Key data

Macro-oscillator

Parameter Value
Width 12HP
Depth 25mm
+12V current 50mA
-12V current 5mA
Lifetime 03/18 to 11/22
Modulargrid Link
Processor STM32F373CCT6 @ 72 MHz
DAC PCM5100A

Original printed manual

PDF download

Features

16 deep synthesis models

8 synthesis models for pitched sounds

  • Two detuned virtual analog oscillators with continuously variable waveforms.
  • Variable slope triangle oscillator processed by a waveshaper and wavefolder.
  • 2-operator FM with continuously variable feedback path.
  • Two independently controllable formants modulated by a variable shape window (VOSIM, Pulsar, Grainlet, Casio CZ-style resonant filter...).
  • 24-harmonic additive oscillator.
  • Wavetable oscillator with four banks of 8x8 waves, with or without interpolation.
  • Chord generator, with divide down string/organ emulation or wavetables.
  • A collection of speech synthesis algorithms (formant filter, SAM, LPC), with phoneme control and formant shifting. Several banks of phonemes or segments of words are available.

8 synthesis models for noise and percussions

  • Granular sawtooth or sine oscillator, with variable grain density, duration and frequency randomization.
  • Clocked noise processed by a variable shape resonant filter.
  • 8 layers of dust/particle noise processed by resonators or all-pass filters.
  • Extended Karplus-Strong (aka Rings' red mode), excited by bursts of white noise or dust noise.
  • Modal resonator (aka Rings' green mode), excited by a mallet or dust noise.
  • Analog kick drum emulation (two flavors).
  • Analog snare drum emulation (two flavors).
  • Analog high-hat emulation (two flavors).

Dual output

  • The AUX output carries a variant, sidekick or by-product of the main signal.
  • Patch both OUT and AUX to Warps for weird hybridization experiments!

Internal or external modulations

  • Dedicated CV input for synthesis model selection. No need to activate a mysterious META mode!
  • An internal decay envelope is normalled to the TIMBRE, FM and MORPH CV inputs: the amount of internal modulation is directly adjusted with the attenuverters.

Internal low-pass gate (LPG)

  • Dedicated LEVEL CV input controlling the amplitude and brightness of the output signal.
  • The internal LPG can also be directly plucked by the trigger input.
  • Two parameters of the LPG can be adjusted: amount of low-pass filtering (VCFA to VCA), and response time of the virtual vactrol.

Specifications

  • All inputs: 100k impedance, DC to 2kHz.
  • FM, MORPH, TIMBRE input range: +/- 8V.
  • HARMO and MODEL input range: +/- 5V.
  • LEVEL and TRIG input range: 0 to +8V.
  • V/OCT input range: -3 to +7V.
  • 16-bit CV capture.
  • Audio output: 48kHz, 16-bit, DC-coupled.
  • Internal processing: 32-bit floating point.

Plaits vs Braids?

Plaits shares no hardware or software with Braids!

  • Floating-point DSP code written from scratch or inherited from Elements, Warps and Rings.
  • Band-limited synthesis used almost everywhere, producing aliasing-free results at the base sample rate of 48kHz (Braids ran at 96kHz and used naive oversampling).
  • High-quality Sigma-Delta ADC for CV acquisition, approaching a resolution of 16-bit (12-bit for Braids).
  • ADC reads are interpolated in software to eliminate zipper noise.
  • DC-coupled audio output, extending the range of the module to very low frequencies (Braids could not reach LFO ranges).
  • Lean hardware design: less HP, mA and €.