Guitar Effects – Subdecay

Brian Marshall interviews himself on the making of the M3 guitar synth.

brian marshall — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 03:38:45 +0000

Brian: So tell us about how the M3 was created. What was going on? How did it get started?

Brian: Sure. Right from the inception of Subdecay, I harbored an audacious dream – to birth a synth pedal that’d defy the boundaries of convention, or at least sound like an actual synthesizer instead of a fuzzy filter. The saga of the M3 synthesizer pedal is a wild roller-coaster, or at least a long drive with some twists and turns.

2017 was not fun. I’d suffered a back injury. I could barely walk. Some days I spent laying on the floor. It pretty much sucked. But in those dark times I had time to read and hone my coding skills. If it weren’t for spending months in relative stasis I’m not certain I’d have journeyed down this road. As the universe conspired to close the doors a window opened.

For anyone following us over the years, you’ve witnessed the Ocasynth released in 2011. It was one late night summer night, under the pale glow of candle light…

Brian: Candle light? Really?

Brian: Um yeah. Are you calling me a liar?

Brian: You started off like a discount Hunter S Thompson, and now you’re trying to tell me you design pedals like a 18th century settler. I think you’re embellishing things.

Brian: Okay, fine. It wasn’t candle light. It was the unrelenting glare of metal halide shop lights that I dared to confront the perilous seas of synthesis. In a matter of mere hours, I emerged with an entire design and ordered circuit boards.

But do not be beguiled by this seemingly miraculous revelation. The path was fraught with missteps, earlier attempts that could only be described as dismal failures. Behold, a 12-knob monstrosity that threatened to unleash chaos upon the universe, an enigma so treacherous that even I, its creator, struggled to rein in its chaotic powers. I could not reel this behemoth of the sea on to my vessel. Digital control and presets? A mere mirage in the cosmic desert, far from my grasp at the time.

Brian: So you’re an AI generated 2007 pedal builder larping mad scientist now?

Brian: Hey, we all did it back then.

Brian: No. I didn’t.

Brian: Yes you did.

Brian: Okay, maybe a little.

Brian: Can I get back to telling my story now?

Brian: Sure, whatever.

Brian: The journey commenced with a clear vision and a will for precision. Each knob had a role to play. My mission was to forge a sound that transcended earthly norms. It had to resonate as a symphonic octaves, not merely a jumble of fuzz coursing through a humble filter. The trials of past prototypes and experiments laid the groundwork for this audacious voyage.

Brian: Are you going to talk about the M3?

Brian: I’m getting to it you idiot. A good story needs drama and suspense.

Brian: [visibly rolls eyes]

Brian: Anyway, A decade ago, I bought an MS20 mini. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. No presets, monophonic, a labyrinth of patch cables. It has only very limited MIDI. Yet, in its antiquated features lies beauty. I wanted my guitar to sing these sweet resonating melodies. The M3 was conceived as its divine offspring.

Brian: The MS20 is pretty cool.

Brian: The MS20 is a legend in its own right, harboring mysteries too profound for a humble pedal to contain. Its 37 knobs and web of patch cables are too vast for a mortal pedalboard to behold.

Now that MS20 filter. It’s well documented. The Octasynth filter and Proteus share some common filter DNA, But them MS20 oscillators, they’re a finicky bunch. They are feral beasts. They’re as moody as a cat on a hot tin roof. They’re also voltage controlled. and transforming a guitar signal into pitch-to-voltage ratio, well, that’s a can of worms in itself.

Again, I worked by oil lamp, toiling into the wee hours of the night. An octave divider and a frequency detector circuit, accompanied by a triggered “one-shot” oscillator was my next experiment. Does that all sound like geek to you? Fear not my friend. I won’t elaborate other than to say the frequency detector is part of the M3. The triggered oscillator is not.

But the heart and soul of that MS20 ain’t the oscillator. It’s the filters, and how they scream and tangle when they’re on the edge of a breakdown.

Brian1: Wow you almost sounded normal until you mentioned the oil lamp.

