Make Noise Soundhack Spectraphon, Manual

Page 1: ...Soundhack Spectraphon ...

Page 2: ...nd Inputs Outputs 14 What Are Spectra 16 The Spectraphon s Outputs 18 Buttons and Display 22 Frequency and Partials Controls 24 Spectral Amplitude Modulation Mode 25 SAM Spectral Array Oscillation Mode SAO 26 Selecting Arrays 28 Creating Arrays 30 Modulation and Clocking 32 Tips and Tricks 34 Patch Corner Table of Contents ...

Page 3: ...sted and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual may c...

Page 4: ...ed at the option of Make Noise on a return to Make Noise basis with the customer paying the transit cost to Make Noise Make Noise implies and accepts no responsibility for harm to person or apparatus caused through operation of this product Please contact technical makenoisemusic com with any questions Return To Manufacturer Authorization or any needs comments http www makenoisemusic com Spectraph...

Page 5: ...dular synthesizer system Go to http www makenoisemusic com for examples of Eurorack Systems and Cases To install find 34hp of space in your Eurorack synthesizer case confirm proper installation of included eurorack bus board connector cable on backside of module see picture below plug the bus board connector cable into the Eurorack style bus board minding the polarity so that the RED stripe on the...

Page 6: ...mbination of these modes they can also interact via the internal FM Bus the Follow and Sync modes and by patching them together In SAM instead of oscillating at all times like an analog VCO sound at the Spectraphon s input is used to modulate the amplitude of a set of harmonics of a fundamental frequency set by the Slide control The Focus controls further select the areas of harmonic emphasis and ...

Page 7: ... the activity at the other outputs By default Sub CV outputs an Envelope Follower for the Input in SAM or a sub octave waveform in SAO The B side of the Spectraphon can also be set to Follow or Sync Follow turns the B Pitch control into a pitch offset that is added or subtracted from the A side s current frequency In practice this lets Side A control the Pitch of Side B which is useful for dual os...

Page 8: ...uge clean sound Having 8 outputs instead of the more common 2 IN 2 OUT configuration allows us to approach simultaneous outputs previously seen only in our analog modules such as QPAS XPO or DPO The signal processing is achieved with modern ARM Cortex H7 MCU running at 480MHz Plenty of SDRAM and FLASH memory means big buffers and larger stored tables and that ultimately means code can run faster F...

Page 9: ...de Attenuverter Bipolar input attenuverter for Slide 5 Slide CV Input CV Input for Slide 6 1v oct Sets core Frequence of the Side via external control tracks one volt per octave 7 Shift Button Press to manually Clock the Spectraphon Hold to access Shift functions on other buttons Array Creation CV Type Shift Array 8 Clock Input Clocks the Spectraphon Steps through the Spectra of the current Array ...

Page 10: ...Sets number of Partials audible at Odd Even Harmonic Outputs 2 Partials Attenuverter Bipolar input attenuverter for Partials 3 Partials CV Input CV Input for Partials 4 Focus Panel Control Modulates the current Spectrum depending on mode 5 Focus Attenuverter Bipolar input attenuverter for Focus 6 Focus CV Input CV Input for Focus ...

Page 11: ...ub CV Output for Side A 3 Odd Harmonic Output Odd harmonics for Side A 4 Even Harmonic Output Even harmonics for Side A Normalled to Odd Harmonic Output 5 A In Panel Control Sets Input Level SAM or Even Harmonic Offset SAO 6 A In CV Input CV Input for A In Use depends on mode 7 SAM SAO Array Button Switches between SAM and SAO for Side A Creates Array when pressed while holding Shift A in SAM ...

Page 12: ...pressed while holding Shift B in SAM 2 B In CV Input CV Input for B In Use depends on mode 3 B In Panel Control Sets Input Level SAM or Even Harmonic Offset SAO 4 Even Harmonic Output Even harmonics for Side B Normalled to Odd Harmonic Output 5 Odd Harmonic Output Odd harmonics for Side B 6 Sub CV Output Sub CV Output for Side B 7 Sine Wave output Sine wave that oscillates at B Core Frequency ...

Page 13: ...Pot Sets depth of internal Frequency Modulation from A to B Become an input attenuator when B FM Index CV Input is patched 4 A FM Index CV Input Attenuverter Bipolar CV Input attenuverter for A FM Index 5 A FM Index CV Input CV Input for A F for Third and Sixth M Index 6 B FM Index CV Input CV Input for B FM Index 7 Tuning Beacon Indicates Tuning Ratios of A to B Lights Green for Octave Fourth Fif...

Page 14: ...e reads like science rather than music here is a translation Any musical tone with a distinct pitch can be expressed as a set of harmonic sine waves of varying frequencies and amplitudes A classic real world example of this is the standard waveforms of analog synthesizers which are chosen partially for their different harmonic makeups when analyzed Sawtooth waves contain all harmonics Square waves...

Page 15: ...ay Oscillation SAO via collections of spectra called Arrays It is important to note that Arrays of spectra are not sound recordings Instead each spectrum is a collection of values denoting the amplitude of each harmonic The actual pitch of these harmonics at the output will be determined by the Pitch settings of the Spectraphon Any given spectrum is only one part of an Array as used in SAO The Arr...

Page 16: ...ts are summed together in the Odd output When in SAO the Even output can also be offset in pitch by up to an octave using the A B In attenuator or modulated in pitch separately using an external signal The Sine output is unaffected by all other controls including FM and Partials It is useful for keeping a strong fundamental during heavy harmonic modulation The Sine wave output always oscillates at...

