If you dig effects pedals, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard, seen and/or played something from Mantic Effects. If you have ears, there’s also a good chance you’ve come across an artist named Jack White….many, many times, some probably without you even knowing it. Jack’s record label Third Man Records and Mantic have teamed up for today’s featured pedal, the Flex TMR PLL Monophonic Synth Fuzz. Sound fun? You better believe that it is, so let us take you down a wild wormhole of noise and sound…
The Flex is a PLL, which stands for Phase Locked Loop. It uses the input signal’s frequency and phase to control the output of the internal oscillator (VCO) in lock step. Huh? Well, it sounds badass, so you needn’t worry too much about the tech specs. The controls are few but powerful, leading to a bit of experimentation to figure out exactly what they all do. LVL sets the output amplitude level, FOCUS sets the frequency lock range and PUMP controls the resistance amount between the VCO input and the phase comparator. The FOCUS dial behaves like an “attack” kind of function, working together with the PUMP parameter to determine the VCO’s tracking stability. PUMP will also change the length of the VCO discharge (divebomb).
There are a couple of toggle switches here as well, to keep things interesting. The “$” switch lets you choose between two ranges of decay length, while “&” toggles between two “attack” ranges. These add to the thick, phase sweeping squarewaves, pitch divebombs, brutal bitcrushed octaves and fluttery theremin-esque squawks that the Flex is capable of, widening your eardrums and expanding your thoughts on music creation in general.
In addition to the two eccentric entities responsible for this pedal coming to fruition, the Flex has also been used by Adrian Belew, Nick Reinhart and Ikey Owens, to name drop a few. If you’re in the market for glitched out pitch-mod growls with cerebrum piercing sqwuelches, angry-duck-funk quack, and gargling stutters, for starters, this is a pedal you’re going to want to check out. Thanks to Mantic for letting us take it for a spin, and thanks to Third Man Records and Jack White for, you know, the music. Please peruse our demo below, and, as always, don’t forget to Subscribe to our YouTube channel! Cheers!
GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES, CONTEST INFO, SEE OUR LATEST DEMO VIDEOS AND MORE:
