Zoom MS-70CDR vs. Digitech Polara - In-Depth Reverb Shoot-Out!

The Zoom MS-70CDR and Digitech Polara are great, inexpensive reverb pedals that seem to be very popular with the synth community. Although they are very different, I have recommended both on many occasions, but I'd never actually pitted them against each other to work out which one I preferred... Until now!
This is a big in-depth demo/review/shoot-out so if you want to skip around the video here come the timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
01:20 - Feature Comparison
05:13 - FAQ
09:30 - MS-70CDR Room (w/ Korg Monologue)
10:34 - Polara Room (w/ Korg Monologue)
11:51 - MS-70CDR Plate (w/ Arturia Minibrute 2S)
14:41 - Polara Plate (w/ Arturia Minibrute 2S)
16:52 - Polara Reverse (w/ Arturia Minibrute 2S)
18:04 - MS-70CDR Reverse (w/ Arturia Minibrute 2S)
19:22 - Polara Modulated (w/ Soulsby Atmegaron)
20:57 - MS-70CDR Modulated (w/ Soulsby Atmegatron)
23:01 - MS-70CDR Shimmer (w/ Korg Volca FM)
25:26 - Polara Shimmer (w/ Korg Volca FM)
27:09 - MS-70CDR Hall (w/ Korg Minilogue)
29:32 - Polara Hall (w/ Korg Minilogue)
31:21 - Polara Spring (w/ Korg Monologue)
32:37 - MS-70CDR Spring (w/ Korg Monogue)
33:51 - MS-70CDR: The Weird Reverbs (w/ Arturia Minibrute 2S)
38:32 - My Opinion (so... which one is actually better?..)
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[@microgrampy]

Great job O.S! This is the type of synth pedal review/comparison we’ve all been waiting for. Cheers!

[@OscillatorSink]

*takes a bow*

[@abbot2]

Oh, and also: big thank you! This exact comparison is something I've been looking/waiting for for quite a while :-)

[@kurtklingklang5918]

Pretty comprehensive review. Thank you for that. I think your final comments are most salient. These are different animals. The Zoom can chain effects and store them for recall. As long as the individual effects are 'adequate' then it's a single FX unit to worry about. The Polara, on the other hand is a 'one trick pony' the reverb may be superb, but it is a 'one trick pony'. If you're going to go down the road of individual FX boxes, the overall results may be better, but now you've got a fistful of things to worry about and if presets can't be stored, it's not a quick thing to change from one set up to another. So, it's 'horses for courses'. For a gigging musician the decision would be easy. The Zoom would win every time. For a studio based musician, then the Polara may be better, provided you have the time for tweaking. But there may also be better options. Ultimately, I am of the opinion that we worry too much about the subtle nuances of sonic differences, when the majority of people listening are just not going to notice. What is important is the melody, the mix, the overall sonic experience. I can't recall an instance when a piece of music was was criticised for a not quite a lush enough reverb. And, in a live setting, there is so much background noise, that often just hearing the tune is a bonus, let alone any subtlety in the FX chain.

[@stuartchapman5171]

Kurt KlingKlang. I think you're right. Ive bought a lot of delays and reverbs, mostly basic. The delays all do different things and have their place. The reverbs are a tricky one, I've just bought a Polara and I'm struggling to hear a major difference between that and my Donner Vintaverb. Let me re phrase that, the significant difference, that justifies the price. The Vintaverb knobs have a small band which sounds good, but a lot of modes and goes full wet, with a freeze/hold setting. Im probably going to sell the Polara. I'll probably end up getting a EHX Cathedral for studio as its too big, and keep the Vintaverb for gigs. I tried a RV6, I wasn't overly impressed with the sounds over the Donner, when the price was taken into account. I think its worth noting that instruments have richer textures and subtle harmonics that will show up the cheaper pedals including the Zoom. I use abused CMOS chips, diy drone box's, old analogue synths, tape loops, Piezo discs and pedals.

[@jaakbonenstaak8041]

Awesome! Just bought a monologue a month ago (i know little late to the party) and discovered your channel, and now you do a vid on both the pedals i've had an eye on, thanks!

[@OscillatorSink]

You are very welcome! Enjoy your new synth, and future reverb!

[@lozza9789]

Nice review. I use both the Polara and also the Obscura Altered Delay (also a heavyweight and solid pedal from Digitech). I really like them both and their straightforwardness makes them a pleasure to use. Halo on the Polara is beautiful!

[@OscillatorSink]

Halo is how to do shimmer right - after years of it becoming a cliché and in some cases, kinda over the top, Halo is a fantastic refinement of the idea.

[@coldwar1977]

Polara sounds more realistic and has a broader stereo field. But the Zoom is fantastic for experimenting. I like 'em both.

