Four bandpass filters are configured in parallel, with individual controls over frequency and resonance, with individual mod depth for modulation via envelope follower, LFO, or expression pedal, all with an optional gated fuzz circuit to add bite. Conjure gnarly synth sounds, watery phase-vibrato, odd cocked wah ensembles and much, much more.
I want to thank u/BloodySteelMice for sharing information about creating a velcro fuzz. I didn’t end up using the exact configuration the user described, but the conversation got me thinking about how to gate the fuzz in ways I hadn’t been considering. It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.
The signal path is stereo for the dry signal, mono for the effect signal path. Dry signal will pass through in stereo, but it is summed to mono as it passes through the effected signal path. The envelope follower is taken from the left input.
Controls:
Left, latching — fuzz. Turns on the fuzz. Melts faces. Flaming skulls not included.
Front page:
In the middle are three rows controling each filter**:
Mod depth — individual mod depth for that filter
Frequency — the frequency of the filter
Resonance — the resonance of the filter. I experimented some with a bit of gain reduction, because as the filters become really resonant, their volume skyrockets. It’s not entirely successful, and it’s something I may fiddle with more, but for most of the control’s range it provides a good method of compensation as resonance increases.
**Beneath these controls is a pushbutton named “Unlink controls”: when it is off, the mod depth and resonance for each filter is slaved to filter 1’s controls (I found this made it much easier to dial in certain sounds); when it is on, those controls are unlinked and controlled individually per filter.
Across the top are some global controls:
Fuzz (stompswitch) — lights up when the fuzz is engaged
Fuzz (value control) — at the beginning of its travel, the fuzz is somewhat lower gain. The gain increases and maxes out at about .5; after this, the effects of the gate become more pronounced, until, at the end of the control’s travel, you have to really play loud to produce sound, which quickly dies.
Along the left side:
A descending series of buttons select the mod source directed to the filters’ frequencies from: triangle LFO, envelope up, envelope down, and expression (control port).
Beneath these are rise and fall controls for the envelope follower.
Along the right side:
A descending series of buttons select the source of modulation for the LFO’s rate from: none, envelope up, envelope down, and expression (control port).
Beneath these are a rate control for the LFO, and a depth control for the LFO’s rate modulation.
The next page includes the ins and outs for the patch. The threshold control of the gate is also starred, if you should need to adjust it (getting a gated fuzz to work across all instruments is… really hard).
Sound clip:
0:00-0:23 — LFO modulation. Then I kick on the fuzz in a relatively low gain setting.
0:24-0:46 — Envelope up. Clean, and then I introduce a fairly gated fuzz.
0:47-1:07 — Envelope down with fuzz on, relatively ungated.
1:08-1:52 — Using first envelope up, then envelope down to modulate the rate of the LFO.
