Mikey Pangle joins us this week to get drunk and spin dials on Mantic and Third Man Records pedal collaboration, a phase-locked loop (PLL) mayhem generator called the Flex.

(from PREMIERGuitar)
It’s something of a paradox that PLL circuitry can be responsible for such bizarreness in a guitar signal chain. In essence, a PLL is designed to lend stability to a signal by keeping waves from an input signal and a variable-controlled oscillator locked in phase with each other. They are used in many electronic applications and, among other things, are instrumental in helping you precisely dial in a radio station. In the world of sound synthesis, PLLs can generate steady, sustained output when using a constant input source—say, a sine wave from a keyboard. But the relative irregularity of a guitar’s input—brimming as it is with harmonics and string overtones—complicates the work of the PLL as it tries to keep the guitar input and VCO signals in phase. And when you mate that dynamic to the somewhat “ugly” sounds of a fuzzy square wave, the results range from chaotic to totally unpredictable.

The “lvl” is a master output (and man, is there a lot of volume on tap here). The focus control determines the range within which the waves can lock, but also feels and performs somewhat like an attack control on a synth. The pump, or VCO discharge control, enables you to tinker with the resistance between the VCO input and phase comparator, which destabilizes the PLL. The two toggles allow selection between short and long decay lengths, and fast and slower attack ranges.

It’s best to be prepared for strangeness and surprises when you hunt for sounds in the Flex. And it’s important to note that many sounds can be difficult to produce twice, given the highly interactive nature of the pump and focus controls, in particular. In this way, working with the Flex is much like interacting with an early modular synth.

свернуть