[@roccoharris]

man... very thorough & incredibly helpful. thanks so much for another insightful & entertaining video, mister sink (if that is your reeeeal name).

[@musicalstatues73]

This is increasingly becoming my favorite channel! Addictive!

[@OscillatorSink]

❤️

[@musicalstatues73]

@@OscillatorSink ❤️

[@musicalstatues73]

@@OscillatorSink can you help me with my dilemma, please. I need to get a reverb and was looking at the ms-70 but your comparison made me thing of the polara as my choice. But now I’m torn between it and the korg nts-1 since it also has great sounding verbs but also other fx + the synth. What are your thoughts? Cheers

[@OscillatorSink]

@@musicalstatues73 the NTS-1 is hard to not recommend honestly, every bit of it sounds great, even if you never get into loading user oscillators and effects - just be aware that the input always expects a stereo signal, so if you want to plug in a mono source you'll need an adapter.

[@musicalstatues73]

@@OscillatorSink niiice, all I have at the moment are stereo sources, need to add processing to my Organelle M mostly and maybe hook the OP-Z too occasionally so I’m game! Thanks so much, have a great weekend

[@SANDOR.NANASI]

Such a great review!

[@ageshero]

Seriously, Zoom such a great pedal... i want them to Make a ZOOM MS70k-CDR with like wildly Deep highquality effects rivaling heavy hitters(Strymon) and some knob perfunction, same user interface but NON-endless encoders, need that stability for flexible hands on performance.

[@Expectaz]

Awesome channel! came here because I just ordered the minibrute and am looking for some effects :)

[@OscillatorSink]

Welcome!

[@christianssonicspaces494]

Great Shoot-out video. I have both pedals and I fully agree with your review.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks friend!

[@Diamond_Eyes_24]

I have both and agree too. Both are good value.

[@martinheath5947]

Good review! For any 9v pedal which doesn't take batteries (eg Polara), buy a 9v battery clip, solder the correct size of plug onto the wires, observing correct +/- and your device, drum machine, fx becomes portable!

[@fincorrigan7139]

Very useful review in comparing the two devices. Given what I heard over a set of AKG 240MKII (Now you know my kind of gear spending budgets!) I would have to say that I mostly agree with your conclusion (although I thought the Zoom Hall sound deserved mention). For a few pence under €200 to own both, these can be in your studio in a week with some of the excellent online stores we now have. This is why I will place in my order for the pair before the weekend and breath new vigour into my monos (Neutron, Model D and MicroBrute). Many thanks for taking the time to put this together as I've been looking for a decent review/compare of reverbs which don't carry a ransom-like price tag (I've seen quite a few of the MS-70 but none of the Polara).

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you dig your new effects!

[@fincorrigan7139]

@@OscillatorSink Totally digging them.......especially putting the two in-line and have Mr Zoom first go crazy and Mr Polara to subsequently administer the Soma :)

[@TenisDimants]

I wanted to see what types of reverbs the Zoom has, now i want both of these! Thank you. Realy in depth and i like how you used a lot of different sounds and synths.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you - and remember that the Zoom has so much more than just reverbs. You might find this video interesting for example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXzVlKmZZbqpd8k

[@shermanchow4264]

Great video as others have mentioned already, but +1 for including the Atmegatron!

[@OscillatorSink]

It needed an outing - I haven't played with it for ages!

[@shermanchow4264]

Yes, I feel the same way about mine! . I'm planning to run the various soulsby engines through my minibrute to see how it sounds through the steiner parker filter and brute factor of course.

[@OscillatorSink]

That's a good plan. Have you seen all the stuff Paul is planning for the ATX "ecosystem"? Really exciting.

[@shermanchow4264]

Yes! exciting stuff. my poor wallet!

[@OscillatorSink]

I feel like the Atmultitron is my spirit animal.

[@kvfive]

That Zoom sounds great, I have two of these and never knew they could do so much, I’d love to see more on this (I never read the manuals) I’ve been tempted with the Polara but I have an old Behringer RV600 which is fabulous at reverbs. More videos like this please :-)

[@OscillatorSink]

I definitely think the Zoom is worth revisiting in another video - perhaps some "Patch Building" style videos where I stack up some of the effects maybe?..

