User Manual

10 11
THE CLUSTER FLUX FRONT PANEL
DRIVE Control - Sets the input sensitivity of the Cluster Flux. This control
is only active when the Effect is on. The available gain is from -7dB to
+28dB nominal. The Cluster Flux is designed to work with instrument or
line-level signals.
LEVEL LED - Works in conjunction with the DRIVE control. Red indicates
clipping. Yellow indicates the nominal signal level for best signal-to-noise
ratio. Green indicates the presence of signal below the nominal level.
Note: For most instruments, the best approach is to set the DRIVE level so the LEVEL
LED lights up mostly yellow. It is okay to drive the Cluster Flux into clipping/distortion
if that sound is desired. If using an instrument with a wide dynamic range, you may
want to insert a compressor prior to the input of the Cluster Flux for the best signal to
noise ratio without clipping.
OUTPUT LEVEL - Sets the strength of the Cluster Flux Output at both the
Left and Right Audio Outputs. This control is only active when the effect
is on. The Output Level control is designed so a boost, attenuation or no
change can be achieved with any Drive setting.
MIX - Sets the blend ratio of dry to wet signal. This control is only active
when the effect is on. Counterclockwise allows only the dry signal to pass
to the Outputs. Clockwise allows only the wet signal to pass to the Outputs.
Any position between the two will blend Wet and Dry signal to the outputs.
DELAY TIME - Sets the length of Delay from the BBD delay line based on
the Range switch setting. In Flange Mode, with AMOUNT set to 0, the delay
time changes from .6 msec to 10 msec nominal. In Chorus mode this change
is 5 msec to 50 msec nominal.
RANGE - Sets the range of delay times available to the DELAY TIME control.
Flange selects a range of shorter delay times while Chorus selects a range
of slightly longer delay times.
FEEDBACK - Sets the amount of BBD output fed back into the input of the
BBDs. In Flange Mode, this is used to increase the sharpness and intensity
of peaks in the frequency response of the comb filter. Both Positive and
Negative Feedback are available, with zero feedback at mid-position.
In Flange Mode, Positive Feedback emphasizes all the harmonics of
a fundamental frequency equal to the inverse of the Delay time – For
instance 10 msec Delay creates a comb filter with a fundamental frequency
of 100 Hz and emphasis at 200 Hz, 300 Hz, 400 Hz, 500 Hz, etc. Negative
Feedback shifts the frequency response spectrum down by one octave
which causes only odd harmonics to be emphasized. For instance, a 10
msec delay time with negative feedback creates a comb filter with a
fundamental frequency of 50 Hz and harmonic emphasis at 150 Hz, 250 Hz,
350 Hz, 450 Hz, etc.
In Chorus mode, because the delay time is usually longer than the time
period of the fundamental frequency of the input signal, the difference in
tone between positive and negative feedback is much less noticeable.
WARNING: The Cluster Flux Feedback control is designed to drive the
delay line into self-oscillation. This means the Cluster Flux is capable of
producing a tone without any audio signal present. Tones produced by
self-oscillating feedback may be much stronger than normal signal levels,
so watch your speakers and ears.
Oscillation begins at the 4th indicator lines both left and and right of the
Feedback controls’ mid position.
LFO WAVEFORM - Selects the LFO waveform for modulation of the Delay
Time. There are six waveforms available: Sine, Triangle, Square, Sawtooth,
Ramp and Random Stepped waveforms. Note: that with LFO Amount at
zero, no modulation will be heard.
LFO RATE - Sets the frequency of modulation of the Delay line by the LFO.
The Rate can be varied from .05 Hz to about 50 Hz. The LFO Rate LED
indicates both the rate and waveform of the current LFO settings. The LED
is RED when the Rate is set from the front panel, GREEN when the rate
is set by the Tap Tempo switch, and YELLOW when the LFO is synced to
MIDI clock. When synced to MIDI clock, the Rate control is quantized to
select only rhythmic subdivisions of the MIDI clock tempo.