Elements' "Ominous voice"

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pichenettes
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Elements' "Ominous voice"

Post by pichenettes »

What is it?

"Ominous" is a secret "easter egg" in Elements, which turns the module into a weird 2x2 operators FM synth voice. Think Braids' FM/FBFM times two. It lives in a strange middle-ground between classic subtractive analog and what you'd expect of FM.

How to activate it?

Set all the attenuverters and all the TIMBRE knobs of the Exciter section to their minimum position. Set all the attenuverters and the DAMPING, POSITION, and SPACE knobs of the Resonator section to their maximum position.

Hold the PLAY push-button for 5 seconds. Press PLAY again. The push-button's built-in LED should be off. You can now move the attenuverters and other knobs to their normal position.


How to get back to the normal modal synthesis firmware?

Same procedure as above.


How does it work?


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The autopan / rotation is a quadrature LFO thingie that acts on both pan and a mild LPF - the result is an effect of source rotation / slow filter sweep / leslie / tremolo. The rotation rate for oscillator 1 and 2 is different, so there are interesting beating effects too.

CONTOUR: shape of the built-in envelope that is triggered by the PLAY button or the GATE input.

BOW: detuning of oscillator 2 with respect to oscillator 1. The range is -2 octaves to 2 octaves, with strategically placed notches.

BLOW: oscillator 1 level. May soft-clip past 12 o'clock.

STRIKE: oscillator 2 level. May soft-clip past 12 o'clock.

FLOW: oscillator 1 carrier/modulator frequency ratio. This control acts in similar fashion to the COLOR knob of Braids' FM models: it has virtual notches at interesting frequency ratios, such as those found on Yamaha's DX series synths. 12 o'clock gives a 1:1 frequency ratio.

MALLET: oscillator 2 carrier/modulator frequency ratio. Same scale as above.

(BOW) TIMBRE: oscillator 1 & 2 feedback amount. This increases the amount of phase feedback of both oscillators - progressively making them harsher and more chaotic (like morphing from Braids' FM to FBFM).

(BLOW) TIMBRE: oscillator 1 FM amount.

(STRIKE) TIMBRE: oscillator 2 FM amount.

Wow! You can also use the BLOW/STRIKE external inputs for audio-rate phase modulation of both oscillators.

COARSE/FINE/FM: coarse/fine frequency, and exponential FM of both oscillators 1 and 2.

GEOMETRY: response of the stereo filter. This interpolates between low-pass, notch, high-pass, and finally band-pass. The filter has a mild resonance. No dedicated resonance control because it's kind of silly on FM timbres.

BRIGHTNESS: cutoff frequency of the stereo filter.

DAMPING: amount of filter modulation from the internal envelope and the STRENGTH CV input.

POSITION: speed of the stereo rotation.

SPACE: mixing configuration. When set to its minimum value, OUT L contains the raw mix of both oscillators, and OUT R a mono signal without spatialization (but with the filter and VCA). When turning the knob further, you reach a zone where the stereo rotation becomes more intense. Past 12 o'clock, the reverb kicks in.


https://soundcloud.com/mutable-instruments/ominous
Last edited by pichenettes on Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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noctambulance
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Post by noctambulance »

Wonderful! I love this module!

You are really upping the game.
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Matos
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Post by Matos »

What? What kind of demon are you? No mortal can posess such awesomeness.
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numan7
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Post by numan7 »

:woah: cool-COOL!! Can't wait to try this out (once my Elements and Clouds modules, which are finally on their way to me, have arrived :party:)!!

cheers
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exper
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Post by exper »

Sweet. I was waiting to figure this out. I know it had to be a knob position thing, but I didn't get the right combo, for whatever the 'Easter egg' was.

Can't wait to explore, although elements itself will take a long time to find all of the sweet spots of sounds.
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panomega
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Post by panomega »

Thank You Olivier! :deadbanana:
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nearly ghost
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Post by nearly ghost »

Very cool! These were my favourite modes on braids when I had one. Makes me want element even more now :zombie:
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Daisuk
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Post by Daisuk »

Oh, yes, sweet! I knew it was a good decision to get this over a complex osc. Just a few more weeks now. :hyper:
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chapelier fou
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Post by chapelier fou »

Great sounds !
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Paranormal Patroler
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Post by Paranormal Patroler »

:goo: Now everyone needs a second Elements to pass through Elements.
Last edited by Paranormal Patroler on Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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daluxer
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Post by daluxer »

Just did a quick demo of what it sounds like because I am amazed.
Sounds great (filters!) and seems to be capable of a ton of sounds.

This demo is only using a sequence run on a tta z8000 and another envelope which is pinging the filter. Other than that it is really only Elements.

Especially from 1:20 onwards..

http://soundcloud.com/jasperwalden/elem ... sh/s-FnHHo

Disclaimer : only tried this mode for about 5 minutes.
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djthopa
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Post by djthopa »

Well done Olivier!

Looking forward to giving it a go this afternoon.

:party:
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methodius
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Post by methodius »

Great stuff! :tu:
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Dcramer
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Post by Dcramer »

Drinking gin, eating Cheetos out of mah hippy bag, and sitting infront of mah Elements, while crying :love:
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noctambulance
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Post by noctambulance »

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DonKartofflo
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Post by DonKartofflo »

oh sweet lord, that sound!
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gabrielp
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Post by gabrielp »

ohhhh!

I cant wait to get home to try this out!!

:hail:
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sydilaxe
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Post by sydilaxe »

Isn't calling this an "Easter Egg" a bit of an understatement? Freaking two modules in one, man...
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Post by Grrr »

This is ridiculous!! :goo: :goo: :goo:
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exper
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Post by exper »

I guess it's all over this RD video too:

viewtopic.php?t=127962&start=0&postdays ... highlight=

Almost warrants an alternate panel!? ;)



Does anyone know if it holds this alternate mode on power down or do you have to enter it again whe you turn the modular system back on?
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Electrostatic
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Post by Electrostatic »

exper wrote:Does anyone know if it holds this alternate mode on power down...
It does. :tu:
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exper
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Post by exper »

Electrostatic wrote:
exper wrote:Does anyone know if it holds this alternate mode on power down...
It does. :tu:
Awesome.

Can't wait to try this out after work.

What would be great is something to print out and laminate to overlay onto the panel. Going to be hard to memorize what control is what. I'm having flashbacks of the old nord lead in pele mode where if you turned the wrong knob you'd shatter your windows with screeching noise.
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cold_fashioned
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Post by cold_fashioned »

Seriously - 2 modules in one. MI outdoes themselves again! I'm still super excited for "regular" Elements (c'mon pre-order!), but this adds a whole new dimension. Craziness!
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noctambulance
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Post by noctambulance »

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RLK
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Post by RLK »

Simply awesome, can’t wait to try this.
I slapped together this visual aid to me keep things straight.

Anything wrong or lacking? If so, I would appreciate the input.

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