#193

I also only have a two-way switch on my April 2018 JF

#194

Woah! 3way switch?! That’s super weird. Totally bewildered that we didn’t catch that in testing :confused:

7 Likes
#195

Not to worry! doesn’t seem to hurt functionality. I’ll chalk it up as a super rare ultra limited 3 way switch edition.

12 Likes
#196

Saw on muffs that new firmware is available and didn’t see it mentioned here. Installed and about to give it a spin.

(I very well could have missed this update and this is old news; but I don’t think so, if this is the case my apologies for the false excitement. )

https://www.whimsicalraps.com/pages/jf-latest-version

4 Likes
#197

yeah, @Galapagoose only mentioned it in the Just Type thread, so I nearly missed it myself!

1 Like
#199

Having one of those “Is my module acting strangely, or do I just not understand how it’s supposed to behave” moments. :slight_smile:

So, how I thought JF would behave in Sound/Transient or Sound/Sustain is that if I ran a gate/trigger signal into any of the trigger inputs on the JF, that it would act essentially like a combination oscillator/envelope/vca for each of the 6 “voices” and output the result at each of the outs. However, when I do that I only hear basically an incredibly short click (in Sustain, I think). Is this the expected behavior? Does it only work in the way shown in the introduction video on YouTube where there’s an audio rate signal going into the Triggers? I’ve tried that and it works great, fwiw.

So as an example, I imagined, say, running some gates out of Batumi into triggers for Identity, 3N and 5N and basically using it as a self-contained harmonic synth, without needing to use a separate envelope generator and VCA.

If that isn’t the idea for the Trigger inputs for Sound/Shape and Sound/Transient, what is?? :slight_smile:

#200

When in Sustain or Transient modes, Just Friends generates plain envelopes without consideration to the Shape/Sound modes — these only determine the length of the envelopes; Shape gives longer lengths, while Sound goes into audio-rate lengths; this can be useful while feeding in a pulse train to the trigger inputs, as you’ll get subharmonic division, just as Mangrove’s Formant output does with its internal square wave oscillator.

If you want to have a triggerable voice on each channel, you’ll have to look into the Plume run mode. While in Sound/Sustain mode, plug a patch cable into the Run jack. In this mode, the voltage sent to the Run jack set the envelope’s decay (it’s actually a simulated lowpass gate), and the other controls act exactly as they would in Sound/Cycle, giving you the regular controls over timbre.

8 Likes
#201

Awesome… I haven’t really delved into the Run modes as there already felt like there were enough things to learn in the “regular” modes. Thanks!

edit: I just had a total AH HA moment while re-reading your reply. It hadn’t quite struck me yet that the “slow waveforms” that Shape creates and the “fast waveforms” that Sound creates are the exact same thing. So when you feed in a single pulse into a Trigger in Shape mode, it might create say a 1s long waveform (once). But when you do the same thing in Sound it’s generating 1 full cycle of an audio rate waveform (also once)… which results in a teeny, tiny click.

This is the sort of thing I wish I had an oscilloscope for. :slight_smile:

#202

So been reeaally digging my JF. Super flexible and functional (if I didn’t have limited space I’d consider having two).

Not really messed with the Run modes yet, but a quick question for those of you that are more familiar. Is there a Run mode (or a setting in standard mode(s)) that lets you be able to retrigger triggers before their time has run out? (other than cycle mode obviously).

The two main function generators in my skiff (this and IFM Swoop) both have the same ‘no retriggering’ paradigm, which is cool for certain things, but not ideal for wanting percussion-y (as in drums) triggering where I’d want a long decay, but not a long ‘lockout’.

1 Like
#203

Sounds like Shift mode in the manual. It says that if you put -5V into Run, it’ll retrigger “always”. 0V is end-of-rise, and increasingly negative values move that point “forward” to the start-of-rise (hence “always” at -5V), and positive voltages move it towards end-of-fall (where it goes back to the standard retrigger behavior at +5V).

