Merlo's LFO Shapes

All tremolos rely on a low frequency oscillator (LFO) to control the rate and shape of signal change. This can be thought of as a repeating envelope, and is usually a sine, triangle or square in shape.

Merlo uses frequency modulation (FM) in the LFO to produce a wider range of musically interesting envelope shapes. These include sine, triangle, and pulse envelopes, and also include ramps and other asymmetrical shapes. The Shape control allows continuous morphing from one shape to a completely different one, for example from a sine to a ramp.

Or from a triangle to a strange vibrating shape that has a nice evolution at very slow speeds.

Or finally, from a shark fin kind of shape to a rampy kind of square.

For a traditional tremolo sound the sine is the workhorse, but the variety of more unusual shapes also pairs really well with the different voicings offered by the Color control, and will offer an endless range of sonic textures.