Monsoon

Describes and illustrates the functions and features of the Monsoon derivative of Clouds by Mutable Instruments with the Parasites firmware.

Mode Cheatsheets

To access different modes, press the DISP and WRITE buttons at the same time to enter mode selection. Then use the two buttons to move back and forth between modes until you get to the one that matches the correct sequence of lights as shown in the figures below.

Clouds

This is the default "Granular Cloud/Texture Synthesizer mode.

Pitch (PITCH) Shifts the pitch of the grains.

Sliders

  • Position (POS) Position in the buffer where grains are selected.
  • Density (DENS) Number of grains sown.
    Up is random, down is constant rate.
  • Size (SIZE) Size of grains played.
  • Texture (TEXT) Envelope shape of grain.

Knobs

  • Wet/Dry (WET) Mix of wet and dry signals.
    Goes from 100% dry to 100% wet.
  • Pan (PAN) Amount of random panning applied to grains.
  • Feedback (FBK) Amount of output signal fed back into buffer.
  • Reverb (RVB) Amount of reverb applied to overall output
    (including dry signal).

Trigger (TRIG) Sows a single grain.

Freeze (FREEZE) Stops recording incoming audio into the buffer.

Pitch/Time Shifter

Very similar to normal (Granular Cloud) mode, but overlaps two grains, synchronized to the signal to create smoother pitch and time stretching.

Pitch (PITCH) Shifts the pitch of the grains.

Sliders

  • Position (POS) Position in the buffer where grains are selected.
  • Diffusion (DIFF) Creates a granular diffusion
    based on all-pass filters.
  • Size (SIZE) Controls the size of the overlap between grains.
  • Low/High Pass Filter (LP/HP) Down for low-pass,
    up for high-pass.

Knobs

  • Wet/Dry (WET) Mix of wet and dry signals.
    Goes from 100% dry to 100% wet.
  • Pan (PAN) Amount of random panning applied to grains.
  • Feedback (FBK) Amount of output signal fed back into buffer.
  • Reverb (RVB) Amount of reverb applied to overall output (including dry signal).

Sync (SYNC) Synchronizes grains to external clock. Position turns into clock multiplier/divider.

Freeze (FREEZE) Stops recording incoming audio into the buffer.

Looping Delay

Plays audio from buffer continuously, with no granularization.

Pitch (PITCH) Shifts the pitch of audio buffer output.

Sliders

  • Time (TIME) Delay time.
    When FREEZE is activated, control loop start point.
  • Diffusion (DIFF) Creates a granular diffusion based on all-pass filters. (only functions when FREEZE is active)
  • Size (SIZE) Controls the size of the overlapping windows for pitch-shifting. Controls loop duration when FREEZE is active.
  • Low/High Pass Filter (LP/HP) Down for low-pass,
    up for high-pass.

Knobs

  • Wet/Dry (WET) Mix of wet and dry signals.
    Goes from 100% dry to 100% wet.
  • Pan (PAN) Amount of panning applied to audio buffer output.
    Fully clockwise creates ping-pong effect.
  • Feedback (FBK) Amount of output signal fed back into input buffer.
  • Reverb (RVB) Amount of reverb applied to overall output (including dry signal).

Sync (SYNC) Synchronizes grains to external clock. Position turns into clock multiplier/divider.

Freeze (FREEZE) Stops recording incoming audio into the buffer.

Spectral Madness

In this mode, the incoming signal is converted into "frames" of spectral data, that are stored, transformed, and re-synthesized as a time-domain signal. Wavetable-ish, FFT madness....

Pitch (PITCH) Controls transposition (pitch-shifting)

Sliders

  • Buffer (BUFF) Selects the buffer into which audio is poured, or from which buffer the audio is synthesized depending on state of FREEZE.
  • Smear (SMEAR) Manipulates the FFT bin updating, causing various "smearing" effects.
  • Warp (WARP) Changes the coefficients of a polynomial....
    It warps things based on frequency madness.
  • Quantize (QUATZ) Quantizes the amplitudes of the spectral components. Makes things rougher or smoother. ....ish....

Knobs

  • Wet/Dry (WET) Mix of wet and dry signals. Goes from 100% dry to 100% wet.
  • Pan (PAN) Pans stuff. Makes more wide.
  • Feedback (FBK) Amount of output signal fed back into input buffer.
  • Reverb (RVB) Amount of reverb applied to overall output (including dry signal).

Glitch (GLITCH) Corrupts stuff, make more glitçµý....

Freeze (FREEZE) Switches from recording into the selected buffer, to playing from selected buffer.

Oliverb

Full-featured, creative reverb mode based on the reverb contained within the stock firmware.

Pitch (PITCH) Controls pitch-shifting applied to sound fed back into the reverb. (Shimmer)

Sliders

  • Pre Delay (PRE DELAY) Pre delay before reverb signal is applied. Functions as a clock divider/multiplier if clock via SYNC.
  • Decay Length (DECAY) Controls the decay length of the reverb tail. Can create self-oscillation at high levels.
  • Size (SIZE) Controls the size of the emulated room.
  • Dampening (DAMP) Dampens reverb tail
    by applying a LP/HP filter.

Knobs

  • Wet/Dry (WET) Mix of wet and dry signals.
    Goes from 100% dry to 100% wet.
  • Diffusion (DIFF) Controls how smooth the reverb tail is, from smooth and continuous, to defined repeats.
  • Mod Speed (MOD SPD) Controls the speed of the random LFO.
  • Mod Amount (MOD AMT) Controls the amount of random LFO applied to the reverb.

Sync (SYNC) Clock signal that synchronizes pre delay to external clock.

Freeze (FREEZE) Turns on infinite reverb.

Resonestor

Dual-voice, four-part resonator effect with built-in capability for polyphonic Karplus-Strong plucked string synthesis, and more.

Pitch (PITCH) Sets pitch of resonator.

Sliders

  • Source (SRC) Controls the timbre and duration of the noise burst.
    Mutes at both extremes.
  • Decay Length (DECAY) Controls the decay length of the current voice. Above ¾ mark, decay is infinite and can be used as an oscillator.
  • Chord (CHORD) Selects the chord for the current voice.
  • Dampening (DAMP) Dampens the feedback loop of the resonator. Down is LP filter, up is BP filter with increasing resonance.

Knobs

  • Dist (DIST) Distortion using filtered noise to modulate the comb filters. No effect at either extremes.
  • Pan (PAN) Pans voices between the outputs. 12 o'clock is centered, either direction causes stereo widening.
  • Harmonics (HARM) Controls the harmonics that are applied to the signal.
  • Scatter (SCAT) Random delay applied to signal before hitting the resonator of the current voice.
    Can create Karplus-Strong type effects.

Trigger (TRIG) Switches the current voice.

Freeze (FREEZE) Switches to the next voice and prevents further voice switching from the TRIG input.