Onset Effects

In my bachlor thesis I researched the use for onset detection in guitar pedals. I looked into which onset detectors work well on electric guitars in a real-time environment. Also, I looked at the the creative possibilities that adding an onset detector to a guitar effect provides.

I found multiple possible configurations. I presented these configurations to professionals in different music-related fields. The results were quite mixed, but one configuration had a clear preference: the swell mode. The following audio clip is a demo of this swell mode.

The swell mode fades an effect in and out based on the onset detection. So, if a note of the guitar is sensed by the detector it will start a swell. Effectively changing the dry-wet balance automatically.

. .

After my Bachelor I finished my bachelor, I continued to develop the onset detector and I created a hardware prototype of this effect.

. . . . . . .

An initial test of the digital potentiometer with an Arduino to test the concept