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Mutable Instruments Ambika Manual

6-voice hybrid polysynth
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  • Page 3 Olivier Gillet for this amazing instrument!! It’s really inspiring to have something so unique and special as the Ambika. I also want to thank you for sharing some Mutable Instruments’ graphics with me, so I could make something that follows the original brand design.

  • Page 4: Table Of Contents

    Overview Connections Some terminology... Controls and navigation Controls Editing parameters Using the encoder Voice allocation Synthesis Digital oscillators (S1) Mixer (S1) Filter (S2) Envelopes and LFOs (S3) Voice LFO (S3) Modulation matrix and modifiers (S4) Keyboard and sequencing Keyboard and tuning (S5) Sequencer and arpeggiator settings (S5) Sequence editor (S5) Multi settings...

  • Page 5: Overview

    Overview You have successfully built Ambika, Congratulations! Ambika is a multi-voice hybrid synthesizer. You can play it as a 6-voice polysynth, an ensemble of 6 monosynths, or anything in between due to its easily configurable voicing architecture. The sound generation is hybrid, combining the warmth and sonic character of a true 4- pole analog filter, with the large array of waveforms offered by digital wavetables, fm and phase modulation.

  • Page 6: Connections

    The following connectors are available on the rear panel: SD-card slot. Insert here a SD-card (SDHC supported), FAT16 or FAT32 formatted. At the exception of system settings, everything Ambika needs to store goes on the SD-card. A capacity of at least 256 MB is recommended.

  • Page 7: Some Terminology

    MIDI channel, and is assigned a range of keys on the keyboard. Each of the 6 voices in Ambika needs to be linked to (assigned to) a part. This is a bit like showing each musician (voice) in an orchestra which staff they must play on a musical score! If you assign the 6 voices to the same part, Ambika will behave like a classic monotimbral polysynth.

  • Page 8: Controls And Navigation

    Controls and navigation The 2x40 characters LCD display D displays, most of the time, the name and values of the 8 synthesis parameters accessible by the 8 potentiometers P. The parameters are organized as two rows of 4 parameters. The clickable encoder E is used to scroll between parameters/pages, or to fine-tune the value of a parameter.

  • Page 9: Controls

    Controls Editing parameters The Ambika parameters are organized in pages. To jump to a page, press one of the 7 switches S1...S7. Some pages share the same switch ; and you will need to repeatedly press a switch to cycle between those pages. The active page is indicated by the LEDs L1...L7 next to the navigation switches.

  • Page 10: Using The Encoder

    Press S1 again to get back to the oscillators page. Using the encoder When Ambika displays a parameters page, the rotary encoder can be used to scroll through the parameters. The name of the active parameter is capitalized. For example,...

  • Page 11: Voice Allocation

    Note that you can assign to a part only voices which are not currently in use by another part. For example, when Ambika boots, voices 1, 3 and 5 are assigned to part 1 ; and voices 2, 4, 6 are assigned to part 2. You will notice that it is not possible to assign voices 2, 4, 6 to part 1 before having de-assigned them from part 2.

  • Page 12: Synthesis

    Synthesis Finally, let’s get to the real thing! Each voice of Ambika is built according to the diagram drawn below. Obviously, it would be tedious to edit the settings of each individual voice… Instead, you edit parts and all the voices assigned to a part automatically inherit its settings! Here is a day (or rather a millisecond) in the life of a voice’s signal:...

  • Page 13: Digital Oscillators (S1)

