Frap Tools CGM Manual Download Page 2

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I’d like to thank a few precious friends for their support during these years, for the discussions we had, and for the

valuable feedback i received — in alphabetical order: Tina Aspiala, Caterina Barbieri, Sebastian Baumann, Alessandro

Bonino, Marco Ciccotti, Enrico Cosimi, Lorenzo Florissi, Tom Hall, René Margraff, Gianfranco Marongiu, Chris

Meyer, Giulio Saltini, Alessio Santini, Stephan Schmitt, Brian Smith, Trevor Tunnacliffe, Giona Vinti, Andreas Zhu-

kovsky.

And thanks to the amazing people I’m working with — in alphabetical order: Fabrizio Benatti, Federico Foglia, Gio-

vanni Grandi, Antonio Masiero.

Simone Fabbri

Summary of Contents for CGM

Page 1: ...MANUALONE A Single Comprehensive Guide to Frap Tools Modules...

Page 2: ...Sebastian Baumann Alessandro Bonino Marco Ciccotti Enrico Cosimi Lorenzo Florissi Tom Hall Ren Margraff Gianfranco Marongiu Chris Meyer Giulio Saltini Alessio Santini Stephan Schmitt Brian Smith Trev...

Page 3: ...inued 19 Amplitude Control 19 Auxiliary Stereo Input 19 Creative Functions 19 6 3 1 Headphones 19 6 3 2 PFL 19 7 Masterone 20 Amplitude Control 20 7 1 1 Pseudo balanced TRS Outputs 20 7 1 2 Balanced X...

Page 4: ...nnel 60 Hold 60 6 Advanced Editing 61 Composition Mode 61 Use an External CV Gate Keyboard 61 Store Pattern Last Played or Last Full 62 Rotate Pattern 62 Cloning 62 6 5 1 Clone a Stage 62 6 5 2 Clone...

Page 5: ...rimmers 95 5 2 1 Gain 95 5 2 2 Base 95 5 2 3 Symmetry 95 6 Technical Data 96 Simple Signal Flow 96 Specifications 97 Revisions 97 333 98 1 Design 98 2 Technical Data 99 Flow Chart 99 Specifications 99...

Page 6: ...flame or other sources of heat on or near the devices Transport the devices only in the origi nal box with original packaging or when safely and tightly mounted in a proper Eu rorack case and handled...

Page 7: ...tall the module in your case using all the 2 or 4 screws provided Make sure that the module is safely and tightly connected to your Eurorack case Frap Tools modules use the standard Eurorack orienta t...

Page 8: ...ltages are what we use for example to send note information to the sound source 1 Horowitz 2019 1 note 2 In case of alternate current our charge flows back and forth in our circuit Its alternation ove...

Page 9: ...ly Strange 1984 4 5 signal would make the cone move in one direction only with potential damages Unipolar voltages are for example certain envelopes or LFOS especially the ones used for controlling a...

Page 10: ...some Vrms values that have now become standars for example Equipment 0 dB amplitude Consumer Hi Fi equipment often with RCA connectors 300 mVrms Professional equipment 1 228 Vrms Eurorack synthesizer...

Page 11: ...Rev 7 Aug 2021 Page 11 of 107...

Page 12: ...to its position if it points towards one or more jack sockets it is an input if it points away from one or more jack sockets it is an output Figure 2 Arrows 2 SQUARE AND ROUND SHAPES All the modular w...

Page 13: ...shed lines 4 COLOR CODING As a rule of thumb if a module performs more than one function the respective controls are marked with differ ent colors In other words a given color relates to one and only...

Page 14: ...Rev 7 Aug 2021 Page 14 of 107 CGM CREATIVE MIXER SERIES Figure 9 CGM Interface...

Page 15: ...m plex mixing console For this purpose we designed a special set of connecting cables named Link System which replaces the older Link Cables now discontinued but still compatible with newer products T...

Page 16: ...ty and can be broken down to five color coded main parts VCA red two effect sends yellow and green pan pink and fader white AMPLITUDE CONTROLS ANDDIRECTOUTPUT EFFECT SENDS The two Send Level knobs B 1...

Page 17: ...stead of individual Direct outputs A 4 This allows you to use the QSC as a stand alone four channel stereo mixer 4 1 1 Mono Auxiliary Input The QSC also features an additional monophonic DC coupled in...

Page 18: ...nputs B 5 B 6 They are semi normalled meaning that they can work either in stereo when two cables are plugged or in dual mono when only one cable is plugged into any of the two inputs When using two c...

