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| Alesis Nanoverb |
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| Zhou did the quality control in 1997 |
This is a very small, digital rackmount effects unit. It has lots of different effects in it, but with limited control over changing their parameters, because it was the cheapest of the Alesis line at the time. The effects I've used the most are the reverbs, of which there are 10 different kinds, including a gated reverb for the purpose of sounding like Phil Collins.
For many years, I used this on pretty much everything I recorded with my 4-track. It made everything sound instantly better. It helped to fill out sounds, particularly drums.
That said, my main memories with the Alesis Nanoverb are the times I wasn't using on something that had already been recorded.
First was the time I recorded howling seagull noises by putting a battery powered guitar amplifier on maximum volume and a microphone under an enamel bucket, lay my guitar on top of the bucket, and ran the signal through the Alesis Nanoverb on the 'delay' setting. The enamel bucket was mostly to keep the noise down, because I was living with my parents at the time.
Then there was the time I accidentally wrote a rather good song.
I was in a three-piece band (drums, bass, guitar and vocals) where I shared bass and guitar duties with the other singer, swapping over instruments like Sebadoh. We were rehearsing in the bass player's flat, which was above a piano shop in Winchester. There were egg boxes on the walls. There was a djembe. I think this was in 1998 and 1999. Coincidentally my mum and dad live in Winchester now, and I often try (and fail) to work out where exactly the piano shop used to be when I'm out for a walk.
I would get the train to Winchester from Fareham or maybe Portsmouth via Eastleigh. Eastleigh looked like a hole. Often I'd travel with the drummer. The drummer and I got on well, although we didn't talk much. We'd already been in one band together that split up when I went to university. One time I remember we were waiting in silence in a train at Eastleigh. It was very cold. Somebody in the carriage had their headphones up really loud playing Bran Van 3000's 'Drinking In LA'. At the beginning somebody says "hello my name is stereo Mike" and the drummer said "hello stereo Mike" which was somehow hilarious, particularly because I don't think we said anything else to each other for the rest of the journey.
I decided to use my Alesis Nanoverb during rehearsal at the flat above the piano shop, running my guitar through it and into the amplifier. I chose one of the reverbs with a long decay. It sounded instantly huge, with notes lasting forever. I barely had to touch the guitar and there was all this wonderful sound coming out of it. The bass player and drummer put down a repetitive groove underneath and we had that collective moment where you feel something really great has come together. I didn't have to concentrate too much on what I was playing so I could dance about, which was another plus.
That band only played one show, but I remember the rather good song being a real highlight. I expect we closed the set with it, and that I danced around.
I also remember what the bass player's flatmate said to us about the song, on the day it all came together. He said "it sounds amazing, but [looking at me] it looks like you don't know how you're making all that noise".
This was true, of course. It was all an accident, and the entire song was based around an effect. I probably only played 3 notes in the whole piece. This was the first time I remember sounding impossibly awesome without really putting any work in. Effects can be a crutch.
Since the rather good song, I've tried not to write music based around an effect. When I came to play shows regularly this became more of a logistics problem - it's difficult to justify having an effects unit with you that you only use for one song, and what if it breaks?
In the early 2000s I tried to use the Alesis Nanoverb as a reverb unit through my guitar amp when I was playing with my band, but that didn't really work because it required extra cables and was rather fiddly. Also it would have to sit on top of my amp and risked falling off. I could have gaffer taped it on, I suppose.
When I started transferring audio from my 4-track direct to a computer I used the Alesis Nanoverb less and less. Now, I can't remember the last time I used it - I wonder if it still works?