[@borisborisov500]

I was just going to ask... If you're ever looking for content ideas, i would definitely watch videos on the zoom. In a perfect world, there would be an entire series like you did for the monologue. Its a complicated little thing but can sound amazing. And there are no definitive guides on the zoom on youtube. (Trust me, i have tried to find them) Either way, thanks for the education and for sharing your knowledge

[@jimsy5530]

I run an ms50 into a 70. I use them for all the big sounds I want, for example, two heavily modulated spaceholes into each other for huge, cascading feedbacks. The 50 has the drives that the 70 does not. My current tour setup is a super duper into a black '65, into a civil war muff, into an RMN1, then the zooms in a loop with a momentary switch, into a memory boy deluxe that I use an exp pedal with, a super hard on, and then a looper. The noises i can get are infinite - the Zooms are genuinely brilliant, because i can have 50 presets, with 6 pedals in each. So effectively, i can have 100 x6 pedal boards, that I can then run into each other in different ways .I'm bad at maths, but that must mean I have thousands of posisible preset combinations, excluding if I want to run a preset on one zoom with just one pedal on the other zoom. I'm not a fan of the shimmer, and I think the octavers and sequencers could be better, but if run fairly conservatively, add mixed with other sounds, they can sound phenomenal, esp for a live setting. Definitely worth revisiting, esp if you have two! Remember to update them if you haven't, as the pedals are now all provided for free.

[@-Pol-]

@@jimsy5530 If you were to choose just one, which would it be and why??

[@MicaelAzevedo]

The difference in Sound is Huge in some parameters to my hears. You can notice in the reverse arround min 17:00. The thing is zoom can make almost everything at a small price. Both are amazing but polara has that Pure sound for all the reverbs.

[@vitmedia]

Excellent comparison. I also have both but find myself using the Polara more for its warmth and more sophisticated, refined goodness. The Zoom is a great little box though, with some brilliant emulations of a wide selection of classic pedals. Cheaper, too. Worth also looking at the Digitech Nautilus (flanger/ chorus) and Obscura (delay) - both excellent companions to the Polara.

[@OscillatorSink]

I'm really tempted by the Obscura, but it's not stereo (off the top of my head), and I have a Source Audio Nemesis, so it seems a bit redundant... But that's usually connected to my pedal board...

[@vitmedia]

@@OscillatorSink Wow - the Nemesis looks like a beast! As you say, kinda makes the Obscura unnecessary. I also use a Mooer Reecho Pro which has a wealth of variety in it and often jumps between my keyboard pedalboard and my guitar pedalboard! THe Obscura is stereo, by the way, as is the Nautilus.

[@jc3drums916]

I wish the Obscura's Degrade knob did more, that its self-oscillation was crazier a la the MXR Carbon Copy, and especially that it had a tempo sync input, but otherwise it's a fantastic pedal. I haven't played around with the Nautila much, just a bit of subtle chorus, but so far so good. Great bang for the buck with all three - maybe not as good as Strymon, but you can get all three for less than the cost of a Big Sky, or slightly more than a Volante. Both of which I'd love to have, but...money. I love that the three Digitechs are all stereo. I usually run one monosynth through all three, and another through the Polara only, or maybe Obscura/Polara for one, and Nautila/Polara for the other.

[@noiselabproject9659]

I have 2 MS-70s and I use them both with an aux send on mixers, so that they can service more than one Synth and so that my dry signals are not digitised through the MS-70s, they work well like that although I really wish that there was a visual input gain module on them as clipping can be a problem when you can`t see the db level going into them. Recently for my Prophet 8 Rev2 I decieded to go with 4 stereo TC pedals instead because of the dry signal pass through and all of the immediate hands on controls and they do sound very decent ( They are : Corona Chorus into Helix Phaser into Alter Ego Vintage Echo into Hall of Fame 2 Reverb )

[@BrunoWiebelt]

this was helpful , nice to show love to some smaller boxes... thx

[@BrunoWiebelt]

the polara sounds richer ... for a pur analog setup def my choice ... happy to not be a purist

[@OscillatorSink]

Those people at Lexicon know how to craft a reverb algorithm for sure!

[@synriser6742]

Nice comparison. Recommend the Polara because it's warm and smooth. Easier to use in a mix, it won't clutter that easy.

[@OscillatorSink]

Thanks for checking it out!

[@dillipphunbar7924]

Thanx for the info on the aux send...ms 70 is the best i've got and because you can chain up to 6 effects (apparently...but ones like hd reverb take 3 or 4 slots ), I keep trying to share it with my volcas, neutron etc..been having ground loops, and crackles..arghh!. I have to admit, the Polara sounds were instantly clear and crisp...whereas the ms70 (and i know from my experiences), can sound grainy/white noise and thin although there are plenty of adjustable parameters. I believe you can achieve same or close-to results by including other effects like compression, filter, EQ. . Very helpful..thank you

[@amenbrothersSE]

Polara has nice verbs for sure, slick. But Zoom Hall, ModVerb, and Spring was nice. Also, as you said, Zoom is more dirty, nasty and wild, which is a benefit in a lot of music production.

[@randyupchurch1899]

..."Excellent" review & presentation Sir!!!...I own "both" of these pedals,plus a Zoom MS-50 & Zoom G3X,so all I have left to say is "DITTO"...Peace...

