interstellar space machine.
create expansive soundscapes and evolving, otherworldly tones. add layers upon layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity within an enveloping stereo field. infuse your rack with vintage warmth and
retrofuturistic soul.
tape delay, looper, and more.
packed with powerful features while maintaining intuitive playability, magneto is a stereo multi-head tape delay that also functions as a looper, phrase sampler, vintage spring reverb unit, phase-aligned
clock multiplier, chaotic oscillator, zero latency sub-oscillator and more, with extensive cv i/o.
transform your modular.
turn simple monophonic signals into complex orchestrations. create new oscillator tones using self-oscillation. add rich stereo dimension to your sound, and enjoy the inherent warmth and sweet, subtle
distortion characteristics of magnetic tape. magneto transforms even the smallest rack into a fully expressive, immersive instrument.
vintage vibe.
to capture the full experience and complexity of a vintage tape echo machine, every last tape system attribute was relentlessly studied and faithfully recreated. from the sought-after natural saturation and
soft clipping of magnetic tape when driven hard, to hands-on real-time controls for tape age, tape crinkle, and mechanical wow and flutter, magneto delivers a rich multi-head delay experience that adds life
and vibe to your sound.
play it like an instrument.
every function, control, gain stage, and signal path component in magneto works together to respond musically and smoothly, even during the wildest live modular improvisations. all this is combined with a
luxurious spring reverb to take the sound of your modular setup to a new level, and your sonic explorations into far-out territories.
warm up your rack
not only does magneto deliver the warm, luscious delay signals that tape delays are known for, it is also capable of a high degree of saturation. turn up the record level knob to send a hot signal to the
record head for any amount of tape saturation you desire. turn up the tape age control for warmer repeats. add some truly beautiful spring reverb. magneto adds organic heart and soul to the sound of your
modular.
otherworldly oscillator
tap in a fast delay time, crank up the repeats knob, and magneto launches into beautifully singing self-oscillation. magneto will find evolving tonalities determined by the speed/pitch setting (knob or
1v/octave cv), and the low cut and tape age knobs. press the infinite transport button to capture a particular tonality. switch to pitch quantize mode and as you turn the speed knob, magneto will play within
any of 15 selectable scales.
pitch shifted delays
in shift mode, magneto creates rhythmically pitched delays by changing the playback speed of each of the playback heads. head 1 plays back up one octave and a fifth at 3x speed, head 2 plays up one octave at
2x speed, head 3 plays down one octave at half speed (creating deep bass sounds), and head 4 plays quarter note repeats with no pitch shift. use shift mode to make things bigger and deeper, and to add melodic
and rhythmic content. in shift mode, magneto is also easily configured as a powerful zero-latency sub oscillator: just run your gate signal to the restart cv input and blend in only head 3 with the dry
signal.
spring reverb
some of the classic tape echo machines included small integrated spring reverb tanks tuned to limited bandwidth. for magneto, we captured this vintage vibe while creating a flexible, beautiful spring reverb
that stands on its own, in addition to enhancing delayed signals. the reverb circuit's gain structure is designed so that when pushed hard, it will trash up nicely to hold its own with the funkiest lo-fi
units, but when the input level is backed off, the reverb has a gorgeous, gentle character that enhances even subtle passages in a sophisticated and spacious way.
looper
just like one of our favorite moving head tape echo machines, magneto gives you a sound on sound mode (loop mode). when you enter loop mode, the machine is already recording, just like a traditional tape echo
machine. tape head 4 is the looper playback head while tape heads 1-3 provide delay repeats for the incoming signal. to set the length of your tape, press tap once to set your splice "in" point, and press tap
again to set your splice "out" point. all of the tone shaping knobs are active and affect your loop as it plays back and re-records. press tap a third time to completely erase the tape. the repeats knob
controls regeneration strength. set lower repeats level for loops that evolve over time. the maximum loop length is 15 seconds at max speed, or two minutes at minimum speed.
phrase sampler
magneto includes a phrase sampler for recording a loop that is the length between two taps of the tap button. just press the tap button once to start sample recording, again to stop recording, and a third
time to clear the sample memory. you can trigger sample playback with the restart transport button or via the restart cv input. the speed knob or speed cv determines the pitch and speed of the sample
playback.
infinity and beyond
want to just let magneto continue to generate a soundscape while you play with some other modules? in echo mode or loop mode, just press the infinite transport button at any time to disable the record head
and allow magneto to continuously play the most recent delay cycle or loop length audio. you can also engage infinite and use magneto as an oscillator.
flip it and reverse it.
in echo mode, the entire tape contents (not just the current delay time) are played backwards when you press reverse. this allows for some very trippy effects when playing back sections that included speed
manipulations or pause events. in loop or sample modes, the loop or sample length will play in reverse. you can continue recording new audio to layer with the reversed audio from the tape.
phase aligned clock multiplier/divider
each of magneto's four tape heads has its own clock cv output, phase aligned with incoming clock or tap cv signals. in echo mode with even head spacing, head 1 outputs 4/1 (16th notes), head 2 outputs 2/1
(8th notes), head 3 outputs ¾ (dotted 8th notes), while head 4 is 1/1. different values are available in triplet and shift head spacings.
mechanical tape stop/start effect
the pause transport control is part of magneto's faithful recreation of a varispeed tape delay, with mechanical slowdown when pausing and mechanical speedup when coming out of pause. the speed of this
mechanical slowdown/startup effect is user-definable.
scrub your audio clean.
when the transport has come to rest after pause is engaged, the speed knob acts as an audio scrub tool. the length of audio in the scrub buffer is determined by the position of the speed knob when pause is
engaged, from 750ms at maximum speed, to 6 seconds at minimum speed.
stereoize your modular
double your dimension. even if everything else in your rack is mono, plug into magneto's left input and enjoy instant stereo gratification. each of magneto's four playheads can have their outputs panned hard
left or right (or center). there are three pan modes: lrlr, lrrl, and (customizable) center. with all heads centered, a psycho-acoustic stereo image is produced. adding wow and flutter or the built-in spring
reverb enhances the stereo field even further.
