Mutable Instruments Clouds User Manual
Blending parameters
The BLEND knob and CV input can control one of these
four mixing and post-processing parameters:
Dry/wet balance
Stereo spread/random panning
Feedback amount
Reverberation amount
To select which parameter is controlled by the BLEND
knob and CV input, press the Blend parameter/Audio
quality button. The current parameter is temporarily
indicated by a green LED.
When turning the BLEND knob, the color of the four
status LEDs temporarily shows the value of the four
blending parameters (from black when the parameter is
set to its minimum value to green, yellow and then red
for the maximum value).
It could happen that the position of the knob does not
match the value of the parameter. If this is the case,
turning the BLEND knob clockwise (resp. counterclockwise) causes a small increase (resp. decrease) in the
value of the parameter, and turning it further causes
larger changes, until the value progressively catches up
with the knob’s position.
Audio quality
Hold the Blend parameter/Audio quality button for
one second, then press it repeatedly to select the
recording quality. The current quality setting is
indicated by a red LED.
Rate Resolution Channels Buffer time
32kHz 16-bit stereo 1s
32kHz 16-bit mono 2s
16kHz 8-bit µ-law stereo 4s
16kHz 8-bit µ-law mono 8s
Changing audio quality erases the recording buffer.
Saving and loading buffers
Up to 4 frozen audio buffers can be saved and reloaded.
Saving
1. Hold the Load/Save button for one second.
2. Press the Blend parameter/Audio quality button
repeatedly to select one of the four memory slots. The
selected slot is indicated by a blinking red LED.
3. Press the Load/Save button to confi rm.
Loading
1. Press the Load/Save button.
2. Press the Blend parameter/Audio quality button
repeatedly to select one of the four memory slots. The
selected slot is indicated by a blinking green LED.
3. Press the Load/Save button to confi rm.
If you press the Load/Save button by mistake, do not
press any button for a few seconds and the module will
return to its normal state.
Tips and patch ideas
• If you need a rapidly changing noise source to randomize grain position or pitch, try using one of the
audio outputs through a multiple.
• Very dense clouds sound best when at least one parameter receives random modulations. Otherwise,
the identical echoes created by the repeating grains
will sound like a feedback comb fi lter.
• Raw material like sawtooth or sine waves sound
very good, especially with heavy random modulation. Experiment with capturing many short waveforms and using them as a kind of wavetable.
• Contact microphones, touch controllers or random
sources are Clouds’ best CV friends!
Clouds
Texture synthesizer
About Clouds
Clouds is a granular audio processor. It creates textures
and soundscapes by combining multiple overlapping,
delayed, transposed and enveloped segments of sound
taken from an audio recording buffer.
Clouds differs from other granular Eurorack modules
in that it focuses on the real-time processing of audio
sources from your modular system itself, rather than
the playback of pre-recorded samples from a storage
device. It rewards the freezing, fragmentation and dissolution of the unexpected instant, rather than the careful
planning of what might very well not come.
Installation
Clouds requires a -12V / +12V power supply (2x5 pin
connector). The red stripe of the ribbon cable (-12V side)
must be oriented on the same side as the “Red stripe”
marking on the board. The module draws 10mA from the
-12V rail and 120mA from the +12V rail.
Online manual and help
The full manual can be found online at
mutable-instruments.net/modules/clouds/manual
For help and discussions, head to
mutable-instruments.net/forum
Front panel
Controls
A. FREEZE button. This latching button stops the record-
ing of incoming audio. Granularization is now performed
on the last few seconds of audio kept in memory in the
module.
B. Blending parameter/Audio quality button. Selects
which of the blending parameters is currently controlled
by the BLEND knob and CV input, or selects one of the
four audio quality settings.
C. Load/Save button.
D. Grain POSITION. Selects from which part of the re-
cording buffer the audio grains are played. Turn the knob
clockwise to travel back in time.
E. F. Grain SIZE and PITCH.
G. Audio INPUT GAIN, from -18dB to +6dB.
H. Grain DENSITY. At 12 o’clock, no grains are gener-
ated. Turn clockwise and grains will be sown randomly,
counter-clockwise and they will be played at a constant
rate. The further you turn, the higher the overlap between grains.
I. Grain TEXTURE. Morphs through various shapes of
grain envelopes: square, triangle, Hann window. Past 2
o’clock, activates a diffuser which smears transients.
J. BLEND knob. This multi-function knob is described in
Blending parameters
the
section.
A
K
D
E
F
G H I J
1
7
2
8
3
9
4
10
5
11
B
12
K. Indicator LEDs. They work as an input vu-meter (or
output meter, when FREEZE is active). They can also
indicate the quality setting (red), the function assigned to
C
the BLEND knob (green), or the value of the four blending parameters (multicolor).
Inputs and Outputs
1. FREEZE gate input. Stops the recording of incoming
audio when the gate signal is high – just as latching the
FREEZE button would do.
2. TRIGGER input. Generates a single grain. By moving
the grain DENSITY to 12 o’clock, and sending a trigger to
this input, Clouds can be controlled like a micro-sample
player. A LFO or clock source can thus be used to sow
grains at the rate of your choice.
3. 4. Grain POSITION and SIZE CV inputs.
5. Grain PITCH CV input, with V/Oct response.
6. BLEND CV input. This CV input can control one of the
following functions: dry/wet balance, random panning,
feedback or reverb amount. Learn more about blending
parameters in the next section.
6
7. 8. Stereo audio input. When no patch cable is insert-
ed in the right channel input, this input will receive the
signal from the left channel.
9. 10. Grain DENSITY and TEXTURE CV inputs.
11. 12. Stereo audio output.
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