Quick Start Guide

Connect your instrument into the 1/4" INPUT. Connect a compatible power supply (9V center negative, min. 500 mA) to the power connector.

Connect at least one of the following:

• Headphones into the headphone jack
• USB-C cable between the USB connector and your computer*
• Instrument cable between one of the balanced 1/4" outputs and your amplifier's input
• XLR cable between DIRECT OUTPUT and your mixing desk or audio interface

The Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine is pre-programmed with three presets, A, B, and C, that are selectable via the dedicated footswitches. Press and hold one of the footswitches for two seconds to save your changes into a preset. Three additional presets can also be accessed via MIDI or the Darkglass Suite.

Adjust the level (and headphone volume, if applicable) to your liking and start playing!

*Using the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine as an audio interface may require some extra steps depending on your operating system.

Connections

Input: This is the primary instrument input on the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine. Connect your instrument or output from your pedal board to the 1/4" mono jack.

Aux In: The stereo input of the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine enables the playback of backing tracks while practicing or recording. Connect your mobile phone, laptop etc. to the 1/8" stereo jack.

Headphone Output: The headphone output can handle headphones with an impedance of 16 – 600 ohms. Connect your headphones to the 1/8" stereo jack and set the desired level from the dedicated potentiometer next to the jack.

Balanced Outputs: The two balanced outputs add routing versatility and the option of using the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine as a fully equipped audio interface. Connect your studio monitors, amplifier or other effects to the 1/4" balanced jacks using a TRS connector (Tip +, Ring -, Sleeve GND). If you feed an unbalanced input from these outputs, use an instrument cable with a mono 1/4" plug.

Direct Output: An XLR output with a ground lift switch provides a reliable standard connection to a mixing desk or an external audio interface for a guaranteed low-noise signal.

MIDI In: A standard 1/8" TRS jack allows connecting an external MIDI controller to the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine for even more flexibility. Read more about the MIDI capabilities at darkglass.com/creations/AggressivelyDistortingAdvancedMachine/.

USB: The USB-C port unlocks the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine's USB audio interface capabilities and enables interaction with the Darkglass Suite desktop app, allowing for software updates and access to the Darkglass IR library, containing hundreds of cabinet simulations. USB MIDI is also supported.

Signal Chain

The signal path flows from Input through Compressor and Distortion stages, with options for Multiband Compression and Cabinet Simulation, before blending, EQ, and output.

Compressor: This control allows setting the input gain of the compressor that will translate into how much the signal is compressed while the intelligent make-up gain algorithm keeps the output of the compressor at usable levels. The compressor has 5 ratios available: 4:1, 8:1, 12:1, 20:1 and ALL IN.

Distortion: At the heart of the distortion circuit is an accurate model of Nolly's favorite vintage distortion unit. In collaboration with Darkglass, this served as a platform for developing 5 distinctive distortion modes ranging from mild and articulate distortion to synth-like fuzz sounds.

Cabinet Simulation: The Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine supports Impulse Response (IR) cabinet simulations and has 5 cabinet slots on board. The default IRs have been captured by Nolly himself. New IRs can be assigned to the 5 slots using the Darkglass Suite (desktop or mobile).

Multiband Compressor: In the clean sidechain, a fixed multiband compressor is present. This multiband compressor incorporates Nolly's personal settings developed with years of studio experience. There are no direct controls for the multiband compressor.

Blend: The blend control allows you to mix the distorted/preamp signal with the clean sidechain signal. Depending on the distortion/preamp setting, the clean sidechain is either full-band or low-band.

EQ: Last in the signal chain is a programmable 6-band graphic equalizer that allows you to tailor your sound further. A full description of this functionality can be found in the "Controls" section of the manual.

Controls

Smart Potentiometers

On the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine, there are five smart potentiometers: Compression, Drive, Character, Blend, and Level. These potentiometers are the main interface for sculpting the signal chain and your overall sound.

The Compression potentiometer is the one-knob solution for compression. It controls the amount of input gain to the compressor and intelligently applies makeup gain so that your signal is always driven at the appropriate level.

The Drive potentiometer adds distortion and drive to your signal. It applies Nolly's favorite vintage distortion to the distorted part of the signal chain.

The Character potentiometer changes the tone of the distortion, adding brightness.

The Blend potentiometer mixes between the distortion signal and the clean sidechain signal.

The Level potentiometer controls the master volume of the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine.

The smart potentiometers allow their positions to be stored in each preset, indicated by the ring of LEDs surrounding each potentiometer. This provides a visual cue to your signal chain settings when changing presets.

Touch Sensitive Slider

At the center are touch-sensitive sliders that control the 6-band graphic EQ. Each slider has a -12 dB to 12 dB range. From left to right, the frequency bands correspond to a low shelf, 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1.5 kHz, 3 kHz, and a high shelf.

Controlling the touch sliders is intuitive: swipe upwards to boost a frequency band or swipe downwards to cut a frequency band. The position of the slider is reflected on the potentiometer LEDs. Double-tap a slider to reset the band back to 0 dB.

Hint: The sliders respond to the direction of your swipe on any part of the slider, allowing for small adjustments without your finger covering the slider's position.

Rotary Footswitch Encoders

Below the touch sliders are three rotary footswitch encoders: A, B, and C. These can be pressed or rotated to enable many of the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine's functions. Simply press A, B, or C to switch to the preset stored in that footswitch.

