Chop shop
The Chop section – comprising the Chop knob and the contextual knob to its right – offers four modes of input volume modulation, serving as an LFO, envelope generator (Swell) or gate (Trigger), or reassigning the Ribbon as a delay input level controller. Turning Chop clockwise switches through the modes. The first half of its travel sweeps through triangle, saw, ramp, square and S+H LFO waves; the centre point activates Ribbon mode; the third quarter enters Sweep envelope mode and raises its input sensitivity; and the final quadrant does the same for Trigger gate mode. The knob to the right jumps accordingly between adjusting LFO Speed, Swell Rise time and Trigger gate release time.
The LFO ranges from 1-20Hz, and is ideal for wobbling sustained sounds – although with no sine wave option or depth control, the titular ‘Chop’ cap certainly fits. Swell mode applies a controllable volume ramp, while Trigger mode pulls slices out of beats, vocals, etc, ripe for turning into buzzes and glitches with the delay engine.
Chop adds another layer of rhythmic and dynamic interest to UltraTap. We’d prefer a mode switch or buttons, though, with the Chop knob just selecting the LFO waveform and setting input sensitivity.