Schumann Pedals

[joel hamilton]

I hope everyone has heard of John's line of pedals!

If you listen to the bass on the new radiohead, That is johns pedal. If you listen to sparklehorse: John is all over that record....

We have a few pedals specifically made for us by him that are unbelievable! great quality, super quiet for studio use, can do really insane things no other pedals can do... just really well thought out.

John is a really good guy dedicate dto making really great stuff, and I just wanted to tell everyone he has been working his butt off on these pedals.

You can get one by calling Main Drag music here in Brooklyn,NY:
718.388.6365

Here's to John Schumann for making a great product to help us mutants bring the sounds in our heads to life!

[pscottm]

just uploaded some pics of the schumann PLL..

please have a look..

http://members.toast.net/photos/album.a ... mann%20PLL

a kick-ass pedal!!

comments, questions..(??)

[mandalamala]

I've been telling every pedalhead I know about the PLL since you sent me the pics. I'm going to call today to see about getting one shipped to me. When people ask "well, what does it sound like?" what should I tell them. I'm up for experimentation so as long as it does "something" I will probably be happy with it. Others seem to be a bit more skeptical.

I am going to ask Main Drag today but for the sake of conversation how much can you expect to pay for a small run, handmade pedal like this. Can you expect to pay a lot more because it's just one guy with tools or can you expect to pay less because the name/pedal is less well known.

Thanks for send me this information. I'm thinking my reply might not have made it to you.
Jeremy

[daveaux]

just looked at the PLL fotos on your site....HOLY F*CK.
in a good way, I mean...

Not sure but it looks like a ring modulator/splitter with crazy assignability and filter sequencer built in. What exactly does it do? Is it useful other than creating atmosphere? Are they under $400? Looks like someone put a lot of passion into the thing.

[mandalamala]

I just called Main Drag and they are selling them for $500. Wish I was in Brooklyn so I could hear this thing.

[Catoogie]

What is that thing?! Looks complicated.

[pscottm]

it's not easy to explain everything it does but put most simply, it's a square wave generator that's controlled by an input signal (guitar, synth, drum machine, etc). the 'signature' of the sound ultimately lies in the tracking circuit which is of itself an amazing thing. from my experience, most analog tracking circuits of this nature suck (MS20, sherman filterbank2, analogue systems pitch-to-CV) but the PLL gives unprecedented control over how accurately or inaccurately you wish it to track a signal, and can cause wonderfully lively twitches and bumps of the pitch (if you want). and though it can become chaotic, it'll still be in key (or not, if you want). i'd describe the sound it generates as highly shapable harmonic-specific distortion. germanium overdrives act upon the squarewave and it's multiplier and divider to add 'beyond fuzz factory' fuzz. the overall tone depth is determined by the levels of the square wave (root) and harmonics (mult and divider). the post-mix waveshaper does alot to tone-down or amp-up the front egde of the sound after you get your harmonics dialed in. there's still other stuff you can mess with to alter the sound (like playing your instrument) but that's it in a nutshell.

really must try one to appreciate it.. it may take a while to understand the interdependability of the controls and how they work. can be crushing or very subtle depending on how you use it, how much you mix in. i know john developed it to respond to nuances of his guitar playing, not just note changes. i've been recording w it hooked up to a mellotron and can't stop playing/listening to it. could make an album (ok, an EP) of just that..hmmm.


just sharing the word.. figured there's probably a handful of people out there who like this sortof stuff.
-scott m

[aurelialuz]

[]

[joel hamilton]

Wow,
Scott, did you take those pictures? They look great.

I will post a shot of the "tonebass" pedal in development now.

We have been using the prototype on all kinds of things, but on bass, rhodes, and EML 101 synth, I have been loving it.

I love the concept of "amount of fuzz" vs. "gain" vs. "drive" all in one box.

You can make something squarewave to the point you want, add gain to that, then slam all of that through a clean line driver to an amp, or direct. two outs with a voltage multiplier on a remote switch that makes the box launch into uber-mega-super distortion mode.

Drive like you have never heard. It is amazing. I hope john markets it.

[pscottm]

hey joel, yeah i took those pics here at home.. spoke to john yesterday, said he's finishing last batch of PLLs and then on to new things. tonebass must be one.. i hope so, sounds cool! but hopefully he'll also find time to CV my PLL too. it's a powerful addition to the modular synth aleady, even w no CV control.

would love to see a pic of the tonebass. what else you and tony got up there..schumann wise?

i'll add some pics of my other schumann protos to that same link. the f-loop feedback generator w resonant filter, 2-face fuzz distortion waveshaper, and modified memoryman w envelope follower and CV control.
cheers,
-scott m

ps, to answer a question about the loop controls on the PLL.. the loop speed controls the frequency of a phase locked loop which is the 'glue' that holds the tracking signal to the input signal. the higher the frequency, the tighter it tracks, and vise versa.

[joel hamilton]

We have an old DOD flange (the big brown, metal case one) with a CV follower type mod that is pretty great, and a pitch to CV box with gate for use with the EML electrocomp 101 synths. I am trying to get john to build me a diode limiter box with a squarewave generator and blend control for destroying things like room mics or whatever, with a pitch to CV built in so I can do a frequency conscious distortion/ compression kind of thing.

Stop by sometime.

-Joel

[I'm Painting Again]

That is one of the neatest pedals i have seen.

[DUC]

Arpegiator! DUDE!

[supafuzz]

I met him when recording my cd at studio G in bklyn a few years ago.

He was there with some band and had a bunch of cool pedals on the ground. Don't remember specifically but i do recall they sounded good...

Is there a listing for all his pedals?

[pscottm]

no listing that i know of, pretty much word of mouth. i just uploaded pics of my other pedals of his. i tried to upload some descriptions along w the pics but the stupid server only hosts pics, no pdf or txt so i'll post the desciptions here: sorry for the dance-around.

here's the link:

http://members.toast.net/photos/library ... er=pscottm

and here are descriptions/info:

2-face fuzz waveshaper distortion. boosts pos and neg phase of signal seperately.
momentary boost switch can be assigned to pos phase, neg phase or both.
seperate germanium overdrive for each phase of the signal. also runs on (2) 9v
batteries, one for each phase. amazing fuzz box.

memoryman envelope follower. envelope follower w sensitivity and voltage output
controls, also lag ('D') for delaying application of env signal. it plugs into a custom
TRS socket on the front of the memoryman so when it receives signal from the env
follower, the amplitude of the signal changes the delay time. so loud notes give
long delay time, soft notes shorter delay time. or vice versa. also, env follower has
an assignable momentary switch for for env on/off, or off/on. wicked on drum
machines/beats.

f-loop is a feedback generator w a resonant filter for shaping. plug in a secondary
signal chain (phaser, delay, flanger.. most any modulation-type pedal works best)
to the 2nd set of I/O on this box and the f-loop induces feedback within that chain
as the momentary switch is pressed. wonderful. there's a resonant filter cutoff
control and volume control for getting just about any unwieldy feedback to behave
as you wish.

all these are prototypes so appearance was never a priority. please keep this in
mind. (but i happen to like the way they look anyway!)