MOTM-510 WaveWarper

[elektro80]

MOTM-510 WaveWarper



$239 kit $359 assembled. Difficulty 4/5



The MOTM-510 is a new kind of analog signal processing module. It's not easy to describe what it does, but I'll try.


Let's start with the well-known Ring Modulator (like the MOTM-110 or MOTM-190). A Ring Modulator is a multiplier: the output can be written as Out = X * Y, where X and Y are the 2 input signals (sometimes referred to as the modulator and the carrier). X and/or Y can be audio or DC signals. The output is simply the voltage X times the voltage Y. This produces the sum of X and Y (X+Y) and the difference of X and Y (X-Y).


The traditional RM has no 'control voltage' inputs: you just feed 2 signals in, and get 1 signal out. The MOTM-510 takes this concept and generates entire new types of waveforms.


Instead of the 2 RM inputs, the basic WaveWarper has 3: X, Y and Z. These are audio inputs. The transfer function is OUT = X * (Y/Z)^m, where:


X is the GAIN signal. It controls the overall amplitude of the signal
Y is the 'main audio' signal, the one that is getting 'warped'
Z is the DIVISOR signal. This is acts to modulate the amplitude of the main audio signal before it gets warped
m is the Warp Factor. This is a fixed exponential factor, which is what is doing the 'warping'. No, it's not voltage controlled.
m varies (by the FACTOR control) from 0.2 to 0.6 (ROOT mode), 1 (UNITY, which makes it similar to a RM), to 2 to 5 (POWER mode)
each input (X, Y and Z) has attenuators
the AUDIO OUT is AC-coupled and band-limited to 18Khz. The FULL OUT is DC-coupled and can go as high as 200Khz!


But wait, there's more! There are 3 DC-coupled inputs called OFFSET. These can be DC control voltages (LFOs, EGs, etc) that add to the audio signals. In this manner, the WaveWarper can respond to 6 different modulation sources simultaneously.


Great....what does this MEAN? Well, it makes an absolute mess of even the simplest waveform. Effects range from frying bacon to a frog in a blender to sticking your head into a jet engine. You can warp LFOs into bizarre new waveforms, as well as the output of MOTM-800 EGs. You can process any line-level audio. Hours of fun!


NOTE TO KIT BUILDERS - this kit contains an expensive IC. A REALLY expensive IC. It is in a socket, but will NOT survive if you put it in backwards. A replacement chip is $60.


http://www.synthtech.com

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