Music and Engineering:

Effects

Timothy Hoerning
Fall 2017
(Last modified 2017-10-31)
 What are effects?

•  Musical Effects are signal processing devices (or algorithms)

that take one sound and alter it in some way.

•  The Waveshaper synthesis block can be thought of as an effect.

•  Traditionally implemented as analog or electromechanical

devices.
•  Often built into amplifiers (tremolo, reverb) – tube or transistor
•  Offered as standalone devices later.

•  Now implemented in analog and digital

•  Mass produced vs. boutique
•  Multi-purpose & Multi-effect
 Types of Effects

•  Amplitude Based
•  Varies the gain/volume of the effect across all
frequencies

•  Filter Based
•  Varies the gain/phase response of the signal with
different amount on each frequency

•  Time Based
•  Uses time delays to simulate digital-type filters
 Background Topics

•  Time Response and Time Delay

•  Frequency Response
•  Bode plots / Mag Phase Plots
•  Digital / Analog Domain
•  Spectrogram – Time and Freq together
•  Distortion
•  Total Harmonic Distortion
•  Inter-Mod Distortion
•  Phase Distortion
•  Physical/Electrical construction
 Time / Freq Response

•  Nothing special about this with respect to common

engineering uses

•  Frequency Domain should almost always be log

scale frequency and deciBels in magnitude
 Graphical Transfer function
•  Can be expressed in amplitude or power

•  Input is expressed along the X-axis, reflected by the

transfer curve and read out along the Y-axis

Output Output Power

Amplitude

Input Input
 Spectrogram
10001 Samples

•  MATLAB s xpsound
demo allows the user to
explore the time domain,
freq domain and both at
once spectrogram
Frequency

•  The signal shown to the

left is the dropping egg.
•  The curve in the left hand
section represents the falling
pitch as the egg drops
•  The line about 2/3 of the way
through is the splat impulse.
Notice the broadband nature
Time
of the impulse
 Distortion
•  Total Harmonic Distortion – Distortion of a single tone through a
non-linearity. Adds harmonics (even harmonics are octaves, odd
harmonics are other notes)

power in overtones
THD =
fundamental power

•  Intermodulation Distortion – Occurs when two or more tones are

summed before a non-linearity. Creates frequencies at sums and
differences of the fundamentals and overtones (f1+f2, f1-f2, 2f1-f2)
•  Non-linearities can leave the amplitude intact but delay the phase
in a non-linear fashion
 Powering
•  Most pedals use 9 volts (from the battery)
•  Other variations exist (18 volts, AC power)
•  Many solutions exist for powering pedals without batteries
•  Power tied to input jack
•  Tip/Ring/Shield connector used – Tip is hot signal, ring is connected
to battery negative terminal and shield is connected to ground.
Inserting a mono 1/4 plug connects the ground circuit and turns on
the pedal.

Input +

Effect Circuit
 Construction Issues
•  Input / output impedances
•  Care should be taken to not load the guitar with a low input
impedance (this relates to the type of bypass/buffering used)

•  Board quality
•  Perf board (soldered or point to point wire wrap)
•  Printed circuit board
•  Some DIYs have even been known to use cardboard.
 Bypass
•  Bypass is the state of the pedal when it is not affecting the input signal
•  Bypasses typically fall in one of several varieties
•  Solid State
•  Commonly found in most mass produced pedals. Signal is routed through a buffer stage
when the effect is not engaged.
•  Most common on Boss, DOD and Ibanez
•  Single Ended Bypass
•  Only the output of the effect is switched. The input jack is hardwired to the input of the
effect. This is a substantial issue when the effect has low input impedance.
•  The original effects from the 60s and 70s used this almost exclusively
•  Wah Pedal
•  Fuzz Face
•  True Bypass
•  Typically uses a DPDT or 3PDT (w/ LED) to mechanically connect or disconnect the input
and output jacks from the effect circuit.
•  Can be a problem if multiple TB effects are used without a decent buffer feeding them.
 Bypass Examples
Single Ended

