Ring modulator
An effect that multiplies the incoming signal by an internal oscillator, producing metallic, bell-like sum and difference tones instead of the original note.
Ring modulation does not simply shift the pitch; it replaces it with the sum and difference of the input and the carrier frequencies, so a single note becomes two inharmonic tones whose interval changes with the note played. The result is robotic, clangorous and deliberately unmusical, and it is hard to use in a chordal context because the intervals no longer relate. It suits sci-fi textures, noise and experimental playing, and is often blended lightly behind the dry signal.
Example: A lead line turned into clanging, bell-like robot tones that no longer follow the scale is passing through a ring modulator.
See also
Related
- PageModulation effect
- PagePitch shifter
- PageHarmoniser
- Page18-volt operation
- PageAnalogue delay
- PageAuto-wah
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley