Bad Shape | Adventures with a broken Intellijel ShapeShifter

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"I am preparing a video for the Intellijel Sealegs delay which was also good opportunity to refres my limited knowledge of Metropolix, ShapeShifter and Rainmaker. I got the ShapeShifter used, and it's never been in good shape. I never found the time or need to send it in for repairs because it has to go to Canada and there's no warranty.

So when I use ShapeShifter, I need to recalibrate it, or even reinstall the firmware when presets are lost. It has amnesia so my guess is that its memory doesn't survive a long powerdown. I was curious if all the necessary software would still work. I think ShapeShifter was introduced somewhere around 2014 and the digital world is changing much faster than analog.

After installing firmware, my ShapeShifter turns into a super advanced LFO because the VCO still needs calibration. I think it ticks below 1 Hz from time to time. It's useless as a voice in this state, but it can still make amazing sounds. I may have to keep it like this and find myself a new one. But it's not a bad thing."