©2015 - Compiled by Robert Anselmi
for full manual
Make Noise Pressure Points & Brains Expander
Control Module
Pressure Points
is a controller in which 1 of 4 sets of 3 tuned voltages are selected by touching the corresponding printed copper wire at the bottom of the in-
strument. Touching Pressure Points, you become part of the circuit, generating a gate signal (Gate Out), a control signal proportional to the amount of pressure
applied (Press Out) and activating the corresponding Stage. The Tuned Voltages for the activated Stage appear at their respective X, Y and Z Outs. In this way,
Pressure Points is like an analog sequencer that is played by hand.
2 pots allow the circuit to be adjusted for desired playing response. Up to 4 of these modules may be chained together to create controllers of varying size and
complexity. The Gate and Press Outs are normalized to their respective Combined bus which is output at the last Gate or Press Out in the chain. In addition,
stages can also be selected via clock inputs with the separately purchased expander module,
Brains
.
PRESSURE OUTS:
Unipolar CV Outputs 1, 2, 3, and 4. Sends out a CV
signal based on the pressure applied to the corresponding touch plate. Pres-
sure Outputs are displayed using yellow output arrows on Pressure Points.
GATE OUTS:
Gate Outputs 1, 2, 3, and 4. Sends out a high gate signal when
the corresponding touch plate is pressed, and stays high until a new touch plate
is pressed (a new “stage” is enabled). Gate Outputs are displayed using white
output arrows on Pressure Points. Only one is referenced here (Gate Out 4).
TUNED VOLTAGE ROTARIES:
The
top row is Tuned Voltage row X, the middle
row is Y, and the bottom row is Z. X range:
0V to 8V. Y & Z range: 0V to 5.5V.
TUNED VOLTAGE OUTS:
Each row of
Tuned Voltages has a corresponding CV
Output that that can be sent to other CV
inputs in your system. When a “stage” is
enabled with Pressure Points by pressing a
touch plate, the corresponding vertical col-
umn of Tuned Voltages are simultaneously
sent out to all 3 CV Outputs.
TOUCH SENSITIVITY POTENTIOM-
ETER:
Set the Touch Sensitivity Adjustment
Potentiometer further CCW when you want
coarser Touch Plate response (less sensitive
to the touch). Set it CW when you want finer
Touch Plate response (more sensitive to the
touch).
TOUCH PLATES:
Touch Plates 1, 2, 3,
& 4. Pressure Points requires the develop-
ment of a technique, and clean, bare
hands. Touching the upper-most portion of
the touchplate with as little of your finger as
needed to activate the circuit, will generate
simultaneous Pressure and Gate signals,
which are sent to the Outs at the top of the
associated vertical column. Also, the three
Tuned Voltages X, Y, & Z (as set by the col-
umn’s Tuned Voltage rotaries), found in the
middle of the module, are sent out to their
corresponding Outs on the module’s left
side. Each time a Touch Plate is pressed,
5 signals are simultaneously sent out to
control other parameters in your system:
Pressure, Gate, and 3 Tuned Voltages.
Laying more of your finger down on the
touchplate, and pressing harder, will gener-
ate a pressure control voltage proportional
to amount flesh mashed into the copper of
the touchplate. Pressing harder, more of
your flesh comes into contact with a sensi
-
tive point in the circuit.
DIGITAL TRIMMER:
If you cannot
obtain the desired response, you might
need to adjust the internal Digit Trimmer
to compensate for size & moisture of your
fingers, as well as playing technique and
style of system setup (vertical, horizontal,
angled). This requires a trimmer tool or
jeweler’s screwdriver, and access to the
module from the right side, where the Dig-
it Trimmer is located on the circuit board.
Always turn the power for Pressure Points
off while adjusting the trimmer. Default
setting is 40% CW. CCW = less sensitiv-
ity. CW = more sensitivity. You will need
to experiment with settings to achieve the
desired playing response.
Pressure Points Tips & Tricks
●
The top row of Tuned Voltages range 0 to
+8V, and may be used to generate gate
signals, where full CCW is Gate Off and
full CW is Gate On.
●
Process the Pressure CV Signal with a
slew limiter and attenuator on Channels
1 or 4 of
Maths
to achieve larger than life
modulations.
●
Achieve a “Latched,” “Toggled,” or “Switch-
ing” CV signal, use two stages of Pressure
Points, where one has a tuned voltage set
to 0V (toggled Off), and the other has a
Tuned Voltage set to the desired On state
(+8V, or full CW, for example). Touch one
stage to turn On, and the other to turn Off.
●
Use for preset storage, where you have 4
presets of 3 variables in a patch; variables
being set by Tuned Voltages X, Y & Z.
Additional variation is preset by apply-
ing the independent Press and/ or Gate
signals from each stage to different patch
points. If the Gate is not needed to initiate
an event, apply it to a patch point via an
Attenuator, and use it as a touch-controlled
momentary modulation.
●
All Tuned Voltage and Press CV Outs will
drive a passive 4-way mult with no loading.
●
All Gate Outs may be stacked to one Gate
In for Gate mixing.
ACTIVE STAGE LEDS:
Lights yellow
to indicate which stage (1, 2, 3, or 4) is
currently active.
CLOCK IN:
Selects next stage or number to be counted on rising edge of clock,
gate, pulse or trigger, of at least 1V. Patch here to sequence.
RESET IN:
Jumps to last touched stage on rising edge of clock, gate, pulse or trig-
ger, of at least 1V. Use this input to control when the sequence is reset to the start
or beginning of the sequence.
RUN IN:
Gate or logic high (of at least 1V) will tell Brains to count, and thus run
gate. Gate or logic low (below 1V) will stop Brains. Use this input to control when
the sequence is turned on or turned off.
DIRECTION IN:
Gate or logic high (of at least 1V) tells Brains to count forward.
Gate or logic low (below 1V) tells Brains to count backward. Use this input to control
the forward / backward movement of the sequence.
TOUCH-GATE OUT:
Generates gate high, 10V, when any Touch Plate on a con-
nected Pressure Points is touched.
TOUCH-CLOCK IN:
Secondary clock activated when Pressure Points is touched.
This input serves a dual purpose. Used without a Master Clock applied to the Clock
In, events initiated by touching Pressure Points will be quantized to the timing signal
applied to the Touch-Clock In. When used along with the Clock In, a secondary
sequence will be initiated whenever Pressure Points is touched, where the length
and timing is determined by the relationship of the Touch-Clock to the Master Clock.
Also, patching a dummy cable into this input breaks the connection between the
Pressure Points Touch Plates and the sequence (stage) selection. In other words,
the Pressure Output from the Touch Plates are independant of the stage sequence,
and thus, independant of the Gate Output and Tuned Voltage Outputs.
Brains
is a clocked sequential binary event machine, intended to be connected to tactile controllers such
as the Pressure Points. as an expansion module. Once connected, Pressure Points provides data input
to Brains in the form of touch-selectable Reset stage and Hold stage. Pressure Points also provides the
tuned voltages and pulses per stage. Brains, when connected to either 1 or 2 Pres-
sure Points, will drive the stage selection in a sequential fashion, at a rate deter-
mined by the incoming clock at Clock In, thus forming a 4-Step or 8-Step, 3-channel
analog sequencer. Binary control over Direction of the stage selection, Run/Stop
and Reset are provided.
