Gamechanger Audio has announced that they are shipping their new Motor Pedal, a fully playable electro-mechanical synth voice that tracks your pitch in real time. You can use it as a drone that doubles your lines, or as a ring-mod or cross-modulation engine for your signal.
The Motor Pedal is not an emulation, nor does it employ analog modeling, it’s the sound of a spinning brushed DC motor, pushed to the edge and tamed with precision control. If you want a deep dive into this mindboggling technology, check out our Gamechanger Audio Motor Synth Review.
Gamechanger Audio Motor Pedal
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The Gamechangers describe the Motor Pedal as a electro-mechanical synth, a motor harmonizer, a motor vocoder and a ring/xmod engine. The Motor pedal tracks the pitch of your guitar (or synth) playing in real time, so it can be used as a backing synth track, melodic doubler or a harmonizer. The Motor Pedal does not use DSP, it employs a brushed DC motor that can act like a drone generator to distort and process your instrument with x-mod and vocoder engines.
The Motor Pedal’s rotational speed is then precisely matched to the fundamental frequency that you are playing…
The Motor Pedal uses a real-time pitch tracker to analyze your instrument’s output whether you are using a guitar, a bass, or a microphone. The Motor Pedal’s rotational speed is then precisely matched to the fundamental frequency that you are playing. For example, to match a 440hz input tone, the motor will rotate at a corresponding speed of 146 revolutions per second. A carefully calibrated inductor captures the real-world motion of the motor’s spinning coils, transforming mechanical energy into a raw, electric audio signal.
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The Motor Pedal features five unique and powerful sound engines based on the motor core:
» Motor – raw electromagnetic pickup of the spinning coils. glitchy, growling, magnetic.
» MXD – cross-modulation of the motor with a digital waveform. creates harsh, distorted and metallic textures.
» M-Wave – a digital oscillator that’s pitch-locked & hard-synced to the motor’s output. a multitimbral synth with an imperfect mechanical soul.
» Coil Mode – instead of spinning the motor with dc voltage – we inject alternating current into the motor’s coils to create resonant analog vibrations & metallic hums. this is an innovative synthesis method that sounds like nostalgia on steroids.
» Vocoder Mode – a 24 band digital vocoder that uses the motor’s output as the carrier and your instrument’s output as the modulator. speak, sing, or shred directly through the machine.
Motor Pedal Features:
- FOOT PEDAL: An innovative foot pedal with normal and floor-it ranges, and five unique pedal modes.
- MOTOR: Raw electromagnetic pickup of the spinning coils. Glitchy, growling, magnetic.
- MXD: Cross-modulation of the motor with a digital waveform, creating harsh, distorted, and metallic textures.
- M-WAVE: A digital oscillator that’s pitch-locked and hard-synced to the motor’s output. A multitimbral synth with an imperfect mechanical soul.
- COIL MODE: Instead of spinning the motor with DC voltage, this mode injects alternating current into the motor’s coils to create resonant analog vibrations and metallic hums. This innovative synthesis method sounds like nostalgia on steroids.
- VOCODER MODE: A 24-band digital vocoder that uses the motor’s output as the carrier and your instrument’s signal as the modulator. Speak, sing, or shred directly through the machine.
- ANALOG TONE BOOST: A powerful tilt equalizer for shaping the motor output.
- TWO VOLUME KNOBS: Independent volume control for the dry signal and motor output.
- MOTOR DRIVE: Heavy analog distortion for the motor output.
- ENVELOPE: Go from short, punctuated stabs to an envelope follower to long releases.
- GLIDE: Applies a portamento curve to the motor engine.
- VIBRATO: Classic pitch modulation, from subtle movement to wild oscillation.
- MOTOR INTERVAL SELECTOR: Allows you to offset the motor pitch by +/- 1 octave or perfect fifths or fourths.
- X-MOD MODE: Use amplitude modulation to cross-modulate the input signal with all motor engines.
- The motor pedal comes equipped with a multi-mode gas pedal:
- Accelerator – create a wide range of controlled pitch-shift or floor it to redline the motor
- Brake – downward pitch-shift, or mash the pedal to bring the motor to a stall
- Clutch – temporarily disconnect the motor from the pitch-tracker – perfect for creating drones
- Volume – use the spring-loaded pedal to create satisfying volume swells
- Drift – play the pedal like a gentle vibrato arm, or just floor it to get a complete wipe-out