Effect True-Bypass
Circuit

Effect
Circuit

Others:

•  Millenium Bypass (
http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/millenium/millen.htm)
 Amplitude Based
•  Volume Pedal
•  Boost / Pre-Amp
•  Tremolo
•  Ring Modulator
•  Compression/Limiter
•  Expansion/Noise Gating
•  Distortion
•  Overdrive/Saturation
•  Distortion
•  Fuzz
 Volume Pedal
•  Same circuit as the volume control in a guitar.
•  Simple Voltage divider
•  Wiper of potentiometer (pot) has a pinion gear on it instead of a
knob. A rocker foot pedal (treadle) has a rack suspended below
it which engages the gear and turns the pot. Other variants use
opto-isolators instead of the pot.

Input

Pivots Output
Treadle

Rack

Musical Example:
• When the Children Cry –
Base
White Lion
Pot • Xanadu - Rush
 Tremolo
•  Multiply the input signal by the
output of a Low Frequency Input Output
Oscillator (LFO). x

•  LFO can vary in shape (sine, LFO

square, etc.), frequency, 1 1

amplitude (typically referred to 0.8

0.6
0.8

0.6

as depth) 0.4

0.2

0
0.4

0.2

-0.2 -0.2

•  Can also use different phase

-0.4 -0.4

-0.6 -0.6

LFOs to get a stereo effect.

-0.8 -0.8

-1 -1
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000

•  Graphs at right show Tremolo Musical Examples:

with sin and triangle wave • Boulevard of Broken
modulation. Depth is set to Dreams – Green Day
about 50% and the modulating • Do Right - Tommy
signal is at 2Hz. Conwell
• The Refugee – U2
 Percussive Tremolo
•  One of the lesser used
variants of Tremolo is
Percussive Tremolo
•  Usually created by a
unijunction transistor
•  Not currently being
produced
•  Modulating wave shape
looks like a trail of
decreasing exponentials
Musical Examples:
• Some songs – Spaceman 3
 Boost / Pre amp
•  Designed to be an extra bit of clean
gain to add extra oomph to a signal
before an amplifier

•  Also good for buffering the guitar signal

so as not to load it from other effects
with low input impedances (Fuzz-Face,
Crybaby Wah). Sometimes built into
guitars (active pickups) or connected to
guitars (LPB-1)

•  Often used to drive the input stage of a

tube amp into saturation. No distortion
from the pedal, but the tube-amp is
driven into saturation.

•  Canonical Pre-amp is a wire with gain

– no coloring in the frequency domain

•  Can be build using tubes, transistors or

Op-Amps. A simple inverting or non-
inverting amplifier circuit can serve as a
pre-amp
 Ring Modulator
•  Same notional schematic as the Tremolo. Instead of LFO with variable
depth, use audio freq with full amplitude.

•  Output includes the sum and difference frequencies.

•  Very non-musical effects. Sum and difference frequencies are not

musically related to input.

•  Spectrogram below shows a sine-wave major scale starting at A=220Hz

and the output when mixed with a 400Hz fixed frequency.
Input Output
x 0.2
Frequency

0.1 Input Musical Examples:

• Tapeworm – Pigface
Fixed
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time
x 10
4
• Jellyfish Blues –
Buffalo Daughter
0.2
• Paranoid – Black
Frequency

0.1
Output Sabbath (right channel
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
only)
Time 4
x 10
 Ring Mod continued
•  Explanation of sum and difference comes from the simple trig identity.

