Sonuus Voluum User manual
®
Owner’s Manual
Analogue Volume Effects
Stomp Box for Guitar and Bass
Version 1.0.0
Owner’s Manual
Safety — read this first!
Important safety information. Read the following information carefully and keep all instructions for
future reference.
!
Do not open any part of the Voluum case other than the battery compartment. There are no
user-serviceable parts in the Voluum.
!
Do not expose the Voluum to rain, liquids or moisture of any kind. If this occurs, disconnect the
Voluum from your computer, power supply, and from your musical instrument and remove any
batteries then allow the unit to dry out completely before using it again. If any liquid has entered the
unit, it may need to be serviced by a sonuus engineer or authorised repair centre.
!
When the Vo l uu m has been stored in a cold environment (e.g., a car) then exposed to a warmer
environment (e.g., a warm room), condensation can form on the outside and inside of the Voluum.
In such cases the Voluum should be allowed to warm up to room temperature before use to ensure
any such condensation has evaporated.
!
Avoid getting anything, e.g., an instrument cable, trapped under the footpedal— this will cause
damage to the Voluum footpedal sensor.
!
Only use the correct type of power supply (see “Powering the Voluum” on page 10). The Voluum
must never be connected directly to mains electricity.
!
Do not drop the Voluum or expose it to excessive shock or vibration. This may cause damage to
the electronics inside the unit.
!
Do not put excessive weight onto the footpedal of the Voluum. It is designed to be foot-operated,
but not to bear excessive loads. Do not allow your foot to press on the control panel area because
this may damage it. The Voluum has protection bars to prevent your feet from accidentally pressing
this area but this cannot provide complete protection—you must still take reasonable care when
using the product.
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Owner’s Manual
Quick start
This manual is a comprehensive guide to the Voluum. To start using it as quickly as possible, follow
this short guide. Please refer to the rest of the manual for detailed operating instructions.
Connect your guitar/bass to the IN jack of the Voluum.
Connect your amplifier to the
Set the
LOCK
switch to the locked position (this lets you select presets without worrying about
editing them by mistake).
Connect a suitable power supply: 9VDC,
page 10).
Select the first factory preset by pressing the button until F00 is shown on the numeric display.
Tap the footswitch to enable the effect. The footswitch
Rock the footpedal back and forward while you are playing to obtain a classic volume effect. As
you rock the footpedal from the “heel-down” position to the “toe-down” position the output volume
is increased.
Next, start exploring other presets using the and buttons. There are 30 factory presets labelled
F00–F29, then 100 user presets labelled P00–P99. If you press and hold or you can increment
or decrement in steps of 10 so you can quickly select the preset you want.
To get started, we suggest you try the first 10 factory presets:
Preset Description
F00 Classic volume pedal.
F01 Volume boost: use the pedal to add up to 12 dB of gain to your signal.
F02 Gentle compressor.
F03 Clean sustain compressor.
F04 Pedal-controlled compressor: more compression as pedal is moved toe-down.
F05 Classic tremolo: basic tremolo, use the pedal to change the speed.
F06 Envelope tremolo: speed and character of tremolo depends on signal level.
F07 Pulse tremolo: echo-like sounds as the pulse decays with the signal level.
F08 Kill-switch tremolo: use the pedal to emulate using a kill-switch.
F09
ADSR
synth. Combination of all effects to give a synth-like sound.
OUT
jack of the Voluum.
USB
or batteries (see “Powering the Voluum” on
LED
will light up.
Voluum
© Copyright 2014 Sonuus Limited 3
Owner’s Manual
Welcome
Thank you for purchasing a sonuus V oluum. Like all sonuus products, the Voluum is the culmination
of ground-breaking innovation and considerable technical expertise. We are delighted that you have
chosen to purchase a sonuus Voluum and we anticipate that it will greatly enhance your music
making. This manual is a comprehensive guide to the Voluum but if you have any questions, we offer
attentive customer support via our on-line user forum:
www.sonuus.com/forum
The V oluum is an analogue volume effects stomp box. It is packed with innovations from the sonuus
Research Team.
