Suggestions For Use - METASONIX RK8 Filterwall Owner's Manual

factory very carefully and shipped with plenty of padding. Many of our past
products were often returned with a warranty claim that they were "broken". And
most such "broken" units turned out to be working perfectly. We will publicly
mock anyone who returns a working RK8 claiming it is "broken".
The RK8 contains six bandpass filters, which use vacuum tubes. They are
simple "twin T" designs. Each filter is about one octave lower in range than the
one to the left—treble on the left, bass on the right.
Each filter may be manually swept with its own separate tuning knob, over
approximately one and one-half octaves. Or ALL the filters may be swept
together, using either the "MANUAL TUNE" knob, or the CV input, which
overrides the knob when a patch cable is inserted. Although it is capable of
some conventional swept-filter effects, the RK8 is more useful as a complex
equalization system or for unique special effects.
Resonance is separately adjustable for each filter. Usually the treble filters will
resonate strongly and oscillate under some settings. The bass filters might not.
Inputs and outputs are compatible with all Eurorack and other modular
synthesizer equipment. The output peak voltage is limited to the supply rails and
can't damage other modules.
Don't assume you know what you are getting here—the RK8 is unlike anything
else ever marketed. Also don't expect it to track VCOs, its voltage-to-frequency
curve is "more or less" hertz-per-volt but can't really be guaranteed. The six
vactrols in each RK8 were hand-matched, but can't be expected to remain
matched, or to track together perfectly.
Again, everything about the RK8 is abnormal. It is not perfectly "clean" and
perfectly "distortionless", and it cannot be made so. Because it uses vacuum
tubes.
SUGGESTIONS FOR USE by Mike Weeks
In inaccurately simple laymans terms - the RK8 functions as a 6 band "EQ" – run
a signal into the input, with the input/tune/resonance knobs more or less at
12:00, and you will get a colored but somewhat "neutral" tone (hahahahaha).
Each band can then be adjusted (volume/gain – center frequency and
resonance) to shape the sound like an evil equalizer. Right is bass, left is treble,
you know what to do.