Talking to some guitarist friends, some of them think that the 'Maxon CS-550 Stereo Chorus' from 1979 might be the best Chorus around (it has the circuit based on the Panasonic MN3207 Bucket Brigade integrated amp).
To me it just sounds like a good Chorus but nothing incredibly special, what do you guys think?

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Do you happen to know if any software house has created a good plugin that emulates the 'Maxon CS-550 Stereo Chorus' (or comes very close to its sound)? I would love to test it on some of my guitar rhythms (Afro and Caribbean).
Many thanks for tips and advices.

 

Last edited: Apr 23, 2025 at 7:03 PM

Maxon CS-550 Stereo Chorus

Maxon Stereo Chorus - CS 550 Quick demo (No talking)

TAL-Chorus-LX is a vintage chorus effect that emulates the Juno 60 chorus.
https://tal-software.com/products/tal-chorus-lx

TAL - Chorus-LX - Guitar Demo (Free Plugin!)

 

I've always enjoyed a Roland Dimension D sound. Arturia makes a software version and I've used the Sk-note in the past to good affect.

https://www.sknoteaudio.com/wp/2016/02/25/ddd-dimension-chorus/

 

I've tested many chorus, so I thought I'd chime in. Among the stompbox variety, I liked the Brainworx Blue Chorus and the FAL Chorus 65. The ones from Audiority might be more faithful (?), but I didn't like their sound as much. For the rackmount variety, rich and lush, I like the aforementioned Arturia Dimension D, and perhaps even more the Overloud Modula, which also emulates the Solina Ensemble chorus and the SPX90. The Eventide Tricerachorus neatly packs both styles into a more useful GUI (the Ribbon slider is a cool idea that should become as standard as a wet/dry knob IMO), and I think it sounds great. Its only shortcoming to me is excess of control, like what you get from D16 plugins, and the lack of restrictions you would find in hardware gear, if you're looking for 'constrained production', so to speak. The Juno chorus mentioned above indeed is a different kind of animal and I like the TAL one better than the Arturia or Roland Cloud version (don't know about faithfulness to 'the' original, as even two original hardware units many times won't sound the same, apparently) Also, Amplitube and TH-U come with very cool stompbox emulations in general that sound surprisingly good, many times better than dedicated plugins, always worth a check.

 

Last edited: Apr 23, 2025 at 2:26 PM

I've used the Arturia one a fair bit too. I also only recently discovered the Audiority clones of Boss Ce-1 and ce-2 and really like those too (chorus ensemble and chief chorus, respectively). Audiority makes some great stuff, and there just happens to be a new version on the sister site from TCD today!

 

Thanks for the infos...
I will wait the AU Mac Audiority plugs bundle to test also the Boss CE-1/Boss CE-2.

I'm looking forward to trying them out.

 

Last edited: Apr 23, 2025 at 2:26 PM

love their "italian" tape echo... great stuff (copy of Binson Echorec) famously used on PinkFloyd's Echoes

 

Many years ago I was lucky enough to see this little gem up close.
Pink Floyd's Echoes = Masterpiece

 

I had a few echo units in the late 60's I had an Echorette, a Dynacord Echochord & a Meazzi Echomatic. The Dynacord and Meazzi broke tapes from extensive use so you always needed to have spares for them. Why 3 units I bought them from other local bands who gave up with music.

 

Dunno exactly what chorus he sampled but they sound killer, tim petherick if you have nebula. Free.

https://www.timpetherick.co.uk/downloads/time-mod-pedal-pack/

 

Time ago I own the 'italian' Lem Baby (using tape) and lately I discovered that Martinic made a plugin with it named Lem Echo Music.

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Last edited: Apr 23, 2025 at 10:39 PM

The BOSS CE-2 was and still is widely used for a good reason by more famous guitarists than I could list. They also made a CEB for bass but bass players also tended to use the CE-2 mostly because of its ease of use to get a good sound.

If you can get an original CE-2 in working order (made in Japan), they were one of the more popular and very simple and easy to get working.

Rather than post a lot of YouTube videos, here's the search so you can check it out for yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=boss+ce-2+pedal

 

Last edited: Apr 23, 2025 at 7:46 PM

Oh I found a list of the tim petherick choruses/flangers/vibrato

Tc Electronic SCF stereo chorus, MXR M134 chorus, Roland CE-1, EHX Electric Mistress, Neo Mini Vent 2

 

In that Michael Brauer video when he switched to all ITB, he mentioned his Binson was the only hardware thing he took with him when he left Electric Ladyland. He mentioned having the inventor of it customize it. But then later, he went off script from pitching Waves and UAD, and admitted to using the McDSP EC300. The one from Pulsar is good enough for me.

Older video:

 

Last edited: Apr 24, 2025 at 8:26 AM

Oh... back to Chorus plugins: in the next few days I'll be testing Choric (Caelum Audio), Syntorus (D16) and Blend (Sinevibes).

I would appreciate your feedback on creative ways of using Chorus plugs on guitar or voice (if you have experimented with any particular techniques, tips, etc.).

 

Last edited: Apr 24, 2025 at 10:53 AM

Earlier, inexpensive synthesizers often included a chorus effect to make them sound bigger or better than they actually were.

The acoustic model for the chorus effect is a group of musicians who, of course, never start or intonate exactly
the same way, so that slightly out-of-tune signals always overlap. This is precisely what a chorus simulates.

Using the Chorus
A very slow LFO frequency in the range between 0.5 and 1 Hertz, low modulation depths, a
filter setting that isn't too rich in overtones, and a low effect ratio lead to the desired result.

 

The Boss (Roland) GS-10, is a desktop audio processor, that includes a metric buttload of Boss pedals via COSM -


Abbreviation for Composite Object Sound Modeling. COSM is a powerful modeling technology that Roland premiered in 1995 with the VG-8 V Guitar System, and continues in the newer VG-88 system. It enables guitarists to emulate a range of classic and modern guitars, amps, cabinets, and microphones, plus it can produce "futuristic" synth-like tones.

It takes up a little desk space, and allows 2 additional fx, in addition to Reverb,Chorus,Delay,Overdrive, a noise limiter and 3 amp/preamp configurations, along with the usual gain and tone controls. This allows a plethora of fx that can be saved as 100 user presets, and comes with an additional100 factory presets which can be altered and saved as user presets.

It has bass modeling (pretty basic but enough to get an idea down), vocal mic modeling (again pretty basic, but enough to get a track down, (I use a separate mic and preamp for vocals, but if you don't have one, you could use this until you can afford to go down the vocal rabbit hole)

Its a handy bit of gear that was around 500$ when it was mfg in mid 2000's, can find them on ebay for sub 100$. A nice cheap way to get a lot of boss pedals in a small form factor.

 

the GS-10 has an editor that you can use to save your changes, or you edit and save on the device.
the presets can be backed up to computer in case the cmos battery dies in the GS-10 (they last at least 5 years)
also a handy way to transfer presets to another gs-10 in case you wind up owning a couple of these things...


Mountain utilities also makes a free editor, that can do the same thing if you need another approach.
The midi ports allow you to control your presets from a midi pedal board like the Berhinger fcb1010

 

This (the free Choric Quartet version that came with Beat or Computer Music magazine) and Martinic AX Chorus are the only chorus plugins I've kept out of the 20 or so I've tried.

 

That's really great I must have confused single pedal with a composite. I thought they wanted a live single pedal in analog format based on the pedal in the main picture?
The rack looks really good though. I still like the old stereo systems, prefer individual components.