BugCrushers (2006-14)

Description

I came up with the idea of BugCrushing maybe around 2006 (though I’m sure others must tried such techniques before..) and made a range of designs over the years. Sample & Hold (S&H) is usually found as a modulation source in synths – a waveform/voltage is ‘sampled’ each time a clock event occurs (eg. triggered by an lfo) and a typical use has them fed with White Noise so that each sampling produces a random voltage. But run things at audio rates (just takes a few component changes) and you uncover a great audio effect – sample rate reduction and done in a pure & simple analogue fashion. Look up aliasing, Nyquist, etc.

Early designs used the expensive AD781 chip but I managed to develop simpler approaches – plans were published via the WorkshopCrusher project.

The approach was also taken to the modular with the PRC2 BugCrusher and PRC2B NoiseCrusher.

The image gallery shows:
Main pic – MicroCrusher (2010)
BugCrusher08 x 2, BugCrusherMicro (2008), BabyBugCrusher (2007)

Some manuals:
BabyBugCrusher (Early AC pwr)    BabyBugCrusher9V
BugCrusher08
MicroCrush08    UCrusher10