1
cos(a) cos(b) = (cos(a + b) + cos(a − b) )
2
•  The following passive circuit can be used to Generate a ring modulated signal
•  It is often used in RF as a mixer for up or down conversion.
•  The ring of diodes makes it act like an inverter when the control signal is the second
input.
•  See References for a better explanation of how this works as a RF mixer
 Graphical Transfer Function
10

•  The curves at right show a graphical 8

representation of the expander and

7

Output Power
6
noise gate curves 5

4
Expander
•  The expander curve shows how the 3 settings for 1:1,
amplitude is lower for low power 2 1:2, 1:4 and
signals and increases to a maximum of 1 10:1
1 for higher power signals
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9
Input Power
8
•  The noise gate carries this to the 7

extreme by making the gain –Infinity

Output Power
6

for the signals below the threshold 5

4
Noise Gate
3
with a threshold
2
of 3
1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Input Power
 Limiter / Compressor
•  Controls the gain of the circuit based on short-term
power estimates of the input signal
•  Compresses signals that exceed the determined
threshold. Reduces the gain for these components

10

8
Input Output
7 Compressor
Output Power

6
settings for 1:1,
5

2:1, 4:1 and

4

Level Variable Gain

3
10:1 Control
2

1
Detector
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Input Power
 Attack / Release
•  Attack and release time control how quickly the level detector / gain
adjustment circuit responds to transients in the input signal. Over- and
undershoot result.
•  Digital processing can alter gain quicker than analog, but there is always the
delay for the averaging window
•  The curve below shows the output of a Tremolo effect put through a 4:1
compressor. Notice the reduction in dynamic range as well as the attack/
release times when the signal is louder/quieter than it ideally would be
1
Musical Examples:
0.5 • Kiss – Prince
• Soft & Wet –
0

-0.5
Original Prince
-1
• Under the Bridge
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
– Red Hot Chili
1 Peppers
0.5

0
Compressed
-0.5

-1
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
 Sustain / Ducking
•  By increasing the gain after a compressor, the
average level is kept at high level. This acts as a
clean sustain.
•  By using a different signal for control and process,
you get a ducking processor. This is typically
used to mute background music when a
announcement is made (on a store PA or on the
radio)
Input Output

Level Variable Gain

Detector Control

Auxiliary Control Audio

 Expansion / Noise Gating

•  The compressor compresses the dynamic range.

i.e., it reduces the gain above a threshold
•  The expander expands the dynamic range be
reduces the gain BELOW a threshold.
•  Carried to the extreme, the noise gate reduces
the gain to zero below a threshold. This shuts
off the output for signals that are effectively
noise. Problems can arise when decaying signals
fall below the threshold.
 The Distortion Spectrum
Clean Overdrive Distortion Fuzz

•  Signal can vary from clean (~0%THD) to all out fuzz

(100% THD – square wave)
•  Touch-sensitive describes a device (typically tube
amplifier or tube emulator) which can vary between clean
and overdrive (or overdrive and distortion) based on the
physical attack on the strings at the guitar.
•  Remember from circuits, half wave symmetric signals
contain only odd harmonics. Even harmonics sound
better (because they are octaves).
 Hard Clipping vs. Soft Clipping
2

•  Soft clipping rounds the edges of 1.5

the signal. There are no sharp

discontinuities.
1

0.5

Output
•  Hard clipping simply clips 0

anything beyond a threshold. -0.5

This creates a discontinuity and -1

adds higher order harmonics. -1.5

-2
•  The third case is an asymmetric -3 -2 -1 0
Input
1 2 3

soft-clipping. This introduces

both even and odd harmonics
(the symmetric clipping only
created odd-harmonics). Musical Examples:
• Any Metal Tunes – Any
Metal Artist.
 Test Vector
•  Create a sine wave that varies in amplitude from
0.5 to 10 over a span of about 20 seconds
•  Set a hard threshold of 1 and the soft symbol to
have its maximum excursion at 1
0.5

Outputs at Outputs at
0.4 8

0.3
beginning end
6

0.2 4

0.1 2

0 0

-0.1 -2

-0.2 -4

-0.3 -6

-0.4 -8

-0.5
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
 Hard Clipping vs. Soft Clipping
•  Soft clipping adds harmonics gradually depending on the
amount of distortion
•  Hard clipping adds harmonics as soon the threshold is
exceeded
•  Asymmetric clipping adds even and odd harmonics
gradually
Hard Clipping Soft Clipping Soft Asymetric Clipping

