Do pedals cut out when fed too hard?

Using MOD devices
#1

So, I have been exploring the single sample delay feedback loops in gen and loving the results, especially ramping the feedback past 100% and pitch shifting or processing the signal in the feedback loop and sending back into the device, allows for infinitely cascading effects and some very noisy self oscillating systems.

However, when I port onto the Dwarf after a while of the feedback building audio cuts out, and I mean EVERYTHING on the whole pedal board cuts out until I turn the feedback pedal off and audio starts again…

Is there some kind of fail safe built in that cuts out a pedal thats feeding back? If so can I turn that off?

#2

Yes, there is some safety mechanism at work here.
I think we had something similar to this before. You could maybe try to add a limiter into the loop, that gets active shortly before the signal cuts out.

#3

Yes, a limiter in the feedback loop will definitely keep things under control, however it also means the pedal will never tip over into crazy self oscillation. I am really interested in that point where it takes a life of its own, it just sounds so mental!

I put a hard limiter after the pedal to stop the outputs from overloading - sound engineers hate that!

Any tips on how to bypass that safety mechanism?

#4

Does it really stop the setup to go mental? As long as the loop gain is higher than 1 it should still get crazy. Isn’t the 9V battery of an analog pedal also acting like a hard limiter?

#5

@CharlyRebell Thanks for your response!

Yes, over 1 gain in the loop would work, only then I have the original problem of the whole pedal board cutting out.

#6

What if you set the limiter after the feedback loop? so then you don’t overload the output, but your feedback can still go crazy.

Radiohead Karma Police ending
#7

hey @dreamer,

yes, that is how I have it atm, and it works really nicely… but the pedal board cuts out completely after a few beats on the Dwarf (it’s fine in Max)…

It’s like there is some kind of fail safe mechanism that kicks in when the pedal is being fed too hard, ie if the feedback loop is over 100%

What’s worse is I don’t know how to reset the pedal after this happens other than to turn it off, then delete the said pedal and replace it in the pedal board

Would love to figure this out because it sounds really great when the feedback goes crazy, then boom, no sound!

#8

I have been running multiple, parallel feedback loops with a limiter and it sends the system crazy without overloading the safety mechanism , woop!

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#9

Just a wee update on this, I have had some amazing results using the fairfield circuitry hors d’ourve pedal with the mod, creates some fairly insane feedback loops while also adding some nice analog thickness

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