Page 19: ...allows you to prelisten the group when it is muted or when its fader is set to the lowest position To take advantage of this function you need to connect the group to the Master module with its PFL Bl...

Page 20: ...ound The Master features two columns of 12 LEDs each that act as graphical VU meter of the audio levels on the left and right channel respectively 6 See the Core Concepts chapter section 7 p 10 The Ma...

Page 21: ...Blend knob C 5 PFL previews the channel s sound before the main fader this means that its amplitude will be determined by the Red VCA level which means that the green and yel low Sends cannot be PFL d...

Page 22: ...Rev 7 Aug 2021 Page 22 of 107 8 TECHNICAL DATA FLOW CHARTS Figure 12 Channel flow chart Figure 13 Quad Stereo Channel simplified flow chart one of the four sections...

Page 23: ...Rev 7 Aug 2021 Page 23 of 107 Figure 14 Group flow chart Figure 15 Master flow chart Figure 16 Masterone flow chart...

Page 24: ...e 8 0 01 40 KHz Harmonic Distortion 9 0 3 Panpot Center Position Tolerance C 2 dB QSC 1 5 Max VCA attenuation C 70 dB QSC 1 Max data obtained with heavy driven output onto low impedance load 2 Stereo...

Page 25: ...ch values are sampled on analog thermal noise to guarantee the truest random generation Its main section is composed of two identical clusters of four Sample and Hold circuits each yellow and green wh...

Page 26: ...d There are four ways to activate the S H circuit for each of the two generators internal clock external clock manual S H button exter nal S H gate plus an extra mode which combines the clocks let it...

Page 27: ...depends on the Global Rate of Change See below 4 3 Practice the clocks with these Techniques Random Clocks 1 Random Clocks 2 Ratcheting Like Effect 3 Clock Bursts 1 Clock Bursts 2 Double Clock Trick...

Page 28: ...6 possible ranges of octaves that this circuit can generate n Knob value Number of voltages generated 1 1 2 2 1 3 3 1 4 4 1 5 5 1 6 6 1 7 Table 3 n values for n 1 quantized random voltages Even in thi...

Page 29: ...e four Probability Distribution Switches E 2 E 3 E 4 E 5 The knob sets the magnitude of voltages which will be generated more frequently by default it is set to the mid dle position which means that m...

Page 30: ...ance on positive pulses 90 K clamping negative pulses 30 Built in clock frequency 1 0 1 60 Hz Quantized Random Voltage Tol erance 1 global offset 10 10 mV Clock output period 2 ms amplitude 9 V Sampli...

Page 31: ...c frequencies FUMANA is designed around one basic core principle modify the spectral content of the incoming audio signal by filtering it through 16 bandpass filters in parallel and then vary the ampl...

Page 32: ...uare wave Since this operation works on the individual bands am plitude the general settings for spectral transferring re quires the faders all the way down so that when the mod ulator signal is silen...

Page 33: ...ack Odd Even Crossfade The result of the sum of Odd and Even outputs is slightly different from the All output This is because the All out put uses an additional low pass filter at 18KHz in order to o...

Page 34: ...is simi lar but it doesn t work directly as a filter but as a voltage control which feeds each band VCA The first control is called Peak Notch C 6 C 7 C 8 and it selects the amount of emphasis or att...

Page 35: ...ith s f z ch and other fricative sounds s z t d ts f v etc Historically all vocoders have an additional section to manage these kinds of sounds Usually that section worked with a sort of unvoiced dete...

Page 36: ...set the 4 volumes of the Odd and Even bands of both theMain and Modulation section to the middle at 12 o clock keep the envelope followers rise and fall times at min imum counterclockwise put all volu...

Page 37: ...ands since it is using only half of them 7 TECHNICAL DATA TRANSFERFUNCTION All tests performed after 30 minutes of warmup at room temperature of 23 C using pink noise at a sampling rate of 96KHz The r...

Page 38: ...CV output impedance 50 Audio Input impedance 20 K Audio Output impedance 50 Individual Filters 250 Envelope followers amplitude from 0 10 V 2 5 2 To avoid incorrect behavior when driving external VCA...

Page 39: ...patch The module can be divided in two big parts the upper two thirds of the panel are occupied by two specular function generators while the lower third is composed by a dual cascaded frequency divid...

Page 40: ...the other hand pro vides extremely short functions on the microsecond time scale and when looping it can be used as an audio rate oscillator This is just a general reference as any possible combinatio...

Page 41: ...s slave period is longer than the master one Since this switch is on the back of the module it is meant to provide a set and forget option However in case of more than one FALISTRI on the same system...

