RE: Ring Mod (Comments on effects with syncable LFO's)

From Sean Costello
Sent Tue, Dec 23rd 1997, 00:19

At 07:32 PM 12/20/97 UT, you wrote:
>Humm... all this talk about my favorite effect has made me curious
>as to what types of stompboxes out there imploy amplitude modulation
>(ring modding to be perscise)? I've wanted to add many r/mod effex
>to my setup... but (short of buying modules from doepfer) haven't really
>seen much in the way of $50-80 stompy box units (ala the Gonkulator by DOD,
>the only ring mod box I've seen in the market...).  Anybody know of
>any others?? Vintaj or otherwise??

Hmm...there was the Electro-Harmonix Frequency Analyzer.  Pedal controllable
oscillator for the modulator frequency, but no external modulator input
(i.e. you can't have one audio signal modulate the other).  Supposedly very
nice sounding.  Runs about $300.

The Black Cat Ring Modulator is a reissue of the above (I think).  Has a
jack for controlling the oscillator frequency, but you can't put audio
signals in there (I tried).  Runs about $250, which is really annoying - why
do people price reissue pedals for the same price that the originals sell
for nowadays?  The modulator frequency (or carrier - whichever one is the
internal oscillator) bleeds through noticably.

The Maestro Ring Modulator.  Runs about $500.  Has provision for external
input. But it runs around $500.  At this price, you probably could get a
Serge Ring Modulator module with a power supply.  Or several Doepfer modules.

Several digital modules have ring modulation on board.  The Boss SE-70 has
this, but good luck finding one (I've looked for years now, and always end
up missing them).  The Zoom 1201 has ring modulation, but I haven't heard
it.  Several new multi-effectors are supposed to have ring mod on them, but
all of them seem to be delayed in release.  The Digitech XP-300 Space
Station was supposed to have ring mod with pedal-controllable modulation
frequency, but it is several months late in being released, and I am
beginning to doubt whether it will come out at all. A few of the cheap DOD
digital pedalboards have ring mod, but these things exude cheapness (VERY
cheap construction quality).  The Alesis units might have ring mod - I know
an old Quadreverb I tried had frequency shifting (a variant of ring
modulation, where only one set of sidebands is present in the output), but
it had poor sound quality.  The Eventides have ring modulation and frequency
shifting, but you could buy a nice modular for that price.

If anyone out there can recommend a good inexpensive ring modulator, or a
decent digital effector with ring modulation, please let me know.

Sean Costello