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1
TRIGGER INPUT and PING!
The
TRIGGER
input jack is used to initiate a percussive tone and trigger an envelope from the Rise/Fall generator. Any signal above 1V
can be used - not just triggers or gates.
The
PING!
button is used to audition a sound without anything patched into the
TRIGGER
input.
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2
BODY and BODY CV
The
BODY
control emulates the response of a drum head. It is a subtle control and the effect can vary depending on the status of
other parameters like RING and FM levels. The center position is the most tuned response while Tight produces the least resonant,
lowest amplitude and loose produces a flabbier sound.
BODY CV
works best with bipolar voltages but will accept any polarity CV.
The Body Control works as an offset when external CV is used.
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3
3
3
ENVELOPE GENERATOR
The built in
RISE/FALL
envelope generator is a powerful feature of the Entity BDS. It can be used to optionally modulate the frequency
and or amplitude of the sound via the
FM LVL
and
AMP
switches. The envelope can also be used stand-alone via the
+ENV
output on
the bottom left of the module - or self patched from that jack into the other voltage controllable functions of Entity.
The envelope output jack is accompanied by a novel
DUCK
output. This is an inverted and positively offset copy of the envelope output.
This jack can be used creatively but commonly utilized for patching into external VCA CV inputs to keep the VCA normally on until a
note/envelope is triggered via Entity BDS. For instance, a bass, lead or pad could be patched into an external VCA and that signal will
“duck out” in volume when Entity BDS is triggered.
RISE
controls the attack stage time of the envelope,
FALL
controls the decay stage time.
The
RISE CV
and
FALL CV
inputs are used to voltage control these functions. The controls become standard CV attenuators when
signals are patched into the CV inputs.
At the top left of the module are a set of switches in the
ENV SHAPE
section that independently alter the shape of the two envelope
stages. These can be set to logarithmic, linear or exponential. The shapes provide a huge variety of ways to affect the frequency and or
amplitude of the resultant sound.
An interesting feature of the envelope generator is the way it is set to reset upon recurring trigger signals. Rather than reset upon every
new trigger, the envelope waits until it has finished the Rise stage and reaches the re-trigger threshold during the Fall stage. This
provides some additional frequency and/or amplitude dynamics to occur between a set number of sequential triggers. This affect
occurs when the Rise time is set beyond the duration of the actual percussive sound produced. For instance, you can achieve effects like
slight pitch and/or amplitude changes between beats or a steady rise in pitch/amplitude other a larger number of beats. Definitely
worth experimenting with!
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4
4
PITCH and 1V/OCT
The
PITCH
control tunes the tonal frequency of the output. Featuring a large span of control from about 8Hz to roughly 2.2kHz. Both higher and lower frequencies are capable using the
1V/OCT
and/or
FM CV
inputs. The
1V/OCT
input is used for tracking Entity with a sequencer, keyboard or as an additional FM input. The module will reliably track at least four or more octaves.
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5
5
5
FM LVL, FM CV and FM SWITCH
The
FM LVL
control is a bipolar attenuator. Center position reduces the modulation depth to zero. Fully right is maximum positive depth, fully left is maximum inverted depth.
FM CV
jack is used for patching external modulation
sources to frequency modulate the output. The switch below
FM LVL
has three positions that select the routing to the
FM LVL
control. The rightmost position selects
FM CV
only and doubles as an “OFF” selection if no CV is patched
into the
FM CV
jack. The center position will sum any signal patched into
FM CV
with the internal envelope generator. The leftmost position selects the internal envelope only.
6
6
6
RING and RING CV
The
RING
control affects the resonance and resonant decay time of the output signal. The amount of resonance/decay produced by this function is independent of the other controls. However, using the internal
envelope or external CV to control the amplitude (volume) in the
OUTPUT
VCA section (see below) can have an affect on how much resonant decay is heard - a useful sound design feature. At maximum setting,
RING
will produce a sustained self oscillation. When set to minimum, a small amount of resonance will still be present. The
RING CV
input is used to modulate the
RING
function and the
RING
control works like a standard
attenuator when
RING CV
is in use.
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7
OUTPUT, AMP CV and SWITCH
The
OUTPUT
control affects the amplitude (volume) of the sound. This control has two functions which are dependent on the position of the switch below the control. When the switch is set to
AMP
, the
OUTPUT
control works like a standard volume attenuator - min position will fully attenuate and max position produces a 16Vpp output level (while saturation level is in min position). If a signal is patched into
AMP CV
, the
control behaves as a cross-fader, fading between the full CV signal value in the min position and full nominal output level in the max position. Similarly, when the switch is set to
ENV
, the control fades between the
full internal envelope signal at min, and full nominal volume at max. The cross-fade feature is useful for achieving better control over signal dynamics - similar to a parallel compression type behavior.
It can be useful to use the internal envelope or external CV to modify the output dynamics - for example, you could have a long RING decay set but use the AMP VCA to attenuate the sound before the RING decay ends
and use the envelope shape controls to modify the amplitude dynamics etc.
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8
8
8
SATURATION and SAT CV
The
SATURATION
control affects the harmonic content of the sound using a multistage, discrete transistor topology. Just a touch will add a bit of punch while the full range offers heavy saturation effects onto the
output signal. When both the
OUTPUT
and
SATURATION
controls are at max, a small amount of hard clipping is introduced. If only soft clipping is desired (more bass heavy, softer high frequency distortion) you can
back down on the output control. The saturater does add a bit of amplitude to the signal but the already high headroom of the output section allows you to back off the output level a bit while still retaining a higher
than normal output volume.
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9
A-MIX INPUT
A-MIX
is short for Amplifier Mix. This is an auxiliary input into the final output VCA stage. This input is useful for mixing other signals with the Entity BDS sounds. For example, noise can be mixed with the output to
make a snare sound, etc. Using the internal envelope or an external CV to control the output levels will help to shape these signals into percussive sounds.
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SYNOPSIS
The Entity Bass Drum Synthesizer is a modern amalgamation of the most important functions to create a wide range of bass, bass drum and
various percussive rhythm based sounds. Additional functions have been incorporated in order to increase both the versatility in use within a
modular environment and broaden the sound sculpting abilities of the Entity itself.
The Entity BDS is a studio quality, high fidelity analog design with focus on maintaining maximum clarity and dynamic range. Special care has
been applied to producing an isolated, low inherent noise and high headroom device suitable for home, studio and live/DJ use. Entity excels as
both a center piece or just an addition to that monster patch. But you may find that when using Entity, very few additional modules are
needed to achieve satisfying results.
Please take some time to read over the manual, play with the controls and try out some examples on the following pages. Get familiar with
the subtleties of the controls as you will be rewarded after just a short time of experimenting. As always, Enjoy!
