Mutator
Effects by Mutronics
The Mutator is a stereo analogue filter and envelope follower made by British company Mutronics, introduced in 1996. Producers including Daft Punk, Radiohead and The Chemical Brothers used it for its warm, unpredictable tone, and Mutronics stopped making it in 2007 when a key chip went out of production.
Specifications
| Type | Stereo analogue filter and envelope follower |
| Controls | Per channel: cutoff, resonance, envelope sweep (bipolar), sensitivity, attack, release, LFO rate, LFO depth; switches for effect/bypass, internal/external envelope source, gate/envelope mode, VCA in/out, LFO target (VCF/VCA/both), link and link-invert; LFO waveform selector (triangle, square, ramp up, ramp down) |
| Bypass | Hard bypass switch per channel |
| Chip | SSM2045 (filter/VCA) |
| Format | 19-inch rackmount, 2U |
| Weight | 5 kg |
| Power Supply | 220-240V AC mains, IEC inlet, internal PSU |
| Connections | Per channel: 1/4" unbalanced jack audio in, audio out, external envelope input, CV input (channel 1 normalised to channel 2 for stereo). MIDI In and Thru (5-pin DIN) on MIDI-equipped units, rear rotary MIDI channel selector |
| Notes | Two 24dB/oct resonant analogue filters. LFO range 0.1-100Hz. MIDI version adds note-triggered cutoff tracking, pitch bend to cutoff, mod wheel to resonance and CC7 to VCA level. Channel 2 responds to MIDI channel +1. Approximately 1000 units produced; discontinued when SSM2045 production ended. |
