the first downgrade was
partially cloned with bugbrand's permission.
only 10 were made
this is a sample rate reducer, which is the
analog counterpart of the digital bitcrusher.
this is achieved with a very tailored sample
and hold circuit and the resulting effect is
also often compared to ring modulation at certain
settings, but the DG is capable of much more
then that
the new version of the downgrade has been completely
redesigned, and it is now 100% analog and 100%
original. i've also added a couple of new features,
each of which are described in detail below,
but you can just ignore all that and listen to
the samples
for the v2.3 i've
cleaned up the pre amp a little bit, changed
knobs again and moved a few things around inside
to keep nice and clean in there. nothing really
that significant and i don’t plan on making
anymore updates - photo soon
there have been a few changes with v2.2,
the switches and knobs are different, the CV
/ EXP toggle is on the back between the IN and
CV jack. the input level led was removed so i
could do some things inside, but the violet leds
i was sent this time look more like blue to me,
sorry. the option to use the reducer itself to
process DC control voltage signals like you would
audio has been removed by default, but if you
want it restored just let me know before i ship
it, but what this means is that it will no longer
pop at times when bypassing it, which some people
didn't like. you can of course still control
the rate with external CV
i'll be putting together a proper PDF manual
one of these days, i promise
I/: this
is the input gain, which is in phase, has little
or no frequency loss, and a ridiculous amount
of gain ( over 200x ) so you can plug low level
or passive devices directly into it with no need
for an extra pre-amp. at its lowest setting it
simply acts as a buffer, there is no input attenuation. like
all of my devices its been designed to accept
all synth, line level and instrument level inputs
sources with no impedance issues so feel free
to plug your synths and sound cards directly
into it without the need for any stepdown. note:
at the highest setting there will be some self
oscillation and noise so if oddly pitched noise
or cleanliness is a concern simply don't use
the highest setting - i should point out that
this is just a feature for the noise makers out
there. normal use will never require you to run
the pre that hard.
disrupt: this
is the new distortion control, at high levels
it will completely squarewave the input signal
by itself. also at high settings the distortion
is so strong the reducer will seem to have little
or no effect so be careful. note:
at the highest setting there will be some self
oscillation and noise so if oddly pitched noise
or cleanliness is a concern simply don't use
the highest setting - i should point out that
this is just a feature for the noise makers out
there. normal use will never require you to run
the distortion that hard.
downgrade: this
gives you control over the rate reduction (clock).
it controls the speed that the sample and hold
is triggered. this is the heart of the pedal
and setting it to the desired position will determine
the max sweep range for the EXP pedal /
CV input when its in use.
dissect: this
is a new feature that you won't find anywhere
else. but its hard to explain if you don't fully
understand how reducers / sample and holds work.
to put it simply, it gives you control over how
long the sample of the sample and hold
is. from the very short length used to make the
reducer effect, to a wide squarewave used for
a normal sample and hold. the samples and videos
should explain further. what this does is allow
you to use the downgrade in far more applications
because you can now adjust the amount of the
source sound that comes through the reduction
process. also if you flip the descend switch
and increase the range that the reducer can travel,
what used to be rather worthless in the lower
setting can now be slowly swept into a big chunky
sample and hold similar a squarewave tremolo
except that the sound that comes through is now
a sample and its staggered in time. so if its
hooked up in parallel with other effects you
can achieve very interesting results. also being
as how this can be put under voltage control
you can use it as a modulating chopper/ stutter
effect
\O: this
the output volume control.
dialup: this
allows you to switch on an internal feedback
/ self oscillation bend that lets you use the
DG as a fucked up bass heavy synth. nearly every
control has a different effect on the result
so you will have to play around with it yourself.
the CV input will give you control over the pitch
but its not perfect. its really just intended
more for special effects or noise making. when
feeding the DG a source that is really loud,
like a synth for example, you may need to turn
it down at the source a little to not overpower
the feedback or it may just work more like a
50/50 wetness control.
descend: this
is a reduction range extender which allows you
to choose between the higher range of the reducer
giving you more precise control over the downgrade
and dissect settings, or the full wide range
that will allow you to achieve the slow blocky
sample and hold / tremolo effects.
LEDs: this
is a clock rate indicator used to tell you the
speed you are running at. at higher speeds it
will just seem to stay solid but when you flip
the descend toggle and you start running at slower
speeds it will pulse in time. i did this to help
make it easier for you to sync up the rate with
an outside tempo. for example to sync up the
DG with a drum loop, which you will probably
do quite often. it will also pulse along with
an CV signal you send it. there is no real power
indicator so you will have to pay attention to
whether or not its on or you can waste batteries
bypass switch: this
is a heavy duty true bypass / power stomp switch
9V wall jack: this
is a 9 volt 2.1mm center negative power input
so you can run it off of any standard 9v wall
wart. the DG only consumes about 6ma at the most
so just about any will work. there is reverse
polarity and over voltage protection to keep
you from destroying it. you can feed it anything
up to about 15vDC and be fine
single 9v battery clip: the
new DG now only requires one 9 volt battery and
only 6ma at most. so it will run for approximately
100 hours or 4 days solid on a standard alkaline
battery.
input jack: the
mono input is on the right side and marked with
a triangle pointing into the box. there is also
over voltage protection here as well - the ring
shunts to ground
expression / CV pedal
input: there is now an expression
pedal / control voltage input that gives you
external control over the downgrade / rate
reduction. upon plugging in an EXP pedal or
control voltage the downgrade knob becomes
the range limiter and turning it adjusts how
much the sweep of the EXP pedal or CV will
effect the reduction, but the range of the
sweep is somewhat limited, only giving you
about 50% of the normal knob range. there is
a switch on the back to choose between CV and
EXP pedal,when
facing the front - left is EXP, right
is CV
audio output jack: the
audio output is on the left side and marked with
a triangle pointing away from the box - the ring
shunts to ground
WARNING: although
i don't see it happening i just want to formally
say i am not responsible for damage to other
equipment. use common sense
these samples are not overly exciting
i guess. i just tried to cover the full range
of each control. they usually start off with
a clean sound then adjusting the distortion up
and down, then sweeping the downgrade knob down
and then opening up the dissect a notch and sweeping
up, then turning the dissect another notch and
sweeping down again, over and over so you can
see how the dissect feature start to take bigger
samples, changing the reduction sound and you
can hear more of the source with each sweep.
then hitting the descend toggle and working the
dissect and downgrade sweeps backwards, then
just fucking around towards the end of each.
hopefully this helps you make sense of it all
some casio
drums, at no time did i alter the tempo.
that is the DG at lower settings with the
dissect open, yes it works as a crude analog
beat slicer too
standard
disclaimer: these samples are
just me hitting record and messing around in
an attempt the show you the full range of options
with no musical intent whatsoever. they are
all from one single pass, some i cut in half
for size. no effects or editing were used at
all so some volumes are a little quite in places.
people that make samples that have been smashed
with compression or are smeared with reverb
or delay are fucking morons that are trying
to hide or exaggerate their results. as usual
with any sample not labeled as being made by
someone other then myself you can feel free
to use these in your own work.
