MOTOR Pedal

The pedal analyses the pitch of an incoming guitar, bass or microphone signal and spins its brushed DC motor at the matching rotational speed. A calibrated inductor picks up the motion of the spinning coils and turns it into an audio signal, so the sound comes from the motor itself and not from an emulation. For a 440 Hz input the motor turns at 146 revolutions per second.

Five engines are built on the motor core: Motor (raw electromagnetic pickup), MXD (cross-modulation with a digital waveform), M-Wave (a digital oscillator pitch-locked and hard-synced to the motor), Coil Mode (alternating current injected into the coils) and a 24-band vocoder that uses the motor as carrier. Controls include analog tone boost, separate dry and motor volumes, motor drive, envelope, glide, vibrato, an interval selector (plus or minus one octave, fifths or fourths) and an X-Mod amplitude modulation mode. A multi-mode gas pedal handles pitch shift, brake, clutch for drones, volume swells and drift.

The motor block is a user-replaceable part with an estimated life of 3000 to 5000 hours of intensive playing, and a check engine light shows its wear. A 9V DC centre-negative supply of at least 500 mA is required and is not included.