Idle thought

[LarsXI]

So I figured I like the sound of fuzz, but only on the attack of a note.

I'm wondering what it would be like to make a pedal that would blend your signal with some decaying  octave down fuzz controlled by an envelope follower like in envelope filters. I figure the fuzz would have a decay time. So a new note would get some fuzz that would fade out right away. The envelope follower would sense strong picking and respond by increasing fuzz amount. perhaps decay time could be dynamic as well? bandpass filter for that extra level of control?

Of course, i hardly have any idea what I'm talking about.

Thoughts?

[Mark Hammer]

The simplest approach is to use the quasi-gating properties of diodes in series with the signal path.  Remember that they won't conduct until the voltage they see exceeds some critical value.  So, if you split the signal into a clean and to-be-distorted path, and fed the second path to a back-to-back pair of diodes to provide that gating function, you would have one signal that could be blended in on a constant basis, and another that could be blended in IF it exceeded the forward voltage of the diodes.  Once the signal falls below the threshold set by the dioes, the second path fails to provide an output.

So.....

On the output side of the diodes, you stick your favourite distortion/fuzz circuit.  There will be lots of gain in that circuit, but it will only have a job to do when the input signal it receives exceeds the diode forward voltage  Germanium is probably a good choice for that "gate" as it wouldn't take much initial signal strength or gain to exceed it, and it would be a valid threshold to be crossed for a reasonable period at the outset of the note.

Then all you do is blend the fuzz output and the clean signal output.  I realize that makes it sound easier than it is, but that would be the basic idea.

[FiveseveN]

A compressor/limiter (with fast release, maybe) in front of what Mark suggested would probably help with the fact that there's a big difference in output betwen low and high strings, between pickups etc.
On a side not, I found the Tytewadd kind of does what you're looking for if you set the input level just right. Maybe the bazz fuzz too, but since they're such simple circuits and part values aren't set in stone, your mileage will certainly vary.

[LarsXI]

i like the idea of using diodes like that. much easier than an actual envelope. Perhaps a slew limiter could help create the impression of decay.

The challenge would be to get the thing to respond to playing dynamics properly.

Another thought I had was to use a similiar setup, but instead of built-in fuzz, have an A/B selector box that will let some of B into the path according to the dynamics of A. Would definitely be more useful.

[puretube]

Controfuzz`d ?