BugBrand AudioWeevil08 User manual

BugBrand AudioWeevil08
Thankyou for choosing an AudioWeevil!
There are a multitude of sounds hidden within – but please read this manual first to get an
understanding of the internal signal paths. While I hope the layout will quickly become natural
to you there are likely to be some surprises in store!
External Input - the external 1/4” jack accepts a wide range of signals from low-level (eg
guitar) up to line-level. The input section offers two boost stages based on a CMOS overdrive
design ranging from clean to heavy-crunching dependent on the input level Drive setting and
the Thru mode switch. The Gain1 stage is a clean driver useful for cleanly amplifying the input
signal while the Gain2 stage is much higher gain resulting in driven sounds. There is also the
Disto switch which adds in a fixed lo-pass filter across Gain2 to give darker drive results.
The input also generates a square-wave for use in the Weevil section – this always goes
through both gain stages before entering a Squarer ( ExtSqr ). The results depend on external
signal level (eg set on an external mixing desk) combined with the input Drive control –
experiment for best results! Note – due to the gain nature of the input there can often be
some Weevil-y signal bleed even with the Ring mix totally down. See end note for more
details.
Source Mixer - you can blend the audio input Thru signal and the Ring signal pre-filter.
Wasp Filter – this powerful filter design is based on the classic EDP Wasp synth core and
offers variable Q (resonance) and multimode outputs of Low / Band / High pass. The filter
cutoff frequency is also modulated by the LFO.

The Weevil eart – the core of all Weevils is two (or more) lofi squarewave oscillators that
are quasi-ringmodulated together. This type of circuit reacts in wonderful ways when starved
of power so the first control in the section is Starve – turn it fully clockwise for full-power.
Coupled with this dial is the Stable switch – when switched on this adds a smoothing capacitor
to the power starvation resulting in different behaviours. Each Osc has a tuning dial and a
range select switch - tuning and stability changes when power is starved and the Oscs can
actually drop right out with various settings.
The Ring switch selects whether the RingMod receives the output of Osc2 or the Squared
audio input signal. Note that the level of the audio input and the starvation setting will really
influence the resulting sounds.
Around the RingMod circuit is a feedback loop with a three-way Feed switch. Generally the
switch is in the middle position (Off). Note – when combined with power starvation the
Feedback control can often completely kill the sound! Only small amounts of starvation should
be used when Feedback is switched in.
The final stage of the Weevil-core is Comp – a comparator. When the power is starved the
amplitude of the waveforms drops – this would result in quieter sounds so the comparator is
used to turn the output waves back into strong pure squarewaves.
Output - the output is a standard 1/4” mono jack following the Output level control.
Modulation LFO – the vari-speed Low Frequency Oscillator is used to modulate Osc1 and/or
the Filter cutoff freq. It has two switchable ranges a three-way switch for selecting Ramp / Tri
/ Sawtooth waveforms and variable depth controls for modulating Osc1 or the Filter.
Touch Plate - the integrated front-panel touchplate opens up chaotic cross-modulation
possibilities controlled by lickety-touchy. Touching combinations of pads will cause bizarre flows
dependent on your resistance (how damp your fingers are – try licking the tips) how hard you
press and what combinations are touched. This is an area to practice!
Power – due to the use of a touch-panel power is from batteries only - do not modify this to
use plug-in power! The box's current draw is roughly 40mA at most times so a decent set of
alkaline batteries should last over 40hours. Rechargeable batteries can also be used.
**
Note on Signal Bleed when just processing external audio through the filter – Weevil-sound
bleedthrough can be minimised by altering the settings of the Weevil section. Try turning the
Starve dial right down Stable switched On the Oscs running at Lo rate and Feedback fully on.
**
If you have questions or comments – get in touch via email: [email protected]
www.bugbrand.co.uk
BugBrand Sept2008