on the freaking device itself. Having to look at that silly crap every time I tweak a knob is not my idea of fun.

This sort of thing might be funny on a prototype, but on production units? I guess if you're a teenager who thinks that teabagging jokes and poop references are "edgy."

Muff Wiggler said...

lol! so i take it you won't be ordering one?

look on the bright side: You've obviously got lots of time on your hands if you can troll around the web after products you aren't interested in. Wait a sec, I'm actually not sure if that constitutes a 'bright side' or not!

look, any marketing that gets your product in front of people's eyes is effective. Metasonix made you look, didn't they? It's obviously working. Certainly beats toiling away in obscurity year after year. I'd like to see you do better!

And regardless your opinion, I find the marketing employed by Metasonix to be *significantly* less offensive than the approcah used by Nestle (by far the worst), Disney, McDonald's, Wal Mart, etc etc. And when I say "significantly less offensive", it's not like they are in a different ballpark, we are talking about an entirely different game all together.

Take it or leave it, but they got your attention and people are talking about them - and this is leading to a lot more sales (and keeping the designer in business) then when they took a mainstream approach and got ignored.

If I didn't like the products so much, then by far my favorite thing about Metasonix would be the whine-boys who follow them around. But I like the products so much that my favotite thing - by far - is actually using them.

Anyway, don't want to rain on the gripe parade, so I'll let you have back at if if you are so inclined.

cheers, and thanks for the comments. Every new view is a potential new customer, increasing the chances of these guys staying around long enough to design some great new gear for ME to enjoy. :P~

Anonymous said...

I'm flattered that you took the time to write eight paragraphs complaining about my complaining.

Muff Wiggler said...

nice try! but please play again. It was eight paragraphs of defending products that I like, and a marketing approach that I find effective.

If you'd like to hear actual complaints from me, perhaps I could start a commentary on the abilities of many blog readers to follow a basic discussion and comprehend simple information.

Muff Wiggler said...

the irony of someone complaining about Metasonix's 'immature' approach to marketing, on a blog entitled "Muff Wiggler" has got to be entertaining to more people than just me! :P

Anonymous said...

"Muff Wiggler" is funny and somewhat clever. Endless references to butt probes and anal this and that gets old pretty quick.

As Spinal Tap said, "there's such a thin line between clever and stupid." We all have our opinion on when the line has been crossed.

But I wish Eric all the success in the world, and I send my deepest sympathies to his proctologist.

Muff Wiggler said...

'"Muff Wiggler" is funny and somewhat clever.'

Thanks for recognizing this - flattery will get you (almost) anywhere!

As far as 'endless' references to butts and anal this-n-that go, there's a point I'd like to make.

I am aware of 13 different Metasonix Products over the years, and I'm sure there's probably one or two I'm forgetting.

There's currently 7 different products available in production at Metasonix.

Of all these 13 products, only three of them have ever taken this controversial approach. The rest have generic text labels for graphics. Oh, and names like "multi-mode filter" and "waveshaper".

So 'endless' references? Seriously?

Also, I think it's worthwhile to point out, the three products that have gone down this controversial road, have ALL been distortion devices, somewhat geared towards guitarists. Distortion devices seeming to be the one thing that guitar players seem to simply eat up in enormous numbers, year after year.

Metasonix's 'edgy' marketing and graphics have only been used three times, out of at least 13 products, and only ever in distortion boxes.

C'mon. Do you *REALLY* not see something going on here that's a hell of a lot more interesting and smart than simple poop and pee jokes?

seriously.

btw: I *do* appreciate the debate, really.

Zerosum Inertia said...

I will have one!!!!Yes I will!
Mostly because i missed out on the TX series, and this is everything i hoped for, actually way more.
There isnt anything like metasonix gear, period.
I want to have a metasonix over the top distortion box screwing my TM-1,
now with the TX nastyness in the TM price range im so there!!!
Thank you so much for posting this Muff!!!!
K i need to eat some dinner,
ill read all these comments later

Muff Wiggler said...

cheers zero :)

it was news i was very excited to hear, let alone get to break

i guess it's the least i can do for you guys considering there'll always be basically zero chance of me ever going to a NAMM and filing a first-hand report :)

Sean said...

which brings me to a quesiton..they finally have an idea about the pricing on these...will it be tm pricing :)? or like....the old tx pricing :(

Muff Wiggler said...

i would make a semi-educated guess that you'll be looking at TM-style pricing

i would make a fully-selfish guess that i won't be personally looking at NFR pricing in exchange for drumming up all this publicity :P

Sean said...

on that note, I'd love to be sponsored by metasonix...

or just go all metasonix for my effects chain...

if they'd just make an unstable lfo generator...i'd be really happy...