10000 10000 10000

8000 8000 8000

Frequency
Frequency

Frequency

6000 6000 6000

4000 4000 4000

2000 2000 2000

0 0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Time Time Time
 Tube Screamer
Tube Screamer - Beginning x 10
4 TS9

0.25 input 2
ts9
0.2 hot
0.15
1.5
0.1

Frequency
0.05

0 1
-0.05

-0.1

-0.15 0.5

-0.2

-0.25
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
100 200 300 400 500 600
Time

Tube Screamer - End x 10

4 TS7 Hot
0.3 input
ts9 2
hot
0.2

0.1 1.5

Frequency
0
1

-0.1

0.5
-0.2

-0.3
0
100 200 300 400 500 600 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time
 Octave Generators
•  Octave Up
•  Generated through rectification
•  Full Wave rectification gives only octave up
•  Half Wave rectification gives octave up plus fundamental
•  Can vary by partial rectification. (see next slide for example)
•  Two signals can give a ring mod like effect.
•  Octave Down
•  Generated with a flip flop
•  The input audio signal becomes the clock for the flip flop
•  The circuit gets confused when two input notes are present and doesn t
track properly
•  Heavy distortion leaves the square flip fop w/ minimum amplitude
reconstruction.
•  To get a cleaner signal, more of the amplitude envelop can be
reconstructed using more elaborate circuits
 Rectification
Input and Output in the Time Domain Input and Output in the Frequency Domain
1 80

0.8 70

0.6 60
Sound
0.4 50
Clips:
amplitude

amplitude
• In
0.2 40

0 30

-0.2 20
• Full Wave
-0.4 10
• Half Wave
-0.6 0

-0.8 -10

-1 -20
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
time frequency
Input and Output in the Time Domain Input and Output in the Frequency Domain
1 80

0.8
60
0.6

0.4 40

Sound
amplitude
amplitude

0.2
20
0
Clips:
-0.2
0
• In
-0.4 -20 • 10% Rect
-0.6
-40
• 25% Rect
-0.8
• 40% Rect
-1 -60
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
time frequency
 Filter Based

•  Equalization
•  Graphic
•  Parametric

•  Treble Booster

•  Wah Wah / Envelope (Followed) Filter

•  Vocoder / Talk Box

•  Phase Shifter
 Active Filters
•  Active Filters by definition require a power supply
•  Passive filters can only remove frequency components.
•  Active filters can boost as well as cut frequency bands.
•  Also allow for sharper transitions
•  Allow multi-pole filters using solid state devices and capacitors
instead of inductors (allows for implementation in integrated circuits)

Boost
Log-Mag

Log-Mag

Cut

Frequency Frequency
 Basic Parameters
•  Break Frequencies (or center frequency) – The frequencies
at which the response of the filter changes slope. (i.e. the
poles and zeros)
•  Bandwidth – The width of the filter in the frequency
domain. Usually defined at the point 3dB below the peak
signal amplitude.
•  Q – The ratio of the center frequency to the bandwidth. Q
is generally fairly low for audio applications
•  Boost/Cut Amplitude – Amount of amplification or
attenuation obtained by a filter. Typically specified in dB
with a range of +/- 10dB to +/- 20dB
 Some Basic Filtering Effects

•  Treble booster – Preamp combined with a passive

high-pass shelving filter

•  Mid-range boost control (like on a Powerhouse or

Eric Clapton Stratocaster)

•  Active electronics on bass guitars – typically high-

pass and low pass shelving filters
 Equalization
•  Named because it was designed to equalize the response of the room. The goal was to use the
notches and peaks of the equalizer to compensate for resonances and dead spots within a room

