Source Audio Soundblox 2 Stingray

The Source Audio Soundblox 2 Stingray is a digital multi-filter pedal, announced by Source Audio on 22 October 2014 as an expansion of its Soundblox 2 range¹. Where a single filter pedal gives you one envelope or wah voice, the Stingray puts 12 filter types in one box: Low Pass, High Pass, Band Pass, Single Peak, Multi-Peak, and Notch filters, with four modes of modulation to drive them¹. MusicRadar described it at launch as forging "a distinct new path in filter modulation"¹.

Under the hood it is a DSP design rather than an analog filter circuit. Source Audio's own specification for the pedal lists its proprietary 56-bit Digital Signal Processor, the SA601, and 24-bit converters¹. A Drive function adds dirt in front of the filter, generating everything from overdrive to fuzz¹.

Twelve filters and a Drive control

The 12 filter types cover the main shapes a player reaches for. Low Pass filters roll off highs above a moving cutoff, High Pass thins out the lows, Band Pass isolates a band of frequencies, Single and Multi-Peak boost one or more narrow regions, and Notch cuts a narrow region out¹. Switching between them is how the Stingray moves from a vocal wah-like sweep to a thin, honking synth voice.

The Drive function is the other half of the sound. Source Audio positions it as a tonal control that can be used to generate everything from subtle overdrive through to fuzz¹, so the filter has something to bite on. Players who want that grit as a separate, switchable stage can look at the Soundblox 2 Multiwave pedals, which carry Source Audio's distortion algorithms instead.

Ways to modulate the filter

A filter is only as useful as what moves it, and the Stingray offers four modulation sources¹:

• Envelope follower: the filter responds to your picking dynamics, opening up as you play harder.
• Tap Tempo LFO: an oscillator sweeps the filter on a tempo you tap in, with a choice of sine, square, random sample-and-hold, or sawtooth waveforms, and the LFO modulation can be synced using tap tempo¹.
• Hot Hand: Source Audio's motion sensor, which drives the filter from your hand movement.
• Dual Expression Pedal: Source Audio's expression pedal, for conventional foot control.

The same multi-function input idea runs through the whole Soundblox 2 line: every pedal in the series has a multi-function input that supports MIDI, an expression pedal, or Hot Hand control². On the sibling Orbital Modulator, that jack also allows MIDI access to presets and parameters³.

For a sense of how these modulation sources behave in practice, the Premier Guitar review of the related Soundblox 2 Manta Bass Filter is instructive. Its mod-source control can alter the attack and decay of the envelope follower or transform the LFO wave shape from a smooth sine to a jagged sawtooth, and the reviewer noted that "the modulation characteristics blend as you move between settings, so you can tailor in-between tones to taste"⁴.

Presets, MIDI and the Soundblox HUB

On its own, the Stingray holds two programmable user presets, each called up by its own dedicated footswitch¹. That matches the standard Soundblox 2 format, which Source Audio described at the 2012 launch as rack-mount power in a pedalboard-friendly cast aluminum housing with two user presets².

For bigger rigs, the Soundblox HUB adds MIDI. Connected through the HUB, the Stingray gains MIDI access to control parameters and to save up to 128 user presets¹. The HUB became the MIDI route for the whole line: Source Audio's OFD microModeler pedals, and the rest of the Soundblox 2 series, gained MIDI compatibility when the MIDI Control HUB arrived in early 2014⁵.

Power and bypass

The Stingray runs on a 9V DC power supply, and one is included in the box¹. The Soundblox 2 line's power standard is 9V DC, center negative⁶, so it fits a typical pedalboard power supply.

Bypass is Source Audio's Universal Bypass: you select either analog buffered or relay-based True Bypass¹. That choice matters on a large board. True bypass keeps the pedal out of the signal path entirely when off, while buffered bypass keeps a buffer in line, which can preserve high end over long cable runs. Every Soundblox 2 pedal offers the same selectable bypass².

Where the Stingray sits in the Soundblox 2 line

Source Audio introduced the Soundblox 2 format at NAMM in January 2012 with three new products, all sharing precision 56-bit signal processing, the multi-function input, Universal Bypass, and two user presets². The series housings are compact cast aluminum with a 4" x 4" footprint⁷, and the Stingray follows that form: a compact, rugged, cast aluminum housing measuring 4.5 by 4.5 by 2.25 inches including knobs¹.

The Stingray is a multi-filter pedal from Source Audio, featuring 12 different Low Pass, High Pass, Band Pass, Single Peak, Multi-Peak, and Notch filters¹.

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