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Data Corrupter™ Modulated Monophonic Harmonizing PLL

Okay Brainiac, it’s time to put down that graphing calculator and get to work decoding your brand new Data Corrupter!

The
Data Corrupter is a monophonic analog harmonizing PLL with modulation.
It takes your input signal and brutally amplifies it into a crushing
square wave fuzz tone that is then multiplied, divided and modulated to
create a wild, yet repeatable, three-voice guitar synthesizer.

The
Master Oscillator is the central nervous system at the heart of the
Data Corrupter’s cyberpunk hive mind. The three-position switch on the
Master Oscillator control panel labeled Root feeds your input to the
Data Corrupter’s signal harvester in its original octave (Unison), one
octave down (-1) or two octaves down (-2). Use the Master Oscillator’s
Root switch to fine tune the Data Corrupter’s tracking response for
maximum compatibility with your preferred instrument and frequency
register. Once you’ve chosen your input octave, the Data Corrupter will
perform its calculations and spit out a synthesized frequency, the
octave and/or interval of which may be selected via the Master
Oscillator’s eight-position rotary switch. The Voice Mixer’s Oscillator
control adjusts the Master Oscillator blend.

The Frequency
Modulator applies pitch-bend modulation to the Master Oscillator. In
Glide mode, you’ll hear a smooth portamento as each note slides into the
next. In Vibrato mode the pitch modulates up and down for a retro
sci-fi laser effect.

The Subharmonic assimilates the input signal
into one of eight lower octave programs between one and three octaves
below the original. For a more stable lower octave, set the
Subharmonic’s Root switch to the Unison position, which divides the
Square Wave input signal, and removes the Frequency Modulator from the
Subharmonic signal path. To unleash the cracked machine lurking within
the Data Corrupter mainframe, set the Subharmonic Root switch to
Oscillator and try not to look away as the sonic malware you just
installed mangles your input signal into the sum and difference of both
the Master Oscillator and Subharmonic with the Frequency Modulator
applied to the upper and lower octaves. If you think you’re brave
enough, set the Subharmonic Root switch to Oscillator and try
experimenting with different Master Oscillator and Subharmonic programs
to wind up the doomsday clock and inch ever closer to the Singularity.
Adjust the Voice Mixer’s Subharmonic control to set the lower octave
volume.

Finally, (or is it?) the Square control located top-left
on the Voice Mixer blends in a fuzzed-out square-wave take of your input
in its original octave. That’s it. These aren’t the droids we’re
looking for. Move along.

Each and every Data Corrupter is built
one-at-a-time by a team of ensigns aboard the Starship Enterprise locked
in orbit around the Borg Cube of Akron, Ohio, USA. Make it so. Engage.

List Price: $225.00 Controls

Nerd Talk
The
heart of this pedal is based around a CMOS Phase Locked Loop (PLL) IC.
In a nutshell, the PLL takes your input signal and compares its phase
and frequency against an oscillator, generates an output proportional to
their difference then feeds it back to the oscillator. This then causes
the oscillator to lock onto the input signal and generate a synthesized
frequency. Pretty cool, right? This synthesized frequency is referred
to as the Master Oscillator on the Data Corrupter.

Master Oscillator
The
Master Oscillator takes it’s input from one of three sources: Unison,
one octave down and two octaves down. Some frequencies are too high for
the Master Oscillator to divide, therefore, shifting them down one or
two octaves brings them back into the proper range (it also happens to
sound super cool). These sources are referred to as “Root” and can be
selected via a three-position switch. The Root is then fed into the PLL
and multiplied to create one of eight different intervals over three
octaves that are selected by the rotary switch to create your harmony!
This harmony can then be manipulated via the Frequency Modulator
section.

Frequency Modulator
The Frequency
Modulator has two modes, Glide and Vibrato. In Glide mode, the pitch
will glide from note to note and the speed of the glide can be adjusted
by the Rate control. At faster settings, this takes on a very cool phase
shifting effect. In Vibrato mode, the pitch varies up and down to
create a laser-like effect. The Frequency Modulator only affects the
Master Oscillator, unless the Subharmonic Root switch is in the
Oscillator position.

Subharmonic
The
Subharmonic section of the Data Corrupter creates a sub octave of the
Root and then divides it up into eight intervals over three octaves
which are selected by the rotary switch to create your subharmonic
harmony. The Root comes from one of two sources, Unison or the Master
Oscillator. When Unison is selected, the Subharmonic will be a division
of the square wave fuzz tone and the Frequency Modulator will have no
effect. When Oscillator is selected, the Subharmonic will be a division
of the Master Oscillator and the Frequency Modulator will be applied to
the Subharmonic harmony.

Voice Mixer and Level
The
Master Oscillator, Subharmonic and Square wave fuzz tone all have
volume controls under the voice mixer section. Use these to blend the
three voices together to taste. The Level is a master volume and
determines the overall output level of the effect.

Tracking
This
pedal should be placed close to front of your signal chain and before
any delay, reverb or modulation effect. While it will work with most
bridge pickups, the neck pickup will provide the best tracking results.
Precise picking and single notes will track quickly and cleanly. Chords
and sloppy playing will result in chaos. There is no control over the
amount of gain because it really needs to be fine-tuned to properly
track. Weak signals (like backing off on the guitar volume) will lead to
poor tracking and gating.

Design Notes
This
Device takes its inspiration from the Electrax Synthax and the “Basic
Frequency Synthesizer” by Ray Marston. Neither of these were really
intended to be guitar effect pedals and a lot of work went into creating
the Data Corrupter to provide excellent tracking and long sustain. We
think you’ll find it more expressive and accurate than pretty much any
other PLL based effect pedal around.

Measures

5.65″ x 4.65″ x 2.25″ with knobs

Power

The
Data Corrupter should be powered a standard 9-volt DC power supply with
a 2.1mm negative center barrel. We always recommend pedal-specific,
transformer-isolated wall-wart power supplies or multiple
isolated-output supplies. Pedals will make extra noise if there is
ripple or unclean power. Switching-type power supplies, daisy chains and
non-pedal specific power supplies do not filter dirty power as well and
let through unwanted noise. Do not run at higher voltages!

Current Draw

25mA

Input impedance

1M

Output impedance

1K

Switching

This device is true bypass and uses electronic relay based switching. Audio will not pass without power.

WARNING: This
product can expose you to chemicals including Cobalt, which is known to
the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other
reproductive harm. For more information go to .