| Notes | The Mutator is a stereo analogue effects unit based on technology developed for synthesis in the late sixties. Quite unlike your standard reverb, delay, chorus and flange type effects the effects achievable with the Mutator are unique and quite simply defy description.
The Mutator is a stereo analogue filter and envelope follower with full control facilities. It contains two independent voltage controlled filters similar to those found in analogue synthesizers, which can be used to treat any external sound source. Each filter can be controlled from its own associated low frequency oscillator (LFO) and/or its own envelope follower section, which extracts the envelope contour of an input signal and applies it to control the cut-off frequency of the filter.
Each envelope follower can be switched to track either the envelope of the sound that is being treated by the filter, or that of an independent external control signal. This external control signal can be any audio source , eg. a drum sound, a guitar, a synth, a sampler output, or even a microphone. Thus the envelope characteristics of one sound can be superimposed onto the filtering contour of another.
Another switch on the envelope follower selects envelope follow mode or gate mode - in which the circuit detects whether a signal is above a certain threshold level before switching on.
In gate mode, the device can operate much like a dedicated noise gate unit, with the added capabilities of the analogue filter
The LFO's have four different sweep waveforms each and may be switched via a stereo link to produce stereo panning effects.
After more years than I would care to mention, as a recording engineer, I have come to a definite conclusion. True stereo filtering seems to alter spatial perceptions in a bizarre and unexpected way. I first came to this conclusion many years ago whilst slaving away on reggae sessions trying to create the ultimate dub. After hours of total self gratification - fiddling with the EQ sweeps of my mixing desk, I sheepishly turned round to see whether the band had lost the will to live or at the very least abandoned all hope of leaving the studio with a finished master. To my utter astonishment and ego enhancement I was presented with several pairs of feet pointing towards the heavens with quivering smiles of ecstacy plastered across their lips. It wasn’t their music any more - it had turned into something strange and indescribable - but somehow it didn’t seem to matter.
Several years later I was re-creating this effect on the majority of my sessions and was beginning to feel slightly miffed at the dull, nagging ache I was developing in my back from bending over the desk like a bloody contortionist to get to all those darned EQ pots.
“Hark!!” I thought to myself “What if all these knobs were in one unit - what if all these wonderful sounds could be produced from one box - what if Pamela Anderson really was my girlfriend - what if one piece of outboard could produce stereo filtering, Frequency dependent panning, gating, LFO blah blah blah blah .........”
The Mutator was born.
Mark Lusardi
Mark Angelo Recording Studios, and co-creator of the Mutator |
