if you heavily distored a envelope filter, could it sound like an explosion?

[gez]

And please bear in mind it's Xmas...lots of forumites busy doing other things.

[petemoore]

  To work on something like this requires a plan, the Ugly Face supplies that.
  Just getting one of those to work is challenge enough, it is quite well designed, figureing out just how that works of course would also be fascilitated by the building and debugging, many questions would have a 'concrete basis' [known working schematic etc.], and some of the answers to very specific questions might necessarily be adressed, about envelope type effect would not only be answered but demonstrated by the build.
  I would think some type of fairly simple Env Detection build/breadboarding is a fundamental step to designing them.
  "Building a FF is one thing, getting it to work is another...
  Jumping into Env Fil design like it is elemental probably does expose you to lots of info, which is good, taxing to the capitulating typist...I can say you have surfaced some great reads in the answers, I got 'straightened out' on a few things myself.
  The dots on otherwise empty thread ... it's as though an answer is expected, immediately, no one is obligated to teach you here. Great advice is offered. The rush to gain information could be directed to reading...there is a fantastic source of references online, GEO, data sheets, semiconductor instruction, all there, well written and thought out over time. Taking the time to read this is invaluable to learning it.
  If you are new to it, some of it will be incomprehensible and require research to comprehend...reading about 'how to read' electronics also improves 'how to ask questions about' electronics.
  Kudos for illiciting a great crash course in Env Fil/Dist thread.
  Happy Holidays !!!

[bwanasonic]

The *old-fashoned* way to get this effect live, was to turn up the reverb on your amp and give it a swift kick. Keep in mind that the novelty of an explosion effect would wear off very rapidly for your audience. If you really need an explosion sound for dramatic purposes, it probably makes just as much sense to trigger a sample or recording. I do seem to remember someone posting about a Zoom multi-effects that had an *exposion* effect. Maybe it's just me, but the "Hey Ma, my guitar sounds like a bomb!" thing just doesn't sound that appealing.

Kerry M

[petemoore]

The *old-fashoned* way to get this effect live, was to turn up the reverb on your amp and give it a swift kick.
  I refrained from typing this, but it's the old fashioned way allrighty.
  Keep in mind that the novelty of an explosion effect would wear off very rapidly for your audience.
  Another good point, momentary switch could be used, as the 'phrase' of the sound signature you desire is generally couted in seconds.
  If you really need an explosion sound for dramatic purposes, it probably makes just as much sense to trigger a sample or recording. I do seem to remember someone posting about a Zoom multi-effects that had an *exposion* effect. Maybe it's just me, but the "Hey Ma, my guitar sounds like a bomb!" thing just doesn't sound that appealing.
  That type of sound signature is rather 'restrictive' as far as something that can be 'played'.

[Gladmarr]

is this the return of Walters?

...oh, I'm bad!   

[Gladmarr]

"the old fashioned way"  this is a danelectro spring king reverb being kicked...

bomb.mp3

[gez]

is this the return of Walters?

No, Walters Lite...

[Joe Kramer]

I second Pete's kick-a-reverb-tank method.  (EDIT: Apologies Kerry, you said it first.  I read too fast!)

Or give a listen to Hendrix doing "The Star-Spangled Banner."  Heavy, heavy fuzz and the intermodulation caused by slamming all strings open and bottomed out by the whammy bar =  a blast of white noise. 

[petemoore]

  Somebody else mentioned first, but they must have read my mind, that Is the classic thunder. Once for each customer is enough though  really.
  Cool thing about it is that it requires only a reverb tank output connection, no power supply.
  It is kind of like a guitar with a long vibrating straight thing, and a pickup at/near one end.
  Try reverb with a string/spring that low also does low frequency. Some compression and actual reverb added betweeen output of the thunder machine and output speaker may add to the realism.

[Mark Hammer]

"Explosion" is kind of a vague descriptor.  There are things that can SOUND explosion-like (such as putting the boot to a spring reverb), but I guess the question that has not been asked by anyone so far is "What sort of explosion?".  The fastest way to figure out how to mimic a sound is to *describe* the sound in terms of specific dimensions.  So, you need to think about how to describe how it starts, how long it lasts, how it transitions over time (i.e., the lifespan of a note), etc.  Once you can say what *happens* in enough detail, determining how to produce is easy.

So, take a few steps back, forget about naming anything just yet, and decide what it is you want specifically.