The rotational position of each encoder is displayed on five LEDs under each encoder. When rotating, the position is also shown on the potentiometer LEDs as a visual aid.

• Rotating A allows you to change the compressor ratio or bypass the compressor.
• Rotating B allows you to change the distortion mode or bypass the distortion.
• Rotating C allows you to change the active IR in the signal chain or bypass the IR.

When none of the five LEDs are lit, the respective compressor, distortion, or IR is bypassed.

Basic Operation

Editing and saving presets

Editing and saving presets on the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine is straightforward. If any parameters are changed (potentiometers, sliders, encoder rotation), the LED of your current preset will gently breathe, indicating that an edit or audition mode is active.

Auditions allow you to try new sounds and settings, which can be saved or discarded. To save a sound, press and hold one of the preset footswitches for two seconds. All LEDs on the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine will flash rapidly to indicate that your edits have been saved into a preset.

A new audition is entered when any parameter is changed from an unedited/saved preset. This will overwrite any previous unsaved auditions/edits.

During an edit/audition, you can change to any of the three saved presets by pressing the associated footswitch. Pressing the footswitch again will swap between that preset and your active editing session.

Presets can also be saved, edited, shared, loaded, and managed in the Darkglass Suite. For instructional videos on editing and saving presets, visit darkglass.com/creations/aggressively-distorting-advanced-machine/.

Tuner

To enter the tuner, press B and C simultaneously. To exit, press B and C simultaneously or one of the footswitch presets. The Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine will return to the last active preset and will not output audio while tuning.

The Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine features a five-octave chromatic tuner, capable of tuning any note between A0 and A#5, derived from A4 = 440 Hz. Only one note can be tuned at a time.

When the tuner mode is entered with no input signal, two red LEDs on the two rightmost sliders are shown. When an input signal is received, the left section of sliders updates to show the note being tuned. A small indicator to the top right of the note signifies a sharp note.

The two rightmost sliders indicate tuning proximity. Distance below the center line means tuned flat, above means tuned sharp. Red LEDs transition to green as you approach perfect pitch, and slider and preset LEDs illuminate green when on perfect pitch.

Bypass

To enter bypass mode, press A and B simultaneously. To exit, press A and B simultaneously or one of the footswitch presets. In bypass mode, the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine passes the unprocessed input signal through to the outputs without any processing. All LEDs are turned off during bypass mode.

Performance Lock

To enter or exit performance lock, press A and C simultaneously. In this mode, all LEDs will gently breathe to indicate the lock. This mode prevents accidental parameter changes or edits to presets. You can still change between presets A, B, and C, and enter tuner or bypass modes, but potentiometer updates, slider touches, or encoder rotations will not respond.

Tip: Enter performance mode after soundcheck while playing live gigs.

Bluetooth Pairing

To begin Bluetooth pairing, press and hold an encoder while simultaneously rotating it. The five LEDs under each encoder will illuminate one-by-one. Pairing begins when all five are lit. Look for "Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine" on your list of available Bluetooth devices.

USB Audio Interface

The Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine is compatible with any DAW. You can record your processed signal to one track and simultaneously record an unprocessed copy to another. Recording a stereo track from the Aux input is also possible.

The Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine supports 48 kHz and 44.1 kHz sampling rates.

Setting up the drivers

For Mac users, no additional drivers are required. For Windows users, download the latest USB audio drivers from darkglass.com/suite/. Refer to the Darkglass website for more details regarding USB audio.

USB Routing

USB output (to Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine):

• Output 1: Balanced left + Headphone left
• Output 2: Balanced right + Headphone right
• Output 3: Balanced left
• Output 4: Balanced right
• Output 5: XLR DI (mono)

Both Mac and PC send system audio to outputs 1 and 2 by default. The level of these outputs is controlled by the small volume potentiometer at the top of the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine. Other outputs have no volume control on the device.

USB input (from the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine):

• Input 1: Processed signal
• Input 2: Unprocessed raw signal
• Input 3: Aux left + Bluetooth left
• Input 4: Aux right + Bluetooth right

Audio Routing

When the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine is not bypassed, the Level potentiometer controls the volume of your instrument input at outputs 1-4 and has no effect on USB/Aux/Bluetooth audio. When bypassed, the Level potentiometer has no effect.

Your instrument, Aux input, and Bluetooth audio are routed to the headphone and balanced outputs. The media volume at these outputs is controlled by the small potentiometer at the top of the Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine.

• When using the balanced outputs, the media volume and instrument volume are controlled separately (small volume potentiometer and Level potentiometer, respectively).
• When using headphones, volume is controlled similarly, with the headphone volume potentiometer acting as an overall master volume for both media and instrument input.
• The XLR DI output is routed only with your instrument output and USB output 5.

The media playback volume level is not applied to USB inputs 3 and 4.

Darkglass IR Library

The Darkglass Suite software includes an extensive library of IR files, with hundreds more to be added. The library features both bass and guitar cabinets, including captures from the Darkglass Elite Series and Neodymium Series.

Technical Specifications

• Input impedance: 1 MΩ
• Output impedance: 220 Ω
• Current consumption: ~500mA
• Voltage: 9VDC (center negative)