•  Types
•  Graphic
•  Fixed center frequency, fixed Q, variable amplitude
•  Spaced in octaves (or fraction of octaves, 1/2 octave or 1/3 octave)
•  Parametric
•  Variable center frequency, variable Q, variable amplitude
•  Typically only 3 or 4 bands
•  Semi-Parametric
•  Variable center frequency, fixed Q, variable amplitude
Input

Bandpass
Filter #1
Bandpass
Filter #2
Bandpass
Filter #3 … Bandpass
Filter #N-1
Bandpass
Filter #N

Front panel
sliders adjust Output
the gain for + + + +
each band
 Parametric Equalization Response
Boss Bass Parametric
10000

9000

8000

7000

6000
Frequency

5000

4000

To create this 3000

spectrogram, the
bands were swept 2000
from low to high first
1000
with boost, and then
from high to low 0
with cut 0 10 20 30 40 50
Time
Low Band Mid High High Mid Low Band

Boost Cut
 Graphic Equalizer Response
Bass Graphic EQ
10000

9000

8000

7000

6000
Frequency

5000

4000

To create this 3000

spectrogram, sliders
2000
of the Bass Graphic
EQ were swept 1000
from boost to cut
and in frequency 0
0 10 20 30 40 50
from left to right Time
50Hz 100Hz 200Hz 400Hz 800Hz 1600Hz 3200Hz
 Wah Wah
•  A Wah Wah pedal is at the core a Musical Examples:
band pass filter • Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – Jimi Hendrix
• Yankee Rose – David Lee Roth
•  Named for the wah sound made • Still Raining Still Dreaming – Jimi Hendrix
by moving the pedal from low • Sweet Child O Mine – Guns & Roses
frequencies to high. • (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth (bass solo) –
Metallica
•  Physically constructed similarly to a • Any Song from the Black Album - Metallica
volume pedal with a treadle, pot
and rack. As with volume pedals,
physical construction and method
of control differ with different
manufacturers.
Pivots
•  The center frequency of the filter is
controlled via the treadle. Different Treadle
manufacturers and models differ in
the minimum and maximum center Rack
frequency and the Q of the filter.
Some allow for adjustment of these
parameters. Base

Pot
 Wah Wah Variables
•  Shaping
•  Center Frequency Range
•  Min Frequency
•  Max Frequency
•  Q
•  Non-Linearities
•  Inductors

•  Control
•  Potentiometer
•  Oldest Method
•  Prone to getting scratchy
•  Optical
•  Used by Morley
•  Originally light bulb
•  Now LED
•  Capacitive
•  Used by DOD FX-17
•  Hall Effect
•  Used by Boss V-Wah
 Wah Wah responses
VWah - Crybaby VWah - Vox VWah - Morley
3000 3000 3000

2500 2500 2500

2000 2000 2000

Frequency

Frequency
Frequency
1500 1500 1500

1000 1000 1000

500 500 500

0 0 0
0 5 10 15 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Time Time Time

The V-Wah includes several models

as well as a range control. The three
spectrograms above show the Dunlop
Crybaby, Vox Wah, and Morley Wah
models with the same range setting.
Notice the difference in minimum and
maximum frequency. You can also
see a difference in Q for some of the
wahs at higher frequencies.
 Envelope Filter
•  An envelope filter is a more properly called an envelope
controller filter. (It is also possible to control other things
with a envelope controller.)
•  The most basic envelope filters only sweep from low to
high. Others include options for high to low and other
variants.
•  All envelope filters include a threshold control to
determine the amplitude that will make the filter sweep.

