About Us
Deep in the Cascade Volcanic Range of Central Oregon, Molten Voltage forges rugged Guitar Effects, simple PedalBoard MIDI Devices, and modern Controllers for Classic Pedals like the Digitech Whammy and MXR Carbon Copy.
Our goal is to streamline your system, to refine your rig, and to expand your sonic potential.
We build tools that let you focus on making music.
Here is our philosophy
PedalBoards should be simple and creative tools. We believe in streamlining sound. We believe great products can be used without opening a manual. We believe in the simplicity of MIDI. We believe in bomb-proof gear that doesn't fear spilled beer. We solve problems. We connect the dots. We believe in making devices that let you concentrate on music. We believe in the unlimited potential of controlled electricty. We believe in Molten Voltage
History
Digital controls are in my blood. My grandfather, George Devol, invented the first digital programmable robot called the Unimate back in 1954.
Sitting around the breakfast table at his home in Connecticut in 2006, he asked me to build a cell phone ringer amplifier since he couldn't hear his phone when in another room. I was looking for a new line of work, and I'd been playing with electronics since I was a little kid, so I dove in and figured it out. While I was working on it, I had an idea for a guitar switching effect that would simulate the sound I got when I turned the volume all the way down on one pickup and toggled between the two. This idea evolved over the course of a year and ultimately became TOGGLE.
I knew right away that I'd want digital controls to set the timing, so I learned to program PIC microcontrollers to get the job done. Way back in 2007 there wasn't much information on the net, so I spent a few months pulling my hair out learning assembly language. This was a far cry from programming my VIC-20 back in '81 using BASIC!
About the time TOGGLE was done, I heard the guitar sounds from the White Stripes Icky Thump, and got my first DigiTech Whammy 4. I immediately noticed the MIDI jack on the side and knew that there was a huge untapped potential inside.
Over the years, I'd been in electronica bands, and had programmed lots of MIDI gear including drum machines, sequencers, and samplers. There seemed to be a huge vacuum waiting to be filled with MIDI-controlled guitar effects. The next year or so was spent developing Molten MIDI 2, which eventually found its way onto the pedalboards of Radiohead, Vernon Reid, and thousands of other players around the world.
After Molten MIDI, I decided to develop an entire line of chips for controlling audio effects. The PedalSync line of chips was introduced in 2010 and was intended for use by manufacturers and the DIY crowd.
I knew in my heart that MIDI-enabled effects were the future, so I decided to take all that technology and create a line of modular PedalBoard MIDI Controllers, optimistcally assuming that builders would eventually embrace MIDI. Fast-foward to 2015 and all of a sudden there are over 90 effects by 24 manufacturers that can sync to MIDI Clock and another 34 that can sync with a little help from CTL-Sync.
The MIDI revolution in guitar effects has begun!
.:. Bill
Beyond the Magma .:. Bill talks FX