TREX SOULMATE ACOUSTIC User manual

Made by T-REX Denmark, May 2017
1st edition 2017
T-Rex Engineering ApS
www.t-rex-effects.com
Lars Dahl-Jørgensen
Founder
Sebastian Jensen
Founder

CONGRATULATIONS
on your purchase of the T-Rex Soulmate Acoustic and welcome to the manual!
The Soulmate Acoustic is an all-in-one preamp, effects unit, looper and D.I. box.
It´s meant to give you all the needed tools for“plugged in”playing:
• Impedance switchable FET input buer/preamp
• High speed, high precision tuner with tuning pitch (435-445Hz)
• Stereo multi-eect core with compressor, EQ, modulation, delay, reverb and auto-
matic feedback kill
• 5,8 min. looper with innite layering
• Unbalanced (1/4” jacks) and balanced (XLR) outputs for connecting to mixers,
ampliers, audio interfaces, etc.
The Soulmate Acoustic can be used right off the bat, but there are a few things you
should know, in order to get the most out of it.This manual will go through each“sec-
tion”of the unit from instrument input to the outputs (in the signal flow direction) so
please take a few minutes to get aquainted with the features it has to offer. We will
walk you through what everything does, why it does it and what you can do with it.
Then it´s up to you to decide where to set all those knobs and switches for best sound.
IMPORTANT: Adjusting the unit for proper signal levels, phase and impedance is the
first thing you should do, because acoustic instruments differ in tendency to feedback
(either when using monitors or amplifiers) and in output levels/impedance. Also, vari-
ous stage environments (you DO plan on playing for others, right?) can have a pro-
nounced effect on the sound of your instrument - sometimes an unwanted one, and
this can be avoided to a large degree by setting everything correctly.
INPUT STAGE
Input gain/peak led:
This analog stage sets the operating conditions for the Soulmate Acoustic. The signal
enters the unit, hits a FET-based buffer (it´s okay, don´t worry. It is just a vitamin pill
for the signal) and a volume control called“input gain”. This should be set so that the
“peak led” on the front does not light up when you play. More importantly, it should
be set as high as possible without lighting up the led when you play.
Confusing? Relax.
Just play as loud as you expect to be playing and watch the led.When it lights up, back
the input gain down until the led no longer lights up.
Phase switch:
This one is a bit special, because it doesn´t really do anything, soundwise.Well, noth-
ing that we humans can hear anyway. It is, however, important to use this if you get
strange resonances and/or feedback when playing, because then you CAN hear what
it does. Consider it a band aid switch for those situations. Often, a loud feedback or
an unwanted “coloring”of the sound can be remedied by switching the phase of the
signal. This will be most prominent when using onstage monitors or amplifiers.
Impedance switch:
Various pickup systems, microphones and transducers need proper input impedance
to sound their best and the impedance switch lets you set this to the most ideal set-
ting for your needs.
We hate to dissapoint you again, but in most cases, this switch also does absolutely
nothing. At least not anything we humans can hear. The good part is that if you play
an instrument that is particularly picky about this “impedance” nonsense, you WILL
hear a difference when pushing it in/out. If you play an instrument that already has
an active preamp built in, chances are you will hear no difference. But some pickups
on the market will benefit from this, so just A/B it: If IN sounds better than OUT, guess
where you should set it?
TUNER
The integrated tuner is a high speed, high precision tuner that takes its signal right after
the input stage.
When turned ON, the output of the unit is muted, but the looper will still be able to play
back any material recorded (see“looper” section).
The display will read out the note name and whether it is flat (left led´s) or sharp (right
led´s). The small dot in the display indicates the“#” in the note names, like G#, F# or C#.
Tuner pitch:
In most cases, your instrument should be tuned to a pitch reference of 440Hz, but in
some ensembles, it is a bit lower or higher. For example, some classical orchestras tune
to a lower/higher reference pitch.
To change this reference pitch, first turn the tuner on. Then press the small red button on
the back panel called“tuner pitch”. The led´s will blink to indicate that you are calibrating
the pitch reference, starting with the two green led´s in the middle.
With each press, the button will scroll in a left-to-right fashion through the available
frequencies. These are, from left to right: 435Hz, 436Hz, 437Hz, 438Hz, 439Hz, 440Hz
(green), 441Hz, 442Hz, 443Hz, 444Hz, 445Hz.
Once the correct led is blinking (like, say, the third led from the left indicating a reference
of 437Hz) stop pressing the button and wait for the led to stop blinking. The tuner is
then re-calibrated and will allow you to tune your instrument to a concert pitch of 437Hz
instead of 440Hz.
(The tuner pitch will be set to 440Hz every time the unit is powered up).
COMPRESSOR
This effect reduces loud peaks in your playing. The great by-product of this is, that the
sustain of the notes you play seem to improve. It is effective at making everything you
play more equal in volume – you know how strumming with a pick is much louder than
when you pick the string with your fingers? -That sort of thing.
The ratio (it´s just a tech word that is to a compressor what the Scoville scale is to chilies)
is relatively peaceful, so it doesn´t squash everything to pieces. It just evens things out
and gives what you play a more uniform loudness.
