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ABOUT THIS MANUAL

This manual has been written with the synth newbie in mind. It’s a synth
manual but at the same time a tutorial and a basic synthesis manual. We

recommend to follow it step by step with the synth in front of you.

If you have any comments, write us to: [email protected]

We will be happy to receive them.

This manual has been written by:

Àlex Ballester
PLANKTON ELECTRONICS
May 2017
www.planktonelectronics.com

Manual version: 1.3

OVERVIEW

ANTS!

is an analog patchable synthesizer. It is designed to work as a

modular  synth,  connecting  patch  cables  to  generate  sounds,  but  at  the
same  time  it  can  work  without  the  use  of  cables.  These  pre-patched
connections  (normalled connections) make the synth an (almost) ready to
play 2-osc analog mono-synth.  By plugging a patch cable into a normalled
input, the normalled connection is broken so you can experiment with new
and weird sounds, basses, leads, drums, pads, self-generative patches and

happy accidents.

ANTS!

is transparent: there are no layers, no double functions, no storing.

Everything is in front of the user* and it is very simple to use: you just need
to connect the outputs to the inputs. At the same time the 51 patch points
and the 25 potentiometers give you the option to design complex patches

and sounds. The possibilities are endless.

* The only hidden aspect is the internal routing of the machine, the normalled
system. ANTS! is already prepatched inside to make it easy to use. If you want to

know more about this feature jump to the NORMALLED SYSTEM chapter.

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Summary of Contents for ANTS!

Page 1: ...ANTS PLANKTON ELECTRONICS ...

Page 2: ......

Page 3: ...OVERVIEW 3 TERMINOLOGY 4 compatibility 4 POWER 5 FIRST STEPS 5 BASICS 8 NORMALLED SYSTEM 12 MIDI 14 OSCILLATORS 17 LFOS 23 VCF 24 ENVELOPES 27 VCAS 30 NOISE 32 MIXER 32 SAMPLE AND HOLD 33 AND GATE 35 HACKING 36 THE END 37 SPECIFICATIONS 38 ...

Page 4: ...e warranty covers replacement or repair as decided by Plankton Electronics Please contact our customer service for a return authorization before sending the module support planktonelectronics com The cost of sending a module back for servicing is paid for by the customer Plankton Electronics implies and accepts no responsibility for harm to person or apparatus caused through operation of this prod...

Page 5: ...patched connections normalled connections make the synth an almost ready to play 2 osc analog mono synth By plugging a patch cable into a normalled input the normalled connection is broken so you can experiment with new and weird sounds basses leads drums pads self generative patches and happy accidents ANTS is transparent there are no layers no double functions no storing Everything is in front o...

Page 6: ...h some Ninja Stars ready to use NINJA STAR Compatibility ANTS uses 3 5mm mono jack connectors All the voltages are compatible with the EURORACK standard Oscillators offer 4V of signal output and work with 1V Oct inputs to play it musically We encourage exploring the possibilities offered by playing the synth together with other eurorack modules controllers sequencers and MIDI and analog keyboards ...

Page 7: ...abelled as 12Vac Notice that the 3 5mm jack is for the MIDI cable FIRST STEPS Before reading the manual we think you ll want to start making sounds Connect the power supply to the ANTS and set the potentiometers as show below Connect the VCA2 OUT to your mixer amp or FX unit be careful with the levels Now push the AD ENV1 MANUAL button You should hear a bass like sound Note the transparent knobs a...

Page 8: ...play triggering the envelope You should hear the tone changes Play with the FREQ Q ATTACK RELEASE and PWM controls Take your time to explore and play Connect the XTOSC X SQUARE OUT to the AD ENV1 TRIG input like this Notice that the XTOSC X switch is activated pressed This activates the LFO mode The LED must blinks ON and OFF Now the synth should sound at a constant rate defined by the XTOSC X RAT...