Musical Examples: Input Output

Variable
• What I Am – Eddie Brickell and
Freq Filter
the New Bohemians
• Higher Ground – Red Hot Chili Variable Gain
Peppers Level
Detector Control
 Envelope Filter Responses
Boss Envelope Filter
2000

1800

1600

1400

1200
Frequency

1000

800

600

400

200

0
0 5 10 15 20
Time

Up Down Sharp

The envelope filter was fed a noise signal with a 20dB amplitude tremolo signal applied to it.
The threshold was set such that only the louder sections of the input waveform would exceed
the threshold and sweep the wah.
 Vocoder
•  While the wah creates a human-like sound, it only emulates one particular sound.
The vocoder uses a speech input to apply the frequency response of a human voice
to the instrument in real time.

•  The voice signal is filtered through multiple filters and the power in each band is
determined. This power then modifies the gain for a similar band pass structure
applied to the instrument input.
Vocal Input
Bandpass Bandpass Bandpass Bandpass Bandpass
Filter #1 Filter #2 Filter #3 Filter #N-1 Filter #N

Power Power Power Power Power

Detector Detector Detector Detector Detector

Input
Bandpass
Filter #1
Bandpass
Filter #2
Bandpass
Filter #3 … Bandpass
Filter #N-1
Bandpass
Filter #N

Output
+ + + +
 Talk Box
•  Often called the poor-man s vocoder . Analog vocoders required
many parts and were quite expensive. The cheaper alternative was to
route the guitar s signal throughout the mouth of the guitarist. This
proved to also be more popular.

Vinyl tube Output to PA

System

Musical Examples:
Input • Rocky Mountain Way – Joe Walsh
H.F. Horn • Sweet Emotion – Aerosmith
• Pigs (Three different ones) – Pink Floyd
• Show Me the Way – Peter Frampton
 Phase Shifter
•  Originally created as a real-time simulation of the flanging effect.
•  Typically built as an analog all-pass filter
•  Phase-shift filters have a certain amount of phase shift
•  Multiple stages of phase shift are concatenated to create an even greater amount of shift. This
allows lower frequencies to be cancelled.
•  This phase-shift varies with frequency
•  A low frequency oscillator typically modulates the phase-shift stages

•  The all-pass filter has variable phase lag which causes some frequencies to pass and others
to be notched
•  The flanger is a special case of the phase shifter

•  See handout (
http://www.ece.osu.edu/~pavlict/ece209/lab1_intro/lab1_intro_phase_shifter.pdf ) for a
circuit description of a single stage. Most Phase Shifters include 4 to 12 stages
Musical Examples:
• Ain t Talkin Bout Love– Van
Effect Mix Halen
Input All-Pass
+ • No Quarter – Led Zeppelin
Filter • You Belong with Me – Taylor
Output Swift
Phase Shifter Response
Phase Shifter
4000

3500

3000

2500

Frequency
2000

1500

1000

500

0
0 5 10 15
Time

Notice the exponential sweeping of the notches.

This spectrogram was created using noise as an
input
 Matlab Simulation Response

•  2 Stages of phase shift •  4 stages of phase shift

 Spinning Speaker
•  The Leslie Spinning Speaker is a unique sound that is often copied, but
rarely perfectly.

•  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_speaker

•  Two Effects in one

•  Tremolo
•  Vibrato (from the Doppler)
 Time Based

•  Delay / Echo
•  Digital
•  Analog and Discrete Time

•  Reverberation

•  Chorus

•  Flanging

•  Pitch Shifting / Octave Devices

 Analog vs. Digital
•  Many guitarists talk about the difference between analog
versus digital delay based devices
•  In truth, there are no completely analog circuits (except for tape-
echo units). In analog delay pedals, the delay unit is a bucket-
brigade chip
•  A bucket-brigade chip is an integrated circuit with a large
number of capacitors and transmission gate transistors.
•  The signal is sampled (into discrete time), and the sampled voltage is
placed on the first capacitor
•  The sampled voltage is then passed to the next capacitor at the rate
determined by the sampling rate control.
•  If the sampling rate is too low, the voltage on the capacitor will bleed
down and distortion will occur.
•  This gives the signal a warm quality that many appreciate.
•  Some argue that the companding around the bucket brigade
delay adds to the sound. Some modern pedals wrap companding
with a digital delay
 Delay
Delay Mix
Input
Delay +
Output

