background image

Free scale group 

The 

Free

 scale group imposes no restrictions on the allowed intervals. Like the 

12TET 

group, the scales don’t have to 

repeat every octave. This group can contain any type of scale, including microtonal and experimental scales.   

Learn Mode: Advanced Concepts 

The 

Ensemble Oscillator

 has thirty slots for scales, all of which come factory programmed. You can replace any of the 

factory scales with your own custom scale. This process is called "Learning" a new scale. Read the Create Your Own Scale 

in Learn Mode tutorials (pages 9–10) before continuing with this section. 

Root Note and Intervals 

If you follow the tutorial to learn a new scale using the knobs, you’ll notice that the root note of the new scale is set to the 

current root note at the moment you enter Learn mode. You also can set the root note by entering Learn mode in a slightly 

different way: instead of tapping 

Learn

, hold down 

Learn

 and turn 

Add Note

. You'll hear a single tone change in pitch as 

you turn the knob. Release 

Learn

 when you’ve found the pitch you want, then continue with the procedure as normal. 

When adding notes using the 

Pitch 

and 

Learn 

jacks, the root note will always be the first note you enter. 

However the scale is entered, the first two notes define the first interval of your scale. The next note defines the second 

interval, etc. Rather than storing the notes that you entered, the 

Ensemble Oscillator

 stores the intervals. 

Changes to Controls in Learn Mode 

The 

Scale 

knob and switch no longer select the scale to load but instead select where the new scale will be saved. If the 

Scale 

switch is flipped to 

12TET 

at the moment you enter a new note, the resulting interval will be quantized to the nearest 

semitone. By flipping the switch between 

Free

 (or 

Octave) 

and

 12TET

, you can quantize some of the intervals and leave 

others un-quantized. Note that if you save a scale into the 

12TET

 group, all the intervals will be quantized. 

The 

Detune

Balance

Spread

, and 

Cross FM

 knobs and jacks are disabled in Learn mode. The other jacks and knobs 

work as normal: 

Twist 

and 

Warp

 modify the waveshape, and the 

Root 

jack offsets notes as they’re entered. Be aware if you 

have CV patched into the 

Scale 

jack because it effects where the scale is saved. 

Coarse Tuning 

As described in the tutorial, you can fine-tune the last note you entered by holding down 

Learn

 and turning 

Fine Tune

. You 

can also coarsely tune the last note. First, hold down 

Learn 

and turn 

Fine Tune

. While still holding down 

Learn

, turn 

Add 

Note 

and the pitch will change by larger amounts. Note that if you turn the 

Add Note

 knob while 

not

 holding down the 

Learn

 

button, the pitch will jump by a large amount if you proceed to fine-tune the note. 

Using Other CV and Gate Sources 

You can use any CV and trigger or gate source patched into the 

Pitch

 and 

Learn

 jacks, a keyboard or sequencer is not 

required. For instance, you could run a slow LFO into 

Pitch

 and use a clock (or manual gates) to add notes. If the 

Scale

 

switch is set to 

12TET,

 your scale can be quantized without needing an external quantizer module. 

Failure to Save 

When you press 

Learn 

to save your scale, it normally will flash green to indicate the new scale was saved into the slot and 

group set by the 

Scale

 knob and switch. If the 

Learn

 button does not flash green, the scale couldn’t be saved because it 

wasn’t valid. To be valid, a scale has to have at least two notes which are at least 10 cents (1/10th of a semitone) apart. 

