WarpDrive.md

Warp Drive

Warp Drive is a massive two-engine starship. Each engine is a voice with its own LFO and envelope. Each engine's voice consists of three oscillators, called coils. The main coil is the carrier wave and the other two provide the modulation.

Quick Start

Download Quick Start

1. Connect the Clock Left output on WarpDrive to the Clock on a sequencer.
2. Connect the quantized output of the sequencer to both 1V/octave inputs on WarpDrive.
3. Connect the Audio Left output and Audio Right output to your mixer.
4. Connect the Envelope Left output to a scope.

Panel

1. 1V/octave input - Controls the frequency of all the coils (oscillators).
2. Coarse Frequency - Controls the coarse frequency of all the coils (oscillators).
3. Fine Tune - Fine tunes the frequency of all the coils (oscillators).
4. Main Coil output - Audio output from the main coil.
5. High Coil Power knob - Adjusts intensity of high coil (oscillators) which frequency modulates the main coil.
6. High Coil Power CV - Modulates High Coil Power knob
7. High Coil Power Attenuverter - Modifies CV for High Coil Power knob.
8. High Coil output - Audio output from the high coil.
9. Low Coil Power knob - Adjusts intensity of low coil (oscillators) which frequency modulates the main coil.
10. Low Coil Power CV - Modulates Low Coil Power knob.
11. Low Coil Power Attenuverter - Modifies CV for Low Coil Power knob.
12. Low Coil output - Audio output from the low coil.
13. Coil Attachment knob - Controls how the high and low coil (oscillators) signals are combined before frequency modulating the main coil.
14. Coil Attachment CV - Modulates Coil Attachment knob.
15. Coil Attachment Attenuverter - Modifies CV for Coil Attachment knob.
16. Randomize Main Coil Signature Trigger - Creates a wave shape for the high coil.
17. Randomize Main Coil Signature button - Creates a wave shape for the main coil.
18. Randomize High Coil Signature button - Creates a wave shape for the high coil.
19. Randomize Low Coil Signature button - Creates a wave shape for the low coil.
20. Coil Coupling switch - When on, all three coils (oscillators) share the same wave shape.
21. Engine Coupling - When on, the coils (oscillators) on the left and right engine (voice) use the same wave shape.
22. Clock Input - Triggers the envelope to play. Normalized to the Clock output.
23. Envelope rate knob - Controls the speed at which the envelope plays.
24. Envelope Rate CV - Modulates Envelope Rate knob
25. Envelope Rate Attenuverter - Modifies CV for Envelope Rate knob.
26. Randomize Envelope Signature Trigger - Creates a new envelope shape.
27. Randomize Envelope Signature Button - Creates a new envelope shape.
28. Envelope Coupling - When on, the envelopes on the left and right engine (voice) use the same shape.
29. Envelope Output - Direct output from the envelope generator.
30. Audio Output - Main audio output. Main Coil output passed through VCA controlled by envelope.
31. LFO/Clock Rate knob - Controls the speed of the LFO/Clock.
32. LFO/Clock Rate CV - Modulates LFO/Clock Rate knob.
33. LFO/Clock Rate Attenuverter - Modifies CV for LFO/Clock Rate knob.
34. Randomize LFO/Clock Signature Trigger - Creates a new pattern for the LFO/Clock.
35. Randomize LFO/Clock Signature button - Creates a new pattern for the LFO/Clock.
36. LFO/Clock Coupling - Controls if the LFO/Clock pattern are the same or different.
37. LFO output - Raw LFO output.
38. Clock output - Clock signal generated from LFO output.
39. Alignment knob - Controls internal modulation of the high and low coil (oscillators) power knobs.
40. Alignment CV - Modulates Alignment knob.
41. Alignment Attenuverter - Modifies CV for Alignment knob.
42. Mixture knob - Controls where the Alignment knob's internal modulation comes from.
43. Mixture CV - Modulates Mixture knob.
44. Mixture Attenuverter - Modifies CV for Mixture knob.
45. Gravitation knob - Adjust the shape of every wave on that side of the ship.
46. Gravitation CV - Modulates Gravitation knob.
47. Gravitation Attenuverter - Modifies CV for Gravitation knob.