[@jumpingman8160]

I have the zoom since it came out and is now fully updated. It's a very powerful unit and a joy to use with synths. Not every algorythm is good, but the ones that are, really are good. My only wish is that zoom releases a version 2 of it with an extra switch for bank up and down, tap tempo and EXP IN.

[@OscillatorSink]

Start a petition for the MS-CDR70-Pro Edition!

[@jumpingman8160]

@@OscillatorSink they sort of already have it with their bigger floor multi. All the fx are in it plus more. Time to try some other brands

[@tokenofdevotion]

seems like your wishes have come true

[@jumpingman8160]

@@tokenofdevotion not exactly. No exp in

[@FuZZbaLLbee]

All my synths already have reverb and delay, excepting one. So got the zoom for that one.

[@hafstrat]

A fabulous review. I picked the zoom up for like £40 off eBay.

[@OscillatorSink]

Bargain at twice the price.

[@ReneeNme]

@Howard Forton I got mine off of eBay for $115 dollars U.S. ( new ) with free shipping. At that price, how could I say no. Love the pedal, btw.

[@herberdth]

Loved most of polara and enjoyed the special zoom ones. Soon zoom cdr70+ will be available, interesting to hear if 9-10 years improved on their algorithms. I would love seeing you compare UAFX DelVerb (got many extra configs via App BT) it sounds great to me but the polara made me stop up and check the screen many times. Good job!

[@seniorbeatbox]

nice comparison :) i have the zoom ms-100 with most of the same presets and do have it in an aux send... i'm not sure what you mean by comb filtering, is there a way to minimize that? also btw, the switch on mine has become a bit dodgy, the mechanism inside doesn't seem very robust.. i imagine the 70 has the same switch.

[@vicareyous3019]

Don't forget that the Zoom can be USB powered - giving it 3 options - and also uses it to speak to the web MIDI patch archive service site.

[@-Pol-]

is there a link for this MIDI patch archive site?

[@shitmandood]

I really like these sounds you're making. I think this is my 4th time to listen to the video. How do you make your MiniBrute 2S produce those really long-sounding notes? Is that the ADSR? It's something I need to explore this weekend. I'm very intrigued.

[@OscillatorSink]

That'll be the AD envelope set to gate so it sustains (with a long decay set) and then yes, a long ADSR journey for the filter.

[@OscillatorSink]

It might be of interest to check out my "envelope recipes" video for inspiration maybe?

[@shitmandood]

@@OscillatorSink Let me check out those recipes. Thanks man!

[@marcocelis2104]

Very nice sound quality comparison . Both pedals are fantastic , but I think the ZOOM is not intended for live situations .

[@OscillatorSink]

I think if you've prepared your presets, then the Zoom works fine live, but you wouldn't want to be trying to tweak the sounds live.

[@cptdoobs3691]

I have them both on the same board, and although the Polara beats the MS out in most settings (plate, hall, shimmer) the reverse setting on the Polara is almost useless with no Dry balance. MS wins out in the stranger reverb settings.

[@Escuchalabrisa]

The Polara sounds fantastic, more natural, another level.

[@eighth_wave]

Omg Polara modulated with the decay cranked 😳 Great video! Great comparison! Thank you!

[@camlong89]

I have a Polara and Strymon Blue Sky. Both are great, but I honestly find myself using the polara more often.

[@OscillatorSink]

I think some of the algorithms on the Polara (I'm thinking plate and shimmer) are ridiculously good. My buddy has a Blue Sky... Might borrow it and do another shoot out...

[@mikehydropneumatic2583]

@@OscillatorSink I think they are all good but what your fav is is just taste, got a BlueSky myself on Subsequent and it is always on!

[@vvveenn]

Oscillator Sink Polaris vs blue sky vs hall of fame 2. Would love to see that video!

[@stuartchapman5171]

@@vvveenn I've been on a quest for a stereo small footprint reverb,all the cheap ones sound crap or thin or to much dry signal or clip in a nasty unusable way with a synth. I almost bought the HOF2, thanks to reading the comments on this channel I realised it will turn off with hot and or some signals! I went with a RV6 in the end, it met my budget.

[@kevinnel7038]

the zoom may have more features but that polara sounds professional! really fattens up the sounds for the shorter decay time settings and has a great stereo image.

[@OscillatorSink]

The stereo image is the first thing that jumps out at me - it's very "spacious". Then you get to enjoy the very pleasant tone of the reverb 🙂

[@TheMemagNeman]

Just listen to this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3TZnZWIjNV0rJY

[@jonthoroddsen6467]

Preferred the Polara for most of the comparisons, but the Zoom has so many tricks up its sleeves! It was sad to find the Zoom Shimmer so terrible! On the other hand I was surprised to prefer the Zoom Hall to the Polara. Also surprised by how much I like the springs and plates on the Zoom, as I have never heard a stompbox spring or plate I like as much as the Polara. Quite different but quite nice.