•  Adds a delayed copy of the input signal to the

output signal
•  By adjusting the delay to match the tempo, a
musical effect can achieved where it sounds like
Musical Examples:
more notes are being played • And I ran – Flock of
•  Often delays have a feedback path (like shown Seagulls
on a later slide for the echo effect). Typically • Where the Streets have no
however, the maximum gain is less than one name – U2
•  Short Delays (40-120 mSec) with no feedback • Run Like Hell – Pink Floyd
are called slap-back •  Flight of the Wounded
•  Delay time is usually adjusted by varying the Bumble Bee – Extreme
• Even Better Than the Real
sampling rate. This allows for pitch shifting
Thing – U2
effects
 More Delay
Input
+ Delay Delay Delay Delay Delay

Output
+ + + +

•  Multi-tap delays include multiple delay elements

Input Output 1
+ Delay + Musical Examples:
• Most Songs - U2

Output 2
Delay +
•  Ping pong delays alternate the signals between the left and
right channels
 Frequency Response
While it s not usually noticeable, simple delays are
frequency selective. It should be obvious that a
frequency and all its odd harmonics will destructively
interfere and cause nulls in the frequency domain

40 mSec Delay
50 480 mSec Delay
50
Magnitude (dB)

Magnitude (dB)
0

-50
-50

-100
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 -100
Frequency (Hz) 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Frequency (Hz)
100
100
Phase (degrees)

50
Phase (degrees)

50
0
0
-50
-50
-100
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 -100
Frequency (Hz) 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Frequency (Hz)
 Echo
•  Often there is no distinction between delay units and echoes. What
usually makes a device more of an echo is how it attempts to simulate a
tape echo
•  The feedback gain can be increased to be greater than unity. This will cause
the echoes to increase in volume and eventually saturate or oscillate
•  The is some times a filter in the feedback loop to simulate the gradual
deterioration of signal quality that would occur with a tape-echo unit.
•  Sometimes the delay time is varied slightly to simulate tape warble.

Feedback Gain -
Regeneration

Filter
Delay Mix
Input
+ Delay +
 Tape Echo
•  Before bucket-brigade or digital, echo units were built using a variable
speed tape as the memory storage device.
•  Often the playback head was able to be moved to get different delays.
•  Changing the tape speed can get crazy pitch shifting effects

Idler Roller Idler Roller

Pinch Roller

Playback Head Record Head

Musical Examples: Erase Head
• Standing In the Rain – James
Gang
• Quadrant 4 – Billy Cobham

Feedback Gain
 Loopers
•  More recent modifications on Delay pedals have allowed
musicians to loop indeterminate length sounds.
•  Allows someone to build a bigger and bigger sound
•  Allows one to be their own backing track

•  Basic operation isn’t very technically difficult

•  Record Button
•  Play Button
•  Erase

•  Some Loopers have more advanced controls

•  Revert
•  Reverse
•  Scale
 Reverb
•  Reverb is designed to sound like 1
Simulated Reverb Signal
the multiple reflections found in 0.9

a room or a hall. 0.8

0.7

•  Many analog reverbs were 0.6

created using a spring and 0.5
transducers 0.4

0.3

•  True-convolution is the 0.2

newest trend in reverbs. This 0.1
uses an impulse response from a 0
real location. The reverb is 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2

effected by using a very long

FIR filter
Musical Examples:
•  Can use an FIR filter for early • Domination - Pantera
reflections with an IIR filter or
the trailing reflections
 Flanger
•  As was noticed previously, delay elements can create notches in the frequency domain.

•  By changing the delay time continuously (at a sub-sampled value), the notches vary in frequency

•  The delay time is modulated with a low frequency oscillator (LFO).

