Members Chordite Posted August 26, 2018 Members Share Posted August 26, 2018 Does anybody actually find a ring modulator useful or ever use one? Is it of any musical utility or does it just exist 'because it can' rather than because anyone needs it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr.Grumpy Posted August 26, 2018 Members Share Posted August 26, 2018 I got to play with one for a few minutes, it belonged to a friend of mine. It was obviously home made, he bought it at a garage sale. There was a knob to adjust the "mod" frequency, and maybe a mix or master volume knob. Yeah, it's not very musical, a lot of the tones are very dissonant depending on the interval to the modulation frequncy. I could see using it for a clangy, bell like sound effect. Or, probably with careful tuning of the mod frequency, as a weird drone tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted August 27, 2018 Members Share Posted August 27, 2018 There always seems to be one in every multi effects unit, but I've never been able to make music with one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 I've rarely found them useful, but they certainly can be for certain types of sounds. They're not good for anything pretty or melodic, that's for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted August 28, 2018 Members Share Posted August 28, 2018 i think thats a ring modulator on the guitar that links the versus the first one is at 36 seconds it only lasts for 2 beats[video=youtube;97bMX7KV8d4] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted August 28, 2018 Members Share Posted August 28, 2018 Sounds like the piano through a couple things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted August 28, 2018 Members Share Posted August 28, 2018 Sounds like the piano through a couple things. ok then ,live at 50 secs etc [video=youtube;QePcj9BplMQ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted August 29, 2018 Members Share Posted August 29, 2018 Got it although now it sounds like the whole band through one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted August 29, 2018 Members Share Posted August 29, 2018 smiley-lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted August 29, 2018 Members Share Posted August 29, 2018 Ring modulators are an essential part of an analog synth circuit for shaping notes. Even my little mini moog has a Bell Tone voice which uses a ring circuit to get those sounds. Envelope filters are another synth circuit made available for guitar and a synth also contains many other circuits including LFO, Wah, tremolo, vibrato, even a compressor is the basis of the attack and decay of notes. main difference is the notes are generated by an oscillator instead of a string but the rest are all common audio effects used for guitars and other electronic instruments. The origin of the circuits come from many sources. Some are popular and some aren't. The rig modulator generates dissonant harmonics so its not as popular as other effects. Its origins come straight out of a radio circuit handbook and is used to generate carrier frequencies in radio using frequency multiplication. Two waves are combined to make the third carrier wave which the audio information rides on. The first use of it in music was in a keyboard called the Melochord back in 1947. It was made popular with synths beginning in the late 60's and probably didn't make its way to guitars until the early guitar synths like the Stramp. Personally I never found it very useful without it being combined with other synth circuits but some artists have found uses for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted August 30, 2018 Members Share Posted August 30, 2018 Jeff Beck successfully makes use of the ring modulator effect. When two frequencies (A and B) are combined it results in four frequencies being produced... (A, B, A+B and A-B). A-B, which is the difference between the two, is the 'beat' frequency we hear when we tune our guitars using harmonics. The ring modulator uses an oscillator to generate a tone which is combined with the source (guitar, synth etc.) producing a beat frequency and adding some knarly sounding harmonics which may or may not sound musical. The DX7 and other FM synths allowed the user subtle control of the effect in order to create realistic sounding percussive attacks that contained lots of harmonics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted August 30, 2018 Members Share Posted August 30, 2018 I bought the Moog Minifooger version that came out a couple years ago or so. I really couldn't figure out how or "what for" to use it, so it went back into its box. It's about time I give it another go, but most likely it will never be a staple for me. Having better luck with the Minifooger Delay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TheForkWigger Posted September 8, 2018 Members Share Posted September 8, 2018 The thing to do is blend it with some dry or non ring modulated signal. It can create a lot of movement like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chordite Posted October 3, 2018 Author Members Share Posted October 3, 2018 Found one! I think it is used here in several places but whether it is Guitar or synth I can't be sure. [video=youtube_share;xvARmk0cML0] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackface Posted October 3, 2018 Members Share Posted October 3, 2018 I bought the Moog Minifooger version that came out a couple years ago or so. I really couldn't figure out how or "what for" to use it, so it went back into its box. It's about time I give it another go, but most likely it will never be a staple for me. Having better luck with the Minifooger Delay. I have one too. It can sound pretty cool if you put the time in but it's not the first or even 5th effect that I would buy. It's definitely something you'd only want to use in specific circumstances. Here are the two that I've found: 1. Only mix in a little bit of the ring modulator signal - so you can still mostly just hear the guitar tone - it can add some weird dissonance to it and make something plain sounding much more interesting 2. Mix more ring modulator in (but still have plenty of regular guitar signal), then tune the frequency of the modulator to whatever key you're playing in - it works best for minor keys - it can definitely sound awesome this way with some work getting everything set up right - I think i got that idea from the manual Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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