Tag: voltage starving

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Voltage Starving in Eurorack

Voltage starving op-amps with Blood Cells Audio‘s “Mangle” module.

Following up on my voltage starving conversation with Spectral Evolver a few weeks back, today I’m exploring Blood Cells Audio’s “Mangle“, a Eurorack module that’s basically a voltage-starving VCA, where you can send CV to the op-amps (or insufficient CV to the op-amps to voltage starve them). Here, I try a few different program materials, and show some interesting results of modulating voltage starving over time.

You can check out Spectral Evolver’s voltage-starving Moog gear here:

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Low-Battery as Aesthetic Practice: Voltage Starving Audio Gear

Talking about voltage starving your audio equipment with Will Klingenmeier.


I sat down for a virtual chat with Will, who has been doing some interesting experiments voltage starving his Moog DFAM and Subharmonicon. Voltage starving is when you intentionally deprive a circuit or device of the full voltage it needs to function, simulating a “dying battery”. The sounds you get are probably not what the manufacturer intended, but definitely an aesthetic worth exploring as you look for new sounds.

In this wide-ranging discussion, we talk about circuit-bending, starving stompboxes, and whether or not this is a good idea with your expensive equipment.

0:00 Introduction
0:30 What is “voltage starving”?
1:08 Voltage starving & circuit-bending
1:54 Voltage starving Moog synths
3:46 How to do it
4:33 Is this dangerous to your equipment?
6:07 Thinking about guitar pedals
8:15 Closing thoughts

Check out more videos on Will’s Channel here.

More creative electronics videos here: