but I still wanted more out of this thing.
I started to research what other designers
have done with the CD4069 PLL and came
across a few circuits of interest; The infamous
Schumann PLL, The Electrax Synthax-100
and an APP note for a frequency synthesizer
by R. Marston. All of them had clever ways
of dividing, multiplying, and modulating
the output frequency to create some very
believable synth tones. I used this info to try
and devise my own way of doing this but
quickly realized they were all pretty much
doing the same thing to generate their
harmonies. If it’s not broken, why try to fix
it? I ended up doing a very similar method of
frequency division and multiplication that is
found in the Schumann and Marston circuits.
Now I have a Master Oscillator frequency
multiplier and a Subharmonic divider that are
easy to operate and sound great.
After playing around with it for a few days
I noticed that it responded well to the
lower frequencies and some of the higher
frequencies were a bit harsh on the ears.
I added the input frequency divider and it
really brought things around for the Master
Oscillator. Now it had the ability to read up to
two octaves below the input, remain stable
and was a bit more pleasing to play through.
The only issue was that if the subharmonic
was reading from the master oscillator, you
could only get a division of where the master
oscillator was set. If the Master Oscillator
was reading from 2 octaves below, the
subharmonic could be too low for practical
use. I added the root selector switch so
you could choose where the Subharmonic
divider gets its feed. It can now read from
either the squared input signal or the output
of the Master Oscillator. While this might
seem confusing, it really opens up a lot of
possibilities for different textures and adds
a true third voice. Once you get the hang of
the signal routing, the Data Corrupter is very
easy to use and has an enormous amount of
practical options to tickle your tone bone.
There you have it, that is how I came up with
the Data Corrupter. I couldn’t be happier
with the final product, it is by far one of my
favorite pedals I’ve ever designed. I’m really
excited to get it out in the world and see
what other people can do with it.
—Jamie Stillman
ToneReport.com
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