Way Huge Ringworm Ring Modulator
WAY HUGE Ring Modulator
Ringworm
From Karl Heinz Stockhausen to the Daleks, if you want otherworldly weirdness the ring modulator is the go- to effect. Will the Way Huge Ringworm prove equally as infectious?
Words: Tim Slater SHOULD I BUY ONE?
Way Huge pedals earned a cult when it was launched onto an unsuspecting by world company founder and eccentric electronics guru, the appropriately named Jeorge Tripps! Since Dunlop took the brand under its wing in 2008 the rejuvenated company, still with the seemingly unstoppable Tripps at the helm, is enjoying a massive resurgence in popularity.
Construction
The Ringworm ring modulator is encapsulated within a tough yet incredibly light steel shell whose bold graphics and large oversized knobs hark back to the brand’s boutique origins. Drawing its power via an 18v DC mains input (a PSU is generously shipped with the pedal),
the Ringworm includes standard instrument input and output jacks, plus an expression pedal input that offers hands-free manipulation of the pedal’s Frequency rotary control. The combination of rugged build-quality and lightness makes sense when you add one or more of these units to your pedalboard. However, the Ringworm isn’t an everyday stomp box you grab when heading down to the blues jam at the Rat and Parrot; this is a step into the Twilight Zone of
effects...be afraid, very afraid!
Sounds
OK, first a quick explanation of what a ring modulator actually does: it changes your dry signal into bizarre metallic warble by taking two separate inputted signals, and
outputting a completely different sound made up of the sum and differences of both signals, mixed with a second signal generated by an internal oscillator. Probably the best way to describe ring modulation is to compare it to the metallic ‘crying’ sound you get using a flanger pedal set with a very high depth rating but the Ringworm goes far beyond anything found in most conventional modulation effects. Using the pedal’s Width, Rate and Frequency knobs to control its Low Frequency Oscillator, the Ringworm’s exciting sounds border more on synthesis than conventional guitar effects. The Ringworm’s Mode switch
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feeds the signal through the LFO to any one of five separate waveforms that modulate the signal in a variety of dramatic ways. The options include: smoothly undulating sine- wave, a step-sine that bleeps up and down through seven pitches and feels similar to a sequencer, square wave jumps between two frequencies and sounds a bit like a police siren from the year 2578 while Random mode is an unpredictable wander through a maze of seven different frequencies generated by a single note... and to describe the built-in Envelope follower as an auto-wah is like comparing Hannibal Lecter to Florence Nightingale! PM PM
So in what musical context could you really use the Ringworm? At one extreme it would make a very handy gadget for the studio, seeing as it could be tapped into a vocal just as easily as a guitar track. If your musical DNA is more inclined towards strands of Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Talking Heads or even The Stranglers the Ringworm will probably imbed itself into the soul as deeply as its parasitic namesake, only with a much healthier outcome for the user!
THE GOOD BITS: Great build quality & sounds
very inspiring.
SRP: £179.00 Contact: JHS Ltd -
www.jhs.co.uk/wayhuge.html
THE NOT SO GOOD BITS: Not exactly mainstream but still great fun and
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