[@OscillatorSink]

I think the Zoom plate is kinda special - so many characters that you can find in there and they all seem to have a kind of "danger" to them. If you're looking for the very best spring, check out what Source Audio have done on their Ventris and True Spring pedals. Not cheap, but absolutely the best digital emulation of a spring I've heard, bar none. And if you want real spring - check out the Anasounds Element!

[@lunchpin403]

I have and use both of these on synth, guitar, and bass. One trick I've found is placing the 'ice delay' which is a pitch shifted delay after a long reverb, that sounds much better to me than the actual shimmer reverb

[@McGeeeeesees]

Yeah the shimmer on the Zoom is awful! I can see it being used intentionally for a more glitchy sound, but as your only reverb it's totally useless (i.e. specifically the shimmer)

[@McGeeeeesees]

(though I still want a Zoom cuz it does some whacky whacky shit, and thanks @lunchpin for the idea - love to hear a recording).

[@_left_eye]

Gotta admit I was a little skeptic about zoom reverb, I’ve owned the Polara and the lexicon chip makes it sound really hi quality. In this comparison, with the exception of the shim:er mode, zoom reverbs doesn’t sound too distant from that very standard

[@triplebacon1]

I've spent countless hours tweeking the Zoom , experimenting with settings etc and still love it. The polara does sound great, and would make a great addition. I use cathedral too.

[@OscillatorSink]

The Cathedral was on my watch list... I'd love to see how it stacks up against these two...

[@markoz777]

Excellent review and very wise conclusions.

[@markoz777]

And I was just thinking about it. Comparing Zoom vs X Delay (or whatever effect) pedal, of course the one-effect oriented pedal will get a more pure sound, more rich, etc but that pedal just does that and the zoom covers a universe of posibilites. So it's all about what do you want? Do you want the purest "analog" thing? Go por a single pedal. Do you want to explore another universe? Go for the Zoom. Or even, do you want to perform more than one thing and its variations? Go for the Zoom also.

[@OscillatorSink]

And if you want the Zoom but MORE, get a Zoia (which is what I did!)

[@markoz777]

@@OscillatorSink Well, those are major leagues!

[@OscillatorSink]

@@markoz777 yeah REALLY not a cheap choice, but there's genuinely nothing else quite like it.

[@LukezyM]

@Oscillator Sink How’s the reverb on Zoia? From 1 to 10..🙂

[@tothefinlandstation]

If they released an updated MS--70CDR with exactly the same features except every effect was stereo (or dual mono), and every effect where going 100% wet makes sense could go 100% wet it would be a huge upgrade! I have a Line6 M5 patched in the aux send on my mixer because the delays and reverbs on that all do go 100% wet. Sadly, all the distortion/filter/dynamics effects on that reduce your signal to mono, too. The other thing about the M5 that kind of bums me out of all the delays only the ping-pong and stereo delay modes do any "mono input to stereo output" effect,

[@thomasstillman4805]

Find a patch with a Particle Reverb Pedal and enter (mode) If you frantically tweak those levels you will get some amazing sounds. I use the Zoom G1Xon. It's cheap but effective!😎

[@ChessmasterHex]

Great comparison, I think the main thing with the Zoom is it's cheap and does so much for the money and is generally such a fun pedal to own and mess around with. If I'm doing more serious production then I'll jump to the Strymon Blue Sky / TC HOF etc but for just general tinkering the Zoom can't be beat, a good time guaranteed!

[@OscillatorSink]

Hear hear!

[@michalk2072]

Thanks for the comparision, could you tell which reverbs on a zoom are longest?

[@OscillatorSink]

HD Hall, Cave, and some of the weirder ones I show in the video are pretty long off the top of my head. Plate too actually.

[@hollowmenrule]

the shimmer isn't too good, but the other sounds on both of these are really cool. glad I have both of them, this one for my synth and the ms50g for my guitar

[@OscillatorSink]

You should check out my follow up video on the Zoom for some more... Esoteric usage 😉

[@MicaelAzevedo]

Does ms50g sounds good with a synth? Already have a polara but was thinking in ms50 with my Monologue to add some other effects!

[@Futile_Soundscapes]

Nice detailed video. When buying a Lyra-8, would you use one these and which....or no pedal?

[@OscillatorSink]

Thank you. Either, neither, both! It depends on what you're trying to achieve. The relative merits of each of them apply to the Lyra-8, just as they would for anything else. For what it's worth, the only reverb I've used with the Lyra is the one built into the Syntakt, but that was only because I was using it to sequence something else at the same time.