Page 9: ...all changes in knob position may affect the sound dramatically If you find yourself in a place where there is no sound at all come back to the last picture configuration At this point you can 1 Continue reading the manual and learn how the synth works Jump the BASICS chapter if you re already familiarized with modular synths 2 Experiment tweak knobs make connections and see what happens 3 Go to ht...

Page 10: ...ators are the main source of them If you patch your mixer directly to an oscillator you will listen the different sound waves generated sine square pulse saw tooth etc Be careful with the levels if you plug your amp directly to an oscillator Technically we should call these signals audio but the sound term will be easier to visualize for the newbie The main purpose of this manual is to learn how t...

Page 11: ...te some parameters E g we can use an LFO to modulate the RATE of an oscillator In addition we can use the envelope to modulate the VCA amplifier in order to open and close the sound Let us see what happens when we modulate an oscillator tone with a square wave from an LFO ...

Page 12: ... the amount of modulation that affects the oscillator tone The OSC X RATE sets the central tone From this point the tone will go up and down The result is the same as if we move the OSC X RATE pot up and down at the LFO rate with the only difference that we cannot recreate a square wave modulation by hand This works like an automation Play with the LFO Y RATE OSC X RATE and ATT the small potentiom...

Page 13: ...t all the modules will work properly with all kind of signals Some work better with sound some with CV and some with both Use this diagram as a reference Some notes about this picture 1 Inputs with the triangle accept audio and CV while outputs can send either 2 This is a suggestion not a must do This means for example that you can connect a square wave to the AD ENV 1 TRIG and shape it accepting ...

Page 14: ...CV inputs the pitch of the oscillators will not vary This way you can choose different configurations e g CV to both oscillators to play octaved or unison sounds CV to XTOSC Y and CV2 to OSC X to play different tones through the VCF and the VCA paraphony and a large etc You can break any of the normalled routes by connecting a cable at the input destination of the normalled connection By connectin...

Page 15: ... normalled system viewed on the synth This is the normalled system in text mode XTOSC Y square wave VCF in1 OSC X saw wave VCF in 2 VCF out VCA2 in MIDI TO CV gate AD ENV1 trig AD ENV1 out VCF cv freq VCA2 cv in Z noise S H sig XTOSC X square wave S H clock ...

Page 16: ...ENV 1 TRIG This means that when you connect a MIDI keyboard and play a note the VCF and the VCA2 will be opened according to the AD ENV1 settings if any cable is breaking the prepatched system You can also connect the GATE to the ASR ENV 2 or experiment with other options for example connecting it to the AND gate with an LFO and sending the mixed signal to the envelope The CV outs are not normalle...

Page 17: ...y You will hear both oscillators XTOSC Y and OSC X at the same time Tune them so they have the same pitch Try to set it as CCW as possible Patch the MIDI cable to the MIDI IN and set the MIDI channel When you press a note you should see the led next to the GATE label blinking along the note ON and OFF Set this patch ...

Page 18: ... X CV1 Set the MIDI switch 4 to its up position 2nd note The patching should be MIDI TO CV CV XTOSC Y V OCT MIDI TO CV CV2 OSC X CV1 You will be able to play two notes As you will see the gate will be only opened by the first note When you press a second note while the first one is pressed the 2nd note value will control the OSC X You will make the most of this feature by connecting a MIDI sequenc...

Page 19: ...ill respond fine on the low range Playing the highest two MIDI octaves will result in a bad tracking MIDI note to pitch Use them to elevate the pitch out of its natural range not for playing melodies 6 The provided MIDI cable converts the MIDI DIN 5 to a 3 5mm MIDI connector If the cable is too short you just need to connect it to a MIDI female female adapter or a female male extender cable They a...

Page 20: ...sically Again we have done it in the MIDI section OSC X and OSC Y only have 1 CV input In OSC X you will need to turn up the attenuator fully CW in order to use the V OCT feature In OSC Y Y there is no attenuator If for any reason you want to modulate this oscillator and attenuate the modulation signal you always can use the mixer to do it Just think that you have another 3 oscillators to do that ...

