Mutable Instruments Tides Tidal Modulator

Full Description

Listen to the Mutable Instruments Tides on Soundcloud here.

Controls & I/Os

• Mode Switch: Cycles back and forth between Tides' 3 operation modes: AD Envelope (green LED), Cyclic (LED off), AR Envelope (red LED).
• Range Switch: Cycles back and forth between Tides' 3 frequency ranges: Low (20 minutes to 5Hz, green LED), Medium (0.05Hz to 300Hz, LED off), High (8Hz to 10kHz, red LED).
• Main Frequency Control: Has a range of +/- 4 octaves. Output bicolour LED next to this knob reflects the amplitude of the generated waveform. LED is green in the attack phase, and red in the decay, sustain, and release phases.
• Shape Control: Adjusts the shape of the wave, providing different combinations of curvatures for the rise and fall segments.
• Slope Control: Adjusts the balance between the rise and fall time. When fully counter-clockwise, the rise time is null and the decay segment takes up the whole duration of the cycle (decaying envelope). Fully clockwise, the attack segment takes the whole duration of the cycle and the fall is immediate. Both phases have equal duration when the knob is at 12 o clock.
• Smoothness Control: At 12 o clock, the waveform produced by the waveshaper is output with no modification. Counter-clockwise from 12 o clock to 7 o clock progressively attenuates the high-frequency content of the signal (2-pole low-pass filtering). On the opposite side, clockwise from 12 o clock to 5 o clock, the smoothness control progressively enriches the high-frequency content of the waveform through wavefolding.
• Shape, Slope, & Smoothness CV Inputs: The Shape/Slope/Smoothness control knobs act as offsets added to these inputs.
• Gate/Trigger Input: In cyclic mode, sending a pulse to this input resets the phase of the oscillator. In AD and AR modes, this signal is the trigger/gate driving the envelope. The detection threshold is 0.7V.
• Freeze Input: If the input signal into the Freeze input is high, the oscillator or envelope stops it until the input is back to 0V. The detection threshold is 0.7V.
• V/Oct Frequency Input: Thanks to the Tides' digital design, the tracking is excellent.
• FM Input: The signal on this input is attenuverted by (D).
• Level Input: Acts as a VCA to scale the UNI and BI outputs. The input is normalled to a constant 8V signal, causing the UNI and BI outputs to have a full amplitude when no patch-cord is connected to this input.
• Clock Input: Oscillator frequency or AD/AR cycle can be synchronized to an external digital signal with a detection threshold of 0.7V.
• High-Tide Output: This output goes high (approx +5V) at the end of the attack phase, and stays at this level until the cycle restarts or the envelope is retriggered. Both High-Tide and Low-Tide outputs can be used to chain envelopes.
• Low-Tide Output: This output goes high (approx +5V) at the end of the decay/release phase, and stays at this level until the envelope is retriggered.
• Uni/Bi-Polar Outputs: Unipolar output has a 0.8V range, and bipolar output a +/-5V range. These outputs have a very different shape.

Features

Digital function generator

• 3 operating mode: single shot (attack/decay), sustained (attack/sustain/release), looping (VC-LFO/VCDO)
• 3 frequency ranges: low (20 minutes to 5 Hz), medium (0.05 Hz to 300 Hz), high (8 Hz to 10kHz)
• Freeze gate input to stop the oscillator and hold its output

A large palette of waveforms

• Shape control with CV input – covering various combinations of linear, exponential, or sinusoidal segments
• Slope/asymmetry (A/D time ratio) control with CV input
• Smoothness control with CV input. From 0V to -5V, smoothes the waveform using a 2-pole digital filter, from 0V to +5V, adds bumps and kinks with a digital wavefolder

Advanced functions

• Output level CV input (digital VCA)
• Dual outputs: standard unipolar waveform, and “double-shot” waveform with a positive spike during the ascent and a negative spike during the descent. At audio rate, both of them have a different sound
• Accurate V/Oct tracking with straightforward calibration procedure
• Clock input to lock onto a multiple or fraction of a trigger sequence, or to generate harmonies directly from an audio signal (PLL mode)

Specifications

Inputs/outputs and controls

• Cycle mode selector: single shot AD, single shot AR, looping (VC-LFO/VCDO)
• Range selector: low (20 minutes to 5 Hz), medium (0.05 Hz to 300 Hz), high (8 Hz to 10kHz)
• Frequency control
• Frequency modulation attenuverter
• Shape/curve potentiometer and CV input
• Slope/asymmetry potentiometer and CV input
• Smoothness (low-pass filter and wavefolder) potentiometer and CV input
• Trigger input, serving as a Trigger in AD/AR mode or a Sync/Reset in looping mode
• Clock input, to tap or "ping" the LFO and envelopes, or to lock the VCDO frequency through a PLL
• Freeze gate input
• V/Oct CV input for main frequency/rate
• FM CV input
• Level CV input, normalled to 8V. You don't need a VCA.
• "High tide" and "Low tide" Gate output allowing quadrature operation.
• Unipolar (8V) and Bipolar (+/- 5V) outputs. This is more than a simple offset/gain adjustment: the bipolar output is made of a positive "bump" during the attack phase; and a negative "bump" during the release phase. When used as audio sources, both have a distinct sonic character.

Technical characteristics

• All inputs: 100k impedance, DC to 500 Hz for shape/asymmetry/process, DC to 8kHz for FM, DC to 24 kHz for level
• 12-bit CV acquisition with dedicated power supply for converters and references
• 16-bit CV generation. 60kHz sample rate (15kHz in the lower frequency range)
• Cortex-M3 ARM processor
• Open-source hardware and firmware
• Easy firmware updates through an audio interface