Analogue signal path with digital control
The Voluum’s fully analogue signal path features a high-performance studio-grade voltagecontrolled-amplifier (
analogue power supply gives maximum analogue performance and high headroom to ensure even
the loudest signals can be processed without artifacts. This high bandwidth, high dynamic range
signal path guarantees the smooth sound of analogue circuitry with no digital artifacts.
Combining the analogue signal path with digital control gives you precision and configurability.
Flexible effects chain
The effects chain comprises five effects (noise gate, compressor,
limiter) which can be used in any combination.
Unique patent-pending pedal sensor
Most volume pedals operate using a potentiometer (a pot) which has two main problems: the pot
sucks the tone from your instrument, and it wears out quickly resulting in the effect becoming
scratchy. Pots also have mechanical couplings which limit fine control and let dirt inside the unit, so
compromising reliability.
Some other volume pedals use optical methods to avoid the limitations of pots, but these are
susceptible to dirt and often don't have fine control or fast response.
sonuus' patent-pending position sensor allows fast, super-fine precision control that isn't susceptible
to dirt and grease. As a result, the pedal control on the Voluum won’t get scratchy and will never
wear out. Combined with ultra-smooth pedal action with user-adjustable tension, in a rock-solid
chassis, the Voluum gives you unrivalled signal level control.
VCA
) with low noise and low distortion characteristics. A constant high-voltage
LFO
(tremolo), volume control and
For guitar and bass
The Voluum is designed from the ground up to be perfect for guitar and bass. We know that many
musicians play both instruments and don’t want to compromise when an effect is designed for the
higher or lower frequencies of specific instrument. Of course, the Voluum can also be used on other
instruments such as keyboards. You don’t need to restrict your creativity to guitar and bass!
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Owner’s Manual
Transparent-true-bypass…
True-bypass means that the effect is completely switched out of your signal chain when bypassed
to preserve the integrity of your guitar/bass signal. This is typically done by mechanical switches but
these cause clicks or pops when switching.
sonuus has designed a silent-switching true-bypass circuit so you get the benefits of true-bypass
without the associated switching noise. What’s more: if the power to the Voluum is interrupted, the
unit will automatically switch back to the bypassed state so you don’t lose your instrument’s signal.
…with the option of buffered-bypass
However, not everyone wants true-bypass. With the Vo l u um you have control over whether you
want to use true-bypass, or buffered-bypass. Buffered-bypass keeps the Voluum in the signal path
at all times, but passes the input signal without modification when the effect is bypassed. This can
be useful when using long cables: the buffered output of the Voluum means these long cables won’t
affect your tone, even when the effect is bypassed.
Stage-ready
The Voluum is designed to be ideal for gigging on stage:
• Heavy-duty cast aluminium case that will stand up to years of heavy use.
• The pedal won’t decide to get scratchy just before a crucial gig!
• Variety of power sources: any polarity 9V for maximum convenience,
batteries.
• Foot-operated preset selection.
LOCK
•
switch to prevent accidental changes to settings or presets.
Presets
The Voluum comes ready-to-play with factory presets that include traditional volume effects and
pedal-controlled compressor effects. Without making any adjustments, the Voluum is ready to play,
straight out of the box.
The factory presets are just the starting place! By tweaking these presets you can explore different
sounds and create your own effects—there are 100 user presets where you can store your own setups.
USB
and high-capacity AA
www.sonuus.com
We recommend that you visit our web site and register your new Voluum. This is required for direct
warranty support. Once you have registered, you have access to firmware updates, the Voluum
Desktop Editor Software and you can opt to receive updates and news from sonuus:
register.sonuus.com
To get assistance or to share your experiences with other Voluum users, register on our user forum:
www.sonuus.com/forum
Voluum
© Copyright 2014 Sonuus Limited 5
Owner’s Manual
What can the Voluum do?
Gate/expander
In its simplest form a noise gate cuts the signal when its level falls below a set threshold. The Voluum
noise gate not only gives you control over the threshold, but also enables fine control over how
quickly it reacts and how much the signal should be reduced in level. Combined with a smooth
transition from open to closed, the Voluum gives you ultra-transparent gating that reduces the noise
when you're not playing without introducing any audible artifacts.
