3 Using the Ampliton
25
This section defines tremolo and autopan, and explains the
functions of the Ampliton’s controls in greater detail.
The two sides of the Ampliton
The basic operation of the Ampliton couldn’t be simpler. It gives
you access to two different kinds of amplitude-based effects: on
the left side is tremolo, which feeds the autopan on the right side.
Each side is independent of the other, so they can be used alone or
together. The particular type of tremolo is chosen by the switch
on the left, with the rate and depth of tremolo set by the two
knobs on the left. The switch and two knobs on the right control
the Autopan effects. Down the center of the Ampliton are
controls that affect both sides: RESET MOD, TAP TEMPO, the
SIGNAL LED, and the BYPASS switch.
What is Tremolo?
Tremolo is an effect that rapidly changes the volume of a signal up
and down. If you have ever grabbed the volume knob on your
radio and moved it up and down as fast as you could, that was
tremolo. Tremolo first became a common effect on surf guitar in
the 50s and 60s. It also sounds good on electric piano.
What is Autopan?
Autopan is similar to Tremolo, but it changes pan position (the left
and right balance in a stereo field) instead of volume. The
simplest autopan would take a signal and slowly pan it from the
left to the right speaker and back again. However, the Ampliton is
capable of much more complex autopan effects than that, as you
will see later in this chapter.
Autopan is by definition a stereo effect. If the left and right
outputs of the Ampliton aren’t connected to two different amps
and speakers (for example, inline to a mono guitar amplifier),
Autopan will sound like tremolo...as it pans to the side that’s not
connected, the level will go down in the side that is.
Autopan and a stereo input
The Ampliton can take any mono input and turn it into a quasi-
stereo output, by panning it from side to side. (In some cases, you
may want to connect only to the left input to get the most
dramatic panning effect.) But Autopan does interesting things
when it receives two different inputs. In Triangle mode, for
example, the left and right inputs will start the cycle panned to the
left output. Then the right input will move towards the right
output; when it gets there the left input will pan towards the right
output, then back again, followed by the right side, sounding as if
they’re “chasing” each other. The best way to learn about how this
works in different modes is to split a keyboard (violin on the right
and flute on the left, for example) and listen to the result on
headphones.
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(34 pages)
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