User Manual

Table of Contents Ultrawave Multiband Processor User Guide
14
output can begin to increase again. Maximum foldback has many regions where the output
alternates between increasing and decreasing. These kinds of curves add a lot of high frequency
content to the output. It also can provide a lot of control over the sound, based on the level of the
input signal. With foldback, chords containing only octaves and fifths tend to sound best. Other
intervals can cause some strange, although not necessarily undesirable sounds.
Using a special shape of the distortion curve, strong second harmonics can be created, sounding like
a note an octave higher. Rolling off the guitar tone control or switching to the neck pickup will help
maximize the octave impression by attenuating the higher-order harmonics. Complex chords do not
typically work well for octave settings. The result is sensitive to the input signal level (as long as the
SUSTAIN and DRIVE controls are not set too high) and can give a sort of auto-wah effect.
A conventional distortion effect tends to turn the guitar signal into square waves. Playing harder
only makes the transition from negative clipping to positive clipping a little bit steeper. With the
foldback and octave algorithms found in the Ultrawave, a slightly higher input can have a radical
effect on the shape of the output signal.
Distortion Types
When using the Neuro Mobile App or Neuro Desktop Editor, you can select from a large list of
distortion types as you’re building a sound. Below is a guide to all the terms used in the Distortion
Type list, and how to differentiate between them. Essentially, the Ultrawave uses these sounds or
some combination of these sounds for each of the 44 distortion options.
For further reading and a visual representation of each unique distortion element, visit the Distortion
Appendix.
• Basic (Tube) Distortion - Similar to how Tubes feel and sound, gain goes from nearly linear to the
input signal, to sag, to compressed distortion based on input level.
• Hard Clip - like Op-Amp style hard clipping.
• Offset - like Asymmetrical clipping (for reference, a Boss SD-1 uses asymmetrical clipping compared
to a TS9 which uses symmetrical clipping in an otherwise similar circuit).
• Diode - Similar to LED Diode clipping.
• Gate - Any signal below the threshold is set to zero, and sustained signals will sputter out. Very
Velcro-like in nature.
• Absolute Value – Essentially, this is the “code equivalent” of the 2-transistor Superfuzz circuit that
causes an octave-up effect.
• Octave - Uses different tech for a smoother sounding octave, better for combining with other
elements like Foldback.
• Foldback - The classic, synth-like, overtone-rich effect from the original Multiwave. Derived from
modular synths. The distortion curve begins to collapse and turn back toward 0 when clipped.