Disclosed is a recursive circuit capable of serving as a signal detector or as a signal generator. The circuit comprises a shift register capable of storing multilevel signals, and a feedback network responsive to an input signal and to the output signals of selected stages of the shift register. In the feedback network, the output signals of the selected stages are each multiplied by prechosen integers, and then added with the input signal to form a sum signal which is applied to the first stage of the shift register. The sum signal is developed by nonmodulo addition, and the multiplying integers are prechosen to cause the characteristic function of the circuit to be a cyclotomic polynomial. Detection of the presence in the input signal of a signal having a chosen frequency is accomplished by the sum signal excluding a predetermined threshold level. Signal generation is accomplished by presetting the register to a nonzero state and allowing the output signal to develop in accordance with the characteristic function of the circuit.