•  The following parameters determine the sound from a flanger

•  Delay - The minimum amount of time the signal is delayed. (1 mSec to 10 mSec).
•  Sweep depth (width) - How wide the sweep is in terms of delay time. i.e., the maximum additional delay time
added as the LFO is swept (100 ns to 10 ms)
•  Speed – the frequency of the LFO

Feedback Gain - 0.014

Delay Time in a Flanger

Regeneration
Filter 0.012

Delay Mix 0.01 Width

Input Output 0.008

+ Delay +
delay
0.006

0.004 Delay
0.002

LFO 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
time -3
x 10
 Flanger Response
Flanger
4000

3500

3000

2500

Frequency
2000

1500

1000

500

Musical Examples: 0
0 5 10 15
• Are You Gonna Go My Way – Time
Lenny Kravitz
• Bold as Love – Jimi Hendrix This particular flanger produces a very mild effect.
• Barracuda - Heart The notches are barely visible. This spectrogram
was created using a noise source as the input.
Matlab Simulation Response
 Chorus
•  Named because it makes one instrument sound like many. Fills up the sonic space in
a song
•  A chorus is merely a flanger with longer delay times (and usually no feedback)
•  The following parameters determine the sound from a flanger
•  Delay - The minimum amount of time the signal is delayed. (20-30 mSec).
•  Sweep depth (width) - How wide the sweep is in terms of delay time. i.e. the maximum
additional delay time added as the LFO is swept (0 to 10 ms)
•  Speed – the frequency of the LFO

•  Extreme settings will create a vibrato – pitch warble

•  Vibrato pedals often include the a mix on the clean signal to remove it from the output

Delay Mix Musical Examples:

Input • Stranger in a Strange Land – Iron
+ Delay + Maiden
• I Don’t Know – Ozzy Osbourne
• Run to You – Bryan Adams
• Good Enough – Van Halen
LFO • Come as you are - Nirvana
 Chorus Responses
Chorus
4000

3500

3000

2500
Frequency

2000

1500
This spectrogram was
created using a square
wave as the input signal 1000

500

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Time

Effect Thick Pitch All

Off Chorus Warble Controls
at Max
Modulated Delay
 Pitch Shifting
•  The 1990s & 2000s addition to effects
•  Two types
•  Dumb
•  Simple mathematic ratios determine new note relative to old note
•  Intelligent
•  Key is set (or detected) and harmony is diatonic

•  Available as real time in a pedal or post-processing (Auto-Tune)

•  Simplest method
•  Time Scaling and Re-sampling
•  PitchScaleSOLA.m from DAFX
•  Phase Vocoder
•  Simulink Example – dsppitchtime.mdl

Input Time Scaling Re-sampling Output

(ratio N2/N1) (ratio N1/N2)
 Multi-Effects
•  Combine multiple processing algorithms into a
common hardware platform

•  Can include analog and digital processing as well as

tube and digital processing.

•  Use MIDI for patch changes

•  Foot controller for remote control

•  Often includes amplifier modeling

 References
1.  http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/effects-explained.html

2.  O Connor, K., The Ultimate Tone Vol. 1

3.  http://www.geofex.com/fxtech.htm

4.  http://www.freeinfosociety.com/electronics/schematics/audio/ringmodulator.html

5.  http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/mixerwaveforms.cfm
1.  Explanation of RF mixers which very similar to one implementation of ring
modulators

6.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_timescale-pitch_modification

7.  http://www.ece.osu.edu/~pavlict/ece209/lab1_intro/lab1_intro_phase_shifter.pdf
1.  Simple Phase Shifter circuit

8.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-pass_filter
Additional Slides (to be
reworked)
 Fuzz Face
Fuzz Face - Beginning

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

-0.05

-0.1

-0.15

-0.2

-0.25

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

Fuzz Face - End

x 10
4 FuzzFace 0.25

0.2
2
0.15

0.1

0.05
1.5
0
Frequency

-0.05

1 -0.1

-0.15

-0.2
0.5 -0.25

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time