Subdecay StarLight DLX User Manual

Your Starlight DLX was handcrafted in Newberg OR USA.
What is the Starlight DLX all about?
At the heart of the SDLX is an MN3007 bucket brigade chip. This is an analog delay line which was used in many vintage
pedals and effects. A flanger effect is created by using very short delay times to make a signal overlap on it's self.
Essentially this creates a comb filter. Modulating the delay time, and changing the feedback path and level can make all
kinds of cool and crazy sounds.
Your typical vintage flanger doesn't have many options. The Starlight DLX adds multiple LFO shapes, envelope control,
step control and more. This adds multiple dimensions to a flanger effect which most other pedals ignore.
While the options are nearly infinite, after a few minutes with this pedal and user guide, you should be using it with ease.
IMPORTANT: Powering up your Starlight DLX.
The Starlight DLX can not be powered by a battery. To increase headroom of the effect, the delay line runs internally at 15
volts. Converting 9 volts to 15 volts and running a delay line requires more current than your typical guitar pedal, so any
power supply used must be rated for at least 150mA.
Use only a regulated 9 volt power supply with a negative center 2.1mm barrel plug.
CAN NOT BE OPERATED AT HIGHER VOLTAGES. AN 18 VOLT POWER SUPPLY MAY PERMANENTLY DAMAGE
THIS PEDAL.
If using a "daisy chain" all other pedals must be negative ground- Pedal grounding is not necessarily related to the polarity
of the power jack input. Most modern pedals are negative ground, but there are some exceptions. (usually clones of old
fuzzes that use PNP transistors.)
Power supplies verified with the SDLX were:
Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 (tap 5&6 in normal mode only)
Dunlop DC Brick.
Using the controls: Familiarize yourself with the Starlight DLX.
Before jumping in to the features, we recommend familiarizing your self with the effect. Plug it in and turn the pedal on.
Turn the MODE control to MANual. Turn the DEPTH all the way down. Turn the REGEN, GATE and VOLUME to the
center. From here you can play some chords and turn the MANUAL knob. You'll hear the flanger sweep through it's range.
-In MANual mode you can get a pretty good idea of what this pedal can do. Using the LFO SHAPES, the WARP knob
controls the speed. You'll see the LED blinking in time. Turn up the DEPTH knob to modulate the flanger with the LFO.
-Then try turning the SHAPE knob to the ANALOG ENVELOPE SHAPES. (red arrows) This works similar to an envelope
filter only the envelope followers is pushing the flanger effect. Use the MANUAL and DEPTH knobs to control the range on
the sweep.
-Next try the SPECIAL ENVELOPE SHAPES. (black arrows) On these settings the LFO speed is envelope controlled.
When the up arrow is selected the LFO speeds up when you play. The harder you hit the strings the faster it goes. The
down arrow is similar, but works in the opposite direction.
Analog controls: The following controls serve the same basic functions in all SHAPES and MODES.
REGEN- This control changes the feedback level of the flanger, sending some of the signal back to the input. As you turn
the knob to the right the effect becomes more intense and more noticeable.
FEEDBACK CONTROL switch- This control reverses the phase of the feedback. When set to positive this is the typical
way most flangers operate. When set to negative the effect is more hollow and cold.
DEPTH- Sets the modulation depth of the flanger sweep.
MANUAL- Manually sets the flanger sweep. With the DEPTH knob turned all the way down you can manually modulate the
flanger with this knob.
GATE- Use this control to reduce flanger sweep noise when you are not playing. The SDLX has a gate on the output of the
delay line. There needs to be some signal at the input to trigger the effect. Turn the knob to the right for most sensitivity.
VOLUME- sets the overall output level.
Digital controls: While the effect and signal path is all analog, the SDLX uses a digital microcontroller to produce the
control voltage which modulates the effect.
SHAPE – MODE – WARP controls – TAP/HOLD switch & EXPRESSION PEDAL
This is where the Starlight DLX gets interesting. The controls may even look a little intimidating. Just by looking at them
you can tell there are plenty of options. Spend some time with this user guide and your Starlight DLX for a better
understanding of what everything does.
The SHAPE and MODE controls each have eleven different positions. To keep things simple, the SHAPE control has three
similar groupings, and the MODE control has four. The Starlight DLX essentially has nine functions.
* denotes tap tempo.