Signal Flow

Features

LFO & Clock

The left of the panel has the LFO section. The LFO has an internal signature that can be randomized through a button or a trigger. The LFO also has a rate that controls the overall rate at which the LFO plays.

The LFO signal is also used to generate a chaotic clock signal. Both the LFO and clock signals are available as outputs on the left of the module.

The LFO/Clock Coupling switch controls which engine's (voice's) clock signals are routed up to envelope generators. The switch has three modes:

• Duo - Each engine's envelope is clocked independently by each engine's clock.
• Sync - Only the left clock is used and is sent to both envelopes.
• +Mod - The left clock is used by both envelopes but the right LFO modulates the left LFO's rate.

Envelope

The right of the panel has the Envelope section connected with blue lines. The Envelope has an internal signature that can be randomized through a button or a trigger. The envelope also has a rate that controls how fast the envelope develops.

Each envelope is triggered by an independent clock input that normalized to the clocks from the engine (voice) section of the Warp Drive.

The envelope coupling switch links the right envelope's signature to the left envelope. When the envelopes are linked they share the same wave form, but can have independent rates and triggers.

Gravitation

The right of the panel has the gravitation section in orange. Gravitation affects the shape of the of all wave forms on that side of the ship. This includes the three audio coils (oscillators), the LFO and the envelope.

Coils

The heart of the sound of Warp Drive comes from Main Coil of each engine (voice). Each main coil (oscillators) which is controlled by a V/oct input as well asCoarse and Fine knobs. The main coil has a signature button and trigger. There is also an engine coupling switch which connects the left and right engine's main coil signatures.

The main coils (oscillators) can also be frequency modulated by the high coil and low coil. This modulation can be controlled through the high coil power and low coil power knobs in each engine (voice). When the power knobs are at 0 (12 o'clock) they provide no modulation. Turning the knob to the left runs the high coil at 2x the speed and the low coil at 1/2 the speed. Turning the knobs to the right runs the high coil at 4x the speed and the low coil at 1/4th the speed. The further the knobs are turned way from 0 the stronger the frequency modulation is.

Note that the low and high coils (oscillators) have their own signatures that can be linked to the main coil or unlinked. Unlinking coils (oscillators) can create very crunchy sounds.

Coil Attachment

The Coil Attachment knobs affect how the high and low coil (oscillator) signals are combined before modulating the main coil. When the attachment knob is at 0.5 (12 o'clock) the two side coils are added together, but the dial sweeps between 6 other forms of combination.

Alignment and Mixture

The Alignment knob can add modulation to the high and low coil's power. By default when alignment is at 0 (12 o'clock) no modulation is added. Turning the Alignment knob to the right adds modulation from LFO and/or Envelope from that side of the engine (voice). Turning the Alignment knob to the left adds it from the other engine's LFO and/or Envelope.

The Mixture knob controls whether the Envelope or the LFO is used for that modulation. All the way to the left only the LFO is used. All the way to the right only the envelope is used. In the middle a combination of the two are used and different combination is used for the high coil power vs the low coil power.

Misc

Bypass

When Warp Drive is bypassed all outputs stay at 0V.

Patch Examples

Download Example 1

This example patch uses 8 modules. Row 1: A clock, A Sequencer, and Clock Divider Row 2: Warp Drive Row 3: VCF, Mixer, Audio Output.

1. The Clock drives Sequencer.
2. The Sequencer's Gate output is connected up to both Clock inputs on WarpDrive.
3. The Sequencer's quantized V/Oct is connected to both 1V/octave inputs on WarpDrive.
4. The Sequencer's End of Cycle is connected to the Clock on the clock divider.
5. The Clock Dividers 2nd output is connected to the New Main Coil Signature Trigger L input on WarpDrive.
6. The Clock Dividers 3rd output is connected to the New Main Coil Signature Trigger R input on WarpDrive.
7. WarpDrive's LFO L output is connected to the volume CV on the first channel of the mixer.
8. WarpDrive's LFO R output is connected to the cutoff CV on the VCF.
9. WarpDrive's Audio L output is connected to the input on the VCF.
10. WarpDrive's Audio R output is connected to the first channel on the mixer.
11. The VCF's output is connected to the second channel on the mixer.