FRONT PANEL CONNECTIONS & CONTROLS
GETTING STARTED
IMPRINT
KOMA Elektronik GmbH is a subsidiary company
of KOMA Elektronik B.V.
Vertretungsberechtigte
Geschäftsführer / Managing Director:
Christian Zollner & Wouter Jaspers
Sitz der Gesellschaft / Registered Office:
Berlin, Germany
Registergericht / Court of Registration:
Amtgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg
Registernummer : HRB 145453
Umsatzsteuer ID / VAT ID: DE285522050
KOMA Elektronik GmbH
Mahlower Strasse 24
12049 Berlin-Neukölln
Germany
REAR PANEL CONTROLS
BD 101
ANALOG GATE/
DELAY
_
USER MANUAL
1. Unpack your machine
The package comes with the BD101 pedal, a +9VDC, 500mA,
tip-negative power supply and this manual. Make sure that the
power supply is rated for the line voltage of your country: 120 VAC
for the USA, 220 VAC for Europe and most other countries.
2. Connect it
Be sure your amp or mixer is turned off, then connect your instru-
ment to the BD101 by using the AUDIO INPUT on the upper right of
the patch bay. Connect the AUDIO OUT to your amp. or mixer.
3. Set up the BD101 to a basic patch
Set all controls to a patch in basic settings.
4. Power up / Bypass
Connect the BD101 power supply to the BD101 DC input on the
backside of the pedal. Please wait to play for 5 seconds, so the
unit can warm itself up.
5. Set levels
Make sure the EFFECT ON/OFF indicator is OFF. Play your instru-
ment and adjust the volume. Press the Bypass switch and the
EFFECT ON/OFF indicator will turn green which means the effect
is now active. If necessary, adjust the INPUT GAIN control to match
the levels of the processed signal and the bypassed signal.
6. Play
Now go nuts.The most predictable results will come from play-
ing single note riffs or melodies. This is especially true when the
DELAY BLEND slider control is set to WET. You can use the Motion
Controller to adjust the DELAY TIME, GATE SPEED, GATE AMOUNT
and CYCLE. Be sure to read through the Control Voltage Theory
section to understand all CV features and their usage.
Dear new KOMA User,
Analog delays have been a specialty in musicians’ effect
artilleries for a very long time. Being loved for their
organic, physical sounds, these circuits deserve special
attention.... The way analog delays work is very similar to
the old fashioned way of extinguishing a fire by means of
a bucket brigade transferring water from the water source
to the fire, therefore called bucket brigade delays (BBD).
In these BBD effects, the sound is literally ‘poured’ from
one transistor into the next one. This process is clocked
by a special bi-phase clock causing the first transistor to
pass the signal to the second one exactly at the moment
the second transistor just finished doing that to the third
transistor and so on. Now imagine this procedure 2048
times in a row, and you have successfully delayed your
signal by simple analog means!
Amplitude modulation and gating at its most extreme form,
on the other hand, are maybe some of the oldest tools in
musicians’ repertoire to express dynamics and tension in
music with the tremolo of a violin possibly being the most
classic example.
Now, the KOMA Elektronik BD101 brings these great tools
together and takes it one step further. The bi-phase clock
of the BBD circuit on the BD101 can go into ranges never
intended by the inventors of these chips, allowing you to
go from super short delay pulses with chorus and flanger
like sounds to enormously cut-up soundscapes. If you
clock the BBD transistors in such a slow speed that the first
transistor actually misses a part of the incoming sound in
one clock phase, you are able to rip the incoming signal
completely apart. At times, it might even sound like digital
bit crushing. Because the gating/amplitude modulation
circuit is placed before the analog delay, it allows you to
cut away portions of your sound before the signal reaches
the delay. That gives you the possibility to put focus on
certain parts of your sound, e.g. a certain snare drum
sound in your drum loop.
OK, these were the basics, now get your pedal and make
some noise!
All the best from Berlin,
The KOMA Elektronik Team
The patch bay consists of ten 1/4” jack sockets that you can use for receiving and sending various audio or control voltage signals. Blank arrows mark CV inputs/outputs, black arrows mark audio
inputs/outputs. If the arrow is pointing towards the jack socket, it shows you that this is an output. If the arrow is pointing away from the jack socket, it is an input.
All CV inputs in KOMA Elektronik pedals accept bi-polar control voltages. Since the pedal runs on +9V every time you plug in a control voltage to one of the CV accepting inputs, the respective knob
(e.g. SPEED knob or SPEED IN (CV input) determines the offset voltage of your CV input signal.