Brian: There was a power outage.

Brian1: How do you design pedals without electricity? Don’t you need computers and amplifiers and stuff?

Brian: Magic!

Brian: [Brian’s eyes roll into the back of his head]

Brian: Okay, there was no oil lamp.

Brian: You seem like to have quite and ego.

Brian: You’re the one who asked to interview yourself.

Brian: [spits out coffee laughing]

Brian: This M3 inspired synth pedal sat as an experiment as I became obsessed with Shepard Tones and auditory illusions.

This is where my new chaotic and questionably intermediate coding skills came in. I took parts of the M3 experiment and went digital. We made the Octave theory. This was our first pedal to use an ARM microcontroller. These are low power, versatile processors which (at least before 2020) were affordable and widely available.

In 2019, my synth pedal appetite was waning. My sights were set on designing a chorus/vibrato pedal to succeed the discontinued Siren.

In search of inspiration, I journeyed through schematics of Roland Juno synthesizers, delving into their famous chorus circuit. However, it was the oscillator circuit that ensnared my gaze.

This was a real aha moment. Prior to this I thought Roland DCOs were based on Roland custom chips.

Stripped down to it’s basics it’s elegantly simple. An input pulse, a control voltage to scale the amplitude, a resistor, capacitor, transistor and an op-amp.

The conundrum arose: Should I voyage to forge a new synth pedal? The answer was clear – how could I not? But it took time to fine-tune the design and months to write 9 trillion lines of code. I was juggling this with physical therapy and the brain-fog-inducing pills they had me on.

Brian: 9 trillion lines of code?

Brian: Okay perhaps that’s a minor exaggeration.

Brian: So you’re saying the real innovation was you coping ideas from other gear.

Brian: Oh, no the real innovators in this industry do things like rehouse wah pedals and pass them off as their own work, or make 9 different clones of the same 1980s overdrive that all sound the same.

Brian: Touche!

Brian: There were lots of plans for more ARM microcontroller based pedals after that, but then that whole end of the world thing happened in 2020. I’ll save that for the next interview.

Brian: What, you think I’m interviewing you again?

Brian: Maybe, if enough people read this one?

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Toni Lindgren with the Super Spring Therory

brian marshall — Fri, 11 May 2018 22:57:33 +0000

Toni Lindgren & the Super Spring Theory.

MAS Distro gets together with Toni Lindgren at The Pearl Recording Studio and share what they love about one of the best selling Subdecay pedals of all time.

She explains how she gets that classic Fender reverb tone with the Super Spring Theory. (0:58)

There are more than a few Spring Theory demos out there. Most prominently feature the spring reverb mode, but Toni spends some quality time using the room reverb setting. Things get spacey with the decay knob cranked. (2:14)

Oh. We gotta give a shout out to our fellow Oregonians, Benson Amps. Toni is using a Benson Monarch.

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How pedals even work? Science! Part 1.

brian marshall — Thu, 10 May 2018 22:36:27 +0000

Over the years we’ve received emails from folks wanting a deeper explanation of how their pedals work. Some want an overview. Others want to get to the details and and nuances. As much as I enjoy the topic, I don’t always have the time. So you’ll be seeing more posts from us with explanations and answers to common questions.

Electricity.

Strum your guitar, and the strings excite an electrical response through your pickups creating a voltage signal. It all comes down to electricity. If you get down to the deepest levels of electronics most of it comes down to Ohms law, I=V/R. Just like E=MC² it’s a very simple equation but the consequences can be complicated.

It’s one thing to go from understanding a conductor (wire) to a resistor, and then to a simple RC filter (resistor capacitor filter.) Once you get to op-amps and other integrated circuits the ideas get more abstract. Calculating all the underlying details becomes a lot less important. Often there are simple rules to follow. For example an inverting op-amp’s gain is set by two resistors, but even the simplest op-amp consists of roughly twenty transistors. You could easily fill up a page with formulas showing how it all works together, but this obscures the idea that two resistors set the gain of a very simple circuit.