• ANALOG ENVELOPE (FORWARD AND REVERSE)
*PIXELATED ENVELOPE
•
*ENVELOPE TRIGGERED LFO
•
MANUAL ENVELOPE SPEED CONTROL (FIXED ENVELOPE GAIN)
•
ENVELOPE SPEED CONTROL (FIXED MINIMUM SPEED W/ VARIABLE ENVELOPE SENSITIVITY)
•
*STEP FILTER (BASED ON THE 7 LFO SHAPES)
•
*TAP TRIGGERED LFO
•
• MANUAL LFO
*TAP TEMPO LFO W/ WARP
•
DLX Digital controls (continued)
SHAPE- This is where you start. There are three main groupings here. ANALOG ENVELOPE (red arrows) LFO (red on
black) and SPECIAL ENVELOPE (blue arrows.) It's helpful to consider this the main control, and think of other digital
controls as a variation on the shape.
LFO. The WARP and TAP/HOLD SWITCH serve various different functions depending on the MODE setting.
WARP LFO (SLOW – MEDIUM – FAST)
•
-Select LFO SHAPE for TAP TEMPO LFO W/ WARP. (warp knob changes warps LFO shape)
-Select SPECIAL ENVELOPE for ENVELOPE SPEED CONTROL. Warp knob controls envelope sensitivity.
See the chart below for a better understanding of what each control does depending on the SHAPE and MODE settings.
LFO
CONTROL
MATRIX SHAPES
TAP WARP
NUMBER OF
TAP TEMPO
STEPS THRU
STEP/PIXELATED 1X 2X 3X & 4X
*
MULTIPLIERS
LFO SHAPE
TRIGGERS ONE SETS START/END
TRIGGER LFO
FULL CYCLE OF POINT OF LFO
LFO WAVESHAPE SHAPE
MANUAL
HOLDS/STOPS
MANUAL LFO LFO SPEED
LFO SHAPE
CONTROL
TAP TEMPO VARIES
WARP LFO
1/8 1/3 1/2 1X & 2X WAVESHAPE
(SLOW – MED - FAST)
MULTIPLIERS OF LFO
*Warp knob function in LFO SHAPE / STEP MODE settings:
-Random- Basically noise or random sample/hold. Since noise does not have an actual frequency like a fixed
waveshape the warp knob has no effect.
-Sine, ramp, triangle saw- the wave shape is "stepped through" at a percentage of the step rate. From ~1% to 50%.
-Triangle/random & Triangle/square- The warp knob blends between a step triangle wave and random/square.
ANALOG ENVELEOPE settings supersede all WARP
and MODE control settings. The two arrows represent
a simple forward and reverse envelope. The
EXPression pedal, WARP and MODE controls have
no effect on ANALOG ENVELOPE settings.
LFO SHAPES settings represent seven different LFO
shapes. WARP and MODE controls serve various
functions. The EXPRESSION PEDAL adds extra
control, or changes functionality slightly.
SPECIAL ENVELOPE settings allow your playing
dynamics to control the filter in different ways. WARP
and MODE controls serve various functions. The
EXPRESSION PEDAL has no effect on these
settings.
MODE (& TAP/HOLD SWITCH)- This allows you to
use the LFO and SPECIAL ENVELOPE shape
settings in different ways. The four main groupings
are STEP, TRIGger LFO, MANual LFO and WARP
• STEP settings are all essentially sample/hold
filter effects.
-Select LFO SHAPE for
on selected LFO shape)
-Select SPECIAL ENVELOPE for
ENVELOPE.
TRIGger LFO
•
- Select LFO SHAPE for a single cycle
TRIGGERED LFO. (press tap/hold switch twice
to trigger)
-Select SPECIAL ENVELOPE for
TRIGGERED LFO.
MANual LFO
•
- Select LFO SHAPE for
control. (warp knob controls speed.)
- Select SPECIAL ENVELOPE for
ENVELOPE SPEED CONTROL.
controls speed range.
SPECIAL
ENVELOPE
EXP TAP WARP
CONTROLS TAP TEMPO CONTROLS
STEP RATE 1X 2X 3X & 4X ENVELOPE
(SUPERSEDES TAP) MULTIPLIERS SENSITIVITY
MAPS LFO SHAPE CONTROLS
TAP TEMPO
TO EXP. PEDAL ENVELOPE
1X RATE ONLY
(SUPERSEDES TAP) SENSITIVITY
CONTROLS LFO HOLDS LFO ADJUSTS
SPEED (WARP SPEED AT MINIMUM AND
CONTROLS RANGE) CURRENT RATE MAXIMUM SPEED
MANUAL LFO HOLDS LFO CONTROLS
SPEED CONTROL SPEED AT ENVELOPE
(SUPERSEDES TAP) CURRENT RATE SENSITIVITY
STEP FILTER (based
PIXELATED
ENVELOPE
MANUAL LFO speed
MANUAL
Warp knob
ANALOG
ENVELOPE
EXP TAP/WARP/EXP
N/A N/A
N/A N/A
N/A N/A
N/A N/A