Iron Ether
Iron Ether FrantaBit Sample Rate/Bit Reducer Pedal
FrantaBit Sample Rate/Bit Reducer
The FrantaBit is a true digital bit crusher and sample rate reducer. It offers a wide array of glitchy digital tones, lo fi crunchiness, video game synth sounds and buzzsaw harmonics. It is designed to be extremely powerful, but simple to use and dial in. It includes an expression jack which can be assigned to any control, to expand performance possibilities in a live environment and in the studio.
Features
- Sample Rate control: This control allows the user to lower the sample rate of the analog-to-digital conversion from 32khz down to <100hz, creating Nyquist aliasing effects – frequencies from the instrument begin to “fold” back downward, creating new harmonics and subharmonics. The frequency response is lowered as sample rate lowers, but instead of simply filtering out higher frequencies, they are mirrored back downward, to create strange harmonies and overtones.
- Bit Depth control: From a pristine 24 bits down to a massive fuzzed-out 1 bit, the Bit Depth control introduces digital distortion artifacts, as the instrument’s amplitude is quantized into progressively fewer volume “bins”. Uniquely, with this type of distortion, the instrument actually becomes cleaner as it gets louder – the opposite of traditional harmonic distortion. Dynamic fuzz tones, digital destruction, and chiptune synths can be dialed in with this control.
- Mix: Controls the relative volume of the clean and effect signals.
- Volume: controls overall volume.
- Degrade/Obliterate switch: This switch controls the behavior of the sample rate reduction.
- Degrade mode is true digital sample rate reduction, as described above.
- Obliterate mode is an emulation of analog aliasing effects – a harsh, harmonically rich “pixellated” sound, much like square wave ring modulation which creates synthy atonal waveforms.
- Expression Mode rotary switch: this 4-way switch allows the user to assign the expression pedal to any control:
- S: Sample Rate
- B: Bit Depth
- +: Controls both Sample Rate and Bit Depth at the same time
- M: Mix – clean/effect volume ratio
- Measures 4.7″ x 2.5″ (12cm x 6.3cm). Runs on industry-standard 9 volt DC center negative power supply.
- Audio and expression jacks on the top of the pedal to save even more pedalboard space.
- Relay-based true bypass.
- Reverse-etched finish.