Pigtronix Envelope Phaser EP1

DGWVI

DGWVI

Well-known member
I'm a huge sucker for envelope filters and phasers, and this is one that combines the two and sound great doing it. I'm guessing it's at least six stages- it sounds lush without being overbearing.
Not sure how difficult this one would be, as I can't find much info on the inner workings other than it's opto-based and apparently uses VTL5C3/2 or similar optos.

Seems fairly similar to the EHX PolyPhase, but has a few more doodads and nifty footswitches for the different modes. There also appears to be a fairly easy envelope inversion mod.

Here's a baby Andy giving us a neat walkthrough -

Relevant thread on FSB


EDIT- just snagged one for a bill, so I'll open it up when it gets here
 
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Robert said:
It's FV-1 based. We can do something similar, we just can't touch their algorithm.
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I'm always down to try anything with an envelope detector...

I don't know if you were still interested in tracing the Resotron but, if so, I can send these both your way. I'm just waiting on an AC adapter for the EP

I also may need to find the Resotron
 
funny I was just thinking of the old Craig Anderton phaser that he had the option to add the envelope follower control. Only thing that kept me from building this holy grail pedal back in the 80s was trying to find the dang 4739 dual op amp!
 
xefned said:
Wow, it's Andy. I almost didn't recognize the early version of his YouTube voice.

The pedal sounds amazing. Can't wait to hear how you like it.
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It's not my favorite for either phaser or filter, but it sounds good.

The phaser side can do some Univibe stuff up to super resonant silliness, but I don't find it terribly inspiring. For optical phasers, the DuoPhase / Phase II is still the tops in my mind.

The filter is kinda like a more aggressive Mu-Tron III, without some of the nifty features of the III . I'm not a fan of the fact that it's tied to the phaser's pots, but it's easy to make it sound decent.
 
The demo sounds cool. That thing could inspire some new, exciting grooves.
For most people, I'd wonder if you could get there with a phaser into an envelope filter, or the reverse.

But since you're the man with a dozen envelope filters already, there's always room for one more, right?

I'm in the half-dozen envelope filter camp. Even though I've built the PedalPCB Duck Box, I've still got my eye on the newer revision Wah Rocker with blend knob and bass switch. Just because you can never have too many envelope filters.
 
Filter into phaser is one of my favorite sounds. I've really got nothing against the EP1, it just doesn't give me the sounds I want.

I'll never argue against more diy options for envelope filters, or phasers, or phasers with envelopes on their head and when they phase they shoot envelopes at you

I'm not sure what exactly is going on in the TWA box, but it wouldn't be difficult to at least approximate those controls on the duck box
 
jimilee said:
I owned one briefly, it wasn’t as fun as I thought it was going to be. Bought and sold on reverb.
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Interesting- bummer you didn’t dig it. I’ve got one and it’s probably my favorite fv-1 based pedal I’ve ever owned— I get a whole lot of use out of the envelope flange mode.
 
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Bricksnbeatles said:
Interesting- bummer you didn’t dig it. I’ve got one and it’s probably my favorite fv-1 based pedal I’ve ever owned— I get a whole lot of use out of the envelope flange mode.
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I had the Keeley bubble machine, maybe I didn’t have the right one?
 
I saw the band Turkuaz a few times when they were still together and the bass player Taylor used an EP-1. I think it sounded fantastic. Sadly they're 18v and really big. The small bass envelope phaser would be great project.
 
DGWVI said:
I really need to get myself another MicroSynth
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Cheers to a fellow EHX fan! Sadly never tried the HOG or HOG2 but have bunch of other old EHX... Q Tron, Mini Q, some Muffs; civil war, bubble font, tall fonts, black Russians. Also green and black sovtek bass balls and small stones. They were much cheaper few years back.
 
l8tr.dude said:
Cheers to a fellow EHX fan! Sadly never tried the HOG or HOG2 but have bunch of other old EHX... Q Tron, Mini Q, some Muffs; civil war, bubble font, tall fonts, black Russians. Also green and black sovtek bass balls and small stones. They were much cheaper few years back.
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If I had to live with one brand of pedal for the rest of my life, it'd easily be EHX

This is from a few years ago for a synthy electro-punk band that didn't go anywhere- 1000019876.png

Had the Flat Iron and a couple other dirt boxes, too
 
DGWVI said:
If I had to live with one brand of pedal for the rest of my life, it'd easily be EHX

This is from a few years ago for a synthy electro-punk band that didn't go anywhere- View attachment 65541

Had the Flat Iron and a couple other dirt boxes, too
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Sweet collection! I don't have current pic of my EHX together but here is a some of them.
 

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@l8tr.dude — aside from parts-tolerance drift, is there really that much difference in sound between a Green Russian Tall Font, GR Bubble Font, Black Russian, Civil War etc...?

About the only real difference I see in Kit Rae's schematics is the following feedback filters:

430p Red Army V1
500p Civil War & Tall-Font
470p Bubble-Font & Black
 
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