Technical information

17
The VCO signal is then routed to the mix effect VCA. The Mix control
sets the ratio of the direct to effect signals, and the output level control
sets the overall output level when the effect is active.
The Front Panel
Bypass Switch: The Bypass switch is a rugged yet smooth acting switch
that can be used as a stomp switch or manually activated switch for
toggling between bypass mode and effect active mode. When the effect
is bypassed, the Bypass LED will be red. Note that the bypass circuit of
the FreqBox is a high-quality buffered bypass with unity gain. It will not
"suck tone" as do some vintage effects. Also note that the effect circuits
are disconnected from the input buffer in bypass, so the Level LED
does not indicate the presence of an input signal in bypass mode. This
means that the effect’s circuits do not load the output of the buffer at all,
eliminating any effect that they may have on the bypassed tone. When
the effect is active, the Bypass LED should be green, and an input signal
is indicated by the Level LED.
Drive: The Drive control is only active when the effect is on (The Bypass
LED will be GREEN). It sets the input sensitivity of the MF-107, so
that it will work with instrument to line-level inputs. The Drive control
can also be turned up for overdriving the input signal. The Level LED
is for showing the strength of the output of the drive circuit and can be
used as a reference for setting the Drive control. When the Level LED is
OFF, then there is no input signal, or it is very low. When the Level LED
is Green, it indicates a low-level drive signal is present. When the LED
turns yellow-orange, this indicates that the drive signal is at the optimal
level. When the LED turns RED, it indicates that the drive signal is
beginning to clip.
The Drive signal is also used as the input to the envelope follower
and the FM signal for the VCO. This means that the setting of the Drive
control has an affect on the response of both the envelope amount
control and the FM Amount control, as both rely on the dynamics of
your playing. For optimum use of the envelope follower, you’ll want to
set the Drive control so that your normal signal causes the Level LED
to light yellow-orange. A little red is OK for the peaks of your playing.
If overdrive is desired, turn the Drive control up until the Level LED is
mostly RED. Now the drive signal will no longer be clean. One result
of increasing the Drive control is that you also increase the level of
the signal available for FM. Another is that the drive signal becomes