STARVE lives in the moment a fuzz pedal stops behaving.
You know that sound when the battery is nearly gone, the circuit is hanging on by a thread, and a held note starts to sag, choke, and fray around the edges? That is where STARVE begins. It turns a dying power supply into part of the performance, giving you a fuzz that can sound worn out, wounded, unstable, or ready to fall apart completely.
This is not a layer of random noise pasted over the guitar. The virtual power supply reacts to what you play. Dig in and the circuit pulls harder against the rail. Hold a bend and the note can slowly lose its footing beneath you. Leave space between phrases and the supply begins to recover. The distress moves with your hands, so it feels played rather than programmed.
The large Power knob sweeps from 3V to 12V. At 9V, STARVE is fully fed and delivers a thick, direct transistor-style fuzz. Turn left and the battery starts giving up. The sound compresses, darkens, coughs, and fizzles as the voltage falls toward 3V. Turn right past 9V and the circuit becomes pushed and tightly compressed, with a little extra level but no unwanted jump in fuzz.
Fuzz decides how hard the circuit gets hit. Keep it low for an open sound with just a hint of strain, or turn it up and make the virtual battery work for every note. The harder the fuzz stage pulls, the more the supply sags and the more dramatic the end of the phrase becomes. Mix lets you run the whole thing fully wet or bring the dry attack back underneath the damage.
The Starved, Fed, and Pushed LEDs follow the state of the circuit in real time. When the virtual battery is taking a beating, you can watch the Starved light weaken along with it.
STARVE is a distressed voltage-starved fuzz built to make the circuit sound as though it is fighting to stay alive. It does more than reduce level or place a static distortion curve over the signal. The virtual power supply reacts to the way you play, losing strength under load and recovering when the circuit is given room to breathe.
The character comes from hearing the fuzz under stress. Hard notes pull more current from the rail; the sound compresses unevenly, darkens, and begins to lose its grip on the end of the note. At deeper settings, the decay can cough, flutter, and fizzle as though the circuit no longer has enough power to sustain itself.
STARVE is intentionally interactive. The sound changes with input level, Fuzz, Power, and the space between notes, so the same setting can feel controlled under a light touch and unstable when pushed harder. The distress is not a separate noise layer running over the signal. It is created by the fuzz circuit being taxed by the performance itself.
The defining sound of STARVE lives in the transition between a healthy fuzz and a circuit beginning to fail. Moderate starvation makes notes feel tired and compressed. Deeper starvation pulls away sustain, softens the body, and leaves an unstable edge behind as the phrase ends.
That movement is the instrument inside the effect. Pick harder and the rail is taxed more heavily. Leave a gap and it begins to recover. Hold a bend and the sound can slowly lose strength underneath it. The most expressive settings are often the ones that feel barely under control.
Fuzz controls how hard the transistor-style circuit is driven. At low settings the sound remains more open and the power supply is taxed less heavily. As Fuzz is raised, the tone becomes denser and more aggressive while the circuit draws more from the virtual rail.
This interaction is important: the strongest starvation behavior appears when the fuzz stage and the incoming performance give the supply something to react against. With Fuzz near zero, there is no added fuzz and the dying-battery response becomes much more subtle. For pronounced sag and end-of-note breakup, raise Fuzz and play into the circuit rather than treating Power as a conventional gain control.
The large Power knob controls the operating voltage of the virtual circuit. It is not an output-volume control. The center position is a normal 9V supply, while the two sides create very different circuit behavior.
Starved: 3V to 9V
Turning left reduces the available supply and increases its internal resistance.
Loud notes pull the rail down, sustained notes begin to weaken, and the circuit takes longer to recover.
The farther Power moves toward 3V, the more likely the tail is to compress, darken, flutter, or fall apart.
Fed: 9V
At noon the fuzz receives a stable 9V supply.
This is the natural center of the plug-in and a good starting point for setting the Fuzz level before exploring either side.
The sound is full, direct, and consistent without the low-voltage collapse or the pushed compression.
Pushed: 9V to 12V
Turning right overfeeds the circuit.
This side adds controlled compression and a small amount of level rather than simply increasing the fuzz amount.
Use it to make leads feel denser and more sustained while keeping the character set by the Fuzz control.
Mix blends the complete STARVE signal against the dry input. At 100% you hear the full processed circuit. Lower settings retain the attack and definition of the original performance while placing the fuzz and voltage movement underneath it.
Parallel settings are useful when an extreme starved sound has the right texture but removes too much body from a riff. Try reducing Mix before backing away from the Power setting; the unstable character can remain audible while the dry signal restores weight and timing.
The three LEDs show the current Power region: Starved, Fed, or Pushed. They also react to the internal signal and rail state. When a low-voltage setting is taxed by a strong note, the Starved LED weakens with the available supply, giving a visual indication of the same sag heard in the audio.
STARVE includes six factory presets designed as practical starting points.
Starve Default
A balanced introduction to the circuit with full wet signal and the Power control centered at 9V.
Dying Lead
Strong fuzz with a low supply for expressive bends, held notes, and phrases that fade into unstable edges.
Voltage Cough
The most severely starved starting point. Best for exposed single notes, broken textures, and intentionally collapsing sustain.
Fed Fuzz
A stable 9V fuzz sound without low-voltage collapse. Use this to hear the core fuzz voice before adding starvation.
Pushed Solo
Moves above 9V for firmer compression, added density, and a controlled lead sound.
Parallel Starve
A heavily starved circuit blended with the dry signal to preserve attack and body.
Dying Lead
Fuzz at 70–85% — Power around 4–5V — Mix at 100%
Strong note attack followed by a compressed, unstable decay that responds well to bends and vibrato.
Fed Heavy Fuzz
Fuzz at 75–100% — Power at 9V — Mix at 100%
The core fuzz voice at full supply, suited to sustained riffs and parts that need consistent weight.
Voltage Cough
Fuzz above 85% — Power near 3V — Mix at 100%
An intentionally extreme response for sparse single-note playing, broken tails, and dramatic stops.
Pushed Solo
Fuzz at 55–70% — Power around 11V — Mix at 100%
Compressed and focused with a small lift in level, without turning the Power control into another fuzz stage.
Parallel Starve
Fuzz at 75–90% — Power around 4V — Mix at 50–70%
Keeps the dry attack underneath an unstable fuzz layer, making severe starvation easier to place in a full arrangement.
STARVE responds to the level entering the plug-in. Hot pickups, boosts, or a loud recorded track will tax the supply more quickly than a quiet input. If a setting feels too constant, lower the input feeding the plug-in or reduce Fuzz slightly so the rail has more room to recover between notes.
For the clearest dying-battery movement, leave space at the ends of phrases. Single notes, bends, and separated riffs expose the discharge and recovery behavior more clearly than continuous, heavily saturated chords.
A final soft limiter controls excessive peaks, but STARVE can still sound louder or denser as its compression changes. Match the channel level by ear when comparing settings so the musical behavior is not mistaken for a simple volume increase.
