The MOTOR Pedal is a fully playable electro-mechanical synth voice that tracks your pitch in real time. Use it as a
drone that doubles your lines, or as a ring-mod or cross-modulation engine for your signal. This isn't an emulation
or analog modeling — this is the sound of a spinning brushed DC motor, pushed to the edge and tamed with
precision control.
The MOTOR Pedal uses a real-time pitch tracker to analyze your instrument's output. Whether you're using a
guitar, a bass, or a microphone, the motor's rotational speed will precisely match the fundamental frequency
you're playing. For example, to match a 440Hz input, the motor will rotate at 146 revolutions per second,
activating the magnetic pickup and sensors three times per rotation.
A carefully calibrated inductor captures the real-world motion of the motor's spinning coils, transforming
mechanical energy into a raw, electric audio signal.
The MOTOR Pedal's unique features and modes allow you to use it for much more than a simple synth voice:
● FOOT PEDAL – An innovative foot pedal with normal and floor-it ranges, and five unique pedal modes.
● MOTOR – Raw electromagnetic pickup of the spinning coils. Glitchy, growling, magnetic.
● MXD – Cross-modulation of the motor with a digital waveform, creating harsh, distorted, and metallic
textures.
● M-WAVE – A digital oscillator that's pitch-locked and hard-synced to the motor's output. A multitimbral
synth with an imperfect mechanical soul.
● COIL MODE – Instead of spinning the motor with DC voltage, this mode injects alternating current into the
motor's coils to create resonant analog vibrations and metallic hums. This innovative synthesis method
sounds like nostalgia on steroids.
● VOCODER MODE – A 24-band digital vocoder that uses the motor's output as the carrier and your
instrument's signal as the modulator. Speak, sing, or shred directly through the machine.
● ANALOG TONE BOOST – A powerful tilt equalizer for shaping the motor output.
● TWO VOLUME KNOBS – Independent volume control for the dry signal and motor output.
● MOTOR DRIVE – Heavy analog distortion for the motor output.
● ENVELOPE – Go from short, punctuated stabs to an envelope follower to long releases.
● GLIDE – Applies a portamento curve to the motor engine.
● VIBRATO – Classic pitch modulation, from subtle movement to wild oscillation.
● MOTOR INTERVAL SELECTOR – Allows you to offset the motor pitch by +/- 1 octave or perfect fifths or
fourths.
● X-MOD MODE – Use amplitude modulation to cross-modulate the input signal with all motor engines.
● ACCELERATOR – Create a wide range of controlled pitch shifts, or "floor it" to redline the motor.
● BRAKE – Downward pitch shift, or mash the pedal to bring the motor to a stall.
● CLUTCH – Temporarily disconnect the motor from the pitch tracker—perfect for creating drones.
● VOLUME – Use the spring-loaded pedal to create satisfying volume swells.
● DRIFT – Play the pedal like a gentle vibrato arm, or just "floor it" to get a complete wipeout.
● Power: Powered by a standard 9V DC center-negative power supply with at least 500 mA (not included).
● Connectivity: Additional 5-pin and USB-C MIDI functionality.
The MOTOR Pedal uses a specially-designed brushed DC electromotor block as its core sound engine. Over time,
the motor's brushes are going to erode, and the motor block will need to be replaced – indicated by the pedal's
check engine light turning orange and then red. The motor block is a replaceable part with an estimated lifespan of
3,000–5,000 hours of intensive playing. Installing a replacement motor is comparable to changing a set of tubes in
your amp.
FEATURES / BULLET POINTS
● A fully playable electro-mechanical synth voice that tracks the pitch of your playing in real time.
● A real sound source of a real electromotor that spins “in pitch”.
● Innovative expression foot pedal with standard and floor-it ranges and selectable modes of accelerate,
brake, clutch, volume swells, and drift.
● Five engine modes to select between magnetic pickup, cross-mod, multitimbral, resonant and vocoder.
● Track in, track out and MIDI functionality to source the signal from anywhere in the signal chain.
