Electro-Harmonix Iron Lung Instruction Manual

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Iron Lung

Vocoder

Congratulations on your purchase of the Electro-Harmonix Iron Lung Vocoder. The Iron Lung
is a versatile and easy to use vocoder in a compact pedal format. Musicians no longer need
large rack equipment, computer plugins, or large keyboards to get a wide array of classic and
modern vocoder sounds. The Iron Lung includes the same popular vocoding algorithm as the
V-256.

Special Features of the Iron Lung:

 256 band Vocoder
 TONE and GENDER BENDER controls
 Guitar Bypass or Split Guitar/Vocal Bypass (requires Insert Cable)

WARNING: Use only the AC Adapter that the Iron Lung comes
supplied with. Do not use any other AC Adapters. Using other AC
adapters, even those made by Electro-Harmonix, could cause harm to

BASIC AMPLIFIER CONNECTION SETUP

1. Connect your microphone (dynamic mics works best since the Iron Lung does not
provide Phantom Power) to the MIC input on the right side of the Iron Lung using a
balanced XLR cable.

2. Using an unbalanced instrument cable, plug your instrument into the INST Input Jack on
the right side of the Iron Lung.

3. Connect an unbalanced instrument cable from the OUTPUT jack on the left side of the
Iron Lung to input of your amplifier.

4. Plug the AC Adapter into a wall outlet.

- QUICK START GUIDE-

-

5. Plug the barrel connector of the AC Adapter into the 9V power jack at the top of the Iron
Lung.

Polarity is center negative

6. Turn both knobs to their middle, 12 o’clock positions.

7. Set the Mic Gain switch to the middle position.

8. Push the MIC BYPASS footswitch until its associated LED is lit. Play your instrument,
while singing or talking into the microphone. You should hear the vocoding effect.

Remember you will only output from the Iron Lung when you are playing your
instrument and speaking into the microphone.

9. If you connect a guitar to the input of the Iron Lung, try adding a distortion pedal
between your guitar and the Iron Lung, this will help to emphasize the vocoder effect.

- CONTROLS, INDICATORS & I/O-

TONE

This knob adjusts the tonal quality of the effect. Fully CCW emphasizes lower frequencies and
fully CW emphasizes higher frequencies. Additionally as the TONE knob is turned CW from
noon, harmonic overtones are added to the instrument signal to make them sound fuller and
richer. The added harmonic overtones are especially useful when you using a dry electric
guitar straight into the Iron Lung.

GENDER BENDER

Formant shift corresponds roughly to the length of the vocal tract. Bass and baritone singers
have longer vocal tracts than sopranos and tenors.

The GENDER BENDER knob adjusts the amount of formant shift that is applied to the effected
signal. For knob settings above noon, the formant will shift upward, which is equivalent to
shortening the vocal tract, to sound more female. For knob settings below noon, the formant
will shift downward, which is equivalent to lengthening the vocal tract, to sound more male.
At noon, there is no formant shift.

BYPASS FOOTSWITCH / STATUS LED

The BYPASS footswitch toggles the Iron Lung between effect mode and bypass mode. If the
STATUS LED is lit, then the Iron Lung is in effect mode. If the STATUS LED is off, then the
Iron Lung is in bypass mode.

NORMAL BYPASS mode:

Lung’s output jack, while the Iron Lung is set to bypass, your unaffected instrument is output
through the OUTPUT jack and the effect is muted. In effect mode the dry guitar is muted and
only the effected vocal signal is passed through the OUTPUT jack.

SPLIT BYPASS mode:

applying power. In bypass mode, the instrument is output on the TIP of the OUTPUT jack and

when a standard mono guitar cable is plugged into the Iron

when a TRS Insert Cable is plugged into the OUTPUT jack before

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the vocal is output on the RING of the OUTPUT jack. In effect mode, the effect will be
present on both the Tip and Ring of the insert cable.

NB: in order to use Split Bypass, the
insert cable must be plugged into the Iron Lung’s Output jack before applying
power to the Iron Lung.

MIC GAIN TOGGLE SWITCH

Use this switch to change the sensitivity of the mic pre-amp in the Iron Lung. Experiment
with your setup to see whether LO, MID, or HI gain mode works best.

MIC INPUT XLR Jack

The MIC INPUT XLR jack is a fully balanced microphone input. Connect your microphone
directly to this input jack. The input impedance at the MIC INPUT XLR jack is 10 kΩ.

INST INPUT ¼” Jack

Plug the output of your instrument into the INST INPUT jack. The input impedance presented
at the INST INPUT jack is 520 kΩ.

INST OUTPUT ¼” Jack

The Iron Lung’s effect is output on this jack. In BYPASS mode, this jack outputs your dry
guitar signal. In SPLIT BYPASS mode the jack outputs dry guitar signal to the TIP and MIC
vocal to the RING of an Insert Cable (enabled when the Iron Lung is powered up with an
Insert Cable plugged into the OUTPUT). While in effect mode, the effect signal is present on
both the Tip and Ring contacts of the OUTPUT jack. Connect this output to your amp, effect
pedals or other devices. The output impedance is 550 Ω.

9V Power Jack

Plug the output of the Iron Lung’s supplied AC Adapter into the 9V power jack located at the
top of the Iron Lung. The Iron Lung requires 9 to 9.6VDC at 200mA with a center negative
plug. The Iron Lung accepts Boss style AC Adapters.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

A/D and D/A Conversion Sample Rate = 71.5 kHz
A/D and D/A Conversion Bit Resolution = 24 bits

Current Draw = 150 mA @ 9VDC

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