I think I finally found a circuit I don't want to put in a box ...

[midwayfair]

Oh my bad, I assumed it was a RM.

It's usually called a "faux ring modulator," so I wouldn't say you misunderstood anything. The octave is generated in a manner similar one of the ways to create ring modulation, except it's only half a ring (I think I read that the GR is half rectified? maybe? hard to remember at this point because I didn't bookmark ...). The "ring" in the term comes from the way the diodes are arranged: in a square/ring formation, which creates full wave rectification and all that. Wikipedia has a good lay explanation of the general phenomenon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_modulation

I'm not hugely up on this type of circuitry, mostly because I haven't experimented with altering it. I just read all the stuff I could before and after building it.

I think there's more than one way to create ring modulation. The RM we used in that recording is a plugin copy of the Moog, which is actually a tremolo on steroids: at low settings it does normal trem, but the pot swings around for a second turn and creates ring modulation. You can get a similar effect by messing with the speed on an optical trem. There are also ring modulation sounds that can be coaxed out of certain analog delays, goodness knows what's happening there.

Edit: Great, typing all this out has me wanting to play with the circuit to see what can be done ...

Edit edit: There it is, the Wikipedia article explains it ... true ring mod produces 2x "regarded as multiplication, this amounts to squaring." The GR produces X^2, which is the same thing but I think we can see how doubling multiple frequencies is not the same as squaring multiple frequencies ... this is probably why Ring Mods can produce 5ths from double stops, but the GR produces ... something gross.

[Om_Audio]

The "ring" in the term comes from the way the diodes are arranged: in a square/ring formation, which creates full wave rectification and all that. Wikipedia has a good lay explanation of the general phenomenon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_modulation

Edit: Great, typing all this out has me wanting to play with the circuit to see what can be done ...

Edit edit: There it is, the Wikipedia article explains it ... true ring mod produces 2x "regarded as multiplication, this amounts to squaring." The GR produces X^2, which is the same thing but I think we can see how doubling multiple frequencies is not the same as squaring multiple frequencies ... this is probably why Ring Mods can produce 5ths from double stops, but the GR produces ... something gross.

Very cool about the actual ring arrangement of diodes!!
I hope you do mess with it and see what you can get.
The Wiki info is interesting, will have to look over your explanation closer to see if I can understand it better. ME=n00b

Made me remember this album, track 2:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/inner-worlds-mw0000116252



C

[midwayfair]

ME=n00b

Me too.

Thanks for sharing the McLaughlan track.