It's actually very simple, though the circuit looks complicated:orngjuice wrote:Hey, this is only sort of related, but can any of y'all explain how this works. I have some electronics understanding, but this makes no sense to me, and it seems like a really cool effect.
Thanks
Essentially, the input from the guitar is low pass filtered first (it works better with some front-end filtering) then the signal is squared through a comparator-based clipper. This is then fed to a dual-bistable IC. This IC (the 4013) will divide applied frequencies by two at each bistable. Half frequency is one octave down, quarter frequency is two octaves. There is a crude level-sensing circuit that is used to vary the gain of the output part of the circuit in an effort to make the sub-octave signal follow the guitar envelope, and the latter part of the circuit is a set of filters used to try to make the sub-octave squarewave from the bistable IC sound a bit more "natural".
The circuit is as crude as the word f**k, but is give surprisingly good results. However, don't try playing chords through it - the horrible mess of noise that comes out of it isn't pleasant to hear!