Fairfield Circuitry Placeholder Analog Reverb
|
|
|
Anything new from Fairfield Circuitry gets us excited...
Any new Reverb gets us excited...
Any FULL ANALOG BUCKET BRIGADE Reverb gets us REALLY excited..
Combine all three and we can barely function today.
The new Placeholder from Fairfield Circuitry is a true Analog representation of a Digital Reverb Algorithm using Bucket Brigade Devices, Voltage Controlled Amplifiers, Mixers, and Filters. Not only is it a marvel of engineering, but the results are sonically phenomenal.
They call it "Householder"; which allows for three independent delay lines, along with the Householder Feedback Matrix to produce a Reverb that is very unlike anything we can think of currently on the market.
Big metallic rooms, expansive or tiny tiled bathrooms, flirtation with plate and spring are all possible with Placeholder. The one reverb we could think to compare it to sonically is the highly coveted "Hypersleep" by Electronic Audio Experiments (which is long discontinued and demands nearly twice what these babies go for).
From FC:
A type of reverb that sits between the mechanical and algorithmic devices of yesteryears. Creating uncanny liminal spaces, reminiscent of a time that never was. A time that is now. This is not a delay that sounds like reverb, but a reverb that sometimes sounds like a delay. Yes, the signal path is all analogue. Expect noise and that magic we all love.
Placeholder is an analogue implementation of a digital reverb algorithm using BBDs, mixers, VCAs and simple yet tasty filters. The topology in question is called Householder, allowing quick echo density even with only three delay-lines.
There's no denying the power of algorithmic representation of our daily activities. But let's not forget that the complex-system underlying our lived experience, the background noise and uncertainty, is intrinsic.
The tension between a perfect algorithm and the limits of analogue implementation has given much depth to the experience of designing this product. Hopefully, this will transpose to the user’s experience as intuitiveness and inspiration.
Three independent analogue delay-lines act as foundation to this particular type of feedback-delay-network. A householder-reflection feedback matrix (figure 1) creates context for quick echo density; every delay line feeds back only to every other delay line. The excitation is looking for the longest way out.
Surprisingly, this analogue implementation of a basic digital reverb algorithm sounds quite unique. Creating space that is both familiar and unusual.
HIGHLIGHTS
Truly unique approach; analogue emulation of a digital reverb algorithm using bucket brigade devices. The signal path is all-analogue. Controls altogether allow for a surprising array of possibilities:
• large bingo halls
• bathrooms and shower stalls
• spring-like flavours
• semblance of plate reverbs
• unrealistically small rooms