Blamsoft DC-1 distortion User manual

1.2.0 User Manual

2
© 2013 Blamsoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
Overview
DC-1 gives you a powerful distortion sound with simple controls. The design is modelled from a
famous distortion pedal schematic.
Controls
Tone
The Tone knob adjusts a filter that sweeps from lowpass to midcut to highpass. Basically it goes
from darker to brighter sound. By viewing gain vs frequency plots it is easier to see how the
sound is affected.
102103104
-40
-35
-30
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Lowpass, Tone = 0

3
© 2013 Blamsoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
102103104
-15
-14
-13
-12
-11
-10
-9
-8
-7
-6
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Midcut, Tone = 5.5
102103104
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
Frequency (Hz)
Gain (dB)
Highpass, Tone = 11

4
© 2013 Blamsoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
Dist
The Dist, or Distortion, knob applies gain to the diode clipper stage. As more gain is applied the
signal is cutoff harder, more like a square wave. Note that the clipping is a soft clipping, not a
hard clip. This results from the analog characteristics of the diodes.
00.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.006 0.007 0.008 0.009 0.01
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
Time
Voltage
Light Distortion

5
© 2013 Blamsoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mix
The Mix knob adjusts the Dry/Wet mix. Turn it to the left for a drier mix and right for a wetter
mix.
Level
The Level knob adjusts the final output gain. It is like a typical volume control except instead of
only going up to 10 it goes one louder.
Check LED
The check LED is lit when the effect is on, has sufficient power, and has an audio input
connection. If this LED is dim or off when the effect is enabled and connected, replace the 9V
battery or use the included 9V power adapter.
00.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.006 0.007 0.008 0.009 0.01
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
Time
Voltage
Heavy Distortion

6
© 2013 Blamsoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
Quality Switch
The Quality switch can be used to adjust the amount of CPU used by the effect. A low setting
results in lower CPU usage but a lower quality algorithm. Note that more pronounced distortion
requires more processing to get a high quality analog sound. The effect of this setting varies
based on the input signal and should be adjusted to taste.
CV Inputs
The four controls can be controlled by CV on the back of the device. The CV inputs respond to
Bipolar CV by going below the current knob position for negative input and above the current
knob position for positive input. To control a parameter with Unipolar CV, turn the knob all the
way down on the front of the device.
Audio Connections
Connect the effect to the input and output sources using these connectors. A monaural input
will be duplicated on both output channels effectively acting as a splitter.