sorry to ressurrect an old thread, but it’s a strange world. i was writing on another board about how the hog (and other similar guitar synths) bring us guitarist pretty close to the world of modular synthesis. the only thing missing is full adsr envelope control and lfo modulation. the thing is, most new pedals have expression pedal inputs, and adding an expression pedal input is easy stuff. so, i figured, the solution is an lfo that plugs into an expression pedal input. it’s just an automated variable resistor that will swing from 0 to 50kohms. my post is here:
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/index.php/topic,26031.0.html
i come sniffing around the ehx site, only to find someone has the exact same idea as i do!!!
- a pedal that plugs into an expression pedal jack and oscillates (or ‘auto-rocks’ for want of a better term).
- variable max/min setting on the auto-rock.
- has a waveshape selector knob (square, saw, sine, triangle, noise, etc.) and a rate knob. perhaps a waveshape width, skew or offset control.
- expression pedal control of the rate.
- a control voltage input that overrides the rate and waveshape controls and lets an external device (ie, an adsr envelope generator) control oscillation rate and waveshape. better yet, just have a ‘custom’ waseshape section with adsr control ...
- note that, when you modulate volume you have a trem pedal, so you could use the lfo pedal to modulate the volume control of another pedal to get trem, or perhaps have an instrument in/out on the lfo pedal itself so that it doubles as a trem pedal ...
- add an onboard envelope follower circuit and you could use your guitar signal as the control voltage input ...
- allow the waveshapes to be output at line level and you have a signal generator also ...
i hadn’t thought of a step sequencer, but that is an amazing idea that really comples the circle with respect to guitar-based modular systhesis, especially when used with the octave bend setting. otherwise, with a cv input you could use any step sequencer.
as stated, such a pedal would be a great hog accessory, but versitile to work on it’s own or with any other pedal with an expression pedal input (even moogfooders ...).
worst case scenario, you could jury-rig any trem pedal. i presume they just vary the resistance to ground (probably swing from 0 to 10 Mohms). put a 50kohm resistor in parallel with the pedal (ie, between the input and ground) and your resistance will swing from 0 to 50kohms; the same as an expression pedal. plug that into the expression pedal input of whatever and it should auto-whatever. not having a trem pedal i can’t confirm, however.