    Each row displays the settings of an oscillator. The parameters are the following: • wave (waveform): Oscillator waveform family. Contrary to most synthesizers in which waveforms are static, the Ambika waveforms are dynamic and can be continously morphed — this is why it is more correct to refer to “waveform families”...
  • Page 14 none: silence This simply switches off the oscillator. Switching the oscillators off is useful if you want to use the sine-wave produced by the filter’s self-oscillation as the sole sound source. saw: sawtooth This waveform is perfect for basses and brass sounds. The parameter controls the waveshapping –...
  • Page 15 sine: sine wave A pure and chaste sine wave lost her virginity. At some point she started listening to Nine Inch Nails. zsaw: phase-distortion sawtooth with filter sweep This waveform uses phase distortion to recreate a low-pass filtered sawtooth by progressively “pinching”...
  • Page 16 lpzpulse, pkzpulse, bpzpulse, hpzpulse: resonant filter sweeps on a trapezoidal wave. This waveform family simulates the sound of a trapezoidal pulse wave processed by a low- pass, peaking, band-pass, or high-pass resonant filter. The parameter controls the cutoff frequency of the filter. pkzpulse is particularly good at recreating the dirty, saturated sound, of a sawtooth filtered by the least academic of the 2-pole analog filters.
  • Page 17 fm: minimal 2-operators FM The parameter controls the modulation strength. This oscillator provides the base material for metallic sounds, bells, metallophones, or the next 386 DX hit. When the fm oscillator is selected, the range parameter plays a slightly different role than usual: instead of controlling the main pitch of the note, it controls the modulator frequency, and has a drastic impact on the timbre.
  • Page 18 noise: filtered noise generator The parameter controls the frequency of a simple 1-pole low-pass/high-pass filter in which is sent white noise. From 0 to 63, high-frequency content is progressively added. From 63 to 127, low-frequency content is progressively removed. Perfect as a raw material for percussions or sound effects.
  • Page 19 tampura: Single cycle waveforms from an indian tampura note bowed: Transwave extracted from a cello sample cello: Transwave extracted from a less dramatic cello sample vibes: Transwave extracted from a vibraphone sample slap: Transwave extracted from a slap bass sample epiano: Various single cycle waveforms extracted from electric piano samples organ: Various combinations of sine waves, as produced by drawbars organs waves: 16 basic waveforms, ready to be morphed into one another...

  • Page 20: Mixer (S1)

    drone 1: Abstract, PPG-wave style wavetable drone 2: Abstract, PPG-wave style wavetable metallic: Single cycle waveforms from classic D50 patches bell: A Depeche mode classic wavesequence: This last wavetable contains all the single cycle waveforms in memory. It is not recommended to scan the parameter with LFOs or envelopes ; but rather to control this from the step sequencer or a random modulation (for the infamous a new sound at each note effect).
  • Page 21 Here is a list of sub-oscillator/transient generator waveforms. The first 6 settings correspond to the sub-oscillator, which is an oscillator of its own, playing always one or two octave lower than the oscillator 1. The next settings disable the sub-oscillator and enable various flavors of transient generators, which will produce a short, clicky sound at the beginning of the note: •...

  • Page 22: Filter (S2)

    Envelopes and LFOs (S3) Ambika has three ADSR envelopes, three part LFOs and one voice LFO. A part LFO is shared among all voices assigned to a part and is used for creating global sweeps, tremolo effects, etc.
  • Page 23 This part LFO vs voice LFO distinction sounds confusing, and there is actually little documentation about it. Most classic analog synthesizers do not have one LFO circuit per voice, so their behaviour is accurately simulated by the use of part LFOs. Some VAs, like the access Virus, use voice LFOs.

  • Page 24: Voice Lfo (S3)

    Voice LFO (S3) rate | wave • rate: LFO rate. The voice lfo cannot be synchronized to the tempo. The frequency ranges from 0.06 Hz (0) to 100 Hz (127). • wave (waveform): LFO waveform. Modulation matrix and modifiers (S4) Modul.
  • Page 25 The modulation sources are the following: • env1, env2, env3: ADSR envelopes. • lfo1, lfo2, lfo3: Part LFOs (bipolar). • lfo4: Voice LFO. • mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4: Modifiers (see next section). • seq1, seq2: Step sequences 1 & 2. •...
  • Page 26 Another thing worth noting is that the modulation amount of the last patch in the modulation matrix is always attenuated by the modulation wheel. Let us say that you have connected patch 14 from LFO 4 to the oscillators fine pitch (actually this is done by default in the init patch!): Modul.

