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 Free Ring Modulator! (effect!) + Emmett's add'l comments 
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Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Post Free Ring Modulator! (effect!) + Emmett's add'l comments
Cheapest Ring Modulator you can buy- a piece of paper! In music history, people like John Cage, were experimenting with placing "foreign" objects on an instrument to alter the attack or percussive sound of the instrument. ( See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prepared_piano) Emmett at Stickfest told us , as we all listened with believable ears and leaned closer, of "genetically altered caterpillars" grown by SE who give their lives just to mute the bass strings. Then he relieved all the PETA crew in the crowd and said it was only a piece of weather stripping used to get the percussive tuned drum sound on the bass side! Greg in his Stick Book (Ch9,pg7) in detail discusses muting using electrical tape and other techniques.

A ring modulator gives the sum and the difference of two signals without either original signal creating mathematical not harmonically related sounds....(OK I got lost on that one)- they are a cool effect and Jan Hammer to Devo used them. One single tiny piece of paper slid under your frets at different places can create muted harmonics. For example, slide and weave a 1/2" folded strip of paper under your 17th fret and have the edge line up with the fret facing the bridge. Now play your 8th and 9th strings at the 5th
fret- you get the original slightly muted plus the harmonic. If you play the same 8th and 9ths strings now at the dot on the 7th fret, you get a real high harmonic almost all percussive and no original note. Have fun and experiment with different frets for the paper
strip and the notes, use some delay or a large hall reverb- you can get Ring Mod effects to high handrums for next to nuttin'!
>Emmett kindly wrote me with additional tips!
Thanks Dave for putting my trained caterpillars in the Sticknews spotlight. BTW, I achieve the ring modulator effect all over the board with the flimsiest strip of yarn, gossamer thin, placed at one of the highest frets. It's a sleazy, wheezy sound, much like an old Oberheim ring modulator I had in the late '70s, and which I dubbed "the blues box". Nothin' but 7ths, 5ths and 3rds, all flatted of course, as strong harmonics accompanying the actual notes I played. Couldn't go wrong.
Best, Emmett.


Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:51 am
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Post Re: Free Ring Modulator! (effect!) + Emmett's add'l comments
I always love dissonant things, and I've been wanting a ring modulator for a while. To me it's one of those "Just Because!" effects. This sounds great though.

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Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:46 am
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Post Re: Free Ring Modulator! (effect!) + Emmett's add'l comments
The ring modulator has allways been, to me, one of the most fascinating, f***ed up effects ever. Don Ellis, trumpet, used it w/ echoplex and Twin Reverb. The most hysterical version of "Hey Jude" can be heard on "Don Ellis live at the Filmore", regretably long out of print in any format.

Marty


Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:00 am
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Post Re: Free Ring Modulator! (effect!) + Emmett's add'l comments
I have employed the paper "ring modulator" quite a bit in the past. Accompanying dance classes for a few years, I found the students needed a change of pace every once in a while.

One can only take so much of melodic improvisation over a few hours each day (for both listener and performer). I found the sounds from a strip of paper great to lend a less-than-tonal, percussive timbre to the mix (many surprised looks coming my way the first couple of times I employed it).

Now I will need to start carrying a sheet of paper around with me (if I can find one, that is - my 10-year old son has a habit of using every piece of blank paper in the house for his drawings (he is graduating from dragons to F-15's ;-). I had to put the kibosh on using my staff paper though!


Take care,

Paul

http://www.myspace.com/paulwaltersstick


Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:42 am
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