[@KennethDonnellyStargazer21]

I cannot get foot switch to cycle through presets! Followed manual but no go. Help

[@Redbunny5000]

Haha, yes I also have both and the polara has arguably the better sounding reverbs. For me the Zoom is the perfect companion for the Volca FM because it provides all the great effects that little fella is missing. The polara lives mostly on my guitar-board as I am more of a tone snob with that instrument. I also have a Line 6 M5 that does kind of the same thing as the Zoom but only one effect at a time. I use that with a synth that already has a decent effects section. Oh and cheap guitar/bass multi-effects pedals like Digitech RP 155 also work great with synths that have little to no effects, like the Bass Station etc.

[@OscillatorSink]

I feel your guitar tone snob pain. I have a bunch of stuff on my board that'd pair well with the synths but constantly taking it off and on is too much of a pain! It's a GFI Specular Reverb and a Source Audio Nemesis that live on the board for effects. That said - the Mangled Space algorithm on the Zoom might make it onto my band's next recording as it's kinda killer!

[@Redbunny5000]

​@@OscillatorSink Thanks for the reply! Yeah some of the algos on the MS70 are really good (I also love the lofi-stuff for guitar) and it was on and off my board until I decided to dedicate it to the Volca. I don't know about the GFI but once tested the Nemesis and it is spectacular, easily one of the best reverbs I have come across. Have a nice day and keep making great videos, they are very insight- and helpful

[@InkyDaCaT]

Ah ha! Only last night I was looking at another pedal! Great choice....same as mine lol...(do fancy the empress effects though) yeah I love design of digitech...but its got to be the zoom....for the money...its insanely useful.

[@OscillatorSink]

Yeah, you can't argue with the value for money there - if it just did one effect at a time, it'd still be a must buy, but the fact you can stack them up? Bonkers.

[@InkyDaCaT]

@@OscillatorSink I know guitarist hate em😂 to menui lol...yeah must have...maybe two lol

[@drstupid1]

The zoom has usb and i read a thing once where a guy was able to build some sort of controller that let u scroll through presets. Looked legit :) required a bit of circuit wizarding if i remember correctly

[@robertstevenson8696]

Oh come ooooonnn..... somebody giving an side by side opinion of audio equipment and not a single flame or troll in the comments? No surprise I guess for such a good comparison though;)

[@MGoolas]

Why is Zoom completely unable to program a Spring reverb algorithm properly ? I was looking at the effects of my otherwise amazing Zoom r8 multitracker and the spring reverbs sounds exactly the same as the cdr, completely devoid of that short audible delay that spring reverb usualy have. Also that Particle verb sounds amazing and does a much better job at shimmer reverb than shimmer reverb, Wow

[@aangtonio5570]

Polara sounds way more hi-fi and open through headphones. That said, the MS-70CDR is the best bang for the buck, as its reverbs sound from decent to good, and it's not an one-trick-pony such as the Polara, plus you can even mix two or more reverb (and/or delay) algorithms in one patch to "cook" your own reverb sound!

[@abbot2]

I actually quite like the zoom hall reverb (better than polara to my taste), but yeah, anything else polara sounds nicer. Do you have any easy suggestions for pedal->headphones output? Don't want a mixer for a portable setup.

[@OscillatorSink]

You could check out the Zoom H1 - it's a recorder so you could record your jams while you listen (that's what I use).

[@Bewar3them00n]

There’s some pocket mixers, I use the Maker Hart Just Mixer 3 channel stereo

[@rhysseddon7279]

I just bought a stylophone gen x1 and saw your other video and want to pair it with a reverb pedal (keep in kind i have no musical knowledge), is there a more affordable reverb pedal for a beginner? And how woukd i go about connecting the pedal to the stylophone

[@maxmatson1578]

One that be cool to try which I'm waiting for it to come in from order right now is the Behringer fx600 the stereo phaser on it sounded good!👌👍 but in terms of the Shimmer Reverb on the CDR there's one KZbin clip that I found by this guy it's really cool called "Blue Jam" Korg volca keys and CDR 70 check it out you'll like it!👍🎹🎧💫😵👌✌

[@17thvillain9]

Max Matson I own the fx600 and it's pretty fucking good for 20€ I mostly use the pitch shifter and chorus/flanger

[@maxmatson1578]

@@17thvillain9 thanks bro! I know I'm going to enjoy it!👍✌

[@cyborgmetropolis7652]

I just bought the BOSS RV-6 for my synth mixer. I feel like I would have been better off with the Zoom.

[@OscillatorSink]

The Boss is a nice sounding reverb.

[@cyborgmetropolis7652]

Oscillator Sink - yes it is. I just expected it to be wetter than I can make it.

[@ahmadkanaan7714]

So i was wondering if i have a monologue and soon getting a neutron and already have a behringer vintage delay and interested in making industrial dark hypnotic sounds...would you recommend the ms70 or another reverb like hall of fame 2 or cathedral? Also can i change effects and sounds on the ms70 while it is playing?

