#1800

Glad you got there in the end!
And yeah, Marc does make some good-looking modules. They work pretty good, too - a real boon for those of us with severely limited space!

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#1801

Itā€™s a great module and the switch feels excellent. I ended up letting go of it because I prefer to use vc/sequential switches but the construction is top notch. Another really fun one from Pulplogic is ā€œDoingā€ - an envelope follower and external amplifier with a spring mounted directly to the panel. Really useful, and also a little silly (in all the best ways).

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#1802

itā€™s a strat pickup selector! I used a one to build a rotary speaker switch for my Nord organ/piano. They are super fun to use.

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#1803

ahhh - of course. wow, i havenā€™t played an electric guitar in so long that this switch became a completely novel interface to me. lol.

#1804

Finally got around to recording the noise today, which Iā€™ll post here. Granted, Iā€™ve amplified it quite a bit so that you all can hear the timbre and semi-rhythmic quality of the noise.

Hereā€™s the interesting bit; Arbhar is definitely the source- Iā€™ve A/Bā€™ed it with the module connected to power and disconnected. But the noise is actually being passed to another module (my Strymon AA.1). What on earth could be going on here?

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#1805

Thatā€™s 100% the same noise I was getting.
I actually wrote to Jason at Instruo with a recording of my noise and Iā€™ve posted his reply below in case it helps.

Iā€™m still concerned thereā€™s an issue with my module too, but it did seem to improve when i moved it from my main intellijel case into my tiptop happy ending kit.

Let me know if trying the below helps.

Thanks for getting in touch and taking the time to record an example and message.

Gain staging is most likely going to be the solution here.

The Arbhar does have a noise floor which is comparable to many other large digital based modules out there.

The audibility will depend largely on setup and different cases/power supplies seem to behave quite differently.

The general level of signal to noise ratio that the Arbhar and Lubadh achieve in practice is somewhere around -72dB to -76dB. (Measured against a 1KHz sine tone as reference).

These levels are compatible to the audible bleed that can occur between analogue oscillators that share power from the same supply/bus board.

How are you experiencing the noise floor compared to unity gain audio signals?

A good test is to use an oscillator for reference. Tune to something comfortably audible and monitor at a comfortable level.

If you are using a desktop mixer following your modular, I would advice monitoring the tone directly into that with gain adjusted so thereā€™s no distortion at any stage.

Once you have that reference, capture that raw tone into the arbhar and monitor grain playback through the same signal path.

Make sure the output level on the arbhar is up full (itā€™s an analogue attenuator so unity is at full).

Experiment with the Arbharā€™s input level control when finding a sweet stop. The preamp will drive at a certain point so maybe start somewhere around the 2oā€™clock position.

When playing grain back, try a low intensity, full length and gaussian curve to begin with.

The goal is to approximately match the original raw signals for amplitude and tone.

Let me know how the noise floor compares in this case.

Have you compared functioning signal to noise ratio?

Have you also tried powering just the Arbhar on its own in your system and/or trying a different power supply/case?

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#1806

I have an nw2s::io in the balanced configuration and Iā€™m getting ready to install it in my recording rack for DAW mayhem.

I noticed that the power ribbon that came with the module is backwards from all my other modules. Having released the magic smoke in other modules in the past Iā€™m leery to fire this one up. I know Scott did some alchemy to make the power work on this module and maybe this backwards cable is part of that.

If you have one of these is your ribbon power backwards?

Iā€™ve got an email into the manufacturer but heā€™s got a note on his site that heā€™s not shipping this week so I suspect heā€™s on vacation.

In this photo the cable that came with my nw2s::io is the lighter colored header:

image

#1807

If the red stripe corresponds to the -12V pins on the module when plugged in on the moduleā€™s side then yes that header is backwards.

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#1808

The module doesnā€™t note which side the red stripe goes on, but the module side of the cable is the same as others relative to the key:

image

#1809

I think the cable connector is likely backwards, from this picture of the module from Schneidersladen, the red stripe appears to be on the correct side relative to the keyed header on the module. Are the headers on your case keyed? If so, I would not plug-in that cable. If the headers on your case are not keyed you could probably connect the cable, making sure that the red stripe on the cable is aligned with -12v on the case header, though you could contact the manufacturer to be sure. I think it is more likely that the cable has the keyed header reversed, then that the manufacturer decided to use the red stripe to indicate +12v rather than -12v.

image
image668Ɨ1000 251 KB

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#1810

Thanks for that, my version of the module is all black with the logo only, without an indicator of where the red stripe/-12v goes. Iā€™m guessing itā€™s an error in the cable too. Iā€™ll wait to hear back from the maker before plugging it in.

#1811

If you have a multimeter you could measure resistance between the ground plane and the power header pins until you locate the ground pins.

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#1812

I thought ground were in the middle with +12 on one side and -12 on the other, using the multimeter wouldnā€™t let me know which side was which, ie whether the header was wired in a novel fashion right? Either way my multimeter is in my studio far from where I am right now. I think Iā€™ll have to wait to hear from the maker.

#1813

-12V is on the end but 12V is offset towards the center, along with 5V. So you should be able to pin out the orientation:

image

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#1814

Closing the loop on this. Heard back from the maker and it was indeed a cable error. Heā€™s sending me a replacement right away. Thanks everyone for your insights!

6 Likes
#1815

All of the stuff Jim Matheson designed (micro clones) have a full bridge rectifier in the power input stage so it doesnā€™t matter which way you plug it in. Also, he designed a similar sort of circuit for midi input on 1/8ā€ jack to where Korg/Novation (or MIDI type A or B, whatever you want to call it) works regardless.

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#1816

I am looking for a lighting solution for my rack. I was considering buying a small USB book light. There is a USB port on my hermod module, does anyone know if it will work with the book lamp?

#1817

If it can charge your phone it will power a led light or equivalent.

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#1818

Iā€™m looking for some advice:
Iā€™d like to add some harmony/harmonic oscillator to my patches.
Iā€™ve used Stages in harmonic oscillator mode and enjoyed it, though Iā€™d like some more options. Plus I use my Stages for lots of other things.
I played with Odessa and was intrigued but a bit intimidated.
Iā€™ve liked the sounds of the Ensemble Oscillator.
But Iā€™m wondering if something like Chords or another harmonizer would be interesting?
Is that even a comparison?
In general, I like the idea of bringing partials and overtones in and out of a longer drone.
And/but/so I have no real idea of music theory, so the technical details might be lost on me.

1 Like
#1819

You can do this with filters and wave folders too.

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