Lord Of The Wah

The Lord Of The Wah is a voltage controlled wah-wah module for modular synthesizers creating a wide panel of sound effects from soft funky to wild acid industrial. As an inductor based filter with a distortion in its feedback loop it can create very rich harmonic content. It can be controlled by voltage, clock pulses, or by its included envelope filter.

The frequency knob sets the resonant frequency spot, as on a classic synth filter. Turning the frequency knob from counter clockwise to clockwise is like moving a wah pedal with the foot from minimum to maximum. We can adjust the Q factor with the corresponding knob.

A wah-wah is a variable bandpass filter, we can use the Lord Of The Wah in its classic Bandpass mode, but a toggle switch gives us the option to get a Highpass and a Lowpass mode to accentuate the bright or low frequencies, the lowpass mode will really boost sub/bass sounds but will be hardly noticeable with high-pitch material.

There are 5 selectable frequency ranges for the bandpass sweep : Soprano, Mezzo, Alto, Tenor and Bass.

The action knob gives the possibility to choose a very deep or softer sweep. When the action is at its deepest position (fully counter-clockwise) it brings awesome harmonic content but when the source is a week signal it can be a bit noisy due to the huge amount of gain in the feedback loop, not an issue at all but something to know, it’s a wild beast to ride.

The Gain knob is the secret weapon, you’ll discover how it will bring weird and wild harmonics making your sequence sound like an untamed didgeridoo. The good thing is that this can be voltage controlled by one of the 2 CV inputs.

In addition of the 2 CV inputs, the sweep can be triggered by a gate or trig signal (“clock” input), or by the envelope of the input sound, of course you must plug the LOTW after the VCA to use this internal envelope follower : it’s the “Autowah” knob. All these control voltages (blue knobs) can be gently mixed together. Negative voltages in the CV inputs will provoke glitch, some might like it, but if you want to avoid glitch with a +/-5V LFO plugged into a CV input, just raise the frequency knob between “4” and “5” to raise the offset and it will be fine.

Somehow The LOTW is halfway between a VCF and an effect, this is why it’s also cool to get a bypass switch.

Handmade module, built with high-end, long lasting parts and switches.