[@OscillatorSink]

I would recommend it, yes - actually its tendency to err towards slightly more metallic characters in the reverb would actually be a help in that setting I think. You can change parameters yes, but on some reverbs, some changes will smash the delay buffers and kill the reverb temporarily.

[@ahmadkanaan7714]

@@OscillatorSink thank youu

[@ahmadkanaan7714]

@@OscillatorSink would you recommend the ms50g or ms70cdr?

[@OscillatorSink]

@@ahmadkanaan7714 the MS50 doesn't have stereo inputs and you can now install all of the missing effects on the 70 now anyway.

[@ahmadkanaan7714]

@@OscillatorSink stereo is not a big deal so more effects is more appreciated so 70 it is

[@pongtrometer]

Just trying my luck, I have a ms 70CDR , and it froze whilst uploading some patches, and won’t turn back on. I’ve tried the common troubleshooting.... do you by any chance know how I can remedy this, somebody had the same issue with ms 60b, but it turned on after a month.... I miss this pedal....hoping it will get working somehow. Cheers

[@OscillatorSink]

Sorry, not come up against an issue like this.

[@pongtrometer]

Oscillator Sink cheers anyway....keep up the great overviews as usual, that microfreak v4 update hack was excellent

[@mikeexits]

6:57 - What do you mean by comb filtering in an aux send? Why does it do this and is there a way to prevent it? I'd really like to avoid buying several copies of this pedal just to have the FX on multiple synths, so this would be helpful to me.

[@OscillatorSink]

Everything in the pedal is digitised including the dry signal. That means that there is a tiny delay introduced by the digital converter. If you mix that back together with your original sound it'll create frequency cancellation and build up that creates comb filtering. If you're familiar with the sound of a flanger, it'll be like that, only not sweeping the sound - kinda hollow and phasey sounding. The best way to avoid this on the Zoom on an aux is to use at least one of the effects that can be 100 percent wet in your effects chain. Not all of the reverbs and delays can go fully wet though.

[@mikeexits]

@@OscillatorSink I see, thank you very much for the explanation. Both pedals seem fantastic honestly. I feel my Behringer Xenyx 1202FX is currently adequate for basic FX for now, so thankfully I'm in no rush to decide.

[@OscillatorSink]

@@mikeexits the best gear is the gear you've currently got 😊

[@wax83]

What do you think sounds better the Polara or the Digitone's buildt in reverb algorythm?? Cheers!

[@OscillatorSink]

The Digitone does its one thing really quite well. So, like, the Polara can't really do that thing, but the Digitone isn't going to do such a convincing plate or room, and it can't modulate or shimmer.

[@wax83]

@@OscillatorSink Thanks very much!

[@jrr832]

The zoom is very powerful and a different beast

[@ReneeNme]

I purchased a MS-70CDR as a companion piece for my old school Novation Xiosynth 25 machine. I only can offer one word ... WOW !!!

[@MsMummy44]

do you need either of these to use the Stylophone Gen X-1 or can you use it without either? Thanks.

[@OscillatorSink]

You don't need anything but the Gen X-1. You can use the Gen X-1 totally stand-alone.

[@MsMummy44]

@@OscillatorSink Ok, great! Thank you so much for your kind reply. Xx

[@xenod1066]

Not directly related to this video, but I'm absolutely brand new to synths, I know zero about it. Where is a good place to start learning? Some good books? Introductory gear? To anyone.

[@meneerjansen00]

I own the Zoom but I think the Polara knocks the socks off it. But how does the budget friendly Polara compare to the outrageously insanely priced Eventide stuff?

[@OscillatorSink]

If I could afford them, I could find out!

[@meneerjansen00]

@@OscillatorSink Ha ha. I get it...

[@mynewcolour]

Would love to see more weird, cheap, sample-fodder pedals. Zoom has a new multi fx (for instance). I’ll return to my mangled space-hole now :)

[@OscillatorSink]

Oh, what is Zoom's new thing called?

[@mynewcolour]

The G1-4. Silly cheap... might be rubbish... I really don’t know.

[@saxombie8614]

@@mynewcolour well de G1-4 was more than 1 year out already. And i looked to the effects list and the ms-70 or ms-50(almost the same) have lots more. So not so good the newer one it seems..

[@vKarl71]

Zoom documentation is written by field mice on acid.