Page 42: ...lue between the two attenuverted signals also called Analog OR in some synthesizers It is particularly useful to combine the yel low and green function in order to achieve more complex envelopes or un...

Page 43: ...is a circuit that mul tiplies two signals by one each other It is similar to a VCA with the main difference that it welcomes bipolar signals on both inputs allowing any possible combination of positi...

Page 44: ...ns of positive and negative po larities The result of RM is quite similar to the one of AM with the major distinction that in RM the carrier frequency is suppressed being the sidebands the only audibl...

Page 45: ...range 5 MAX output Tolerance Impedance 100 Generators Gate Output Amplitude 10 V Offset 20 20 mV EOF min positive pulse period 1 ms Impedance 220 Cascaded Flip Flop s Input Trigger Threshold Amplitud...

Page 46: ...ck 1 Gate B E 5 Track 2 CV A E 6 Track 2 CV B E 7 Track 2 Gate A E 8 Track 2 Gate B E 9 Track 3 CV A E 10 Track 3 CV B E 11 Track 3 Gate A E 12 Track 3 Gate B E 13 Track 4 CV A E 14 Track 4 CV B E 15...

Page 47: ...all the behavioral information necessary o generate four synchronous musical events including pitch volume timbre repetition probability A sequence of up to 16 stages one per encoder forms a pattern...

Page 48: ...ual operations such as button and encoder combina tions Likewise the visual feedback combines the color coded LEDs and the information provided by the default screen on the display C 5 called Dashboa...

Page 49: ...1 If you happen to select Save instead of Save as USTA will automatically save your current project as NONAME however this procedure is not recommended since any other project accidentally saved as N...

Page 50: ...to edit any other pattern while pattern 1 is playing however the result of such operation will not be heard unless the newly edited patterns are included within the pattern loop To change the extensi...

Page 51: ...nits per stage Figure 49 Stage Length and stage phase It is possible to turn the encoder counterclockwise until no LEDs is lit in this case the stage will have length 0 so it will be skipped during th...

Page 52: ...he semitones Figure 52 The grey LEDs display the octaves By default USTA works with the 12 semitone equal temperament which divides the octave into 12 equally spaced intervals It is possible however t...

Page 53: ...yers affect the content i e the values that the stage will play while Colors affects the form i e the way in which such values will be played The defined volt age is generated for the whole stage leng...

Page 54: ...coder It is possible to set the gate number to 0 in this case no gate will be generated and the output will re main low for the whole stage duration 3 4 5 2 Green Gate Layer Variation Index Figure 57...

Page 55: ...ll the 16 yellow LEDs are lit 1 LED means that 1 gate will be generated and so on until 16 fast gates are outputted This division is performed by USTA based on the stage duration set by the length par...

Page 56: ...0 Figure 60 Coarse editing It is also possible to fine tune the Pitch and Raw voltages Hold pressed Esc B 4 then the Coarse button to access the Fine mode now the Stage Encoders will change the stage...

Page 57: ...track has ended if Instant it will happen instantaneously The Play Pause LED C 1 will display the current state of the selected track red if paused green if playing 5 1 3 Reset The Reset button B 12 r...

Page 58: ...stages 1 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 6 7 The stages between square brackets are the Stage Loop 5 2 1 Infinite Stage Loop If you set the FOR value to 0 the Stage Loop will loop end lessly once engaged in t...

Page 59: ...ot and in that pattern the 9th stage is playing Figure 68 Stage LEDs in Edit Song Note the playhead on Stage 9 If the track is in Edit Pattern Mode the playhead will fol low the rules of this mode as...

Page 60: ...USTA will wait until the end of stage 7 then move to stage 8 of pattern 5 mixing them If the selected pattern does not have enough stages to maintain the sequence length of the current pattern or if i...

Page 61: ...ead to the first stage of the following pattern while rotating counterclockwise past the first stage of a pattern different than the first move the playhead to last stage of previous pattern The displ...

Page 62: ...are set to 0 at start up If you overwrite the cur rent pattern all the previous data concerning Variation green and blue layers will not be affected so the resulting sequence might differ from the one...

Page 63: ...2 push and hold also the Shift All button B 2 From now on push any other Stage Encoder to clone the selected layer of the source pattern to the desired target the example shows cloning of Gate A data...

Page 64: ...ets on the top of USTA s front panel are dedicated to external modulation two are designed to re ceive external trig or gates and two for external CVs The external gate sockets are used for an externa...

Page 65: ...riation Range value 2 so 4 semitones has a normal note Value of D The Variation Range coin toss specifies 2 semitones resulting in a note value of E If the pitch shifting is 0 at the begin ning of the...

Page 66: ...rarily altered through Pattern Re call and Pattern Mix or defined in a different structure through Song Mode However it is also possible to automatically recall other patterns though Pattern Shift Thi...

Page 67: ...age independently for gates A and B for each track In the Track Menu select Gate A Width or Gate B Width and choose the desired value the selectable range spans from 10 to 90 SWING USTA allows adding...

Page 68: ...button push the Navigation Encoder B 14 once to access the Track Menu and scroll up to reach the Root menu item push the nav igation encoder to view the root options scroll to select the desired root...

Page 69: ...ad of 10 External pitch shifting is still available even if the 1V oct standard is no longer in use In these microtonal modes 1 12v corresponds to a single interval no matter the octave division in ot...

Page 70: ...d these menu items will be a copy of their respective EDO tem peraments The csv file must be made of four lines one per each custom temperament Each line must have a succession of digits which represe...

Page 71: ...cales and Temperaments are global parameters just like the trimming file It means that they are not saved in each project but they are recalled every time If you need a specific scale or temperament f...

Page 72: ...V 0 333V 6 15V 0 4V 7 15V 0 466V 8 15V 0 533 9 15V 0 6V 10 15V 0 666V 11 15V 0 733V 0 V is C A B B 0 V is A G G Ab Voltage 12 15V 0 8V 13 15V 0 866V 14 15V 0 933V octaves Octave 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Volt...

Page 73: ...2V 0 909V 21 22V 0 954V octaves Octave 0 1 2 3 4 5 Voltage 0 V 1V 2V 3V 4V 5 V Table 18 22 EDO LED chart semi tones 0 V is C C C C Dv D D D Ev E E F F 0 V is A A A A Bv B B C C C Dv D D Voltage 0 V 1...

Page 74: ...y suggest warming up the USTA at least for 30 minutes inside the case where it will be used before performing any sort of trimming 10 2 1 CV Out Trimming To perform the trimming on the outputs a multi...

Page 75: ...e is another USTA bin replace it if you have an older install in there and you don t replace it you know what happens right g Insert the SD Card follow instructions above and turn on the module h Pres...

Page 76: ...ck mode CV A Mode Pitch Raw Sets the CV mode for channel A and B to raw voltages or quantized notes CV B Mode Pitch Raw CV A Range 0 10 V 5 V Defines if the CV range for channel A and B is unipolar or...

Page 77: ...ot 59 Slot 51 Slot 60 Slot 52 Slot 61 Slot 53 Slot 62 Slot 45 Slot 54 Slot 63 Slot 1 0 Slot 1 9 Slot 28 Slot 37 Slot 46 Slot 55 Slot 64 Pattern 1 Stage 1 length Gate A number of gates color length all...

Page 78: ...SuLocri 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 Double Harmonic Major 7 dHarmMa 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 Lydian 2 6 7 Lyd 2 6 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 UltraPhrygian Ultralocrian natural 5 7 uPhrygi 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1...

Page 79: ...1 0 1 0 BeBop Harmonic Minor Natural Minor 8 bbp mHa 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 Diminished Whole Half 8 Diminis 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 Octatonic Half Whole 8 Octaton 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 12 User 1 1...

Page 80: ...1 1 0 0 1 1 Krantz eleven out of 19 11 11 Kran 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 McLaren eleven out of 19 11 11 McLa 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 Gould Eleven out of 19 11 11 Goul 1 0 1 0...

Page 81: ...0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Crushed Oranges 8 CrushOr 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Kathartic Parts 7 Kathart 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Rivetting Reds 9 Rivetti 1 1 0 0...

Page 82: ...0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 22 tone Just Minor Asavari That 7 asavTha 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Gandhaara Grama Narada der ma grama Murchhana Pauravi 7 GandNaM 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0...

Page 83: ...Enharmonic Phrygian 7 ce Phry 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Chromatic Enharmonic Dorian 7 ce Dori 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Chromatic Enharmonic Hypolydian 7 c...

Page 84: ...0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 Triforce 9 9 Triforc 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 Maqam Huzzam 9 mqHuzza 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 de Vries 9 tone Semaphore 9 9...

Page 85: ...3 seconds in Edit Pattern to initialize to default all the stage values of the selected track hold the pencil button for 3 seconds in Edit Song to in itializes to default all the song slots of the se...

Page 86: ...B 17Sync Input C Triangle Shaper C 1 Triangle Shaper C 2 Triangle Shaper CV Input C 3 Triangle Shaper CV Attenuator D Pulse Shaper D 1 Pulse Width D 2 Pulse Width Modulation PWM Source D 3 PWM CV Inp...