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

i have an idea, but it might not be exactly what you are looking for...

you could use the click that switching circuits causes, but create a bandpass filter to cut out those mids and retain the bass/treble. if you design a circuit specifically to click when a momentary switch is pressed (sounds like every guitarists's nightmare, but...) i imagine you could have an explosion every time you stepped on the switch.

if you actually want a distinguishable note every time you play the guitar (carpet bombing in D minor?) this wouldn't work... but for a little sound effect (NOT processing) this might do the trick.

pulldown resistors need not apply 

[JCM1959]

I have always been able to get a nice bomb sound, and even teh incoming shell sound by hitting a false harmonic on one of the unwound strings around the 12th fret and using a tremolo bar to simulate the incoming shell and the explosion sound by dumping the tremolo bar to slack strings and hammering on and pulling off on the lower three strings.  Takes a bit of practice but through a cranked amp that has a bunch of distortion on it and some verb, its very convincing.  I think you might be trying to reinvent the wheel on this one.  Its easy to accomplish an explosion effect noise with stuff that is already out there.  Just use your imagination a bit.  Using the method I just suggested above plus kicking a reverb tank at the prescribed moment would probably get you exactly what you want without stressing about having to design a whole new pedal.

[petemoore]

  How about white noise that turns to bass rumble with white noise, with the whole envelope lasting say 3/84ths of a second.

[bwanasonic]

So, take a few steps back, forget about naming anything just yet, and decide what it is you want specifically.

And why you want it…

Kerry M

[varialbender]

Walters? heh, I'm new here, so I've never seen him here, but someone with the name walters has shown up on the HCFX forum asking retarded questions and battling people for answers. He was pretty pissed when someone linked to this forum in the flanger/phaser clock thread that would answer his question. He wouldn't even look at it. Same guy?

[jrc4558]

I have always been able to get a nice bomb sound, and even teh incoming shell sound by hitting a false harmonic on one of the unwound strings around the 12th fret and using a tremolo bar to simulate the incoming shell and the explosion sound by dumping the tremolo bar to slack strings and hammering on and pulling off on the lower three strings.  Takes a bit of practice but through a cranked amp that has a bunch of distortion on it and some verb, its very convincing. 

Amen!

[troubledtom]

I have always been able to get a nice bomb sound, and even teh incoming shell sound by hitting a false harmonic on one of the unwound strings around the 12th fret and using a tremolo bar to simulate the incoming shell and the explosion sound by dumping the tremolo bar to slack strings and hammering on and pulling off on the lower three strings.  Takes a bit of practice but through a cranked amp that has a bunch of distortion on it and some verb, its very convincing. 

Amen!

25yrs and still doing it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     - tom

[Transmogrifox]

  How about white noise that turns to bass rumble with white noise, with the whole envelope lasting say 3/84ths of a second.

This actually works incredibly well with my envelope filter.  I haven't recorded any of that type of sound yet, but it comes out the most rumbly and powerful sounding through a cranked amp.  I insert my white noise send, and set the envelope filter on reverse sweep, high resonance, start freq.  real low, and mix some white noise with the guitar.  The harder I pick, the lower it dives and the more rumbly it gets, though I don't think of it as a bomb sound, rather, more like thunder or a large machine.

Here's a recording of what a guitar can sound like process through an envelope filter with high gain distortion being fed into the filter post envelope detector input:

http://media.putfile.com/Chaos27

It's no musical masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination.  I broke a string on my guitar and started just messing with it all out of tune to the rythm of the drum track in the background (breaking a string sets everything all weird on a guitar with a tremolo system). After recording in the guitar tracks I unplugged the guitar and just messed with the envelope filter parameters with the white noise generator plugged into the filter, thus the hissing, air compressor sounding blasts and other white noise sounding stuff going on at non-rythmic intervals.  I did add a tremolo effect to the white noise track, and then some delay and phaser to the last 15 seconds as it comes to an end, but all the other sounds are purely DIY envelope filter and DIY distortion pedal

[petemoore]

   Edit
  I'm trying to figure that out. 

[Ge_Whiz]

Buy and re-box a cheap voice-recorder type sampler with a footswitch trigger. Buy or borrow a sound effects CD with an 'explosion' sound. Record sound on cheap sampler. Connect to amp.

When you and everyone else is heartily sick of repeated 'explosion' sounds, wipe it and record something else.