Free group factory scales

Intervals

Comments

Slot 1

Perfect fifths spiral

the circle of fifth that does not repeat every octave 

Slot 2

Whole tones

M2, repeat

First mode of limited transposition 

Slot 3

Messiaen #2

m2, M2, repeat

Second mode of limited transposition 

Slot 4

Messiaen #3

M2, m2, m2, repeat

Third mode of limited transposition 

Slot 5

Messiaen #4

m2, m2, m3, m2, repeat

Fourth mode of limited transposition 

Slot 6

Bohlen-Pierce

13 steps per tritave 

The scale repeats every 3x the frequency 

Slot 7

Bohlen-Pierce major 

triad

1, 7, 11, repeat

The scale repeats every 3x the frequency 

Slot 8

Bohlen-Pierce minor 

triad

1, 5, 11, repeat

The scale repeats every 3x the frequency 

Slot 9

Wendy Carlos alpha 

78 cents

Slot 10

Wendy Carlos beta

63.8 cents

Page   of 

14

19

Содержание Matthias Puech Ensemble Oscillator

Страница 1: ...rack format module is a unified polyphonic voice of sixteen complex oscillators sharing the same sine based waveforms The oscillators take their frequency relationships from a selected scale crossfading smoothly from one note to the next The Ensemble Oscillator easily creates a wide variety of sounds ranging from aggregates of pure sine waves to pulsar synthesis or pristine harmonic tones and lush...

Страница 2: ... own scales manually or with a CV Gate keyboard Three Twist phase distortion effects Three Warp wave distortion effects Three algorithms of Cross FM for modulating the oscillators with each other Mono or stereo output with selectable panning algorithm Freeze button and jack to freeze the frequency of some of the oscillators with selectable algorithm Two 1V oct inputs Pitch non quantized and Root q...

Страница 3: ...2 Create your own Scale in Learn Mode using a keyboard 10 Detailed Concepts and Usage 11 Scale Groups 13 Learn Mode Advanced Concepts 14 Shift Features 15 Crossfading 16 Oscillators 16 Freeze Mode 16 Stereo Mode 17 Firmware and Calibration 17 Upgrading Firmware audio bootloader 17 Calibrating 1V oct jacks 18 Button RGB color balance adjustments 18 Factory Reset 18 Electrical and Mechanical Specifi...

Страница 4: ...B jacks To use the module in mono just patch into the Out A jack both outputs will be summed into it Scales The currently selected scale determines which pitches the oscillators are allowed to take A scale can be thought of as a series of notes In the Ensemble Oscillator the notes can be spaced by any amount not necessarily just by half steps whole steps etc like in western music scales Also the r...

Страница 5: ...te These are used in Learn mode See Tutorial 2 Create Your Own Scale with Learn Mode page 9 and the Learn Mode section page 14 Shift Functions There are several advanced features that won t need to be adjusted often but can make important and subtle changes to the module s behavior Take a look at the faceplate and notice that the word Shift highlighted in gold is written underneath the Freeze butt...

Страница 6: ...knob switch and jack The Scale knob selects the scale to which the oscillators are quantized See the Scales and Oscillators section page 11 for details about how scales are used There are 30 pre programmed scales on the Ensemble Oscillator arranged in three groups of ten scales each You can also program your own scales see Learn Mode page 14 The Scale knob has ten positions each one selects a scal...

Страница 7: ...epending on the position of the Twist switch Ramp morphs the phase to an increasingly steep sawtooth and beyond Pulsar compresses the phase of the sine wave to create narrow pulses Crush bit crushes the oscillator phase The Twist jack responds to voltages from 5V to 5V Negative voltages reduce the amount of effect and positive voltages increase the amount of effect with respect to the knob positio...

Страница 8: ...e Pitch Root Spread Scale or Detune knobs or jacks However frozen oscillators will still respond to waveform and mixing panning changes via the Twist Warp Cross FM and Balance knobs and jacks The Stereo Mode and Oscillators shift functions allow you to adjust the panning and the enabled disabled state of frozen oscillators When the Freeze button is pressed or a trigger is detected on the Freeze ja...

Страница 9: ...programmed a scale It s saved in the group and slot the Scale knob and switch point to You can recall it even after you power down 13 Let s listen to the notes of the scale Notice that the Freeze button is flashing see inset below Turn the Root knob up and or down until the Freeze button flashes green Now you can slowly turn Root to play the notes of the scale in order 14 Listen to how the notes s...