Page 17: ...ion in sync with any changes in amplitude in the source material The Sub Oscillator SAO will provide a strong deeper signal to use alongside the harmonic outputs Side A s Sub Oscillator is a Sawtooth while Side B s is a Saturated Sine Wave Alternatively each Sub CV output can be set as a clocked modulation output See Modulation and Clocking below ...

Page 18: ...tton and additionally there is the Follow Sync button The SAM SAO buttons switch the respective sides between the modes as listed The button lights to indicate SAO mode The Follow Sync button selects these operations for Side B It lights for FOLLOW and flashes for SYNC or is OFF when neither is selected ...

Page 19: ...relationship between the core frequencies of the two Sides of the Spectraphon It lights Green for the simplest tuning ratios octaves 2 1 fifths 3 2 and fourths 4 3 and Red for the next simplest major thirds 5 4 and sixths 6 5 This indicator can be especially useful for dual VCO patches or when using tuned FM and or Follow Note these are just ratios rather than equal temperament intervals The Array...

Page 20: ... increases beginning with silence at full counterclockwise adding lower harmonics at low values then through middle and high harmonics and generating all harmonics at their full amplitude according to the current spectrum at fully clockwise The odd and even harmonics are increased alternately up the control which can be useful for animation when parallel processing these outputs or using them in a...

Page 21: ...t multiples of this core frequency the spectrum is selected using the Slide and Focus controls See the SAO section for more details The FM Bus sets the depth of internal frequency modulation between the two sides of the Spectraphon As the Index control is turned up the FM depth to the respective side will be increased This FM Bus generates its FM internally within the Spectraphon algorithm which g...

Page 22: ... the Sides individually using FM or spectrally amplitude modulating one side with the other keeping the Sides in tune with each other has many uses Note for tuned ratios using Follow it will be best to turn on the Follow mode first prior to tuning Sync button flashing maintains the Follow function and additionally causes Side B to hard sync to Side A in other words for the waveform at the output t...

Page 23: ...be especially useful for dual VCO patches or when using tuned FM and or Follow Note these are just ratios rather than equal temperament intervals A In and B In have a special function in SAO they are frequency inputs for only the Even harmonics and do not affect the Odd harmonics The inputs are normalled to a voltage offset so that when unpatched the attenuators function as detune controls with a ...

Page 24: ...t get in order for that harmonic to be activated The resulting collection of harmonics i e the spectrum can be heard at the Odd and Even outputs The relative setting of the fundamental set by Slide and the actual frequencies present in the input sound means that Slide can also be used to set the relative weight of upper and lower harmonics if Slide selects a fundamental that is lower than that of ...

Page 25: ...tes on the current spectrum by changing the amplitude of the individual harmonics The FM Index control frequency modulates the harmonics of the spectrum using the core of the other Side of the Spectraphon FM In SAM the Pitch FM and Partials controls all work the same way as in SAO and can be sequenced and modulated much as you would one side of a dual voltage controlled oscillator The only signifi...

Page 26: ...se drift or a harmonic interval or in a bipolar manner with the CV inputs The inputs are normalized to a voltage for tuning Even outs to an interval relationship with the Odd outs These inputs can alternatively be used as secondary FM inputs for the Even harmonics In SAO the Clock input will step gradually through the Array with each clock pulse Note The result of clocking the Array is offset by t...

Page 27: ... a 4 bit binary number In SAO the currently selected Array will be used for the Odd and Even outputs with the Slide and Focus controls selecting the spectrum to be output A new Spectraphon uses the same default Array in all 16 locations on both sides In SAM the currently selected Array is not used directly instead it will be overwritten when creating a new Array You can still select Arrays in SAM ...

Page 28: ...ra into the Array over the course of slightly more than one second If a clock has recently in the last three seconds been received in the Clock input then once Array creation has been initiated a single spectrum will be written at the moment of each additional Clock You can stop Array creation at any time by pressing SHIFT ARRAY again or it will automatically stop when the maximum number of spectr...

Page 29: ...e resulting Array when used in SAO Any fast modulations transient tails Focus ringing and other fast smooth motions in the sound will usually be best represented by a fast clock rate either by using the automatic unclocked Array creation or by patching a fast external clock After the Array is written and you have switched to SAO you may hear traces of these motions in small modulations of the Focu...

Page 30: ...SAO the Clock input provides a way to switch from one spectrum to another immediately to create a linear scan through the full Array The resulting selection is added to the values of Slide and Focus so that all the controls can work well in tandem The Sub CV output can also be used as a modulation source Use Shift CV to select between four different signals for this output 1 Sub Oscillator SAO Env...

Page 31: ...cted the Clock input and Shift button become clock inputs for the selected CV type they will no longer be used to step through the Array When the clock input is not in use the rate can also be set by tapping the Shift button tap tempo with a minimum frequency of one clock every 3 seconds The Sub CV output is represented visually on the panel by the Sub CV Activity Windows ...

Page 32: ... upon All this can be expanded upon by doing the same or different with the Even Odd outputs from the opposing side The Sine and Sub outputs can mix very well with their Sides harmonic outputs as they are unaffected by other modulations and can provide a strong sense of fundamental Pitch even when the harmonics get extreme The Sine output can also provide a convenient demonstration of the core fre...

Page 33: ...enuation and inversion on nearly every parameter because in most cases modulating even very small portions of the parameter ranges can have dramatic effects The high internal processing resolution of FM Partials Slide and Focus are such that even one little corner of each can give great variety of results when patched thoughtfully When switching from SAM to SAO you will usually want to unpatch you...

Page 34: ...Patch Corner 34 Coming soon ...