Alter X and Y

guitar pedals and desktop processors

We at Folktek have been around for years, creating unique synthesizers and audio works.

Please follow us on instagram @folktek for updates and see our other work there and on folktek.com

The widely loved and highly regarded effects of Alters 1(X) and 2(Y) were originally in eurorack format but we’ve decided to extend the processing to both guitar pedal players and studio musicians. 

There are two different pedals, each with the same design but with 7 effects unique to each.

There are two versions of the pedal which are physically identical except the name “Alter X” and “Alter Y”. Internally each has an entirely different set of 7 DSP effects meticulously designed over the course of a year by Arius Blaze (Folktek) with digital programming by Nico Raftis (Macro Machines).

For the guitar player, Alter has relay-based buffered bypass with true stereo 1/4″ ins and outs. Also utilize the CV (control voltage) over the effects controls with a CV source and/or a CV expression pedal such as the Moog EP-3 expression pedal.

For the synth player who wants a desktop effects unit, use the 1/8″ or 1/4″ ins and outs and utilize the CV over all main effects controls.

CONTROL common with both Alter X and Y

• Buffered relay-based bypass over 1/4″ inputs.

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• Controls for mix, X, Y and filter as well as clock bitrate.

• All effects have a variation of a filter which may change effect to effect.

• Touch-based effect change by touching the gold hexagon. Effects indicated by lighted control panel.
• X and Y control various rates, feedback and time over the different effects.
• Clock control adjusts the rate which controls the DSP which can drastically change the effect. In doing so it does slightly lower the quality of the output signal but the results are fantastic. This clock is not for synchronization.
• Mix, X, Y and filter all have CV control inputs.
• Trails on the guitar side. 
• Each control level or cv input is visualized on the control panel.
• Powered with included 12v negative tip supply.
• Dimensions: 6″ x 5″ x 1 3/8″

X Pedal Effects:

1. long delay
2. tight, notated granular delay
3. huge plate reverb
4. shimmering reverb
5. distortion and multi-filter
6. pitch delay
7. stutter glitch

Y Pedal Effects

1. analog delay
2. reverb with infinite capture and lp + hp filters 
3. choral reverb
4. palindrome reverse delay – backward/forward repeat
5. time stretch
6. pitch shift (notated semi-tones
7. time stretch glitch

Explorations

We’ve teamed up with some of our favorite artists, allowing them free reign to use the pedals as they like and they’ve made us an array of fantastic videos  for you to get a sampling of effects, sounds and possibilities. Please visit each to see their other work.

There will be more videos to come.

Rory Khan

Find Rory on instagram @rory_khan_mohon

Justin Melland

Find Justin Melland on instagram @justinmellandmusic

Richard Devine

Find Richard Devine on instagram @richarddevine

Nero Bellum

Find Nero Bellum on instagram @nero_bellum_official

Redstripe Down

Find Red Stripe Down on instagram @redstripedown

Official Alter videos in eurorack form allow you to get a real sense for each individual effect:

Press

Get a Folktek Alter Pedal X and Y press kit

Goals and offerings

Our goal is simple: to put things out in the world that physically reflect the beauty of the internal design. By preordering you’re helping us to do that because production can be rather costly. We’re keeping our campaign simple: order either pedal X, Y or both. Each pedal will include a power supply and orders of both pedals will also receive a power splitter.

For dealers, you’re welcome to preorder the Alters for your shop rather than wait for an entirely new run. The dealer price is reflective of our wholesale pricing when ordering 10 or more pedals.

How you can help

Please get the word out. The more successful we are with this campaign the more easily we can reach our goal by fully devoting ourselves to the project.

Shipping and Payment

We’ve already perfected the Alter circuit as we’ve been putting them out for years as eurorack modules and embedded in instruments called Resonant Gardens and Nano Gardens. We’ve gone through multiple prototypes and finalized our design of the guitar elements. We’ve teamed up with a manufacturer we’re confident in and believe we’ll have no problem reaching our ship date. That said, a ship date is only an estimation – we actually expect to be able to ship them far in advance of our ship date. We put our estimate on this quite a ways back and our goal is to fulfill our orders before the date provided, leaving ourselves, our parts suppliers and our circuit manufacturer  leeway. We’ve had other crowdfunding campaigns and have learned plenty from our mistakes and embraced our successes.