Practical use for ring mod.

Other than just for sound effects?

Depending on the frequency of the ringmodulator you can get a kind of lofi sampler effect because it adds a kind of "aliasing" sound. But you better put a lo pass filter after the ringmodulation or turn down the actual ringmodulationsound cause it is very "
harsh"

peace

peterpiper wrote:Depending on the frequency of the ringmodulator you can get a kind of lofi sampler effect because it adds a kind of "aliasing" sound. But you better put a lo pass filter after the ringmodulation or turn down the actual ringmodulationsound cause it is very "
harsh"

peace

Yeah I like that kinda effect, the ring modulator frequency up real high like 10kHz-20kHz or around there.

Another is you set the ring modulator frequency very low I think 1Hz to 5Hz you should get a tremolo effect.

Everything in between, like more audible musical frequencies, probably works best on single note melodic stuff, or to add some extra resonance to percussive sounds

I dont know I guess this could be considered an effect. but I use it lightly on my hihats sometimes to give it more movement

Lampdog wrote:I use it on highs too. It gives a weirdly different high than just a hipass filter. I have never fully fully understood ring mod either but that won't stop me from misusing the hell out of it.

Ditto. i just go with the ears... sounds good on hats so I go with it.

Logic has a really nice ring modulator effect (Roswell Ringer) in the pedalboard section of the plugins. I like to add it to most of my final mixes. I normally keep it in EXP mode, keep the freq knob at around -5/+5, and keep the mix knob under 10 notches. Adds a real nice buzzing undertone to the low end, but it's very slight to give the mix texture.

if you have a real analog passive ring modulator.
you can use it as really dirty octave up effect by using the same signal for input and carrier.
your ring modulator has two inputs and one output.
if input 1 is frequency 1 (F1) and input 2 (carrier) is F2
output will be two signal combined (F1+F2) and (F1-F2).
which means that if F1=F2 the output signal will be a combination of the frequency multiplied by two (octave up) and nothing.
it's an awesome trick to dirty up and add high frequency to samples (by combining the original sample and the effected one).
it's only six components to make a ring mod (2 transformers and 4 germanium diodes) and it's been an extremely valuable tool for me for years.
also it doesn't need electricity to work it's all passive.
here's a schematic

Lampdog wrote:It gives a weirdly different high than just a hipass filter. .

definitely. It certainly can cut out lows, but it mangles the highs at the same time.


I'd say one of the other main uses of ringmod is in synthesis, opening up to tons of of new timbres. Ringmodding two detuned oscillators, for example, does something that sounds entirely different than just mixing them.

Lampdog wrote:I use it on highs too. It gives a weirdly different high than just a hipass filter. I have never fully fully understood ring mod either but that won't stop me from misusing the hell out of it.

analog, its more difficult to explain outside the regular diode ring mod. but digitally its usually 2 signals amplitude being multiplied with one usually being a sine wave, litterally sound amp x sinewave amp

I have one of these

I don't really understand it. But I love the hell out of it...

In case yr wondering, the ring mod splits the note into 2 pieces, and plays both, and often they make very odd harmonies and even high and low notes gets confused (meaning notes higher on the keyboard can be lower). If that helps...its def not a sound u hear much in regular songs, was pretty popular in early experimental music...

Another synth geek fact, some people think it gets its name from some of the bell-like sounds it makes, but actually the original had it circuit arranged in a ring, so same way the "ladder filter" got its name.