Employer SE-50 Multi-Effects Processor

Boss is a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments and accessories based in The japanese. The organization is a subdivision of Roland, one of the greatest producers of musical instruments in the world. Over the years, Boss has released a number of popular products, ranging from guitar distortion throtle to drum machines and samplers. One of their most enduring products, which is still widely used today despite having already been first released over two decades ago, is the SE-50 multi-effects processor.

Typically the SE-50 was the first half-rack multi-effects processor developed by Boss and was especially designed with guitarists in mind. The effects unit is outfitted with an range of effects typical of such units, including distortion, chorus and flanger. Unconventional, however, is the addition of a 7-band digital vocoder. In total the unit offers 28 pre-specified algorithms, nine which are reverb-only effects.

Even though the Manager SE-50 was at first conceived as a guitar multi-effects processor, in recent years they have gained popularity among many harsh EBM groups. These musicians use the unit's pitch shifter result to process vocals both live and on recordings. The SE-50's pitch shifter (patch 112), offers four frequency processor 2018 bands, each of which may be detuned independently. This specific effect, and by extension the SE-50 itself, has come to define the processed words of a number of modern electro-industrial bands. Widely-used settings include pitching the top two frequency rings up one to two semitones while at the same time detuning the lower bands by a similar amount. This is then combined with vocal styles similar to those used in some types of extreme metal, such as high or low-pitched screams and growls.

Users should notice that the SE-50 stores presets using an inner battery, similar to those present in watches and other electronics, which has a lifespan of lower than five years. When this power supply fails, which is to be anticipated due to the SE-50's age, all user-defined parameters will go back to factory presets. Exchanging the battery will recover the SE-50's ability in order to save user presets, though configurations which were not stored on an external backup system may well not be retrievable.

In spite of the unit's shortcomings, the fact that it is widely obtainable at prices less than $100 has ensured its widespread use among various guitarists and electronic musicians. Bands which may have used the SE-50 include 9 Inch Nails, Duran Duran, Kraftwerk,: wumpscut:, Information Society, Suicide Commando, Die Krupps, Grendel and Tactical Sekt.