  • Page 27: Keyboard And Sequencing

    Keyboard and sequencing Keyboard and tuning (S5) Volu | mode poly | lega | port octv | tune | sprd | raga equa • volu (volume): Part volume. Note that the volume attenuation is done by scaling the value of the VCA control signal – causing a potential loss of resolution in the shape of the VCA envelope.

  • Page 28: Sequencer And Arpeggiator Settings (S5)

    Sequencer and arpeggiator settings (S5) Each part of Ambika has a sequencer / arpeggiator. The sequencer consists of: • 2 step-sequences, up to 32-step long, which can be freely routed to any modulation source in the modulation matrix.
  • Page 29 Let us now discuss the most devilish, confusing thing about Ambika sequencer: sequencer memory sharing. Ambika only has memory for 16-steps long patterns. Yet, the len1, len2, lenp lengths can go up to 32. How is it possible? Simply by reusing steps from one pattern...

  • Page 30: Sequence Editor (S5)

    “cycles” over 5 steps only. Trivia: the longest non-repeating pattern you can build with Ambika is 20677 steps long (set sequence 1 to 23 steps ; sequence 2 to 29 steps ; and the note sequence to 31 steps). With a clock...

  • Page 31: Multi Settings

    Multi settings These settings are not related to a specific part. They are saved (along with each part’s individual settings) in a multi. Clock settings (S6) | groo swin | amnt | ltch • bpm is the master tempo, in beats per minute. Use ext to sync to an external MIDI clock source.
  • Page 32 Press it to simultaneously send a C4 note to all parts. Press it again to send a note off message to all parts. This allows Ambika to be used without a MIDI keyboard. While a note is being played through this mean, you can turn the encoder to transpose all parts up and down.

  • Page 33: The Library

    SD card (SDHC cards are supported) formatted in FAT16 or FAT32 format, inserted at the back of Ambika. In case the SD card is incorrectly formatted, incorrectly inserted, or damaged, the following text will be displayed every time you try to display the...

  • Page 34: Selecting An Object

    • multi will load/save all the settings of all parts. Remember that you can hold S1 while turning the encoder to change the active part. Ambika can store 3328 (26 banks of 128) patches/sequences/programs/multis. Loading programs/multis/sequences/patches Turn the encoder to move to the previous/next program. Remember that you can hold S8 while turning the encoder to scroll faster in the list.

  • Page 35: Dumping Programs/Multis/Sequences/Patches As Sysex

    Note that when a patch is overwritten, a backup copy of the previous version is kept. You can use a SD-card reader on your personal computer to remove the latest version of the patch and restore the backup copy (Sorry… Ambika does not come with its own version of Norton Commander).

  • Page 36: Clipboard And Version Manager

    Clipboard and version manager Press S5 (*versions* command) to bring the version manager. pt 1 program version copy | swap | paste << >> | keep | exit The following commands are available for the select object (*part 1 program* in the example given above): •...

  • Page 37: Firmware Update

    (*upgrade* command) will load it to upgrade the main processor. Ambika contains seven ports to which devices are attached. The first 6 ports (port 1 to port 6) are used for connecting the voicecards ; the last port (port 7) is used for connecting additional controllers or I/O connectors.

  • Page 38: Emergency Firmware Update

    Emergency firmware update If for some reason Ambika is “bricked” — this can happen if the SD card is damaged, if the firmware update file has been incorrectly copied to the card, or if the power has been disconnected during the firmware upgrade procedure — there is still a way of initiating a firmware update, which is described next.

  • Page 39: Dirty Technical Details

    A full MIDI implementation chart: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub? hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0Ai4xPbRS5YZjdG1mWmRJSzRkWG51ZnFDS3d2Q1JHVlE&outp ut=html A list of frequently asked questions can be found here: http://mutable-instruments.net/ambika/faq You can find more information about the Ambika here: http://mutable-instruments.net/wiki/Main_Page If you have any questions, please visit the Mutable Instruments’ community: http://mutable-instruments.net/forum/...
  • Page 40 You can have full access to the Mutable Instruments’ style guide by requesting it to Olivier Gillet. Please, while distributing this, include this page and give credit to the right people. It’s always nice to contribute with this amazing DIY community.

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