Extrapolate the levels of abstraction to a stompbox, a toaster or even a computer. You might use a toaster and never care how it works, so long as it doesn’t light your toast on fire. A computer programmer may have no idea how the actual electronics work. An encyclopedia volume might be filled with the deepest exploration of how an old 8 bit computer worked. If every programmer needed to understand deep level functionality we’d still be playing Pong on old CRT televisions.

It’s like… cats… right?

Why is there not a more even distribution of cats throughout the universe? Why do cats own the internet? Do cats possess all the knowlege of the cosmos, but just wont tell us?

The phenomenon of electricity is really an imbalance of electrons between one place and another. This imbalance doesn’t want to exist. Electrons hate each other and repel like territorial tomcats. Electricity is on a perpetual suicide mission to even out the potential. It is always looking for balance. Balance never happens. This does beg the question though: Why is there not a more even distribution of cats throughout the universe? Science needs to give us answers!!!

It’s actually amazing that we humans have figured out how to harness electricity. We “trick it” into doing useful things while on its quest for self destruction.

If you really want to understand what all these pedal components do, Ohms law is essential, but context is important too. Breaking down circuits into subcircuit sections is helpful. Transistors are used in a multitude of ways, but there are only a few common transistor subcircuits in overdrive pedals. If you keep looking and learning you’ll begin to recognize common op-amp circuits, filter topologies, oscillators and find a limited number of tone control styles built into many different pedals.

If you want to dive right in Electrosmash has a number of effect circuits broken down into subsections. There are deep explanations with very good without going down the rabbit hole of minutia. Check out their analysis and circuit breakdown of the ProCo Rat.

Check back soon and we’ll have more. If there are any topics you’d like us to cover please let me know.

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Subdecay launches the Vector Preamp.

brian marshall — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 18:15:48 +0000

Subdecay is proud to announce the new eleven channel Vector Preamp.

The Oregon pedal maker merges their early roots of fuzz and overdrive with their current design ethos. The Vector uses digitally controlled analog gain stages and an internal tonestack to pack eleven channels of overdrive and fuzz into a stunningly compact pedal.

The channels include Drive 1 & 2, Crunch, Vintage, Fuzz 1 &2, Meltdown, 1980s, 1990s and Modern 1 & 2.

The control surface gives you a familiar volume, drive and gain controls. The Vector’s simplicity lets you get things done without getting in the way.

All analog signal path and true bypass switching.
Powered by a 9 – 18 volt DC adapter.
The Vector preamp will be available August 24th for $179.

Find out more about the Vector Preamp.

Download hi-res image.

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Your Power Supply Sucks: 60 cycle hum edition.

brian marshall — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 18:19:34 +0000

Guitar is a naturally noisy instrument. Throw 50 decibels of gain at it, crank your amp, and it’s safe to say there will be some noise.

It’s amazing that any guitar rig isn’t a noise nightmare. Our copper wound guitar pickups make great antennas, and if you are anywhere near electricity 60 cycle hum is being broadcast all around you.

We regularly get calls and emails about 60 cycle hum issues. Sometimes the source is a bad cable, faulty pedal, or standing under 1000 watts of fluorescent lighting. More often than not it’s the power supply.

Low quality power supplies cause problems that noise suppressors, expensive cables or even power conditioners can’t fix. It’s surprising after someone describes an elaborate pedalboard, then mentions running it all on a $6.99 power supply they found on ebay.

Even more troubling, many of these unscrupulous sellers list brand names in their auction’s titles making them seem like an “official” accessory. Our brand name get’s used this way often. None of these sellers have taken the time to contact us and make sure any of these power supplies actually work with our pedals.

So what’s going on? Where is all this noise coming from?

All DC power supplies take the AC voltage from the wall and turn it into the direct current we use to power our stompboxes. In its simplest form a power supply is little more than a transformer and a rectifier circuit. Unfortunately this leaves far too much AC ripple in the “DC” power which overwhelms just about any pedal with 60 cycle hum.

Just say no. It’s not really a bargain if it doesn’t work with your gear.