Page 21: ...but they have some overtones They are made up of odd number harmonics that decrease exponentially They are useful for drone sounds and complex auto generative patches Square waves are very rich in harmonics and have a hollow sound Like the triangle they are made up of an odd number of harmonics but they decrease steadily They are very good to filter with the VCF You can obtain 2 square waves from ...

Page 22: ...Oscillator This means that instead of sound they will output something that is below and only used to modulate other signals like oscs The led will blink at each pulse up This way the synth can have 2 LFOs 4 OSCS 3 LFOs 3 OSCS or 2 LFOs 4 OSCS SYNC IN At OSC Y there is an input labelled as SYNC IN This refers to the osc synchronization When another wave is connected here the triangle core of the O...

Page 23: ... these steps 1 Leave XTOSC Y fully CCW and OSC Y fully CW as in the drawing Now turn CCW OSC Y and listen to 2 Set XTOSC Y RATE in another position and repeat step 1 3 Leave OSC Y at different fixed positions and move XTOSC Y 4 Change the XTOSC Y PW 5 Now connect your MIDI keyboard and patch MIDI TO CV CV OUT to XTOSC Y V OCT and play notes Try different OSC Y positions 6 Now connect the MIDI TO C...

Page 24: ...cillator The resulting wave is a resonant usually metallic timbre Set this patch LFO Y should be triggering AD ENV 1 and producing a rhythmic sound to the VCA2 OUT OSC X modulates the frequency of XTOSC Y Now try different RATE positions from both oscillators See how the XTOSC Y CV1 attenuator affects to the resulting sound Experiment from here XMODULATION Do you like chaos Cross Modulation is a t...

Page 25: ... oscillators give you a whole palette of sounds and possibilities However we think that the synth sounds very nice also with a single osc over the filter You have a whole world in this machine And we will say once again explore it 5 You can combine waves from the same oscillator in the VCF mixer Look at the wave drawings at the synth panel for reference Note that the position of the wave will dete...

Page 26: ...w pass and high pass with overdrive and a built in mixer FILTER BASICS A filter is used to remove frequencies The FREQ frequency or CUT OFF determines the position in the harmonic spectrum where the filter will begin to filter A Low Pass Filter will filter block the high frequencies while a High Pass Filter will block the low frequencies In a VCF we can control the frequency with an external volta...

Page 27: ... listen how the harmonics are removed Now press the TYPE button and switch it to HPF Turn the FREQ pot CW and listen Now turn the Q pot fully CW Move the FREQ pot and hear how it affects the sound This Q is the RESONANCE Turn the IN1 pot at different positions and hear how the resonance has a different behaviour Experiment with different values and waves Repeat the process connecting the NOISE out...

Page 28: ...r Turning the IN 1 pot fully CW will be overdrive the input This kind of saturation will be more evident depending on the wave used Try different parameters If you want a clean sound leave the mixer pots in the half position The resonance will be also affected by the amount of signal in the input section If the mixer potentiometers are fully CW the resonance will have a little effect By the other ...

Page 29: ...means that when it receives a positive signal 3V at the TRIG IN the voltage will raise up until its top 9V and then it will go down until the 0 point somewhere below but close to 0V The raising time is set by the ATTACK pot The falling time is set by the DECAY pot The time of the sequence is not dependant of the triggering signal The envelope will start when the input signal goes from 0 to any val...

Page 30: ...and play it with different values The envelope will affect the VCF and the VCA2 at the same time The attenuators of the CV inputs will determine the amount of modulation applied to each module To test the ASR ENV 2 patch this As you may have deduced this is the same patch as the first one but we have connected ASR ENV 2 in place of AD ENV 1 breaking the normalled connections of the AD ENV 1 Experi...

Page 31: ...e tips 1 MIX both in the mixer and get a full ADSR envelope 2 MIX it but invert the ASR in order to create rhythmic patterns Trigger them at the same time 3 Use the AD ENV 1 for the VCF and the ASR ENV 2 for the VCA2 in order to design more detailed sounds 4 Use them to modulate the LFOs 5 Use them to modulate the oscillators 6 Use one of them with the VCA1 with an oscillator and send the resultin...

