What began as an idea in a design contest has turned into a growing company.

The company is Jeff Vallier’s Pefftronics, a musical electronic equipment company. It started with a research grant from Iowa State awarded to Vallier to develop his design.

Vallier said the grant was finished in 1994, and “we made the stepping stone from research project to real company in 1995.” Pefftronics is located in the ISU Research Park.

“Since then, we’ve been taking the research and developing projects that you can sell in the real world,” Vallier said.

Vallier said that his machine is a signal processor for guitars or vocalists. It makes computer-generated sounds, such as echoes.

“Ninety-nine percent of the music you hear has been processed. What mine does is make it sound more real,” he said.

His signal processor sounds more real because it uses randomness, he said. Randomness allows for more of a natural processing sound.

Pefftronics sells to individuals as well as recording studios. They have two products on the market: the Super Rand-O-Matic and the RTSP-1600.

Vallier said the RTSP-1600 is more expensive than the Super Rand-O-Matic and it is a more professional version. It’s mainly used in recording studios, he said.

The Super Rand-O-Matic is targeted more towards guitar players. Vallier said it is in the marketing phase and there are some famous guitarists using it.

Vallier compares his marketing strategy to that of Nike’s.

“If Michael Jordan is using Nike shoes then everyone wants a pair. If Bon Jovi uses my box then everyone will want one,” he said.

Vallier said company officials are working on a new product, but “it’s a secret.” They are also working on the advertising for their two current products.

John Hobson, a junior in marketing, is an intern at Pefftronics. He said he works on the advertising campaigns, brochures and layouts for the company.

“Jeff’s more creative, his business partners do more of the finance and I’m more marketing,” Hobson said.

Vallier said his main market is the United States, but he’s working on a karaoke unit for Asia.