Perhaps you’ve seen some power supplies labeled as “regulated.” Regulated power supplies add a voltage regulator and some hefty filtering capacitors, but some are better regulated than others. If they were designed for routers, cordless phones or battery chargers maybe a small AC ripple won’t matter.

For most guitar effects removing the AC ripple is essential. The power supply needs to maintain a steady voltage output and deliver enough current to power everything it’s plugged into. (Most pedals have current requirements marked in milliamps on the back or in the manual.)

Designing a compact power supply that delivers a ton of current is easy if you don’t mind some AC ripple. Regulated power supply designs are straightforward as well, but they deliver less current, require a few extra parts and some hefty filtering capacitors. Designing a power supply that does both is more challenging and not something you’ll find for $6.99.

Overloading the power supply can be a source of noise, but this is rarely the problem. Inexpensive imported power supplies are often rated for 2000 milliamps or more. Even power thirsty pedals rarely require more than 100 milliamps.

Some of our favorite power supplies

*Power Supply Solutions!

All power supplies have weaknesses. Nothing is perfect, but investing in a quality power supply for even a modest pedalboard can reduce hours of troubleshooting later on. It’s really helpful if the power supply is made by a company that is known in the effects world.

Our first recommendation is usually the Truetone (formerly Visual Sound) 1 Spot. For under $30 you get the power supply, a daisy chain cable for powering multiple pedals and a host of adapters for any oddball connectors you might need for older pedals.

The 1spot delivers more current than most pedalboards could ever use.

There are still a few shortcomings and potential problems. Your pedals will share a ground connection through the power supply. It can only power 9 volt pedals. That daisy chain cable can be a real mess to rout around any pedalboard. But usually you plug it in and it works. It’s infinitely better than generic power supplies found on ebay and amazon.

For $30 it is a good place to start. If it doesn’t work perfectly it’s affordable enough to keep as a back up or power another board to keep at home or at your rehearsal space.

It might not be pretty, but it usually works.

Highly Recommended

Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus.

Our second recommendation, and our go to power supplies at Subdecay, are from Voodoo Lab. There are several options for distributing power to your board, including the number of outputs, current ratings and voltages. It’s a good idea to do some homework before buying and make sure you choose the power supply that meets your needs. The power outputs are electrically isolated (we’ll cover isolation in another post) with super clean power, and designed with powering pedalboards in mind.

The Dunlop DC brick was around for a long time. They’ve been discontinued, but you can sometimes still find them on clearance at stores. You can probably pick one up on craigslist for under $50.

While it does appear to have the same advantages as the voodoo lab power supplies, it shares a shortcoming with the 1spot. The “brick” is really just a glorified breakout box in place of a daisy chain. The breakout box form factor makes it easier to keep a large pedalboard organized.

It’s also a worthwhile option if you have pedals that require 18 volts. That’s something the the 1spot can’t do.

An old-school solution with versatility.

More options…

These are a few we’ve heard great things about from our customers. We haven’t tried them all our selves, but if you do your homework you might find something that meets your pedal’s power supply needs.

Truetone 1spot pro: Isolated multitap power supplies from the makers of the 1spot.
Cioks power supplies: Lots of options including power supplies with up to 16 outputs.
T.Rex fuel tanks: We’ve never used one of these, but we hear great things. The Fuel Tank Junior is one of the most affordable multi-tap power supplies with isolated outputs.

25 years ago when I started playing guitar there weren’t many choices. Usually it was a power strip with a multitude of wall warts running long cables to all your pedals. Thankfully those days are over. It’s 2017 and we don’t have to power our pedals like barbarians anymore.

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FX20B: Phaser of Darkness.

brian marshall — Tue, 04 Apr 2017 02:03:44 +0000

Who has a soft spot for the DOD FX series? If you are a guitarist of a certain age you’ve probably owned a few of these. Maybe you still have one in the closet covered in grayish brown dust and almost certainly missing the battery door.