Страница 10: ...ce for a brief moment The Learn button will flash white each time a note is added 7 Add more notes if you wish maximum of 16 8 When you re done tap the Learn button It ll flash green to indicate your scale saved 9 That s it You ve programmed a scale It s saved in the group and slot the Scale knob and switch point to You can recall your scale even after you power down 10 Listen to the notes of your...

Страница 11: ...jack With Spread all the way down the oscillators are all tuned to the same pitch As Spread is turned up the space between the oscillators is widened Quantization When an oscillator is tuned between two allowed notes which is most of the time instead of snapping to the closest note like a normal quantizer would do the oscillator produces two pitches one tuned to each of the nearest allowed notes T...

Страница 12: ...age of 12 19 Scale Result Oscillators Scale Result Oscillators Spread Spread Root Scale Result Oscillators Spread Root Root Turning Spread up Turning Root up Pitch Pitch Pitch Scale Result Oscillators Spread Root Turning Pitch up Pitch 8 shown Approx note Frequency 1 0 0 H z 2 0 0 H z 4 0 0 H z 8 0 0 H z 1 6 k H z 3 2 k H z Frequency 1 0 0 H z 2 0 0 H z 4 0 0 H z 8 0 0 H z 1 6 k H z 3 2 k H z Freq...

Страница 13: ... own scale in the Octave group and the highest note you enter is not exactly a whole number of octaves above the lowest note then the module will automatically insert an extra interval at the end to complete the octave This means that whenever the sequence of intervals repeats with a scale in the Octave group the pitches will always be one or more octaves higher 12TET group factory scales Interval...

Страница 14: ...Learn mode The other jacks and knobs work as normal Twist and Warp modify the waveshape and the Root jack offsets notes as they re entered Be aware if you have CV patched into the Scale jack because it effects where the scale is saved Coarse Tuning As described in the tutorial you can fine tune the last note you entered by holding down Learn and turning Fine Tune You can also coarsely tune the las...

Страница 15: ...lat E1 bit more flat F 1 bit more flat C 2 even flatter Eb2 etc It s no longer practical to represent the allowed notes using the western system of notation Restoring a Factory Scale If you want to restore a scale to the factory default set the Scale knob and switch to the scale you wish to restore Then press and hold the Learn button for four seconds The button will flash blue and the factory sca...

Страница 16: ...g between notes more seamless The highest setting knob at fully clockwise applies maximum Crossfading The two nearest allowed frequencies are always played crossfading normally based on proximity This setting makes it difficult to dial in just one note but it offers maximum smoothness when adjusting Root or Spread Oscillators The Ensemble Oscillator can potentially use 16 oscillators to produce so...

Страница 17: ...imate blue and white 8 If the buttons turn red while the file is playing there was an error a Stop the file and rewind to the beginning b Check the cable is plugged in tightly c Tap the Learn button It will go back to flashing green d Play the file again from the beginning 9 If the file loads successfully the Ensemble Oscillator will do an animation of a rainbow of colors on both buttons 10 Power ...

Страница 18: ...asy 1 Power off the module 2 Flip all four switches to the center position 3 Turn all knobs to center 4 Hold down the Freeze button and power up the module The two buttons will turn white or a hue close to white 5 Use the knobs to adjust the red green and blue balance of each button The center position makes no color adjustment left of center reduces the amount of a color right of center boosts th...

Страница 19: ...tputs Frequency range 0Hz DC 20kHz Typical amplitude 10Vpp Maximum amplitude 18 5Vpp 1V oct inputs Root and Pitch Voltage range 2V to 6V 8 octave range Factory calibrated to 1 00V oct Per jack user calibration allows from 0 7V oct to 1 3V oct CV inputs other than 1V oct Voltage range 5V to 5V Gate inputs Trigger threshold 2 5V User memory non volatile Scale slots 30 Shift feature settings 1V oct c...

Отзывы: