Electro-Harmonix Stereo Talking Machine Instruction Manual

1

Sensitivity +

Sensitivity -

EE

Feed

Cereal

EE-ER

Hurry

Peer

AH-I

Glide

Papaya

AH-OO

Factual

Now

I-A

Height

Bayonet

AH

Era

Far

OW-EE

Feud

Chewy

WARNING: Your Stereo Talking Machine comes equipped with an Electro­Harmonix 9.6DC-200 power supply (same as used by Boss® & Ibanez®: 9.6 Volts
DC 200mA / Center Negative). The Stereo Talking Machine requires 185mA at
9VDC with a center negative plug. The STM does not take batteries. Using the
wrong adapter may damage your unit and void the warranty.

STEREO TALKING MACHINE

Vocal Formant Filter

Congratulations on your purchase of the Electro-Harmonix Stereo Talking Machine, a
highly customizable envelope-controlled digital vowel filter. The Stereo Talking
Machine (STM) utilizes multiple moving filters to turn your guitar in a growling,
gurgling, snarling monster.

 Nine selectable voices: Seven human vowel filter combinations, a classic wah-wah filter,
 Ability to reverse the sweep of each voice, doubling your sound options

 Attack/Decay knobs to separately control the rise and fall speeds of the filter sweep
 Sensitivity control to adapt the effect’s response to your playing style
 Stereo Outputs for true stereo imaging and panning
 Expression Pedal option to manually control filter sweep
 Programmable distortion to make your guitar really growl
 Programmable internal LFO for automatic filter modulation
 Effects Loop side-chain
 9 fully programmable presets

- Special Features of the Stereo Talking Machine -

and the legendary dual band filter of the EHX Bassballs

– VOICE DESCRIPTIONS –

Each voice option in the STM sweeps between two distinct filter settings, mimicking
the way a human mouth moves to form particular vowel sounds. The direction of the
filter sweep can be reversed using the SENSITIVITY knob.

The WAH and BB voice options simulate a classic wah-wah pedal filter and the EHX
Bassballs filter respectively.

2

– QUICK START GUIDE –

This Quick Start Guide will help you get started using your Stereo Talking
Machine immediately. For detailed information on all of the Stereo Talking
Machine's features and functions, please refer to the rest of this owner’s manual.

Setup

1. Using an unbalanced instrument cable, plug the output of your instrument

into the INPUT jack on the right side of the STM.

2. Connect an unbalanced instrument cable from the MONO/L output jack on

the left side of the STM to the input jack of an amplifier.

3. Connect the included AC Adaptor to a wall outlet and plug its barrel

connector into the 9V power jack at the top of the STM.

4. Turn on the amplifier and turn up your instrument’s volume. Press the

BYPASS footswitch so that the STATUS LED is lit; the STM is now activated.

A. Preset Settings

Press and release the PRESET footswitch to cycle through the STM’s preset

settings. Each factory preset has been carefully prepared to utilize the deep
sonic capabilities of the STM. You may overwrite the factory presets with
your own sound creations whenever you like.

B. Manual Settings

1. To begin, turn the STM’s knobs to the following positions:

BLEND:

Full Clockwise

VOICE:

Full Clockwise (OW-EE)

ATTACK:

12 o’clock

DECAY:

12 o’clock

SENSITIVITY:

1 o’clock

2. Ensure the PRESET LED (bottom left) is off. If it is on, turn the white

PRESETS knob clockwise until the PRESET LED shuts off. This action
deactivates the currently loaded preset.

3. Ensure the auxiliary functions (indicated by the leftmost orange LED) are

off. If they are on, press the white PRESETS knob to deactivate them.

4. Play your instrument at the intensity you would like to trigger the filter

sweep. While playing, turn up the SENSITIVITY knob until the Sweep Level
LEDs light up completely after each note you play.

5. To change the sweep speed of the filters, adjust the ATTACK and DECAY

knobs.

6. Adjust the VOICE knob to try different voicings or filter types.

– SWEEP LEVEL LEDs –

The two rightmost orange LEDs under the PRESETS knob indicate the position
of the filters at any given moment. When the LEDs are both unlit, the filters are
at their rest position (ex: set to OW for the positive OW-EE voice). When the
LEDs are both lit, the filters are in their maximum position (ex: set to EE for the
positive OW-EE voice). The LEDs sweep on and off, visually representing the
audible sweep of the filters as the input signal triggers the envelope sweep, the
expression pedal manually moves through the filters or as the internal LFO
automatically modulates the filters.

3

– PRIMARY KNOB FUNCTIONS –

BLEND – Controls the wet/dry balance of the effect outputs. Turning the BLEND

knob to its minimum counter-clockwise position will yield 100% dry signal with no
wet. Turning the BLEND knob to its maximum clockwise position will give 100% wet
signal with no dry. A mix of the wet and dry signals will occur when BLEND is set
anywhere between the extreme settings.

VOICE Type – Selects one out of the nine voice options. Turning the VOICE knob
will change the filter type affecting the wet signal. A corresponding LED in the LED
ladder will blink briefly when a new VOICE is selected, indicating the change. The
STM does not blend between the nine voices. The VOICE knob acts like a switch;
moving it within a single voice will not produce varying results. To reverse the
polarity of the voice type, see the SENSITIVITY knob.

ATTACK – Varies the rise time of the filter sweep. The rise time is the speed at
which the envelope generator travels from its rest position to its maximum position.
With the ATTACK knob set to its counter-clockwise position, the filters rise at the
fastest rate (8 mS); set to its clockwise position, the filters rise at the slowest rate
(1200 mS).

DECAY – Varies the fall time of the filter sweep. The fall time is the speed at which
the envelope generator travels from its maximum position to its rest position. The
filter sweep’s decay begins after the ATTACK time has finished. With the DECAY
knob set to its counter-clockwise position, the filters fall at the fastest rate (8 mS);
set to its clockwise position, the filters fall at the slowest rate (1300 mS).

SENSITIVITY

will start moving, varying the STM’s responsiveness to the instrument’s dynamics.
The SENSITIVITY knob has a center detent which signifies the off position for no
envelope response (a good position for use with an expression pedal). Turning the
knob away from the center detent will make the STM more responsive to your
playing. For chords and hard plucking, set the knob near the center. For single notes
and softer strumming, set the knob far from the center.

half of the knob, the voice filters will sweep in the forward direction (ex: OW->EE for
the OW-EE voice or from low to high frequency for the WAH and BB voices). In the
negative (counterclockwise) half of the knob, the voice filters will sweep in the
reverse direction (ex: EE->OW for the OW-EE voice or from high to low frequency
for the WAH and BB voices).

(w/ voice polarity)

The SENSITIVITY knob is split into two sections: In the positive (clockwise)

– Controls the input volume at which the filters