FRIZZ quick guide

Your first ten minutes with FRIZZ. Every detail is in the manual.

How the sound flows

AUX in -> input gain -+-----------------+
                      |                 +-> input/loop mix -> effects (white keys) -> compressor -> output volume -> out
                      +-> looper -------+

The looper records the input before the effects, so you can play effects over a loop and nothing gets printed into it. The effects come after the mix, so they act on everything you hear, the live input as well as the loop. The mix knob balances input against loop; there’s no dry path around the effects on the master out. The headphones carry the same as the master out, or, from VOLUME’s page 3, only the dry input (no loop, no effects).

SHIFT means holding the CHOMPI key. The key lights white while it acts as SHIFT.

1. Set your levels

Do this	To set
Turn VOLUME	Output volume. The LED is a level meter
Press VOLUME, then turn	Input gain. The LED runs from blue to red
Press again, then turn	Headphones: white = the master out, green = only the dry input
Press again	Back to output volume
SHIFT + turn VOLUME	Input/loop mix: green = only the input, purple = only the loop
SHIFT + press VOLUME	Mix back to the loop only (with a loop) or the input only (without)

Each press blinks the page’s number in white: once for output, twice for input, three times for the headphones.

A mono cable (TS) in AUX? Flip the mode switch up to the settings page and press F# of the lower octave (a dark key, dimly white) so it lights fully: mono. Flip back down to play. The settings page also sets the MIDI channel and shows the battery on VOLUME’s LED (MANUAL.md, “Settings page”).

2. Record a loop

1. Press LOOP to start recording. LOOP turns red.
2. Play something.
3. Press LOOP again. The loop plays back immediately, and the mix jumps to only the loop, so you hear only the loop. Turn SHIFT + VOLUME back towards green to play along with it.
4. PLAY pauses and resumes it.
5. Turn the big transport knob to change speed in fifths and octaves, down to 1/16× and on into reverse. While paused, turning the knob scrubs. Press the knob to get back to normal speed.
6. Press LOOP to erase the loop. The mix jumps back to the input. To erase at the end of the loop instead, hold PLAY and press LOOP.

In sync with a clock: with MIDI clock coming in over TRS or USB, hold PLAY and press LOOP. The recording then ends on a whole bar. Without a clock, LOOP blinks red three times.

A loop can be up to 2:45 long and is gone when you switch off.

3. Play the effects

The white keys hold twelve effects, counted from the left, in the order the sound goes through them: ten inserts, a free key, the delay and reverb, another free key, and the master compressor on the last one (below).

White key	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th
Effect	Freezer	Shifter	Folder	Crusher	Filter	Flanger	Resonator	Slicer	Wow & flutter	Tape stop	–	Delay	Reverb	–	Compressor

• Hold a key: the effect is on while you hold it.
• Hold a key, then SHIFT: latch the effect on. Do it again, or just tap the key, to turn it off.
• SHIFT, then a key: pick the effect for the knobs without hearing it, to set it up before you punch it in. The key flashes.
• Knobs 1-4: shape the effect whose key you pressed or picked last. Their LEDs show the settings; a dark knob does nothing for that effect. The knobs follow one pattern: 1 is the main control, 2 the feedback, 3 the tone or colour, 4 the stereo width or level (where an effect has no such setting, it puts another one there).
• SHIFT + turn a knob: jump in big steps: notes, octaves or musical intervals where the setting has them, 10% otherwise.
• SHIFT + press a knob: reset that setting.

Every effect starts silent or nearly so: one knob brings it in. That’s knob 1 on most, knob 2 (feedback) on the resonator, knob 3 (amount) on the flanger and knob 4 (level) on the delay and reverb. The freezer, slicer and tape stop work from the first press: the freezer repeats a whole bar, the slicer pumps gently and the tape stop stops.

Master compressor: press the last white key, and knobs 1-4 set the compressor on the master out: amount (off at first), ratio, speed and mix. Its key lights up as it compresses. It’s always on, and FRIZZ remembers its settings when you switch off. Press an effect key to give the knobs back to the effect.

Delay and reverb tails keep ringing after you let go. The other effects stop the moment you release the key, except the tape stop, which spins back up first. Settings reset when you switch off, unless you save them as a scene.

Things to try first:

• Freezer (1st key) on a beat: hold SHIFT, tap the key, and keep holding SHIFT while you turn knob 1 down five clicks to 1/8 (without SHIFT, a step takes three clicks). It grabs that much from the moment you press and repeats it while you hold the key. Turn knob 3 for a roll that speeds up.
• Shifter (2nd key): hold SHIFT, tap the key, and with SHIFT still held turn knob 1 up two clicks for a fifth, then hold the key to hear it.
• Resonator (7th key) with the crusher or the shifter latched: the ringing goes through them on every pass.
• Delay + reverb (the 12th and 13th keys): turn up their knob 4, then tap them to throw echoes and tails onto single notes.
• Tape stop (10th key) with the delay or reverb latched: hold it on a beat and the music winds down over half a bar while the tails ring on. Let go and it spins back up.

The freezer, slicer, filter LFO, tape stop and delay follow a tempo: the loop’s while there is one, so they lock to it; otherwise MIDI clock, or the last tempo (120 BPM at power-on). Hold SHIFT and tap LOOP three times or more to tap a tempo, or to tell FRIZZ how many beats a loop has. See Tempo.

4. Save scenes

The dark keys of the lower octave hold scenes: every effect’s settings and latches. The first one is the blank scene: it turns every effect off and resets the knobs, and can’t be saved over. The other four are yours.

• Save: tap the last dark key (blue), tap a scene key, tap CHOMPI to confirm.
• Recall: press a scene key. Try a build-up on one scene and the drop on the next, then the first key to turn every effect off.
• Morph: hold CHOMPI and press a scene key, then let go of CHOMPI: the effects glide there and land at the end of the bar. Before you let go, tap the key again for one bar more per tap; the glide starts when you let go. Hold CHOMPI and press PLAY to stop it where it is.
• Copy and delete: the same steps with the green and amber dark keys. Tap the function’s key again to back out.

While you save, copy or delete, the scene keys you can tap light in the function’s colour, and the CHOMPI key blinks in it when there’s something to confirm. White means done.

Scenes are stored on the SD card. See the manual for the details.

Where next

• Manual: what every knob does on every effect
• Install guide: updating FRIZZ, going back to stock firmware