Fender Runaway Feedback. HOW?

[drolo]

I just came across this video and found the effect quite interresting.
It is said to be a digital processing efffect, but any idea how they achieve this?

Is it the same as panning between dry sound and say a Whammy octave up?
It sounds a it more complex than that, i'm afraid...

Is anyone a bit kowledgeable on the theory of feedback and what frequencies are produced?

[Johan]

Fuzz pedal with small amount of foot controlled positive feedback?  I think boss had a similar thing on one of their od's back in the nineties (an expression pedal jack on the side)

[ashcat_lt]

I love the fact that only the first guy is playing a Fender guitar.

[midwayfair]

I love the fact that only the first guy is playing a Fender guitar.

Fender owns the companies that manufacture the other guitars in the video.

I'm also betting a positive feedback loop is part of this, unless it's all digital.

[drolo]

It says it is digital. There seems to be some octave up going on but there seems to be more than just that.

[haveyouseenhim]

Is there a diy project out there that can do this? Someone asked me about something like this the other day.

[deadastronaut]

sustainer in a box....cool.

very interested in this...diy of course!

[artifus]

can't check the vid right now but is this like the boss feedbacker? 4046 i think.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=96906.0;prev_next=next

[Mark Hammer]

Not a sustainer, as we have come to know them.  The Fernandes Sustainer is an electromechanical system that keeps the string moving.

With this system, the string keeps the circuit going.

I have both a Line 6 Dr. Distorto and a Boss DF-2.  The DF-2 was the original of this type of effect, as near as I can tell.  It works by tracking the pitch of the note with a phase-locked loop, and produces a synthetic note.  Well, more accurately, it produces two synthetic notes: one an octave up, and the other at pitch.  You can blend how much of one or the other you want.

Where it differs from this Runaway pedal (which I quite liked, I should note) is that the response time of the DF-2 is slow, and is either on or off.  It has a fixed rise time, to simulate the build-up to the point of feedback, but the RUnaway appears to have more user control.  The Dr. Distorto works very similarly to the DF-2, but has adjustable rise and fall time, and also tracks the pitch MUCH better than the DF-2 does.  But then, that's the magic of digital, compared to analog.  The Runaway seems to go a step or two further in terms of mimicing what happens in the real world.  The foot treadle seems to let you do exactly what you'd be doing if you pointed your guitar more in the direction of the speakers, or move away from them.  In other words, much greater real-time manipulation and performance control, compared to the cruder or more refined presets of the DF-2 and Dr. Distorto.

An impressive product, IMHO.  It seems like whoever made up the design team sat down and enumerated all the things that were experientially different about producing feedback, compared to simply the sonic results.  A tip of the hat.

[drolo]

Still trying to figure out if something similar can be achieved using a Whammy somehow... ARrrhh, will need to build some panning device to try it out  ! :-)

[woody alien]

According to Fender's site, that pedal is based on Softube's plug-in(VST?). One reviewer says, "It only works on clear single notes. Chords and raggedy playing leave it stumped".

Anyways, that demo sounds rather impressing, and natural. Makes me to want one.

Diy'ers might have to wait for some time, as this seems to be quite a new product. Unless you are willing to buy one for hacking purposes.

I'm quite sure, that clones/variables of this pedal are to be expected.