Circuitbenders Forum
Circuitbenders Forum => Circuitbending discussion => Effects Units => Topic started by: jamiewoody on January 19, 2010, 07:29:03 PM
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my "stupid" question being, with a simple LFO circuit, can an INPUT jack be installed for guitar?
i know these type of boxes, wsg, atari punk, and the other cult classics are meant to stand alone as a musical instrument. but, since it is a manipulation of a soundwave, i assume subtractive in shaping the wave, could it not also shape the signal of a guitar, bass, etc?
the million dollar question at hand: where would the input jack be installed? near the positive or negative flow?
thanks in advance.
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But they aren't manipulating a soundwave like an effects processor would. Stuff like the WSG or APC are creating the the soundwave on a basic aynthesis level. They create a waveform, usually a squarewave, by manipulating timing circuitry to create an oscillator. Its not subtractive synthesis, its just synthesis on a very basic level.
In theory you could use an audio input to control the frequency of an oscillator but it doesn't sound pretty. If you look here http://www.hollis.co.uk/john/crashsync.jpg (http://www.hollis.co.uk/john/crashsync.jpg) you'll find a schematic for John Hollis' crash sync effects unit which is savage to say the least.
According to the text:
'In this instance the guitar signal is used to reset an oscillator running at a higher sweepable frequency. The effect is not dissimilar to flanging. Not one for the tone freaks, this is a destroy-your-tone effect for noise vandals.'
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good explaination, thanks for your help.
would a ring modulator, which is a guitar effect sometimes be the exception?
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It's not so much an exception as a different effect, but yeah, you could plug a guitar directly into a ring modulator and an oscillator into the other input. The LFO is a control signal, and in this case would be used to control the pitch of the oscillator.