Earthquaker Devices R3 Data Corrupter Modulated Monophonic Harmonizing User Guide
Introduction
The Data Corrupter® is a monophonic analog PLL harmonizer with modulation. The Master Oscillator is the central nervous system at the heart of the Data Corrupter’s cyberpunk hive mind. The three-position switch on the Master Oscillator control panel labeled Root feeds your input to the Data Corrupter’s signal harvester in its original octave (Unison), one octave down (-1) or two octaves down (-2).
Nerd Talk
The heart of this pedal is based around a CMOS Phase Locked Loop (PLL) IC. In a nutshell, the PLL takes your input signal and compares its phase and frequency against an oscillator, generates an output proportional to their difference then feeds it back to the oscillator. This then causes the oscillator to lock onto the input signal and generate a synthesized frequency.
Master Oscillator
The Master Oscillator takes it’s input from one of three sources: Unison, one octave down and two octaves down. Some frequencies are too high for the Master Oscillator to divide, therefore, shifting them down one or two octaves brings them back into the proper range. These sources are referred to as “Root” and can be selected via a three-position switch. The Root is then fed into the PLL and multiplied to create one of eight different intervals over three octaves that are selected by the rotary switch to create your harmony! This harmony can then be manipulated via the Frequency Modulator section.
Frequency Modulator
The Frequency Modulator has two modes, Glide and Vibrato. In Glide mode, the pitch will glide from note to note and the speed of the glide can be adjusted by the Rate control. At faster settings, this takes on a very cool phase shifting effect. In Vibrato mode, the pitch varies up and down to create a laser-like effect. The Frequency Modulator only affects the Master Oscillator, unless the Subharmonic Root switch is in the Oscillator position.
Subharmonic
The Subharmonic section of the Data Corrupter creates a sub octave of the Root and then divides it up into eight intervals over three octaves which are selected by the rotary switch to create your subharmonic harmony. The Root comes from one of two sources, Unison or the Master Oscillator. When Unison is selected, the Subharmonic will be a division of the square wave fuzz tone and the Frequency Modulator will have no effect. When Oscillator is selected, the Subharmonic will be a division of the Master Oscillator and the Frequency Modulator will be applied to the Subharmonic harmony.
Voice Mixer and Level
The Master Oscillator, Subharmonic and Square wave fuzz tone all have volume controls under the voice mixer section. Use these to blend the three voices together to taste.
Tracking
This pedal should be placed close to front of your signal chain and before any delay, reverb or modulation effect. While it will work with most bridge pickups, the neck pickup will provide the best tracking results. Precise picking and single notes will track quickly and cleanly. Chords and sloppy playing will result in chaos. There is no control over the amount of gain because it really needs to be fine-tuned to properly track. Weak signals will lead to poor tracking and gating.
Design Notes
This Device takes its inspiration from the Electrax Synthax and the “Basic Frequency Synthesizer” by Ray Marston. Neither of these were really intended to be guitar effect pedals and a lot of work went into creating the Data Corrupter to provide excellent tracking and long sustain.
Power
This device take a standard 9 volt DC power supply with a 2.1 mm negative center barrel. We always recommend pedal-specific, transformer-isolated wall-wart power supplies or multiple isolated-output supplies. Pedals will make extra noise if there is ripple or unclean power. Switching-type power supplies, daisy chains and non-pedal specific power supplies do not filter dirty power as well and let through unwanted noise. DO NOT RUN AT HIGHER VOLTAGES!
- Current Draw: 26 mA
- Input Impedance: 1 MΩ
- Output Impedance: <1 kΩ
Flexi-Switch® Technology
This device features Flexi-Switch Technology! This relay-based, true bypass switching style allows you to simultaneously use momentary and latching-style switching.
- For standard latching operation, tap the foot switch once to activate the effect and then tap again to by pass.
- For momentary operation, hold the foot switch down for as long as you’d like to use the effect.
Warranty
This device has a limited lifetime warranty. If it breaks, we will fix it. Should you encounter any issues, please
visit www.earthquakerdevices.com/warranty