Page 32: ...Controlled Amplifiers are usually used at the final stage of a synth and they are in charge of control the amplitude volume level of the sound ANTS has 2 VCAs and both can manage audio and CV signals VCA2 is more complete and more often used as the output module of the synth The VCAs receive an input signal which is processed according to the control voltage CV IN In the next drawing you can see h...

Page 33: ...ion or AM With AM we use one or more sound waves to modulate the VCA The resulting sound wave is something similar to the FM waves Set this patch XTOSC Y is modulating the VCA2 ON and OFF at audio rates The saw wave from OSC X is being modulated by the VCA2 Try different RATE settings on the oscillators try different waves try to open the BASE knob and listen to the result Switch the XTOSC Y to LF...

Page 34: ...to the VCA or the VCF CV inputs to noise modulate the sound Modulate an oscillator with it to create a tuned noise sound MIXER There is simple 3 input mixer MIX incorporated in the synth IN1 is goes directly to the mixing section IN2 and IN3 goes through an attenuverter and then to the mixing section Despite the fancy name an attenuverter is simple device When it is in the centre position the sign...

Page 35: ...wave with the square here SAMPLE AND HOLD This is probably one of the most enigmatic functions to the synth newbie But the Sample and Hold S H is not that complex to understand As it names says the S H samples a signal and holds it The CLOCK input determines the rate at which the S H will sample the signal The SIGNAL input is the signal that will be sampled At each clock pulse the S H retains the ...

Page 36: ...SC X to oscillator mode and connect the S H OUT to the VCF IN 1 Now turn up and down the XTOSC X RATE You should listen a dithering effect in the noise like a digital sound This is very close to a low resolution digitalization The clock rate is lower than the processed signal so we listen a lot of great artefacts Tips 1 Experiment with different oscillator waves MIX them through the S H 2 Connect ...

Page 37: ...a 1 In practice the output is HIGH only when the 2 inputs are HIGH A B OUT LOW LOW LOW LOW HIGH LOW HIGH LOW LOW HIGH HIGH HIGH The AND function have many uses It can work with audio or CV signals You can combine both Set this patch Now you should be listening a digital like sound Both oscillators are being mixed through the AND gate Try with different values and see how the sound changes ...

Page 38: ...ING IF YOU DON T KNOW WHAT ARE YOU DOING SOME COMPONENTS ARE EASY TO DAMAGE ANY MALFUCTION CAUSED BY OPENING THE SYNTH WILL NOT BE COVERED BY THE WARRANTY If you want to open the synth follow these steps 1 Turn off the machine Disconnect the power cable 2 Remove the side covers Each cover uses 2 T10 torx screws When reassembling the machine don t over torque these screws Tighten them gently until ...

Page 39: ...wn risk Check the schematics for reference The end Now it s time to explore the synth yourself and make your sounds and music with it We will be happy if you upload your own sounds to the online patch browser and share it with the community We will like to see your own videos playing the synth We hope that you have enjoyed this manual If you have any comments remember to send them to support plank...

Page 40: ...TORS V OCT INPUTS 4V OUTPUTS TRIANGLE CORE TRIANGLE SINE SQUARE SAWTOOTH AND PW WAVES SYNC IN OSC Y 2 SWITCHABLE TO LFO PWM IN ON XTOSC X PWM KNOB ON XTOSC Y MIXER 3 INPUT 2 ATTENUVERTERS AD ENV1 TRIGGERED ENVELOPE MANUAL CONTROL TRIG IN ATTACK 0 9msec 1sec DECAY 3msec 5ec ASR ENV2 GATED ENVELOPE MANUAL CONTROL GATE IN ATTACK 5msec 10sec RELEASE 1msec 4Sec MIDI TO CV 1 8 CHANNEL SELECT GATE OUT NO...

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