Since the BD101 runs on a +9V power supply, we provide you with a trimmer for each CV input on the backside of the panel for CV signals over +/- 9V. So whenever you notice a significant distortion,
clipping in your control signal waveform or strange CV behavior, simply turn the trim pot counter-clockwise until you hear your desired result. By turning it counter-clockwise, you attenuate the in-
coming CV signal. Fully counter-clockwise means that the incoming CV signal is completely gone, whereas fully clockwise means that the incoming CV signal is arriving to the circuit unattenuated.
AMOUNT CV IN
Attenuates the incoming CV
signal.
CYCLE CV IN
Attenuates the incoming CV
signal.
DC POWER
CONNECTOR
Use only KOMA PSU to
ensure high quality
performance.
SENSOR CV OUT
Adjust the sensitivity of
the motion controller.
SPEED CV IN
Attenuates the incoming CV
signal.
DLY TIME CV IN
Attenuates the incoming CV
signal.
Wouter Jaspers Christian Zollner
Robert Kunz Hayden Moskowitz
(CV Input)
CYCLE IN 5
This CV input accepts control voltages from 0 –
9V, affecting the amount of feedback in the delay
section. The CYCLE knob determines the offset
voltage.
6 EXT. GATE
(CV Input)
Goes directly to the VCA, controlling the amount of
amplitude modulation/gate, bypasses the SPEED
and AMOUNT controls.
Input Gain
e
Adjusts gain for boosting low level input signals. By
sliding from left to right you can boost your signal
from 0 gain to 100 gain (0 to +20dB).
F
DELAY BLEND
Choose how much of the delay signal is applied to
the input signal. The slider is an equal-power pan-
ning slider meaning that it can go from completely
dry - no delay signal at all - to completely wet - only
delayed signal - with no gain loss over the whole
range of the slider.
(Audio Output)
CYCLE OUT 1
This output provides the audio
signal after the delay section,
before the DELAY BLEND slider.
Send this output to an external
effect and plug the processed
signal back into the CYCLE IN
(audio input) to control the sound
of the feedback. The volume of
this signal is determined by the
CYCLE control.
(CV Input)
AMOUNT 2
Controls the amount of ampli-
tude modulation/gate applied to
the incoming audio signal. The
AMOUNT control determines the
offset voltage.
(Audio Output)
AUDIO out 3
The main audio output of the
BD101
(CV Input)
SPEED 4
Sets the speed of the LFO
that controls the amplitude
modulation. If turned fully counter
clockwise, the speed is slowest. If
fully clockwise, it is fastest.
SPEED
A
Controls the speed of the ampli-
tude modulation/gate LFO. The
SPEED control determines the off-
set voltage.
AMOUNT
b
Chooses the impact of the gate/
amplitude modulation section.
When turned fully counter clock-
wise the input signal isn’t affected
by the LFO. When fully clockwise, it
completely gates the signal.
SHAPE
c
Sets the shape of the amplitude
modulation/gate, selecting either
ramp, square or sawtooth.
FOOTSWITCH
d
Heavy duty Alpha foot switch
turning the effect on and off.
When the effect is turned off, the
signal will will be passed through
without being affected, true by-
pass!
7 CYCLE IN
(Audio Input)
The sound source plugged in
here will arrive at the feedback
insert point of the BD101 delay
section. Use this insert point
together with the CYCLE OUT to
change the behaviour/sound of
your feedback cycle. The internal
feedback circuit is broken by
plugging into this jack.
8 DLY TIME
(CV Input)
Controls the delay time of the
delay circuit. The TIME control
determines the offset voltage.
9 AUDIO in
(Audio Input)
This is the main audio input of the
BD101
10 SENSOR
(CV Output)
Output of the infrared motion
sensor. The closer you move
something towards the sensor,
the higher the CV rises. Sensor
output is 0-8V.
j
CYCLE
Controls the amount of delayed
and amplitude modulation signal
flowing back into the delay circuit,
representing the amount of feed-
back in the delay circuit.
i
TIME
Set fully clockwise, it will give a
super short delay of 1ms. Turning
it clockwise will give longer delay
times. At around 100ms, there is
a degradation of the overall sound
comparable to digital bit crushing
effects.
H
RANGE
Chooses between three different
speeds: low, mid, and high.
g
Sensor
Emits a CV signal that can be
patched up with any CV receptive
socket on KOMA products and i.e.
your modular system. By moving
your hand over the sensor you can
control the parameters of the CV
input patched to it.