Muff Wiggler said...

i don't know if anyone is sponsored by Metasonix... I think it's the other way around!

I know that the biggest names in the industry who are known to use their gear, not only do they have to buy it themselves, but they also have to put up with the insults that Eric writes on some of their boxes!

I think they are too small, and building everything by hand - makes sponsorship difficult

An all-Metasonix FX chain would be something amazing indeed. I'm moving in that direction for a lot of stuff, but still have needs for reverbs and delays which probably isn't something we'll see from Metasonix...


as far as 'unstable LFO generator' goes, I don't know how modular you are, but there are a lot of very cool (non-metasonix) options available.

The Wiard Noise Ring is probably the best single unit you can find for acting as a 'unstable LFO generator'. OK, it can do about a bazillion other things very very well also, but if you are looking for random, semi-random, or controlled-random voltages to act like an LFO, this is a one-stop shop.

The Blacet Improbability Drive has a nice Sample & Hold output, that you can also get chaotic and unstable LFO types from

The Bananalogue VCS also does about a million things. One of the simple things it does is LFO. But when you add voltage-controlled waveshaping to the LFO shapes, you can feed it other voltages which will morph and twist the shape of the LFO....another good application

Finally, why not take a voltage controlled LFO module (like the Blacet Micro LFO) and by feeding it CVs you can turn it into a semi-chaotic LFO. Or follow it with a VCA, and apply S&H to the VCA's CV input, you have chaotic depth modulation of your LFO

in a decent modular setup you can have quite a few ways to achieve an unstable LFO generator. I'd like to see Metasonix products remain in the realm of 'audio generation and processing', I think what they offer in this area is unique, whereas I think if they were to create CV processors it would be hard to do something that wasn't already done (also hard to justify the tube). But they've surprised me in the past....

Sean said...

those are some really good points you mentioned there.

just ordered my tm-5 today.

getting the tm-3 or 6 in the summer.

Muff Wiggler said...

if for some reason that TM-5 isn't up your alley (can't imagine why it wouldn't be), please consider selling it to me! It's the only TM unit I haven't yet got, and it's on the "must buy" list for 2007.

The pentode in my TX-1 gives such ungodly amounts of gain (seriously, i can't even describe it, wtf), I really think the TM-5 preamp will be something special. Metasonix knows how to build an amazing preamp, of this I'm sure.

Sean said...

yeah i figured from the tx-1,tx-2, and the tm-7, that this preamp would pretty much be a good thing to get.

i needed a preamp..
so why settle for a simple one.

right now for drive I have been using my moogerfooger ring mod...and it's just not enough gain to be used effectively with the tm-1. so yeah.

should have it by saturday

Muff Wiggler said...

oh yeah, having the extra gain will really help the response of your TM-1 a great deal.

the preamp looks to me (never tried one) like it's a great middle ground between a standard preamp, and Metasonix TX-series craziness. Very nice that Eric put in that BN6 tube and the ability to bypass it. The BN6 is so purely evil you are gonna laugh

seriously, if the preamp isn't up your alley, I'll buy it off you. It's the only TM i don't have, and I'll snap one up in a second if I can save a few bucks over retail

i'm not holding my breath though...don't worry!

Sean said...

:-P

i already own a metasonix product, the will to even think about ordering another automatically puts it up my alley.

i'll get a recording of it though sometime soon though.

should be here on tuesday. i ordered the last one analogue haven had

Sean said...

I got the tm-5 today!!!!!

my first impression.
the thing puts out crap loads of gain.

I really like the sounds of it. and that bn6 tube is quite evil indeed. I would say this device rivals the hyper fuzz for sweet distortion/gain.

It drives the tm-1 one pretty well. and with the envelope cv into the amp cv it blends quite nicely....

and i use my ring modulator (moog) lfo to drive my clipping cv.

either way it sounds pretty good so far.

and might i mention my bass amp was at 1....3 may have been overkill

and 11 may be suicide....