| layout | default |
|---|---|
| title | Ring Modulator |
| parent | Examples |
| nav_order | 6 |
| has_children | false |
| has_toc | false |
This simple demo implements a classic ring-mod effect, famously used for scaring small children in the 1970s with Dalek voices.
It also demonstrates how to build a simple GUI that sends custom events to the patch and uses them to trigger sample playback.
The samples included are taken from the BBC's web-audio example
A ring modulator multiplies two audio signals together, resulting in a sound that is a combination of the original signals. A simple ring modulator is achieved by multiplying the input signal with a carrier signal, such as a sine wave.
The ring modulators from the TV show Dr. Who also had a characteristic distortion. This is due to the diode blocks within the analogue ring modulators of the 1950s/60s. They result in hard clipping of the signals, creating the classic distortion.
For this demo, we use the simplified ring modulator research from a paper by Julian Parker.
This contains a block diagram and a branch equation we can use to model our example.
We use a sine wave as the modulating signal (Vin) and audioIn from the user (Vc). Two distinct diode blocks are created, each utilising a phase invert signal that is combined with the distorted signal. Both diode blocks are then summed back together to complete the ring modulation effect.
<iframe style="display: inline-block; width: 100%; height: 32rem; border:none; padding-top: 1rem;" src="../../../assets/example_patches/RingMod/index.html"> </iframe>