Pedal-controlled compressor
Compression is a widely-used effect that compresses the dynamic range of your signal. Essentially,
it is used to keep the level of your instrument consistent, regardless of how hard or soft you play. It
does this by reducing the level of loud signals, and applying a make-up gain to ensure the apparent
loudness stays the same.
The compressor in the Voluum features an intelligent make-up gain which means you only need to
think about how much compression you want to apply. This also allows dynamic modulation of the
compressor. For example, by using the foot pedal you can smoothly vary the amount of compression
being applied without affecting your signal level – another unique sonuus innovation.
Variable attack and release times let you configure the effect to suit your performance and even
these can be pedal-controlled.
While other compressors are either on or off, the Vol u u m ’s compressor gives you glitch-free pedalcontrol to enhance the subtleties of your music.
LFO/tremolo
Tremolo is a classic effect where a low-frequency-oscillator (
instrument.
LFO
The V oluum
tremolo sounds with multiple waveforms featuring envelope-, pedal- and
depth variation, as well as
Duo mode gives you two
(tremolo) lets you recreate this effect, while giving you many more options. Smooth
MIDI
-clock sync to keep the tremolo in time with your sequencer.
LFO
s to let you get really creative!
LFO
) modulates the volume of your
MIDI
-controlled speed and
Volume—more than a simple volume pedal
A typical volume pedal gives you basic control of your signal level where the pedal replicates the
function of the volume knob on your instrument.
The volume effect on the Voluum lets you do the same thing, but without compromising your tone.
But just doing that would be boring! Voluum lets you cut or boost the signal level to any level you
desire while providing fine control over the feel of the pedal: how its position maps to the volume
change. You can also configure fades where the pedal acts as a switch and the volume fades up or
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Owner’s Manual
down smoothly over a chosen time to give you super-smooth fades that are impossible to do by
using just foot-control.
In envelope mode, the level change is triggered when you play a new note or strum a new chord.
ADSR
Combine this with built-in
Limiter
The high voltage analogue power rails in the Voluum give great sonic quality, but it means that high
output levels can overdrive other effects in your chain. The limiter can be engaged to soft-limit the
signal peaks to keep them within the input range of your other effects to avoid nasty clipping
distortion.
The limiter can also limit asymmetrically, which can give overdriven signals a sweeter sound.
Control
Unlike other analogue stomp boxes, the effects on the Voluum are not static, where you adjust the
parameters to get the one sound you want
Instead, the Voluum has been engineered to make many aspects of each effect controllable so that
effect parameters can smoothly go between hi and lo values that you choose. This modulation can
be controlled using the pedal,
on page 16.)
USB & MIDI interface
The Voluum has a
Voluum to control effects, or send
USB-MIDI
allows
make it easy to connect the Voluum to other
USB
connection also allows you to use the Voluum Desktop Editor Software and to use the
The
Voluum as a
USB
MIDI
messages to be sent straight to a computer, whereas the 5-pin
USB-MIDI
interface to connect
shaping and you can create synth-like tones from your instrument.
MIDI
controllers or the signal envelope. (See “Effect control methods”
connection and standard 5-pin
MIDI
from the Voluum to control other
MIDI
MIDI
gear to your computer.
MIDI
equipment.
connections. You can send
MIDI
devices.
MIDI
MIDI
connections
to the
Desktop Editor Software
Although you can access all of the effect parameters from the Voluum’s control panel, to make it
faster and even more intuitive, we provide a Desktop Editor Software application that runs on both
Microsoft Windows and Apple OSX.
The Desktop Editor Software is available once you register on-line: register.sonuus.com
Voluum
© Copyright 2014 Sonuus Limited 7
Owner’s Manual
Using the Voluum
In the rest of this manual, we cover everything you need to know about the Voluum: from how to
connect it to your rig, to how to power it and how to delve in and create your own presets.