Page 87: ...o 7040Hz as dis played by the graphics The Fine Frequency knob at the top left of the green oscil lator and the top right of the yellow one B 2 finely ad justs the frequency by adding or subtracting 1...

Page 88: ...odulate the integra tion time with external CV through the V oct Integrator CV Input B 15 in this case any external voltage will be summed to or subtracted from the current position of the knob Practi...

Page 89: ...s back the green This technique allows creating extremely complex sounds with just two oscilla tors whose final spectral content may even reach the realm of noise To achieve this result BRENSO is equi...

Page 90: ...forms as with Hard Sync BRENSO s tri angle cores allow a different technique typical of this kind of oscillator called Flip Sync or Reverse Sync instead of forcing the slave oscillator s waveform back...

Page 91: ...orm is equal to or higher than the reference voltage the output voltage will be high conversely every time the waveform is lower than the reference voltage the output will be low The alter nation of h...

Page 92: ...the Pulse Shaper at noon the blend will be 50 50 At the rightmost position however the signal sent to the waveshaper will not be purely the one coming from the Pulse Shaper but a small amount of the...

Page 93: ...s any steep rising edge and uses it to excite the wavefolder It means that trigs are preferred but any gate signal can be used as well the Ping circuit will behave in the same way regardless of the ga...

Page 94: ...the signal coming from the four quadrant multiplier will be heard This crossfading can be externally controlled via exter nal CV whose input G 4 features a dedicated attenu verter G 5 to scale or inve...

Page 95: ...n To calibrate the Amplitude Modulation circuit patch a dummy cable to the second input of the Amplitude Modulation section and set the modulation amount fully clockwise and trim it to reach the lowes...

Page 96: ...Rev 7 Aug 2021 Page 96 of 107 6 TECHNICAL DATA SIMPLESIGNALFLOW Figure 87 BRENSO s signal flow...

Page 97: ...aveshape CV 60 Pulse Waveshaper CV 60 PWM CV 90 Sources CV 25 Wavefolder CV 60 Wavefolder Symmetry CV 50 Ping CV 90 Output Details Audio outputs Impedance 100 Amplitude 7 5 Vpp Oscillators Knob range...

Page 98: ...e CGM creative mixer series with the additional ability to handle signals starting from DC 1 DESIGN Each of the three sections red yellow and green sums up to three signals plugged to any of its three...

Page 99: ...12 V 48 mA 12 V 48 Size 6 HP Input impedance 90 K Output impedance 50 CV Tolerance 0 5 global offset per section 20 20 mV Frequency response 10 DC 30 KHz Harmonic Distortion THD N 11 0 01 10 Within 1...

Page 100: ...scal ing any signal from 0 up to 2 times 6dB flip its phase and apply a DC offset allowing to shift your audio or CV up or down In case no signals are connected to the section input A 1 the offset ma...

Page 101: ...Flow Chart Figure 91 321 flow chart 2 1 2 Specifications Parameter Details Min Typ Max Unit Current Draw 12 V 48 mA 12 V 48 Size 6 HP Input impedance 90 K Output impedance 50 Frequency response 12 DC...

Page 102: ...ive direction of the artists However problem solving was not the only reason be hind PLUS It is also designed to be solid and elegant through extruded aluminum pieces joint together with no visible sc...

Page 103: ...sides a pair of green aluminum sides a pair of yellow aluminum sides a pair of black aluminum sides All the sides configurations come with the screws bolts and tools for assembly According to which on...

Page 104: ...units d Place a teethed washer at the end of each M4x25 screw e Place a M4 Hex nut after each teethed washer f Use the custom thin or thick wrench to hold the Hex nuts in place while fastening the M4...

Page 105: ...321 1 321 Module 1 16 to 10 poles IDC Power Cable 2 M3x6 black and zinc with plastic washer for mounting F C120 LK CGM Link Cable 1 Master to 2 Groups 1 10 poles IDC Link Cable 1 Master to 2 Groups F...

Page 106: ...16 Rubber Feet 6 Dowel Pin M2x8 12 Teethed Washer M4 12 Hex Nut M4 8 Screw M4x14 4 Screw M4x25 50 Square Nuts M3 F PL02 D2 F PL02 P2 F PL02 L2 PLUS Wood Sides Dark Combo Pack 2 pcs PLUS Wood Sides Spo...

Page 107: ...the beginning of every chapter to improve the readability Improved cross references 5 Jun 2020 Fixed wrong labelling on BRENSO 6 Nov 2020 Quad Stereo Channel added to CGM section Added Revisions for F...

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