Manipulate
Pedal Laboratory
Change one or more variables in a simplified nonlinear pedal model, and trace the full chain from parameter change to audible consequence.
Weeks 5-8 built up a simplified nonlinear guitar-processing chain — gain, clipping, and filtering — one stage at a time. This assessment asks you to manipulate that system deliberately and account for what happens at every step in between, rather than just describing the before and after.
The task
Working from the simplified pedal model Input → Gain → Clipping → Filter → Output, change one or more of:
- amplifier gain
- clipping threshold
- symmetric versus asymmetric clipping
- filter resistance
- filter capacitance
- post-clipping tone shaping
For each change, predict and explain the full chain of consequence:
Component/parameter change → Electrical or mathematical effect → Waveform change → Spectrum change → Audible consequenceUse the Pedal Laboratory bench (Weeks 6-8) to generate the waveform and spectrum evidence for each step, and connect that evidence explicitly back to the electrical or mathematical reasoning that predicted it.
Skills assessed
Causal reasoning; circuit interpretation; nonlinear signal understanding; filter understanding; linking technical measurements to audible outcomes.
The spec
The brief poses the problem and leaves room for a response. The spec is the fixed part: what a marker checks. Some lines can be checked mechanically; the rest call for judgement.
- at least one pedal parameter is changed and its new setting is stated explicitly
- the causal chain from parameter change through to audible consequence is written out step by step, not asserted in one line
- waveform or spectrum evidence from the lab bench supports the predicted electrical or mathematical effect
How it is marked
- Predicted causal chain is correct end-to-end30%
- Circuit and parameter interpretation20%
- Nonlinear (clipping) reasoning20%
- Filter reasoning15%
- Linking the technical change to what is actually audible15%