3 Likes
#204

Nice, I’ll have a closer look as that sounds like just the ticket!

edit:
Yup, that’s exactly what I was looking for.

Wish there was a passive way to normalize Run to -5V without having to take up another module/output, particularly in a small skiff. Just having a dummy cable in is an improvement, but given the option I’d have it -5V permanently.

3 Likes
#205

One difference that is mentioned in the documentation is that the output Sound mode is bipolar whereas Shape mode isn’t.

1 Like
#206

I think this was changed with the post-Run-fix version of JF, but I remember there being something about -12V exposed when plugging it in, or something like that. Basically is there a clever way to have a TRS jack lead plugged in that normalizes the input to -5V?

#207

well, there’s Teletype. otherwise I’m not sure, you could see what only half-inserting a dummy cable does?

#208

Teletype would be good, and something I’ve thought about, but I’ve got limited space, it’s not an efficient solution.

That did get me wondering about whipping up a Teensy LC that just piggybacks the JF and spoofs the appropriate TT Run message, but then that meant I’d always be stuck in that mode.

1 Like
#209

Yea I have a Mutable Instruments Shades right next to my Just Friends with channel 1 almost always plugged into the Run input. I don’t know of any way to get a dummy cable to output negative voltage – I don’t think it would be possible without power

1 Like
#210

yeah me too but i believe Norns/Crow/something else i cant remember is apparently going to sort this out as i was gonna do the same thing myself. Having moved the TT i still want just Type and general Mannequins digital interaction (especially with multiple w/'s, w/'s)

#211

So i tried to learn just friends last days and i have the same „is it me or is sth wrong“ moments or permament as others had… i am sure its user dependent but hoping for some help.
The rythm/env generation as far as i tried is very intuitive, no issues there but didnt dig deep.

My main use is as oscillator and i am having some issues i am not sure if they are quantization concerned.

Basically after a few tries i when i tried to play the same sequence i played from ornament and crime into mangrove, getting a nice sounding melody, feed JF v8 the sequence results in absolutely and completely different tones. Played around with different quantization scales etc etc but its neither anything like the melodies when MG was sequenced nor do i get really melodies that make much sense. I understand this has something to do with corresponding waves/knob settings being limited to smal ranges…at least thats my guess like when mangrove has format and square combined with formant and barrel around 9 ccw.

But really cant get any nice melodies out of the JF… since its digital it obviously cant be out of tune?

What makes me reeeeeaaaally skeptical and confused is, i tried to set the same settings Gil does in the official Video from around 11 minute to end and i am not at all getting the same results and sound he does. When i follow his settings my JF voice it pitched much much higher and when he move sthe pitch up and down it sounds like (quantized) logical notes…kind of stepped? I dont get that, just very detuned unstepped pitch.

Sicne in the video the mangrive square is put into trigger 1 i tried sth like that too with simple disting vco but didnt get much closer at all.

I am a bit lost here… wich is okay, i bought JF to get lost in it, but i don’t understand why i cant reproduce those sounds.

I DO get kind of comparable similar bassy choirs. But for some reason much less defined, musicaly valuable scaled etc. when Gil moves some of the knobs like Ramp and Curve i get completely different resulst :confused:
And i get similar sounds only in completely different settings wich adds some more confusion.

Some advice for a JF beginner?

I have no other 1v/o source right now than the OC but since i could sequence MG just fine i dont see this as the source of confusion.

#212

There have been a few changes since the introduction video was made. A couple that come to mind in your case is that the Curve knob was flipped ( now square at full ccw, and sine at full cw) and a couple of the Run modes were moved. Have you checked out the official docs for the latest firmware?

1 Like
#213

Try this first: go to sound and cycle. set intone and FM each to 12 o’clock. Take output from mix. Set curve and ramp to taste. Send the same sequence from O_c to Mangrove and Just Friends pitch inputs. Listen to Mangrove’s square out for simplicity.

Turn the Time knob on Just Friends and/or the Freq knob on Mangrove to tune the oscillators to each other.

4 Likes