Step Audio | Who We Are

Bill Wardlow founded Molten Voltage in late 2006. Artists include Metallica, Trey Anastasio, Radiohead, Bob Wier, and Steve Vai.

He is a third-generation patent holder, and digital controls are in his blood.

Bill's grandfather, George Devol, invented the first digital, programmable robot, Unimate, back in 1954 which "represents the foundation of the modern robotics industry", as well as numerous digital machine controls and types of computer memory.

Bill started programming in 1979 at the age of 10 and playing guitar and writing songs at 4 (he still has his first guitar, a red '72 Stella acoustic, and first computer, a VIC-20).

Sitting around the breakfast table at his grandfather's home in Connecticut in 2006, he asked Bill to build a cell phone ringer amplifier since he couldn't hear it when in another room. Bill was looking for a new project and had been playing with electronics since he was a little kid, so he dove in and figured it out. In the process, Bill had an idea for a guitar switching effect that would simulate the sound he got when he 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.

He knew right away that he'd want digital controls to set the timing, so he taught himself assembly language and started programming PIC microcontrollers to get the job done.

About the time TOGGLE was done, he heard the guitar sounds on the White Stripes, Icky Thump, and got his first DigiTech Whammy 4. He immediately noticed the MIDI jack on the side and knew that there was untapped potential inside.

Over the years, Bill had 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 Ed O'Brien, Vernon Reid, and thousands of other players around the world. Bill's pitch-shifting sequencer was the first of many revolutionary ideas, including Tempode, CTL-Sync, Big Muff MIDI, Delaytion, and SIXY, which have since been emulated by other companies.

After Molten MIDI, Bill decided to develop a comprehensive line of chips for controlling analog audio effects digitally and with MIDI. The PedalSync line was introduced in 2010 for manufacturers and the DIY crowd.

In 2016, Bill decided to re-brand as Step Audio | Patented Pedals, and limit his products to those that were protected by Intellectual Property (Bill has been an I.P. attorney since 1999).

Programmer, pedal sculptor, and absolute perfectionist, Bill insists that Step Audio devices not only perform flawlessly, but that they stand up to the abuse of touring professionals.

Read Bill's Interview with Six String Soul.

Bill explains why he loves guitar effects.

 

Road-ready MIDI Machinery™, designed and built in Oregon, USA by Step Audio.