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Summary of Contents for SOMA RUMBLE OF ANCIENT TIMES
- Page 3 Rumble of Ancient Times (RoAT) is an 8-bit noise synthesizer and sequencer. RoAT is capable of a wide variety of sounds ranging from dense noise scapes to diverse glitching rhythmic patterns. This compact and portable instrument has many features that can be combined into surprising musical results.
- Page 4 The “heart” of the synthesizer contains four sound oscillators. Each oscillator has a tunable waveform and an LFO which GENERATOR modulates the tone and volume. The modulated signal NODE of each oscillator is mixed with other signals in one of three ways.
- Page 5 MIX METHODS Each mixing method has three nodes where two signal generators are summed into one. Each mixing node can have a different summing algorithm.
- Page 6 MIX METHOD Next, the signal goes to the filter with FILTER resonance, and then to the audio output. SOUND OSCILLATORS CAN BE SWITCHED ON AND OFF IN REAL-TIME USING THE INTERFACE OR SEQUENCER. The buttons switch the channel state between ON and OFF, while the sensors and sequencer invert it.
- Page 7 EACH REGISTER CONTROLS A CERTAIN PROPERTY OF THE SYNTHESIZER, AND A TOTAL OF 32 REGISTERS ARE AVAILABLE. IN ORDER TO KEEP THE INSTRUMENT COMPACT AND AFFORDABLE, WE DECIDED TO DIVIDE THE SETTINGS INTO PAGES. THIS SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED THE NUMBER OF POTENTIOMETERS AND THE SIZE OF THE SYNTHESIZER.
- Page 8 When the page is changed, the register values do not change. To set a new value, start turning the appropriate pot. Let’s look at the registers and the controlled parameters. The registers are located according to the following table: PAGE POT 1 POT 2 POT 3 POT 4 Voice 1...
- Page 10 Pages 0 and 1 for tuning the sound oscillators. will change the tones of the sound PAGE 0 oscillators from 19 to 1,350 Herz. will change the waveform of PAGE 1 the oscillator. There are 16 waveforms available:...
- Page 15 Pages 2, 3 and 4 are for adjusting the low-frequency oscillators. LFOs in RoAT are used to control the main oscillators of the synthesizer. They can modulate either the tone of the oscillator or its volume. controls the frequency PAGE 2 of the LFO.
- Page 16 controls the impact of the LFO. PAGE 3 It’s simple: if a potentiometer is at zero, its oscillator will not affect the sound. The higher the potentiometer, the higher the impact of the LFO. controls the PAGE 4 type and waveform of the modulation. Here is how it is organized: each potentiometer can receive 16 values.
- Page 18 Let’s talk more about the last two waveforms. Waveform 7 is a random values generator. If you switch to waveform 6, RoAT will remember the last 8 values and loop them. Each time you switch back to 7 and 6, the looped values will refresh. The same applies to values 14 and 15.
- Page 20 Page 5 is for adjusting the envelope generator and filter settings. The envelope generator turns on when you touch the sensors or when the sequencer is playing. There are two parameters available — attack and release. More details are available in the section ‘Channel settings’.
- Page 22 Page 6 contains the most important parameters with a high impact on the resulting sound. pots control how and in what order PAGE 6 the oscillator signals are mixed to get the final sound. We have 4 sound channels, each modulated by LFO, that we need to mix into one.
- Page 23 are controlled by NODES 1, 2 the corresponding pots on this page. The available mixing algorithms are the following: ADDITION Simply adding together two signals. ADDITION WITH OVERFLOW If the sum of the signals crosses the upper or lower border, the result is directed to the opposite edge and continues growing from there.
- Page 24 SIGNAL 1 SIGNAL 2 The following table shows the results of summing two sine waves (above) using each of the available mixing algorithms.
- Page 25 ADDITION ADDITION WITH OVERFLOW SUBTRACTION 1 SUBTRACTION 2 MULTIPLICATION...
- Page 26 EXCLUSIVE OR (XOR) FREQUENCY MODULATION (FM) WAVEFORM MODULATION As a consequence, there are 8*8*8*3 = 1,536 possible connection patterns for the sound oscillators.
- Page 28 Page 7 contains the general settings of the synthesizer and a generator of random changes, or randomizer. The first potentiometer controls the tempo. In RoAT, tempo affects the speed of the LFO and sequencer. The values on the potentiometer are positioned in the following manner: INTERNAL CLOCK, SETTING TEMPO...
- Page 29 When the minimum value is set, the internal clock is turned off. LFOs are not in sync and the sequencer is not active. With the values in the middle, the tempo sync is enabled and depends on the potentiometer position. The clock is displayed on the LED and is sent to the sync-out.
- Page 30 The second pot controls the metronome click and bypass settings. Here is how it works: BYPASSING BYPASSING METRONOME The click plays when the potentiometer is turned all the way up or down. In all other positions, the metronome is off. WHEN THE POTENTIOMETER IS IN THE POSITION BEFORE 12 O'CLOCK, THE SYNTHESIZER IS IN BYPASS MODE.
- Page 32 There are two systems for introducing random changes to the settings in RoAT. The first system is activated when you press the button. CHAOS DOING SO WILL RANDOMLY CHANGE ALL PARAMETERS, EXCEPT ATTACK, RELEASE, SYSTEM SETTINGS ON THE LAST PAGE, AND THE SETTINGS ON THE PAGE CURRENTLY SELECTED.
- Page 33 The second randomization system is responsible for gradually changing registers over time. With this system, the registers will gradually change their values over time. This process is controlled by the 3rd and 4th potentiometer on page 7. The 3rd pot sets the number of registers that will take part.
- Page 34 It also changes direction when it reaches the high or low end. This chart shows an example of a register value changed by the randomizer. TIME While the randomizer is active, all the potentiometers remain functional. You can scroll through pages and change the values manually, use the sequencer, and so on, adding diversity to the sound.
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Page 36: Using The Sequencer
Rumble of Ancient Times has 4 channels, but we can switch some of them off to get a desired sound. You can do this in three different ways: USING TRIGGER BUTTONS Pressing the button will change the state of the channel: if it was OFF, it will switch it ON and vice versa. - Page 37 The synthesizer has an envelope generator for smoothly switching the channels on and off. This generator has two parameters - attack and release. They are controlled by the 1st and 2nd pots on PAGE 5. BY USING THE TOUCH PANEL AND ENVELOPE GENERATOR, YOU CAN MOVE AWAY FROM THE MONOTONOUS SOUND AND PLAY IT IN REAL-TIME.
- Page 38 Let’s look at the first mode. In the first mode, when the channel has no sound, it is fully excluded from the summing circuit, and the signals from other channels bypass it completely. Here is an example: we turn off the second channel and as a result, the summing operator, connected to this channel, is removed from the circuit and other channels are mixed as if it was...
- Page 39 In the second mode, the summing node is not removed, but a null is sent to it instead. The first mode, bypassing the summing nodes, can be used to make sure the signal continues when one of the channels is switched off. Let’s look at an example. Here, the lowest mixing node uses frequency modulation (the left signal is modulated by the right signal) and if we...
- Page 40 However, this system has its nuances when using it with an envelope generator. Normally, the envelope smoothly lifts up and lowers down the volume of the oscillator, but when the “bypass” mode is on, it is impossible to achieve smoothness. The summing algorithm changes before the attack and after the release.
- Page 41 LOUD MODULATED SOUND SIGNAL STARTS THE RELEASE, IT STARTS GOING QUIETER 3 CHANNELS SOUND ARE SUMMED, ALMOST LOUD SIGNAL DIED AWAY ATTACK: LOUD SOUND MODULATED AGAIN, NODE SIGNAL IS WITH FM- LOW, SOFT MODULATION SOUND IS TURNED WHEN THE SEQUENCER IS PLAYING NOTES, THIS MODE CAN ADD MORE VARIETY AND FLAVOR TO THE RHYTHM.
- Page 43 Rumble of Ancient Times has a built-in sequencer that lets you record short looped sections. The length of the recorded section is one 4/4 bar (or 4 clicks of the metronome, or 4 LED signals from the clock). The sequencer is controlled with two buttons —...
- Page 45 Rumble of Ancient Times can sync with other devices as both master and slave. Let’s look at synchronizing the synthesizer with other devices. For example, let’s take a portable Pocket Operator synthesizer. RoAT can function as both master and slave. Let’s look at syncing it as master.
- Page 46 In RoAT, go to the last page. Set up the tempo by turning the first potentiometer. The LED of the clock should blink. In PO, we need Sync Mode 2. Press and hold Func and BPM at the same time until you see ‘SY2’...
- Page 47 With the setup above, the output of the Operator will include both the signal of the Rumble and the signal of the PO itself. Now let’s look at syncing as slave. Connect the left output of the Pocket Operator (sync-out) to Rumble and the right output to the mixer.
- Page 48 Sync out voltage ....5 V Minimum syn in voltage ... 0.2 V Current input .
- Page 49 GRZEGORZ LACEK management, sales, and communications EVGENY ALEYNIK legal consulting NASTYA AZARTSOVA front panel design drawing PAWEL WIECZOREK production technologies REGINA VOLKOVA SOMA assistant and management SOFIA RUBINSTEIN demo video and creative direction THOMAS LUNDBERG communications, utopian linguist...
- Page 50 Kakos Nonos SOMA Labs 2023 год S O M A S Y N T H S . C O M MANUAL DESIGN BY DUSTIN LAUFFER...
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