Melusine IV

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Melusine IV, a successor to Melusine III, the next generation vinyl/phonograph emulating device combines a few tools and effects to process the incoming mono or stereo signal and give it a wide range of retro Lo-Fi sounds.

Gentle vibrato with special randomised waveform, versatile high pass or band pass filter, a crossover distortion emulating broken electronics and a complex multi layer fully live generated noise, crackle, thump, scratch mixture - all these tools are available to make the audio material go on the time travel to the past. Long before humanity invented more compact digital ways to degrade the signal (a future version of Melusine might turn into a 128kbit mp3 emulator, who knows...).

To ensure the Melusine will degrade the signal only when asked to, it is equipped with a reliable relay based stereo true bypass. No active components in the path.

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Placement:

The most effective way to use Melusine is to place it at the end of the complete signal chain. Not always possible with classic guitar setups, but ideally the best place would be even after the speaker simulation part, if used. This way the filtering will alter the final signal and the extra layers of noises will not be affected by the guitar speaker response. However, experimenting with different setups is not discouraged and might lead to interesting new results.

Example 1. Classic guitar mono setup with pedals in front of an amp:

• Place the Melusine as the last effect in chain, just before the amplifier's input.

Example 2. Classic guitar mono setup with pedals in front of an amp and an effect loop:

• Place the Melusine as the last effect in the FX loop, just before the Loop Return.
• In case if using a "dummy speaker" as load for direct recording - process the line level signal coming out from the load box.
  Never plug the pedal directly to the speaker output!

Example 3. Using guitar amp modellers or external speaker emulators like IR loaders etc.:

• Place the Melusine after the speaker emulator, ideally using stereo output.

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Start/Stop effects:

The needle scratch/drop sound effects know from the Melusine III has been expended to 5 in total:

1. Needle scratch. Hold down the Start/Stop footswitch while the effect is ON. Ends in Mute state (no audio passthrough).
2. Needle drop. Hold down the Start/Stop footswitch while the effect is OFF or in Mute state. Ends in Effect On state (normal operation).
3. Needle skip, repeating the last ~800ms of audio material. Simulates needle jumping between two tracks. Double press the Start/Stop footswitch to enable/disable that effect.
4. Slow down. Short press the Start/Stop footswitch while the effect is ON. Ends in Mute state (no audio passthrough).
5. Slow start/Speed up. Short press the Start/Stop footswitch while the effect is OFF or in Mute state. Ends in Effect On state (normal operation).

The main LED shows the current status when using the Start/Stop effects:

• Needle Skip - slow flashing.
• Mute state - after Needle Scratch or Slow Down - fast flashing.

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Using presets:

Melusine IV can store 4 presets of favourite sounds. The presets are also used to ensure the pedal always starts up with the same settings, being the last used preset. Pieces of sticky tape securing the knobs in one position during the transport are no longer necessary.

Changing the preset:

1. Hold down the On/Off footswitch, pedal will enter a preset-change mode indicated by a blinking preset led.
2. A steady lit led shows the current preset, keep pressing the On/Off footswitch to browse for a new preset, indicated by a blinking led.
3. Once a new preset is chosen, press and hold On/Off to activate it.

Editing the preset:

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Auto ON mode:

This is a special mode included for situations when the pedal is used with externally controlled bypass loopers. To avoid the need to turn on the pedal every time the power is applied it can be set to do it automatically. When enabled, Auto ON will make the pedal start in ON state on every power up.

Toggling the Auto ON feature

1. Power off the pedal.
2. Hold down the Start/Stop footswitch and apply the power.
3. Auto ON will be enabled/disabled, depending on the previous state. Status will be shown on the preset LED bar.

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Setting the input gain:

It might be necessary to adjust the input gain of the pedal to match the output level of the instrument. An example would be a guitar with a very low output pickups resulting in limited distortion range (gate cutting off too early). On the other hand, too hot pickups will result in signal clipping.

The rule of thumb for an optimal gain value is to set it in a way the signal will be around unity gain when the Level knob is at maximum.

To change the input gain do the following steps:

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Factory reset:

Factory reset will restore the listed parameters to default ones:

1. Default settings for all 4 presets.
2. Input gain setting.
3. Auto ON mode disabled.

Performing the factory reset:

1. Power off the pedal.
2. Press and hold down both footswitches On/Off + Start/Stop.
3. Apply the power to the pedal.
4. Factory reset will be performed, once done the Preset leds will bounce left to right and back a few times, indicating success.

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Alarm messages:

Melusine IV monitors its supply voltage and shows alarm messages when something is impacting it's correct operation.

In case a problem with the power supply is detected and the voltage drops below an acceptable level, pedal will go into bypass and start to blink all Preset LEDs 3 times. Press On/Off to reboot the pedal. If it happens again, check the power supply. It means there are voltage drops, most likely due to insufficient output current. Try a 9VDC output/adapter with a higher output current.