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AUDIO DEMOS
Here is a demo: it uses a repeating sequence (Encore UEG) driving a MOTM-300 VCO. The Triangle output is fed into Y, and a Sine from another MOTM-300 is fed into Z. A pair of MOTM-320 LFOs feed OFFSET X and OFFSET Y. During the sequence, the various knobs are twiddled and FACTOR is adjusted. There is NO VCF used. We will post many more demos after NAMM. Click here.


MOTM-510 WaveWarper
$289 kit
$389 assembled & tested
Difficulty factor: 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.