ring modulators: diode vs. multiply (and praise for WOK)

[foosnark]

Supposedly, all you have to do to ring modulate against a sine carrier signal is multiply. But honestly, I've long thought that it's a far cry from diode-based analog ring modulation. People have argued with me about it, that literally all ring modulation is is multiplication, but my ears tell me different. So I had plans to build a passive ring modulator from a kit.

Enter Pedal Genie, who sent me a Moog MF Ring pedal to try. It's an analog ring modulator, with a sine carrier ranging from about 79-1500 Hz, an expression pedal input, tone control and mix knob.

Yes, it absolutely does sound richer than a simple multiply.

However! Two plugins compared very favorably with the MF Ring in A-B tests and in matching left/right channels:

-- Guitar Rig 5's ringmod (which I've read is supposed to emulate the MoogerFooger ringmod to some degree), when "Ring" is at 100% and "FM" is at 0%

-- WOK's RING-O in Diode mode.

The pedal added a bit more sustain and rolled off some highs, and maybe had a little saturation going on or other "analog magic". It was also a little easier to tune. But in terms of the actual effect, it was too close to get picky about.

Meanwhile, RING-O has a much wider frequency range and MIDI control and other features -- frankly I find the freeware is better than the $150 pedal.

Other ring modulators I tried (MDA Ringmod, Dyner, and MRingModulator) just didn't sound the same. Not necessarily bad, but definitely not the same.

[foosnark]

(As an aside, I also tried voltage-starving the MF Ring with a DanElectrode. As the voltage dropped, the oscillator frequency went up and volume went down. At some threshhold the oscillator stopped entirely and the circuit just distorted the input. Nothing terribly exciting to be had there.)

[218]

Wok sounds awesome but I personally prefer BJ Ring modulator http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=auc2aglXfP4
Could we expect one of your upcoming plugs to be some kind of experimental Ring mod ?

[whyterabbyt]

Supposedly, all you have to do to ring modulate against a sine carrier signal is multiply. But honestly, I've long thought that it's a far cry from diode-based analog ring modulation. People have argued with me about it, that literally all ring modulation is is multiplication, but my ears tell me different. So I had plans to build a passive ring modulator from a kit..

I'd be pretty surprised if any 'simple multiplier' plugin actually did sound like a real transformer/diode ring-modulator, TBH. Im not even convinced four-quadrant multiplier sound completely like a transformer/diode ring modulator. And obviously the bandwidth etc of the transformer will have its own effect. (The DIY one Ive done has pretty el-cheapo audio matching transformers (LT44?), a far cry from eg the Edcore's in this thread http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=79464)

Harold Bode also draws attention to a distinct difference in operation between the results of using silicon and germanium diodes in a transformer/diode modulator (Fig. 8 "History of Electonic Sound Modification", see link at http://www.sdiy.info/w/Harald_Bode)

[BDeep]

-- Guitar Rig 5's ringmod (which I've read is supposed to emulate the MoogerFooger ringmod to some degree), when "Ring" is at 100% and "FM" is at 0%

-Guitar Rig, for every effect you'll ever need, but you'll always forget you have-

(or is it just me that I never ever think of GR when I'm in search for an effect? I was even about to buy a new delay when I found just what I needed inside GR...)

[foosnark]

Wok sounds awesome but I personally prefer BJ Ring modulator http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=auc2aglXfP4
Could we expect one of your upcoming plugs to be some kind of experimental Ring mod ?

BJ sounds pretty much like MDA to me. It's mostly a difference of feaures (LFO vs. feedback).

As far as my own plugins, eh, it's a possibility. Right now I'm trying to educate myself on DSP so I have a better grasp of the building blocks I can put together and how to abuse them.

I'd be pretty surprised if any 'simple multiplier' plugin actually did sound like a real transformer/diode ring-modulator, TBH. Im not even convinced four-quadrant multiplier sound completely like a transformer/diode ring modulator. And obviously the bandwidth etc of the transformer will have its own effect. (The DIY one Ive done has pretty el-cheapo audio matching transformers (LT44?), a far cry from eg the Edcore's in this thread http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=79464)

Harold Bode also draws attention to a distinct difference in operation between the results of using silicon and germanium diodes in a transformer/diode modulator (Fig. 8 "History of Electonic Sound Modification", see link at http://www.sdiy.info/w/Harald_Bode)

Makes sense. I have just been hearing the "ringmod = multiply" thing for so long, when it seemed to me like all those DX-7 presets with "Analog" in the name that shouldn't be fooling anybody.

-Guitar Rig, for every effect you'll ever need, but you'll always forget you have-

A lot of Guitar Rig's stuff sounds somewhere between terrible and mediocre to me, so yeah, I tend to forget about the things in it that are actually good.

[WOK]

Hello and thanks for the compliments. 
Hint: using mathematical multiplikation would be a perfect ring modulator, which does not exist in the analog world. So the diode type in Ring-O implements some distortion / asymmetry.   Also because of the generated overtones oversampling is necessary.