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The Minidrone is a stripped-down version of the Drone Rainger. It’s really fun to play over, and is a great foundation for improvisation, songwriting and dramatic live performance.
It’s a deep and huge analogue synth, with modulation, made of up to three low-pitched triangle-wave oscillators mixed together.
Two of these oscillators are always in unison whatever the pitch - this is Drone 1 - though very slightly out-of-tune with each other. This creates ‘beats’ between them, a slow, wide-band modulation that keeps the drone very listenable. The pitch is controlled by ‘Pitch1’.
Add in the other tone generator - Drone2 - and you can make any kind of musical interval between the drones; major and minor thirds, a fifth, octaves, or thick unison.
And all points in between - including tasty discordant chords, modulating fast and strangely…
Drone1 and Drone2 are fully independently tuneable - with sweepable knobs - by tuner, or by ear (low volume is recommended for accuracy), with a range of approximately two octaves.
Igor
It comes with an Igor controller - a small pressure sensitive pad - which, when pressed, drops the overall pitch down a tone (two frets), rising back up on release. This creates a darkly atmospheric starting point for writing songs, riffs, or improvising…
Press the ‘1/2Tone’ switch and this drop-down becomes only a semitone.
These two drop-down options actually make the pedal work in every kind of musical mode - dark and sinister, or happy up-beat ones, weird minor ones, blissed-out ones… the Minidrone is very musical and inspiring to play over.
Low end
There’s tons of bass - 70Hz down to 30Hz (approximately) is the fundamental note from Drone1, which has chorusing harmonics, but with Drone2 added there’s all kinds of tones and ‘beats’; the sound is deep and electro…
It’s like hitting a low note on some big-ass old synth (Korg MS-20? Yamaha CS-80??) and bending it…!
But in Rainger FX minipedal format (our custom enclosure).
The Minidrone is true bypass, and loud.
It’s an electric tamboura!
In a two-piece band it’s your low-end!
Through a window in the front panel you can see a motel scene inside - with car parks leading onto a busy road. There’s an eerie streetlamp glow - and the motel sign flashes whenever you press the Igor pad.
Using it
You mix the drones in with your clean guitar signal, which passes through the pedal - buffered, but unaffected. The pedal can be a handy boost when you turn off the drones volume - great for a solo-type signal bump.
It’s designed to be used in series with other pedals (try a delay pedal after it), all plugged into a single guitar amp input.
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Can you change the relative volume levels between Drone1 and Drone2?
No - it’s fixed, with Pitch2 being slightly quieter than Pitch1
Can the pitch of Drone2 be set to a harmony below Drone1?
Yes.
Does Drone2 have chorus too?
No, it doesn’t - but in combination with Pitch1 there are plenty of extra ‘beats’ between them.
Can you have a single drone - no modulation?
No. You can have Drone1 (made up of two oscillators in unison), or 1 and 2 together.
What is the current draw?
65mA
Can the tone of the drones be changed at all?
No - only their pitches and overall volume. They are quite precise triangle
How are the drones’ relative volumes set?
Drone2 is slightly quieter than Drone1
Are the tone generators the same as in the Drone Rainger?
Yes they are, though the chorus is obtained in a totally analogue way - whereas in the Drone Rainger it was digital, and was created in conjunction with the delay. The Minidrone has no delay.
How loud is the clean guitar volume?
It can go significantly louder than ‘unity’, though not with a huge signal boost.
Is the clean guitar effected as it passes though the pedal?
No, we’ve been careful to not lose or add anything tonally. It’s buffered - which can be very useful on big pedalboards or long signal paths.
Will the Igor controller work with other Rainger FX products?
Yes - all the Igors are interchangeable.
What are the specifications of Igor?
The pad is 57mm in diameter and 9mm thick, and it has a TRS 3.5mm jack plug, with S unconnected, and a varying resistance between T and R (from megaohms down to a hundred when pressed)
I downtune my guitar to C; can the Minidrone go this low?
Yes it can. It goes from about 70Hz from drone1 down to 30Hz approximately.
What kind of waveform does it produce?
The drones are made from triangle wave oscillators - mixed together with higher harmonics coming and going.
Can the modulation of Drone1 be adjusted at all?
No, it can’t
Can the Minidrone be controlled externally - via the minijack socket?
No, it can’t
What are the pedal dimensions?
104 x 41 x 63mm (at its highest point)
What’s going on in the motel scene?
The motel is under surveillance - a car has picked up a tail, there’s another car being disposed of round the back by two desperate characters…
Why is there a rocket parked in the motel car par park?
Nobody knows…