Suspenseful Strings with Tides v2 and Rings

When you look at what are the most popular module manufacturers in the Eurorack industry, a certain name always comes up in the mix: Mutable Instruments. And it's for good reason! Mutable Instruments make some of the most versatile and unique modules, each with a variety of features, abilities and control.

After a bit of reading and searching online, I found two Mutable Instruments modules that I believe suited my needs: Tides v2 and Rings.

Tides is a tidal modulator and acts, in essence, as an AD envelope generator, varying voltage up or down in unique and customizable ways. Slow enough and it acts as an LFO, fast enough and it acts as a VCO.

Rings is a resonator that can take (or generate) a plain audio signal and give it a full-bodied sound, all when triggered to do so. It contains various resonator types, all which produce unique sounds, with parameters that can also be adjusted.

When playing around with the modules, I was particularly interested in sending audio from Tides into Rings. Here is a cool and "suspenseful" patch I tried out, where Tides generates a chord that is reverbed through a rhythmically strummed Rings.

It's a simple patch but I really like the sounds that Rings is producing here; that deep, space-like background hum, with the soft plucking that varies in intensity. And add to that the smooth chord created by Tides. Such a simple sounds with lots of depth and suspense!

So what's going on in this patch?

• Tides generates audible tones where each output is a different frequency. To achieve this mode, I set the frequency range to audible (red), the ramp mode to cyclic oscillations (yellow) and output mode to different frequencies (red). To get a chord, I take the last three outputs and mix them together using Shades

• The chord is inputted into Rings, which is set to duophonic, sympathetic strings mode (yellow-yellow). This is an interesting mode as it is meant to mimic the phenomena that occurs in strings instruments, in which the strings are not directly plucked, but respond to the vibration of other strings. The result is a fuller sound with more overtones and undertones. Sending both Rings's even and odd outputs to a stereo mixer allows for "odd" and "even" strings to be distinguished. 2HP Euclid also strums Rings rhythmically.

• 2HP TM sends random voltages to 2HP Tune, which quantizes them to a melodic scale. A minor pentatonic scale here is chosen to add to suspense. These voltages are then sent to Tides's V/OCT input, to change the starting note of the chord, Rings's V/OCT input, to change the main frequency of the resonator, and 2HP Euclid's steps input, to change the rhythm it generates.

• Lastly, the A-145-1 LFO is used to CV modulate the damping and brightness settings of Rings. This is what changes the softness of the strummed chord over time.

This patch can definitely be added to, however, in terms of complexity and sounds. I've barely scratched the surface with what these modules can do.

Have you used Rings or Tides before? Let me know in the comments below, I am really keen on learning the ins and outs of these modules.

Happy patching friends,

-Uncle Peter

2HP Modules: Small, Affordable, Powerful

It's no secret that Eurorack modules are expensive for the most part. For some, the price is justified, as they have the ability to do some pretty amazing things.

However, as an interested person looking in, this was one of the things that initially deterred me from Eurorack. I remember thinking "how much do I actually need to spend so my rack can produce a sound, let alone a sound that I like!". Adding in the cost of a case and accessories only added to this worry. There is a company that is challenging this status quo though.

Tagging themselves as the "smallest company in Eurorack", 2HP is not your average modular company. Every module they make is (you guessed it) 2HP in width and reasonably priced. The company boasts about having one of the best performance to size ratios in the industry and also offers a variety of modules.

I am a personal fan of this brand. This is not an endorsement for 2HP by any means, rather, I've simply found that their modules suit my needs. Their popularity is certainly well deserved though. They're addressing both the cost and space issues with Eurorack modules at the same time, all while offering great products.

To demonstrate what you can expect from 2HP, I've wired up a little "2HP Patch", consisting of 2HP's TM, Pluck, Euclid, Arp and Tune modules (with a little help from Pam's Workout).

I love this patch for so many reasons! Its smoothness and arpeggiated note changes all jive together so seamlessly and melodically. Plus the off-beat plucking and modulation adds tons of depth to the sound. It's amazing that this kind of sound can be produced from only a handful of modules. 

To put this all into perspective, those five modules add up to 10HP of space and about $550 (assuming they are bought new, which certainly doesn't need to be the case)! Wow, amazing!

So what's going on in this patch?

• 2HP TM sends random voltages to 2HP Tune, which quantizes them to a melodic scale (chromatic here). The quantized voltages are sent to 2HP Arp's Root input, which sets the root note of the arpeggio

• 2HP Euclid generates a Euclidean rhythm as a series of triggers, which are sent to 2HP Pluck's Trigger input

• Pam's Workout sets the BPM of the patch and sends triggers to 2HP TM's Trigger input, telling it when to generate a new note and 2HP Arp's Trigger input, telling it when to start the arpeggio

• Pam's also sends triggers to Reset inputs of 2HP Arp and 2HP Euclid, so the arpeggio and Euclidean rhythm reset when a note is generated

• I also manually adjust Pluck's decay/damping knobs, Arp's mode knob and Euclid's steps knob, to vary the fullness of the sound, note sequence and rhythm, respectively

In other words, Pluck is the voice here and its being "strummed" by Euclid, and its notes varied by Arp and TM. 

If you have a 2HP module that you like or have used or a cool patch involving some of them, let me know in the comments below. I'm always curious to see what people can do with these modules.

Happy patching friends,

-Uncle Peter

Welcome

Hey folks,

I'm Uncle Peter and welcome to Patches & Racks, a blog about my personal journey through the crazy world that is modular synth/Eurorack.

A bit about myself. I am by no means a modular expert (frankly I'm not even an intermediate!). This is a new "hobby" for me and I've only been involved with it for about a couple of years.

I've decided to create this blog for a few reasons. Most important is that I want to show people who are interested in getting into modular what it's actually like, and how fun and unique it is, all from a beginner's perspective.

Secondly, I wanted to have a platform where I could document and record modules and patches that I've experimented with or tried out (it has become increasingly frustrating to wire up a decent sounding patch only to forget how you did it!). Like with most things in life, the best way to learn about modular synth, in my opinion, is to try things out and see what you like.

So what content can you expect from this blog? Mostly posts and videos about patches I've tried or how I've used certain modules and pretty much anything else related to modular.

Also, please feel free to leave a comment if your like something you see/hear or have any criticisms or suggestions. I'm always open to learning new things in this vast hobby!

Happy patching friends!

-Uncle Peter