UNDERWURLDE - esoteric delay/circuit bent looper/glitch+texture generator - desktop unit

DISCONTINUED ! ! ! ! !

#############################################################

NOTE:

A stand alone - desktop version of the eurorack module. With gating automation capabilities reworked to suit the format and to allow for the unlocking of all data lines in the glitch array for full hands on control of obscurity.

At the core of the unit lays a set up of 90s tech which was used in numerous delay pedals and rack units of the era. In vanilla set up it will serve as a good quality tape like echo. A filter control will allow you to set the brightness of repeats and the feedback level can be wound up to self oscillation if desired. The delay times that can be pulled off before extreme degeneration of the delay loop are impressive. around a second in short delay mode and up to around four seconds in long mode. The delay times will extend way beyond this by using the extreme rate control, but with these extra long times will come a gradual drop off of delay loop quality and introduction of aliasing and clock noise directly tied to the rate of the loop. This however isn't a bad thing from an experimenters point of view as you're essentially accessing another palette of obscurity by diving down into these sludgy super slow depths. It is in effect a very unique sounding unit which can create a lot of original and unheard of textures and effects.

The unit has a feature called ramlock. This is tied to the delay ram and when active will freeze the contents of the ram. This allows for two things. The first being what is essentially infinite repeats without any gradual drop in quality, the second is that this loop can be used as a texture/drone which can be pitch controlled manually or via the cv input and abused with the glitch array in a none destuctive way. When glitch array is disabled the contents of the ram are left intact. When glitch array is activated while the delay is in normal cycle mode it will pick up corrupted data from the ram and introduce this into the echos. The possibilities for composing unhinged loops by using the ramlock/delay rate and glitch array in real time are vast and you'll likely soon be finding fascinating new sounds to use in your compositions. Drum loops can be grabbed and warped into trash and glitch, keyboards can be ruined and made to suffer the brain damage to their workings caused by circuit bending without having to ever violate the keyboard itself. You have in essence a circuit bending machine that can manipulate anything you put through it in a similar way heard on any ram/rom based sampler, drum machine or synth.

The glitch array:
External ram which is used by the delay circuit allows for access to and abuse of the data lines which the two use to communicate in much the same way as a circuit bent keyboard or drum machine might be coaxed into glitch generation. Taking on board the experience gathered over a number of years of pushing the envelope of circuit bending this process has been applied to the module, giving you to access the sorts of sounds these circuit bent instruments create without the need to own one. A dry mute switch allows you to knock out the input signal from the mix while still feeding it into the delay memory. Good for if you want to use the underwulrde as part of an fx loop.

Eight ramglitch switches are located on the front panel. These can be engaged in any combination. Each changing the delay cycle and ram contents in a different way. This effect is cumulative as more glitching is engaged. To the point where the original audio becomes so obscure as to become unrecogniseable in very interesting ways. Drum loops can be machine gunned and stuttered while maintaining the timing of the loop. Vocals twisted into seemingly alien/mad AI dialogue. When dis engaged the ramglitch willl leave the audio in ram intact and return it to it's original form. It's an abstract sample users paradise as well as a demonic effect to chain into a live power electronics rig.

Delay on/off, ramlock and fast/slow modes are all accessible by gate inputs.
MIx, rate/pitch and feedback are all controlable via cv input.
Rate/pitch isn't 1v/oct. But it does have a good sweep over about four octaves which gives plenty of scope for some interesting behaviour with both the delay and as a looper when hooked up to a cv out capable instrument.

The videos below feature a rundown based around the eurorack unit. And an improvised power electronix session using a desk top shard and the desk top underwurlde listed here.

Specification run through: 20 minute power electronix run with shard:

Ships with power supply.
Tracked shipping and tracking number provided upon dispatch.

Some feedback from buyers of the eurorack version :)

* I wanted to take a moment and send you a note sharing how much I’ve been enjoying my Underwurlde.

Love the character at longer delay times. Looping with sine waves, the Underworld adds a overlay of feathery smooth sandpaper that makes the signal sound like a blast of steam from some machine in a David Lynch movie. At the same time, there’s still enough quality to overlay signals with harmonic relationships intact.

The feed back is well designed, even without engaging ramlock it will hold a signal for a good long period of time. At shorter delays cranking the feedback rewards the user with a nice “bloom” into oscillation.

Really enjoy the trigger inputs, though I wish they were “on when high” gates instead of toggling triggers. Still, it’s probably because I’m more used to the former.

All in all it’s an interesting character delay, and it pairs well with my Harvestman Tyme Sefari. Do let me know if you make an expander of any sort for it.

Best,

Mark

* Today I got the module (nihil cb mic input). It's so great! Just with the mike + two Underwurldes I can make (black) magic. Thanks for making this possible!

Best wishes,
Piotr