[@user-tv7jx9pw1q]

What? I want to understand the joke

[@jerwishlb5567]

​@@user-tv7jx9pw1qmeans a killer, not sure

[@brunovalente2077]

Ok, well, it is there, versatile and inexpensive, I could have bought it already and solve All my problems, but I didn't. And that's because I don't like the sound of the effects. For example everything in this video sounds better, beautiful more musical and more in tune on the Polara. I have an older racked mount zoom effects unit and it is in the shelf , I prefer to use software effects then that thing. And if I would buy a new modern Zoom pedal like this I still would prefer software vst effects. But it is definitely a good price, unfortunately doesn't sound exceptional

[@savanaviolenta]

im happy with my Polara

[@OscillatorSink]

All of the algorithms are nice and some (like the plate) are *stunningly good*.

[@burrrrrrrrrrrrrrp]

Fortunate to own both and would rather cut off and sell my own leg than than part with either on them

[@hollowmenrule]

BUT the thing you DON'T mention is all the modulation effects on the ZOOM have TAP TEMPO, that makes them all so useful

[@OscillatorSink]

Yes I agree, and almost all of the delays. But to be fair, this video was about the reverbs...

[@BagusWibisono]

hi sir.. zoom ms70 have same amp simulator like ms50?

[@OscillatorSink]

No, not out of the box, but you can use the hack to install them.

[@BagusWibisono]

@@OscillatorSink sorry, what do you mean?

[@OscillatorSink]

If you Google it, there has been a hack recently released which allows you to load any effect from any of the multistomp series onto any of the other pedals.

[@BagusWibisono]

@@OscillatorSink so, how about you? which one should I get?

[@OscillatorSink]

@@BagusWibisono I like the CDR70 Personally...

[@tyranic1]

The polara sounds better no doubt, but if you are producing real songs with 20 or 40 tracks or more the advantage quickly disappears when you start mixing. You will have to eq the life out of the effect to not muddy up the track unless you make a sparse mix. What i do like about the zoom is you get all those wonderful effects but the instrument still cuts through the effect. They say the better quality effect are judged by the way they envelope and become part of the instrument and giving the instrument width and you can hear that quality in the Polara. for £100 the Zoom is a no brainer for me.

[@Arperture]

I own both of these as well (although I default to the Eventide Space most of the time). Of the two, I think the Polara verb is a little better, but, the Zoom obviously has a lot of other great effects on board, so I generally use that for other things like chorus, delay, ect.

[@OscillatorSink]

The Zoom is such an easy pedal to recommend because it's just a great utility pedal to have around.

[@meneerjansen00]

As of October 2020: the Polara's sold out everywhere. :-(

[@Dubstepconcept]

Yup, bummer for sure. Zoom it is!

[@djbowlz2128]

The polara is going for ridiculous prices now that its discontinued.... Should have bought one when I had the chance.

[@dannyfink390]

You forgot to give links to buy these ones. For your good job I'd use your links so that you earn some money aswell. ;)

[@OscillatorSink]

That's very kind, but I'm kinda shying away from the affiliate link thing - I'm not trying to sell anyone anything, just share the stuff I'm enthusiastic about and enjoy!

[@dannyfink390]

@@OscillatorSink Yes I imagine that. But your comparison is really unique and in your case it really would make sense.

[@junkheadyamiken]

20:57

[@monomakes]

The CDR is so noisy! :(

[@ld8341]

Link to the video timestamp, please.

[@xenod1066]

Use both, obvs. 😉

[@lymariejohnson391]

Can I ask why would u use a sound like that to test the reverb. I mean really who teaches u guys. But it's a little comoncence

[@OscillatorSink]

Which sound in particular?

[@JeighNeither]

I'm not even sure these two pedals are worth the shootout; the Zoom is far from just a reverb generator, it's a multi-effects pedal with pitch shifters & delays, ring modulators, vibrato/chorus, "synths", & a lot more. The other is a nice reverb pedal. As much as you should have one, you should have both?

[@OscillatorSink]

Depends if you want a reverb pedal with extras vs. a dedicated reverb pedal I guess? But thanks for your comment.

[@cd78]

Why call it a pedal??

[@OscillatorSink]

Because traditionally it's placed at the feet of a guitarist and turned on and off with your feet. Effects pedal.

[@Paparumbo]

Polara is awesome.

[@OscillatorSink]

Sure is!

[@anothamatt]

polara sounds a lot more hi-fi and zoom sounds a lot more lo-fi / dull

[@TheMemagNeman]

Can Polara do this? Zoom MultiStomp Ambient Effects kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3TZnZWIjNV0rJY

[@ruxiwang9571]

the shimmer on MS-70 is shit...

[@OscillatorSink]

Yep, that's what I say at the end of the video.

[@mikodelosreyes9883]

Man you talk too much. Too much talking

[@OscillatorSink]

Learn to use your "I" statements. Try: "Man, I think you talk too much". It's important to be reflective in these things. I present myself as I do, doing this channel for fun, as a hobby, and despite your misgivings, I've managed to build an audience who enjoy what I put out. It's fine if you don't like my stuff. You're welcome to not watch any of it.