Phreak ring mod

[Seance]

Interesting.

http://www.drscientist.ca/pedals/phreak/


Phreak

Phreak is a digitally controlled ring modulator. At its heart is an FV-1 DSP engine delivering crisp ring modulator tones. The digital side brings a whole bunch of convenient and powerful features like controlling the ring modulator frequency, tap tempo, MIDI, 8 LFOs, a tunable ring modulator, 7 optional DSP ring mod effects and a path to strange new ring modulator sounds.

COMING SOON!

MSRP: $219 USD

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Features

3 Ring Modulator Modes, 8 LFO Waveforms in a small form factor
Custom programmed DSP effects with all analog dry signal path
USB firmware updating (PC required)
Updated power input circuitry
Premium parts and components throughout
True Bypass with soft touch relay switching
MIDI implementation of all digital controls
Expression pedal/CV control over Ring Mod Frequency (Phreak)
Top mounted audio and power jacks
Designed and handmade in B.C., Canada
Knobs

PHREAK – Mode dependent. Controls Ring Mod Frequency or Frequency Range.
MIX – Sets the amount of dry signal versus wet signal.
VOLUME – Analog volume control.
MODE – Select 1 of 3 operating modes (Set, Envelope, LFO).
WAVEFORM – Select 1 of 8 waveforms for LFO Mode.
MULTI – Mode dependent. Automated Frequency Sweep, Envelope Freeze, LFO Speed Ramping. Hold in Set Mode while bypassed to sweep frequency momentarily.
BYPASS – Engage or disengage the effect. Hold in Set Mode to Tune.

[Chankgeez]

Phreaky.

[goroth]

Looks hawt.

[Seance]

Sounds pretty hawt.

[Dowi]

Last night I spent a good couple hours exploring Phreak in a small 4-pedals chain.
It's exactly what i expected: very straight and performance-oriented. It's easy to set in all of its modes and has a few tricks on the secondary footswitches that make it super fun to play with.
It's weird because it has a no-frills approach but at the same time is quite tweakable.
The "tuning" function on the right switch is perfect for bell sounds but also for changing things up without manually tweaking the freq knob.
I don't always enjoy envelope-controlled stuff but i loved it in this case, setting it for tremolo on the quiet parts and then let the ring mod mess kick in when i start to go hard on the strings.
It also has some very nice phaser-ish sounds with the freq knob set very low for tremolo and mix halfway up.
I still have to play a bit more with the lfo mode, for now i have just lost myself in square wave with superfast speed for robotic textures.

anyways, FUN!
if you have an empty spot on the board and want something to bring in the weird (but not just that), Phreak is definitely a solid choice.

[dubkitty]

another ring mod that wants to do all sorts of clever shit, but the actual ring mod sound sucks. next.

[Dowi]

another ring mod that wants to do all sorts of clever shit, but the actual ring mod sound sucks. next.

Nah, I don't think so. Don't trust the demos, i've watched two of those and didn't like many fo the sounds either. You've gotta mess with it with your hands, in your setup, and even within the same setup, ring mods don't work the same with my different guitars, i always have to set the input signal in specific ways to find the right response for my taste.

It also really depends on what kind of ringmod sounds you are looking for: I usually lean towards the bell/low freq sounds more than the super high stuff.

FWIW the next thing i want to do is to compare it with my Pladask Feber, which is my favorite ring mod-freq.shifting device ever, though they serve two really different purposes, and focus on different features..

[Chankgeez]

It also really depends on what kind of ringmod sounds you are looking for:

That's probably the crux of it. Not all ring mods are useful for all ring mod-type sounds. There's a range. Some are more capable than others.

This one seems pretty versatile.