When DOD got their start in the mid 1970s their effects often had a… how shall I say it? A striking similarity to MXR’s offerings. By the early 80’s they were garnering more “inspiration” from another effects heavyweight: Boss. If not by internal design, the similarities in external aesthetics and functionality were apparent.

The under loved FX20B

The FX20B is no exception to this rule. While some of the old FX series like the FX69 Grunge generate universal hatred, the FX20B seems to bring up no strong feelings at all. Is it so unremarkable guitarists can’t even muster up some universal scorn? Maybe some were confused because it started out as a phaser, but later rebranded – the “Phasor.” Perhaps this was the precursor to labeling controls with absurdities like “Butt” “Guts” or “Pasteurization.”

You can still find them for $35 on your local craigslist. The bypass switch is sketchy. There’s some rust on the jacks. A screw might be missing from the back cover. The velcro on the back is gummed with carpet dirt and dog hair, but that’s the world these old and under-loved pedals live in. In a day of multi-tap power supplies the 1/8th inch power connector isn’t exactly convenient. You want it? Don’t worry about rushing across town to scoop it up. It will still be for sale a week from now.

I have an unhealthy affection for the FX20B Stereo Phaser and even for the the whole FX lineup. The FX20B was the first pedal I ever owned, and that’s why it’s the first pedal to emerge from the dark corners of The Effects Closet.

So does it actually sound good?

With stompboxes tone and “good” are are a squishy thing. It’s always in the ear of the beholder. Don’t expect a Phase 90 or Small Stone. It has a personality and you’ll either get along with it or you won’t. Due to its sheer ubiquity at the time it must have been used on a famous recording. Maybe it was, but I’ve never heard an artist singing its praises.

One test I use to judge phasers is how well they work with overdrive. This is one area where the FX20B shines. Running it before or after overdrive never leaves your tone feeling hollowed out or overly accentuated along any part of the frequency spectrum. That’s a lot to ask of any phaser under $50.

The always missing battery door

There is a raw chewiness to the phasing. Part of this is because the FX20B is a six stage phaser, so it has a wetter sound than any four stage phaser. The other part is due to its low input impedance. DOD listed the input impedance as 500Kohms. In reality it’s only 100Kohms. If your guitar is running straight into this pedal there will be noticeable high end loss. It’s like your guitar signal was going down the high pressure pipe of your guitar cable and landed in a pool of cold jello.

Unfortunately the impedance issue is there even when the pedal is bypassed. Luckily If you have a buffered pedal somewhere before this FX20B the impedance issues shouldn’t matter.

The quirks

The actual phaser effect isn’t terrible, so long as you aren’t expecting it to be something it’s not. It has quirks. The phaser sweep spends more time at the bottom than the top. The non-symmetrical sweep also seems to rise more slowly than it falls. The eccentricity is especially noticeable at slower speeds.

The dark tone that helps it cooperate with gain is not as friendly to clean signals. It’s definitely better suited for brighter guitars and single coil pickups. With humbuckers there’s little high end swirl and a whole lots of viscous low end goopiness. Unfortunately it’s less like a hot fudge sundae, and more like cold 5 day old leftover tuna casserole. Mmmmm just like mamma used to make. (Sorry Mom, that stuff was terrible.)

The controls feel weird. Especially the depth knob which also raises the phaser sweep. This is an oddity I’ve never experienced with other phasers. On some phasers, along with a depth control, you’ll also have a manual or frequency control. Turning the depth knob up on the FX20B is like turning both controls up at the same time. The truth is though, you’ll probably find yourself cranking the depth setting and wanting to break the knob off. There’s really no other setting for this knob.

It doesn’t do subtle.

Some phasers give you subtle watery modulation. Others can cop a classy vibrato or rotary effect at the right settings. With six phaser stages you’ll always know this thing is on. You wanted a phaser though, right? When you really dig into the strings there’s some grit. Somehow it sits within the sweep feeling natural though. It’s not the high end razor clipping you’d expect out of a bargain basement pedal.

Lovable?

This pedal brings back memories of being a teenager in my bedroom playing along to The Cure, The Banshees and The Cars. It was the first pedal I ever owned. It’s probably a pedal more suited for an ultra low budget Pink Floyd cover and, or DIY univibe modding. For me objectivity is overcome by sentimentality. I rarely use this pedal, but plugging it in brings back those same feelings you get listening to albums you had on auto-reverse & replay in your 1980’s cassette deck. Would I write an album based around this pedal? Um, no! It’s pure nostalgia, but isn’t that a small part of the affinity we have for better loved classic vintage gear?

The ever so convenient 1/8th inch power plug.

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Evolution of the (Super) Spring Theory reverb.

Brian Marshall — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 23:20:40 +0000

Brandon with the Super Spring Theory set to spring reverb mode.

Check out the product page for more details.

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Exploring the depths of the Starlight Flanger v2

Brian Marshall — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 22:43:35 +0000

The Starlight v2 does more than your typical flanger. In our first demo for the Starlight v2 we covered a lot of sonic territory, but there was little in the way of explanation. Hell, we didn’t even show the pedal settings throughout the shoot or even say anything about it. That led to a a few questions that are just easier to answer with a deeper exploration of the controls and setup.

Most of the demo was recorded with a Music Man Axis guitar and a 69 Fender Twin Reverb. There’s some Stratocaster in there. This pedal loves dirty sounds so the Variac Overdrive was used liberally.

For most of the shoot the flanger is set up after the overdrive, but we do switch it up for a bit at 2:28. There’s a different sound there for sure. Running your flanger before overdrive gives the effect a little more girth. It’s also slightly less forgiving and can get throbby or washed out.

The first half of the demo uses the triangle LFO shape and explores the other controls, especially the depth and regen.

3:03 Sine wave LFO… Vibrato flanger!
Most flangers use a triagle LFO for modulation. Turn it down really slow and you’ve got the well known jet plane sweep tone all day long. The sine LFO really excels with faster modulation bringing out vibrato tones that most other flangers just can’t quite do. Like most Subdecay pedals we let you color outside the lines. Typically as the speed ramps up you’ll need to manually turn down the depth. With full depth and fast modulation it will get crazy. Some people like crazy, so we opted not to add artificial limitations. At slow speeds the sine LFO will spend more of it’s time in the depths and peeks. It’s a subtle difference, but with a distinctly different feel.

4:27 Square / Triangle LFO:
This LFO setting mixes two different shapes together. Slow Triangle and fast Square. It brings a “shaking” quality to the flanger that can either be jarring or mesmerizing.

6:14 Random Sample/Hold:
Similar idea to the old Sample/hold voltage controlled filter, but with a flanger. There’s a chaotic underwater and alien characteristic that. It adds a bunch of sub-aquatic depth to simple chords. Something perfect for highlighting passages in a song.

6:34 8 & 16 Step:
The step shapes are similar to Random Sample/Hold, but without the Randomness. They “step” through triangle and the repeat making it feel like the acoustics and space are shifting around you.

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When circuits are at war – YOU WIN!

Brian Marshall — Mon, 11 May 2015 17:09:50 +0000

It’s compressed. It doesn’t clean up with the volume knob. Not steeped in any 1960’s tradition whatsoever. Let’s face it, there are already a hundred other companies offering that fuzz. None have the HARMONIC ANTAGONIZER.

These notes will never bloom. They are destroyed. Fragile harmonics are annihilated. Dynamics are obliterated. Some will be offended, but loud crazy guitar sounds were never meant to be ordinary or boring.

The Harmonic Antagonizer is now available. Check out the product page for more details.

Check out a short preview on our Soundcloud.

Circuit fight – the never ending battle between fuzz and oscillator.

The Harmonic Antagonizer consists of a fuzz and oscillator circuit embroiled in a never ending war which neither can ever win. You and your guitar play the roll of puppet master pulling the strings on both sides.

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Andy from PGS features the new Subdecay Starlight Flanger V2

Brian Marshall — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 18:03:49 +0000

Andy starts off this Starlight Flanger demo with one of my favorite songs by my favorite band. Check it out!

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