Stutterphone v2
The Stutterphone is one of the first ideas I ever conceptualized as Simon The Magpie. I made the first versions long before I had plans to make my own pedal company. Originally I just took the input signal and wired it through the mechanics of a vintage rotary telephone. So that when you spin the dial it disconnects the signal and you get a stutter effect. So when I started up “Magpie Pedals” I naturally wanted to create an official design based on this concept.
The main difference is actually that I changed which type of vintage rotary telephone I use. Sourcing one that has a BIG RED BUTTON instead which if wired correctly can also disconnect your signal. Perfect for manual stuttering!
I also incorporated a fuzz circuit to spice it up a bit and in the V.2 edition I turned to Analog Weapon to add memory to the stuttering so that you can loop your own patterns.
Stutterphone v2 User Guide
The pedal uses 9VDC power (2.1mm jack: center-negative).
1. Info:
The Stutterphone is built upon one of my oldest pedal ideas. Originally taking apart vintage rotary phones and simply passing the signal through the inside mechanics to use both the rotary dial and big red button as killswitches.
In the new Stutterphone V.2 the signal is never mechanically broken. Instead the rotary dial and big red button are connected to a microcontroller that controls a silencer I have designed. This is to avoid the pop sounds occuring when mechanically cutting an audio signal.
For the first Stutterphone I also designed a fuzz. This is of course included in the Stutterphone V.2. But I have now added a clean mix so you can dial it in yourself. I also tweaked the volume knob to double as a clean boost.
N.B. It’s worth noting that the silencer is connected directly to the output of the signal, meaning that it’s the last thing that happens in the signal chain and will silence completely regardless of clean/fuzz.
On the back of the Stutterphone V.2 there is an additional red button. This button inverts the function of the microcontroller. Meaning that the Stutterphone is set to silent and only lets audio pass through on “button presses” and the clear mini pot lights up white to indicate whenever the signal is silenced.
Modes
The Stutterphone V.2 has two different modes of operation. Press and hold the bypass footswitch for about 2 seconds to switch modes:
- Red Mode (Manual/Original): Manually use the big red button or rotary dial to either silence your signal or let it pass through - depending on the backmounted red button. The Stutterphone V.2 always starts in RED mode when powering up.
- Green Mode (Loop): In loop mode you can record up to 10 moments of signal/silence on a constant loop. These moments can range in time, but can only be recorded with the big RED button (not the rotary dial). After 10 moments you will start to overwrite loop. To erase all your recorded moments you simply press and hold the big RED button for a couple of seconds.
The loop length is controlled with either the clear mini pot or with a 5V CV Clock connected to the 3.5mm jack on the back. With a clock source connected you can use the rotary dial to “skip” steps. Simply dial up a number and the microcontroller will disregard that number of clock steps before it restarts the loop.
N.B. The Red/Green LED blinks orange every time the loop restarts.
When changing back to RED MODE your last loop will stay in GREEN MODE until the pedal is powered off.
2. Controls:
The bottom-left “X” knob is your Mix control. From dry to fuzz.
The bottom-center “F” knob is your Fuzz control. Blend between two different fuzzes. Counter clockwise for a cleaner fuzz and clockwise for gnarly fuzz.
The bottom-right “V” knob is your Volume Control. Used to both attenuate the signal when using fuzz and as a clean (or fuzz) boost.
The Clear Mini-Pot: to the right of “V” sets the loop length in “green/loop mode”. Counter clockwise for shorter loop and clockwise for longer loop. It works by counting a set amount of time before restarting the loop. Spanning from super short to around 10 seconds. The pot counting is not disconnected when the Stutterphone is externally clocked with the 3.5mm jack. The best idea is to simply set it to fully clockwise, but it’s also easy to experiment with polyrythmic loops.
This mini-pot lights up white whenever the signal is silenced.
The Footswitch: is both your bypass button and the button you hold to switch between red/green modes.