Consult the photo of the Voluum shown below to familiarise yourself with the controls and displays.
save/cancel button
numeric display
up/down buttons
LED
meterin g
active button
effect knob
control button
hi/lo button
footswitch
footswitch
s
LED
If you move or press a knob or touch the active or hi/lo buttons, the Voluum will leave
Preset Select mode and enter Preset Edit mode. (Now the buttons won’t let you select
presets.)
The button named save has dual functionality. When held for 2 s, it acts as a cancel button.
This lets you undo any preset editing you have done and takes you back into Preset Select
mode.
footpedal
Cancel an edit / selecting preset mode
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Owner’s Manual
Connecting the Voluum
The simplest way of connecting the Voluum is between your guitar and amp: connect the output of
your guitar to the input (
) of the Voluum. Connect the output (
OUT
) of the Voluum to your amp’s
IN
input.
When using other effects in your signal chain, there is no right or wrong effect order— experiment
to see what you can do, and be creative.
Typically, time-based effects such as reverb and delay are placed after the Voluum so that these
effects are applied to the Voluum’s sou nd.
When using distortion, the effect of connecting this before or after the Voluum are different. When
distortion is used after the Voluum, the intensity of distortion can change as the signal level is
modified by the Vo l u um . When distortion is placed before the Voluum, the Voluum is able to shape
the harmonically-rich signal from the distortion without changing the intensity of the distortion.
You can also connect the Voluum to the effects loop of your amp: connect the output of your guitar
to the input of your amp, then connect the “send” of your amp to the Voluum
, and the
OUT
of the
IN
Voluum back to the “return” of your amp. Depending on your amp this can give rise to excessive
noise if the signal level in the effects loop is too small. If you try this, it is best to set the effects loop
level to +4dBu if you have that option.
MIDI
operation using the
USB
connector or the
MIDI IN
and
MIDI OUT
connectors is detailed in “
MIDI
operation” on page 31.
Voluum
© Copyright 2014 Sonuus Limited 9
Owner’s Manual
Powering the Voluum
The Voluum can be powered by batteries, by a 9V DC power supply (neither of these is supplied), or
USB
. Select one of the following:
by
• insert 4 AA batteries (alkaline can be used, but we recommend rechargeable NiMH batteries)
into the battery compartment in the base of the Voluum. WARNING: observe correct polarity!
• plug the output of a 9V
The 9V
DC
power supply that you use should be capable of providing 500mA and have a
2·1mm centre pin connector. Note that the Voluum has been designed so that either polarity
(tip-positive or tip-negative) can be used.
USB
•plug a
cable connected to your computer or a
on the back of the Voluum. If a
can provide enough current to the Voluum. However, sometimes
PC
s) can be noisy or can cause ground loops, which may increase the noise in your signal. If this
happens and you want to use the
the V oluum will use that instead of
Note that there is no problem if you connect all three power sources at once. The
USB
priority, then
, then the batteries. This ensures your batteries are not drained when they are not
needed and allows you to connect via
DC
power supply into the port labelled DC on the back of the Voluum.
USB
USB
hub is used, it may need to be a powered hub to ensure it
USB
connection, simply connect a 9V DC power supply and
USB
power and you won’t get these noise problems.
USB
without using
power supply into the port labelled
USB
power (typically desktop
DC
supply takes
USB
power when a DC supply is present.
USB
Top Tip: If you are using the Voluum on stage, use a DC power supply and batteries. That
way, if the
to batteries and you will, in effect, have an un-interruptible power supply.
The Voluum is switched on when you connect
is switched on when an instrument cable is connected to
IN
cable from
when the Voluum is not being used.
On the back panel of the Voluum there is a slide switch labelled
DC
power supply is pulled out for any reason, the Voluum will switch
USB
or DC. When running from batteries, the Voluum
IN
. To prolong battery life, disconnect the
LOCK
switch
LOCK
. When this switch is in the
locked position, the Voluum is in Preset Select mode and none of the parameters can be edited or
saved: the only thing that you can do is change between presets. If you try to make a change when
locked, LoC is shown briefly on the numeric display.
