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Post subject: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:12 am
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Hello,

I got my mustang floor about a week ago and so far I am having a lot of fun with it - definitely a great deal for all the effects it has, as you all know.

I have long wanted to get into playing "spacey" sort of music, and I was looking forward to playing with the ring modulator to get some r2d2/dalek/forbidden planet type sounds. However, to my dismay, as I turned all the knobs of the floors built in ring modulator, it makes only these disgusting noises akin to an orc giving birth.

Am I doing this wrong? Does anyone have tips for getting the bleeps and bloops I desire out of this thing?

Thanks very much.


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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:22 am
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I'm still working it out. The best thing I can do it poke at it like a monkey trying to operate a computer. :lol: So far I have 2 clues:

1. It seems, depending on the settings, the effect takes on a 'pitch'. I found that I could kind of 'tune' that pitch to what I'm playing. So for example, if I was playing something with a 'drone' note, like kind of sticking mostly on a D chord, I could turn one of the knobs (I think it was FREQ?) until the pitch of the effect matched my D chord.

2. It can make kind of a cool Tremolo effect, but a little different than a Tremolo. Check it out:

Audio sample: Link

Here's the preset used for the above clip:

Preset on FUSE:
Ring Mod Shimmer
Description
Trying to find a use for the Ring Modulator.


Settings:

Image

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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:22 am
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Just relax. Takes time to find the right sound for the Ring Modulator


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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:29 am
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that was awesome captainc :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 1:08 pm
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Quote:
It can make kind of a cool Tremolo effect, but a little different than a Tremolo. Check it out:

Like it!


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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 3:08 pm
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Very Funny!!! :lol:


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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 4:09 pm
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A ring modulator is designed to combine two separate tones together and produce an output of the sum and the difference in frequencies.. so

a) it's usually going to produce un-harmonically pleasant tones
(it's said to be good for bell like tones, but bells don't have normal harmonic tone patterns)
b) it should have two separate inputs, so I guess the second input here is a plain tone generator where you can alter the frequency

frequency could be a candidate for expression pedal?

Maybe that Dalek could do a video for 'folding towells' as well


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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 6:36 pm
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scott-uk wrote:
Quote:
It can make kind of a cool Tremolo effect, but a little different than a Tremolo. Check it out:

Like it!

cool! 8)

Thank you markcc for some very useful info, that helped a lot. I tried assigning the FREQ to the expression pedal ... it was a little hard to control. Maybe if I change the range a little next time.

I came up with 2 more attempts at a use for this thing. A chorus (for chords centering around 'A' only!) and a lead sound, which also sounds best centered around 'A'.

Ring Mod Chorus A
Description
Play chords centered around 'A'. Other keys will likely sound terrible with this preset. You can adjust the FREQ to change to another key.


Settings:
Image

Ring Mod Lead A
Description
Play leads over chords centering around 'A'. If you play on other keys, it may sound terrible. You can adjust the FREQ to change to other keys. Single note leads sound best with this preset.


Settings:
Image

Listen at the end of the Ring Mod Chorus sample (link below). I end by playing a G chord and an E chord to show how terrible it sounds in other keys. Then back to the A chord and it sounds ok again. For the lead sample, check out where the 2nd note ends up, sometimes it sound pretty interesting. Those are all one-note-bends in the sample.

Audio samples: Link

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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 7:46 pm
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Hi,
here's a classic example of extensive use of ring modulator on keyboards ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBSdUCEN10c

it was a particular album of Vangelis (my favourite musician for what concerning sound tracks, synthetizer music and also some new age period music) .. it is strange stuff , could be defined astract music i guess..
and there was another album strange the same published even by Deutsche Grammophon as classical music "Invisible connections" ...very minimalistic.

anyway if you have the patience to listen for about 2 minutes you can find a variety of reference modulator tones , from the minute 2.50 to about 5 and from 5.00 you can hear the very slow modulation rate (frequency ) , in which the modulation slows becoming the kind of tremolo tone...

Vangelis appreciated ring modulator (for example embedded in the synthesizer Yamaha CS80) and used it often in his compositions... i think it was his main effect in addition to the common chorus, reverb...
for the guitar is a little different but if there is a sustained tone is possible to obtain similar effects by changing gradually in real time the frequency (exp pedal works well) ... and ranging from tremolo-like to high-pitch modulations... i don't remember anymore the settings on preset but i remember some months ago it was a very funny experience to experiment with that effect... i would say very satisfactory.

Dimitri


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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 8:06 pm
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frondizi wrote:
.. it is strange stuff , could be defined astract music i guess..

Music can be defined as organized sound. I'm not sure this fits the definition ... :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 8:16 pm
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strings10927 wrote:
Music can be defined as organized sound. I'm not sure this fits the definition ... :lol:

the sounds on "Beaubourg", definitely not ! :lol: haa haa


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Post subject: Re: Ring Modulator Sounds Awful?
Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 11:05 am
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It's funny that you say that on this thread...I was doing some research on ring modulators and read that the soundtrack for Forbidden Planet, being the first ever completely electronic album (almost entirely made with ring mods, apparently) was inelligable to win a grammy because the musicians union refused to allow it to be classified as music. Hmm...what would they say about dubstep? Lol!


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