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Metabolic Devices Moonwalker Manual

Phase variable attack / decay generator
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Summary of Contents for Metabolic Devices Moonwalker

  • Page 1 metabolic devices...
  • Page 2 Figure 1a shows how phase offset affects the phase offset output in unipolar and bipolar modes, as well as the reference waveform output Figure 1b shows how phase offset affects the outputs when attack and decay rates are not equal. Figure 2 shows how inhibit affects the output metabolic devices...
  • Page 3 Moonwalker as an envelope: When Moonwalker is first turned on it is in one-shot mode as used when generating envelopes, so let’s start here. For envelopes, set mid or low frequency range active, Phase Offset output mode to unipolar, and plug a trigger source into the trigger input.
  • Page 4 Enable this when you want Moonwalker to be more active, and to cut off longer notes when a new note happens before the old one is finished.
  • Page 5 Moonwalker to the beginning amplitude. This allows Moonwalker to be synchronized with an external clock regardless of the frequency it’s running at. A slower clock that syncs Moonwalker every bar or two can be a cool way to give some form to an LFO that is at a different tempo than the clock.
  • Page 6 LFO. To get stepped waveforms, drive inhibit with the pulse out from another LFO and set it’s width to very wide. Set the Moonwalker frequency fairly fast, but set the other LFO 3 or 4 times faster. Sync the other LFO using the Not Decay out from Moonwalker to get a consistent number of steps for every cycle and start them at the same time.
  • Page 7 Moonwalker as an Audio VCO: If we now switch our frequency range to audio, Moonwalker is ready to be used as an audio source. Attack and Decay knob range is limited from about 750Hz to 20Hz to provide increased resolution for tuning, in light of the absence of a fine tune control.

  • Page 8: Phase Offset

    Reference and Phase Offset outputs. It goes to +5v when Moonwalker is in the attack segment of the Reference Output and to 0v during decay. Pulse width modulation inherently changes the frequency, but PWM without changing the frequency is possible using Phase Offset and is discussed in a later section.
  • Page 9 Moonwalker can invert the polarity of the modulation in this fashion, but also offers the ability to invert the shape while keeping the voltage range the same. When driving a VCA, Moonwalker can transform from a normal VCA response to a ducking VCA response. When driving a Panner, Moonwalk- er maintains the full range of panning modulation regardless of the initial pan position which can change at any time.
  • Page 10 If we set phase to 180º (12:00) the phase offset output will now be sitting at 10v. When triggered, the phase offset envelope will fall to 0v at decay rate, and go back up to 10v at attack rate. If we set phase to 270º (2:30) the phase offset output will now be sitting at 5v.
  • Page 11 -10v to 0v and our VCA stays fully closed. With a sequence triggering Moonwalker, we slowly decrease the phase offset towards 0º and we get little hints of each note as the peak of our waveform starts to peek above 0v, briefly opening the VCA a little.
  • Page 12 Establishing a reference for an envelope When using Moonwalker as an envelope, leaving off-time in between modulation events (notes) establishes the reference point from which the modulation begins. After each envelope you can hear the starting ampli- tude as a static value for a moment.
  • Page 13 A good example is to use Moonwalker to modulate the pan position of two sounds, or two layers of one sound over the course of a phrase:...
  • Page 14 Since the Not Decay output goes high at the end of a Moonwalker envelope / cycle, it can be used to trigger an event and establish a reference in this manner.
  • Page 15 Monitor the Phase Offset Output as the reference output is unaffect- ed by Skew. Adjust the attenuverter for positive modulation to skew from trian- gle to falling ramp or for negative modulation to skew from triangle to rising ramp. If the attack and decay times are not equal, frequency will change along with the skew.
  • Page 16 Negative polarity feedback will yield a concave curve while positive polarity feedback yields a convex one. With Moonwalker we can patch the feedback from the Phase Offset output so the curves created can be offset from the attack and decay segments of the Reference Output.
  • Page 17 Working with Formants Another concept is to take a Master VCO and have it drive Moonwalker to create richer tones using complex waveforms or formants. With Moonwalker in one-shot mode at audio rate, patch a pulse output from the Master VCO into the trigger input on Moonwalker and set the frequency of Moonwalker to taste.

  • Page 18: Pulse Width Modulation

    Modulating the pitch of Moonwalker above the pitch of the Master VCO sounds similar to pulse width modulation. If Moonwalker is at a lower frequency than the Master VCO it locks into certain pitches as it divides the pulses down incrementally by 2,3,4 and so on.
  • Page 19 This works because the Reference output attack / decay breakpoints follow the phase offset output. So as the phase is offset, we are shifting the phase offset output decay rate onto the reference output attack. When phase is at 180º the attack segment of the Reference output will be at the decay rate and the decay will be at attack rate.