Turn up the “comp” knob for more compression. Compensate for the effect by turning
up the “level” knob, so that the output is the same as when the compressor is turned off.
MODULATION
The modulation effect is actually two effects, both aiming at creating width or move-
ment in the sound. The Rate knob adjusts how fast or slow the chorus modulates, but
at zero, the effect is morphed into a detuning effect. No, it doesn´t make your guitar
go out of tune. It creates a slight pitchshifting effect, which resembles two players
playing in unison. Some people describe this as a “chorus without movement”, and
now we do too. It´s nice if you think chorus sounds too warbly. Use the depth knob
to increase or decrease both effects.

EQ
This is probably the most sound altering tool in the Soulmate Acoustic and also the only
one that cannot be bypassed. Why? Because you need the EQ for tweaking the sound
of your instrument- it´s not an “effect” per se. Players almost always want to add a bit of
sparkle, some low-end boost or cut some mids to lessen honkyness (try speaking while
pressing on your nostrils – that´s honkyness) and for this you need an EQ. If you think your
sound is perfect as it is, just set all controls to noon - the EQ will have no effect at all, then.
Each “double pot” controls a certain range of frequencies and the affected frequency can
be set with the outer knobs for bass, mids and treble, respectively. To boost the frequency
range at which the outer knob is set, turn the inner knob past noon. To cut the frequency
range, turn it down from the noon position.
The low EQ (bottom knobs) and the high EQ (top knobs) are shelving filters, so all frequen-
cies below/above the chosen frequency is affected by the boosting/cutting. This helps to
bring out or subdue these ranges without the need to boost or cut excessively, because
you can control more than just a narrow band of frequencies. Obviously, if you turn up the
entire low-end part of the frequency spectrum and not just part of it, your ears will hear a
dramatic change. Consequently, you can use a more moderate boost.
(It should be noted, that an EQ is useful for reducing or highlighting certain characteristics in
the input signal, not for transforming your instrument´s pickup system into something it´s
not. Therefore, the better your instrument sounds by itself, the better the overall sound will be,
regardless of EQ settings).
DELAY
The delay effect has been tweaked so that it rolls off the highs just a bit, in order to let the
delays “sit” nicely in the mix, as they say. It´s meant to provide ambience and space in the
sound. For a more “effected” sound, you can turn up the level and tap the tempo on the
corresponding footswitch to the beat of the music you´re playing. On lower settings, it can
create some depth and space around the notes you play without interfering too much.
The delay level knob controls the delay loudness, feedback sets the amount of repeats
and time determines the delay time.
REVERB
The reverb effect in the Acoustic Soulmate has been carefully chosen for acoustic instru-
ments. In addition to the usual reverb level (loudness) and decay (length of the reverb),
we have included a shimmer effect, controlled by the corresponding level knob.
The shimmer effect works in tandem with the reverb to create a decay that sounds a bit
like a pad sound on a keyboard. By layering multiple octaves of your signal and blend-
ing these into the reverb, the resulting sound is…well, shimmer-y. If you really want to
get creative with this, plug an expression pedal into the back panel and you then have
complete hands-free control over the level of the shimmer.
Inserting an expression pedal will bypass the knob on the front.
The Hall reverb is good for…making it sound like you are playing in a big hall. It sounds
almost stupid, but that´s the closest we can get. This effect is probably the most used on
acoustic instruments, so it´s perfectly fine to leave it on all the time. Then you can always
add shimmer if you want to take things further.
FEEDBACK KILLER (FB. KILLER)
This little toggle switch is your best friend in case you experience feedback when
using an amplifier or a monitor. When you flick it to the “up” position, you just let the
instrument go into feedback (replicate the conditions that caused the feedback) and
the Soulmate Acoustic will automatically“calculate”where the offending frequencies
are and eliminate them, which kills the feedback. It´s like having a very small and
very efficient soundman at your disposal, who´s only job is to kill the feedback so it
doesn´t interfere with your performance.
Just remember that the FB. Killer can only do it´s job if you “feed” it with feedback.
So when you activate it, it expects you to generate that feedback, otherwise it won´t
know “what to remove”. If it misses its mark, just turn it off, then on again, and repeat
the procedure.
It is a handy tool at soundchecks and in other pre-performance situations.
The FB. Killer can cause a very slight change of sound, due to the very nature of its
workings. Battling feedback involves attenuating very specific frequencies that are
part of the overall sound, so you can´t have one without the other.
(It should be noted that if you boost bass frequencies, play at very loud volumes or stand
close to the speaker, feedback is hard to avoid, even when having automatic feedback
detection. Using a soundhole plug (if possible), reducing bass frequencies and/or volume
or maybe switching the phase are some of the things you should try first).
BOOST
The boost switch and its corresponding level knob on the back of the unit will turn up
the output volume by the amount set by the knob. At zero, there is no boost. At maxi-
mum, the signal from the effects section (excluding the looper) is boosted appr. 10dB.
This allows you to“turn up for solos”without affecting whatever the looper is doing.
You can also record audio into the looper that is“one notch louder”, to create loop layers
with varying levels.
