Lifeforms Analog Replicator

Bucket Brigade Analog Delay

The Analog Replicator was redesigned from scratch to be the finest analog delay available with a sound and feature set focused around the modular synthesizer. Our original Analog Delay module grew out of the circuitry of a guitar pedal. The new Analog Replicator module does not share the same stompbox lineage. Michael Johnsen, Pittsburgh Modular's analog engineer, created a modern BBD core fed by a unique clock source and proprietary signal processing circuits. The result is a flexible, more musical, eurorack delay module.

At the heart of the Analog Replicator is a pair of 4,096 stage BBD chips. The name BBD stands for [B]ucket [B]rigade [D]evice in reference to a line of people passing buckets of water to quickly extinguish a fire. Each stage of a BBD chip contains a single capacitor. Pairing two chips together creates a chain of 8,192 capacitors. Like the water buckets, an audio signal is passed from capacitor to capacitor within the BBD chips once every clock step. A slower clock produces a longer delay and a faster clock produces a shorter delay.

The controls of the Analog Replicator can be used to produce a wide range of delay effects. The STAGES switch flips between 4,096 and 8,192 BBD stages. 4,096 uses a single BBD chip and 8,192 uses two. Using both BBD chips doubles the available delay time, perfect for echos and longer delays. Using a single BBD is useful for reverb and chorus effects. The SHORT/LONG switch drastically adjusts the delay range. The SHORT mode produces bright, clean analog repeats. LONG mode is dark and grimy. Mud and clock noise (whine) begin to leak in and eventually take over as the Analog Replicator reaches the longest available delay time of 2.6 seconds.

https://pittsburghmodular.com/lifeforms-analog-replicator