ck3 wrote:
That's a good description of how the Gonkulator RI's distortion interacts with its ring mod effect. I tried to like this pedal, but the constant carrier wave oscillation killed it for me. There are a few settings where it is less present, though it is always screeching in the background when the frequency is set higher. The oscillation noise isn't as intense as what a Sirkut Electronics R-mod can produce, but still annoying enough to result in a return.
Are there any affordable analog ring modulation pedals out there that don't oscillate? I almost got the Moog Minifooger RM instead of the Gonkulator and bet I'll be kicking myself when someone responds.
All ring mod (balanced mod, frequency shift, etc) requires two oscillators (the guitar or whatever instrument is one). You can ring mod a single oscillator for an octave up effect, but it is essentially still to oscillators being multiplied.
What it sounds like you might be experiencing is an imbalance between levels. You could either be multiplying line noise or just have an oscillator that is louder than your signal. Try releveling everything (gain and stuff), changing the position relative to buffers, compression, or a noise gate. It could also be that the frequency of the carrier and the side bands it creates are just overtaking the modulator's signal when heard by your ear.
Ring modulation will do nothing unless there are two oscillators present. IC based pedals (like the gonkulator and mf102) make something happen with a wider range of signals than a pure diode ring so sometimes one oscillator can be slightly more dominant at output (opposed to a diode ring that will probably do nothing).
Personally, I've never had that problem with the gonkulator RI. I can say that the SPK2, CA Ring Mod, and several others are far less balanced. I find the EHX FA, copilot Robotum/Planetoid, mood ef102, and to be easy to use/ sound good for the price...But there are a ton more too. The Carlin has no suppression at all.
Here recently though I use external carriers and prefer diode ring ones.
D.o.S. wrote:
You can turn off the Sick Pitch King Jr.'s oscillator, but it kind of always screeches.
SPK2 just passes the carrier oscillator to the output in combination to the normal ring mod. The oscillator is always there. More like the Caracol or an osc fuzz kinda.