LOOPER
Record, play back, layer sounds, etc. Yes, the looper is a small recording device inside
the Acoustic Soulmate that you can use for recording and playing back the recorded
material.
We thought it would be a nice feature for singer-songwriters, buskers and other one-
man bands, because you have the ability to play over a layered “rhythm” or chord pro-
gression, making it sound like two or more people playing.
The looper is post-effects, so any recordings made with effects activated will be kept
intact in the looper. Likewise, any phrase already recorded will not be affected by the
status of the effects in the unit.
It works a lot like most other recording platforms in pedal format:
Rec/Play:
To record, press RecPlay (right led lights up).
To end the recording and start playback, press RecPlay again (right led blinks).
To record a new phrase, press RecPlay (right led lights up).
This will go round and round in circles if that´s all you want to do. Record, play, record,
play, record…
The first phrase will determine the length of the“loop” (max. 5,8 min.).
Stop/Erase:
Press stop to mute the audio playback (when in“playback”) or stop the recording (when
in “record”).
If you stopped a recording, the looper will save what you recorded. If you stopped a
“playback”, the looper will go back to the beginning of the loop. Pressing the Rec/play
switch will start “playback” in both cases.
To erase all loops/memory, press and hold the stop/erase while in“stop”(left led lights).
Both leds will blink 5 times, indicating that you have deleted all recordings.
Undo/redo:
If you have recorded more than one phrase, you can temporarily delete the last one
by pressing and holding the rec/play switch. This is nice if you recorded something but
made a mistake. Pressing and holding the rec/play switch again will bring the phrase
back.
Tip: If you press and hold the rec/play switch while recording, the looper will go straight
to “playback” without saving your last recording. If you recorded a mistake and want to
have another shot at it, undo´ing while recording will delete that last take you did and
go straight to “playback”. You then press “rec/play” to re-do the take (hopefully with no
mistakes).
Saving:
If you want to keep your loop(s) intact even if you turn off the power, make sure you are
in “stop” mode (left led lights) before you power it off. The looper´s current memory is
then saved and can be played back the next time the unit is turned on. If you turn off
the unit during playback or recording, the memory is cleared and no recordings will be
saved.

MASTER VOLUME (VOL. EXP. PEDAL JACK)
For those players that want to use a volume pedal for controlling the overall output of the
unit, we incorporated an expression pedal input. This will allow you to turn down the in-
strument signal while allowing signals from the delay, reverb and the looper to be audible,
so that the tails of the effects are kept intact. The looper level remains unchanged, even if
you turn the instrument signal down.
Why not just use a volume pedal connected between the Soulmate Acoustic and the
amp/P.A.?
Because you lose the unit´s ability to set the input impedance and the compressor (if on)
will react differently depending on where the pedal is set. By controlling the volume inter-
nally, we get all the good and none of the bad.
OUTPUT CONNECTIONS/CONTROLS
Output connectors :
Two unbalanced ¼”jacks (left/right) for connecting to amplifiers or unbalanced
inputs on mixers, audio interfaces, etc.
Two balanced XLR connectors (left/right) for use with stage boxes, mic inputs
on mixers, etc.
Ground lift:
The XLR outputs feature a ground lift switch that is useful if you have excessive hum/noise
caused by ground loops. If for example you are using an amplifier on-stage for monitor-
ing (using the unbalanced out(s)) while also being plugged in to the P.A. via the balanced
out(s), things can get noisy. Pressing the ground lift switch will break the ground loop and
remove the noise. If you can´t detect any noise in the setup, leave the switch in the “out”
position.
Level OUT:
This knob sets the output level of the entire unit and affects all outputs.
T-Rex warranty conditions
T-Rex offers a 2-year warranty on all our products. In the unlikely event of a malfunc-
tion, please contact our technical support at service@t-rex-effects.com before sending
us the product for repair. Read more about warranty conditions at www.t-rex-effects.
com/service
About T-Rex
Based in Vejle, Denmark, T-Rex Engineering makes classic and signature effects pedals
for the world’s best musicians. Our approach blends hi-tech innovation with old-world
craftsmanship – always in the service of killer tone.
EU regulations • Environment protection
T-Rex accepts and follows the regulations and directives issued by the EU. We find these
environment protecting regulations very good, and we are happy to follow them.
Input impedance 1M ohm/10M ohm, selectable
Output impedance (ohm) 330(xlr), 1,5K(1/4”)
Power supply 12VDC, center negative (included)
Minimum 11,5V DC
Maximum 12,5V DC
Current draw @12VDC 560mA max.
Max. input signal 3,5V p-p
Effect processor specs 24-bit, 48KHz, 1ms. latency
Looper specs 24-bit, 46KHz, 32-bit floating point internal
processing. Maximum 5,8 min. looping time
External connectors Input, exp. shimmer, exp. vol, ¼” outputs (L/R),
XLR outputs (L/R), power inlet
Pedal size incl. knobs (WxHxD) 235 x 70 x 173 mm / 9,25 x 2,75 x 6,81 inch
Weight excl. packaging 1,9 kg / 67 oz
TECHNICAL SPECS
SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE