#307

No, this is not possible.

#308

Ok thanks. I am thinking of getting a quantizer like maybe o_c and then I can just use stepped random voltages for the x outputs and then I can attenuate and quantize externally while still utilizing all the great features of Marbles. Does this seem like a sensible plan? I’m new to eurorack so not quite sure if my ideas are sensible. :slight_smile:

#309

You can probably achieve a similar result with a sample and hold like kinks or stages, etc…

Send a marbles sequence that you are going to use for a lead line into a buffered multiple.

One buffered output you use for the lead line. Then take other(s) buffered outputs into sample input of s&h module. You will need another module to generate the timing (gate/trigger) of your bassline.

This method works best if you are looking to generate slower musically related parts like ambient pads or basslines.

1 Like
#310

But won’t I have the same issue potentially where the range of cv is still too high for a bass line? I can s&h the bass line at a slower clock rate than the lead but won’t I still be able to get some very high cv values?
I would like to constrain the cv for the bass to say one octave while the lead can move over two or three octaves.

#311

I had a thought about Marbles yesterday. It might be a bit esoteric though.

Unless I’m mistaken, Steps isn’t probabilistic – at any given setting all notes in the scale are equally likely, but as Steps moves from noon to fully CCW, some notes are completely removed. I usually find myself putting Steps somewhere in the 2 to 5 o’clock range, because equal weighting of the entire scale rarely feels right.

One possibility is to modulate Steps. If it changes over time in the noon to full CCW range, on average the “stronger” notes of the scale (root, fifth etc.) will be chosen more frequently than the more dissonant notes, but they all have a chance. Sequencing Steps might be smart too – with stricter note choices on stronger beats or key portions of a phrase.

So then I started thinking about a feedback process. If there was a mode where the Y output reflected the “rarity” of the note at x2, several things could be done with that information. It could be slewed and fed back to Steps, to temporarily suppress subsequent rare notes. It could be fed to Rate, to encourage quickly moving on so that it acts as a passing note. It could be patched to Spread or Bias for possibly interesting results. Or it could affect timbre, level or envelope parameters to make the note less prominent (or more, I’m not judging :slight_smile: )

Does that make sense?

#312

Is it possible to add a quick ‘external sequence capture’ mode? It can be done manually but personally I’d love a quick button combo. Idea being that it would allow for ‘sequence pass thru’ of CV/gate while recording a sequence, and then once you jump out of the mode - panel settings resume except both t/X are locked so your sequence is captured. Gate from the ext sequencer would go into the clock input.

Enabling it would trigger the following settings:
Rate: 12 o clock
T mode: orange
T Bias: 12 o clock
Jitter: 7 o clock
Spread: 7 o clock
X Bias: 12 o clock
Steps: 12 o clock
*using the T button as a “gate rest“ input would be an incredible addition here.

My use case centers around sampling a sequence and then mutating it while locked, and then returning to the base sequence occasionally. I do understand I could just continually play the sequence in the ext processing mode, but I would like to ‘save’ the sequence into Marbles and then use my sequencer to complement Marbles ideally.

1 Like
#313

HI , was wondering if is possible to switch J. Output voltage range using one of the inputs with a firmware change and button combinations etc? I would love to randomise that. I am still struggling with this module and find it very difficult to understand. Its mostly suck and see for and i am unsure how to use it like the Turing machine, where you can allow a little bit of randomness into a fixed x pattern? Also changing octaves is difficult for me. Any ideas please. All the best.

#314

No and no. There’s already enough in the module!

2 Likes
#315

with respect i was only asking not demanding, as i said i struggle with the functions of this module though i do love it, i would have appreciated some advice on how i might have gone about some of those things without firmware changes perhaps. i guess that’s too much at this time with the abrupt no’s? Sorry for any stressfulness i may have caused.

#316

I don’t think added and added layers of complexities, to the point that it becomes impossible to know which knob or CV input does what is a solution to any problem. This has been a solution for some people between 2014 and 2018 maybe, and see what kind of monsters of complexity it engendered!

Using the largest voltage range (+/- 5V) and then modulating the actual range with SPREAD could be a solution to get different ranges. You could even use the Y input sent through an attenuator to randomize that.

Enable DEJA VU for the X section, and set the DEJA VU knob slightly before 12 o’clock.

A dedicated module would be a better solution.

1 Like
#317

Hi, thank you very much for the reply. I got a great patch going yesterday and love to make generative music, its the main reason i put a modular together in the first place, so marbles is very important to me.
“Monsters of complexity”, sounds like a super villain or a terrible nightmare!

I also have an Ultra random Analog, doepfer a-149-1 and a Turing Machine, yours is the most fully featured and my current favourite.

Anyway some of the best moments in the piece came when i switched the voltage ranges and that’s when i wondered if it was possible to somehow CV it. Never thought it as a failing of your module.
Thanks for the suggestion about using y and spread will try it later. I have yet to get octave switching working accurately with my gear, it maybe loading effects, who knows. I got a t43 from vpme.de and a caltrans recently. Also have 2 buffered mults.

I will persevere, its easy to get disheartened in the middle of a creative process, when it gets too technical and ruins the moment. All the best and thank you so much for all your modules and your generosity of ideas.

#318

The (truly) great thing about Emilie’s modules (along with 4ms, TiNRS, etc) is that they are open source, clearly coded and easy to follow. This allows anyone to modify their own modules to enable them to do what they want! It’s a great way to learn coding on embedded stuff…

4 Likes
#319

I do hope Emilie is fabulously wealthy, with her generosity. I am concerned that she has only 3 more modules to go and what will happen next for her and mutable instruments? I heard this on a recent Divkid video the great filling the Tardis series! Learned so much from them. Still consider myself a beginner its been about 3 years for me, in this wonderful world full of so many helpful people and manufacturers and Mutable is my favourite!I have grouped all of mine together in one of my 9U 84hp cases, to focus on them and make the most of them and the very special places they can take you!

#320

When Marbles is in shift register mode, is it possible to have the T side sync with the X side? I have yet to find a solution. The shift register mode is truly amazing and completely underrated. Marbles continues to surprise me.

#321

Have you tried patching t2 into the clock in on the x side and using that as the clock?

#322

I tried it out and it seems to sync up. I don’t know what I was doing before but everything seems to be fine. Thanks!

#323

2 posts were split to a new topic: Marbles - new alternative firmware

#324

Hi everyone,

Perhaps someone can help me, because I’m really struggling with the behaviour of Bias and Spread.

I’ve got Marbles going into an external quantiser. My quantiser is set to D dorian. Steps is set to 12 o’clock (just a slight nudge beyond 12) - unquantised mode. I’ve got Bias set fully anti-clock wise.

When spread is full anti-clockwise I get the root D repeated with no other notes. This makes sense to me.

When I turn spread to 9 o’clock and leave bias at full anti-clockwise however, marbles seems to want to avoid the root note at all cost. Is this expected behaviour? From the manual i was expecting the root note to be favoured, but it just doesn’t seem to be the case. The only way I can get the root note to be favoured is to put spread at around 2 o’clock, but this means that the spread of the notes being played is much greater than I want in this particular use case.

The manual doesn’t actually show the various permutations of spread when bias is fully anti-clockwise, but the implication is that the root note is favoured (and this would seem to make sense musically).

I’ve also tested it with Marble’s in built quantiser on C major, with Dejavu set fully anti-clockwise and it seems to never play C.

What’s going on? Am I missing something really obvious?

#325

I assume you have set the range to 0…2V or 0…5V, and that by “root note” you mean 0V.

Then the behavior you describe is perfectly normal. By setting SPREAD at 9 o’clock, you instruct the module that you want a “bumpy” note distribution, and by setting bias fully CCW, you indicate that the bump should be titled towards 0V. So you get a shape like the orange curve here:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Beta_distribution_pdf.svg

Which has a probability value of 0 for the minimum value (0V with a unipolar range).

Then the distribution no longer has a shape of a bump, and the value 0V no longer has a null probability.

What I suggest you to do: keep BIAS at 12 o’clock, and consider 1V (one octave above root) as your new root note.

1 Like
#326

Ahh thank you @pichenettes I think that makes sense… I’ll experiment further

Edit: FWIW to get the behaviour I expected (which was what I needed for this particular use case), I followed pichenettes’ advice, then passed the v/oct cv through a precision adder to minus 1V bringing it back to 0V, passed it through Kinks full wave rectifier, finally onto my quantiser.