LOCK
mode is ideal for gigging, when you want to switch from one preset to another but be sure that
you won’t accidentally make changes to your set-up. When the
LOCK
switch is in the unlocked
position, you can tweak the Voluum settings and save new presets.
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Owner’s Manual
Enabling and bypassing the Vol u um
The main footswitch
When this
output (
LED
OUT
). This connection is known as a true-bypass connection because in this state none of
LED
shows the status of the Voluum effect.
is off, the effect is completely bypassed and the input (IN) is directly connected to the
the Voluum electronics are connected to the signal: this keeps your original guitar/bass signal as
pure as possible. (Unless buffered-bypass mode is enabled, see “Custom settings” on page 33,
where the Voluum electronics are active, but have minimal effect on your signal.)
When this
is on, the signal is passed through the Voluum and the output (
OUT
) is the effected
LED
signal.
The effect is enabled and disabled by briefly pressing the footswitch. Alternatively, when the
footpedal is moved to the toe-down position, the effect will automatically enable. Note that this
feature can be changed using the custom settings (page 33).
LED
Note that if the main footswitch
is flashing, it means the Voluum is in foot-operated preset
selection mode (see page 13).
Footswitch LED
Off:
On:
Flash:
Effect is completely bypassed (the Voluum has no effect on your sound).
Effect is active and the Voluum will affect your sound.
Foot-operated preset selection mode is active. The bypassed/enabled state of
the Voluum does not change in this mode but remains in whichever state it was
in before this mode was activated.
True-bypass or buffered-bypass?
Voluum
Over the years, there has been much discussion about which is better: true-bypass or
buffered-bypass. The answer is: it depends.
Buffered-bypass has the advantage that the low-impedan ce output of the buffer can drive
long cable runs without these cables affecting your tone.
True-bypass, on the other hand, ensures the effect has no impact on the instrument signal;
useful with large effects rigs where you may want all the pedals to be true-bypass to
minimuse their impact when bypassed.
Ultimately, you should use whichever bypass setting sounds best in your rig. It depends on
your instruments and the other pedals in your chain, and indeed, the order of these pedals.
© Copyright 2014 Sonuus Limited 11
Owner’s Manual
Selecting a factory preset
The factory presets configure the Voluum into a variety of set-ups, from traditional volume to
sonuus’ unique pedal-controlled compressor effects.
The Voluum has two modes: Preset Select mode and Preset Edit mode. By default, it is in Preset
Select mode and the display alternates between the 3-character preset name and the preset
number: either F00– F99 for factory presets 0 to 99 or P00–P99 for user presets 0 to 99.
If the display does not periodically show F/P00– 99, then to enter preset mode do the following.
Enter Preset Select mode
If the display is not showing a factory or user preset (F00– F99 or P00 – P99), the Voluum is
in Preset Edit mode: exit this mode by pressing and holding the save button for 2 s.
LOCK
Alternatively, slide the
Select mode when locked).
Once the Voluum is in Preset Select mode, select a preset using the buttons. A single press on
either button will increment/decrement the preset number by one. If you press and hold either
button, the preset number will increment/decrement in tens.
Your Voluum is now ready to play. Select different presets and experiment with the wide variety of
sounds that are possible.
switch to the locked position (the Voluum is always in Preset
Top Tip: Presets can also be selected using the footswitch and footpedal on the Voluum
(see “Foot-operated preset selection” on page 13) or by connecting external
footswitches (see “External footswitch connection” on page 35).
While you are playing, you may accidentally bump a switch or button which will take you into Preset
LOCK
Edit mode. To prevent this, and stay in Preset Select mode, you can slide the
switch to the
locked position. Alternatively, just re-enter Preset Select mode as described above.
Top Tip: Envelope-controlled presets (including gate and compressor) have been
12 © Copyright 2014 Sonuus Limited
designed for an instrument with a standard output level. If your instrument has
an unusually high or low output the presets may not sound correct— either too
responsive or not responsive enough. Use the custom SEn parameter to adju st
the sensitivity of your Voluum (see page 33).
Vo l u u m
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