SIMMONS CLAP TRAP

YouTube Uploaded by holyghostnyc on Jun 25, 2011

via this auction
"Here's a rundown of the various functions/knobs...

AUTOSPEED: This controls the speed of the internal sequencer or "AUTO" mode and was one of the repaired controls. The pot is original but the wiring to the board was replaced. Works as it should.

AUDIO SENSITIVITY: This is the sensitivity for the external trigger input. You adjust the knob according to the type of signal. I.E. a trigger from a drum pad would require higher sensitivity than line level audio like, say, a sound from a drum machine. Works as it should but as you can see the knob itself is not original.

PITCH (CLAP): This controls the pitch of the clap sample. This is one of the pots that was completely replaced. Works as it should.

DECAY (CLAP): This sounds pretty self explanatory but if you've ever played with one of these things you know it's not quite a true "decay" in the traditional sense. Yes, when at it's lowest setting you get a very tight short sample and the sound will increase with length as you turn it up BUT as get to around the 3 o'clock position the it actually starts to loop a part of the sample in a very strange way. You can hear it in the video link below. It's pretty wild sounding and works as it should.

PITCH (NOISE): Another weird one as this knob isn't so much a pitch control for the noise but a filter for the noise. You can here it in the video. This pot is other that was totally replaced and as you can see the knob is not original but it works exactly as it should.

DECAY (NOISE): This controls the decay for the noise. At it's lowest setting you get very tight percussive white noise attacks and at it's highest you get nice long noise crashes. Works as it should.

BALANCE: This is basically a crossfader for the clap sample and the noise. When at 0 all you will hear is the clap and at 10 all you will hear is the white noise. It's worth mentioning that the noise a bit louder than the clap which is to say that with the knob centered, the noise will be louder than the clap. Not sure if this is normal or not and, of course, you can still get a good even balance by turing the knob slightly more towards the clap but, again, thought it was worth mentioning.

LEVEL: This the volume knob and power switch. Pretty self explanatory. Works as it should.

AUTO BUTTON: This engages the internal non programmable sequencer.

HUMANIZER: This is very cool function that when engaged slightly randomizes the clap sample's pitch resulting in a slightly more realistic - or "human" - feel. Sometime it takes the button a few tries to engage as you can see in the video it does work most of the time.

TRIGGER: This is the manual trigger which you can use to play the clap trap by hand without an external trigger/pad."