Mutable Instruments Elements User Manual

A B

C D

F

E

Resonator section

Controls

A. COARSE and FINE frequency controls. They control

the fundamental frequency of the resonator’s frequency
response. COARSE is quantized by semitone increments.

B. Attenuverter for the FM CV input.

C. Instrument GEOMETRY. This parameter adjusts the

frequencies, gains, and Q-factors of the resonator’s fil­ters in order to simulate various structures and materi­als. As you rotate this knob, you’ll find:

Plates (metal)
Strings (steel, nylon)
Bars and tubes (glass, wood)
Bowls (glass, metal)

G

H

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D. BRIGHTNESS. Controls the damping of high frequen-

cies. Low values of this parameter simulate materials
like wood or nylon. High values simulate materials like
glass or steel.

E. DAMPING controls how quickly energy dissipates

through the material. Modulating this parameter by CV
can recreate the effect of damping or muting the sound
by blocking the vibrating surface with the hand.

F. POSITION controls on which point of the structure the

excitation is applied. Applying the excitation right in the
middle of the surface will cause even harmonics to can­cel each other, resulting in a hollow sound reminiscent
of a square wave. POSITION is nature’s PWM/phaser
effect!

G. SPACE. Stereo control and reverberation.

When this knob is set to its minimum position, the left
channel contains the exciter output, and the right chan­nel the resonator signal - for further external mixing.

As SPACE increases, a stereo effect is created by picking
up the vibrating surface’s sound at two different posi­tions. Past 12 o’clock, SPACE controls the amount and
decay time of an algorithmic reverberator applied to the
resonator signal.

H. Attenuverters for the CV inputs.

Inputs and outputs

1. CV inputs for the five resonator parameters.

Tips and Tricks

The resonator can behave like a formant filter. Feed a
sawtooth or narrow PWM signal to one of the external
inputs, set BRIGHTNESS to a low value, DAMPING to a
low value, and modulate GEOMETRY to go through var­ious configurations of formants. Then sweep the main
frequency.

A very high CV on the SPACE CV input causes the reverb
to have an infinite decay (freeze effect).

Check the online reference manual for the V/Oct calibra­tion and firmware upgrade procedures.

Some internal parameters are slightly modulated by the
serial number of the processor. Each module is unique!

Elements

Modal synthesizer

Installation

Elements 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 130mA from the +12V rail.

Online manual and help

The full manual can be found online at

mutable-instruments.net/modules/elements/manual

For help and discussions, head to

mutable-instruments.net/forum

Understanding modal synthesis

To imitate nature and acoustic instruments, modal
synthesis breaks down the creation of sounds into two
steps:

1. Synthesizing a noisy and/or percussive excitation

signal, which represents the raw energy transfered to
the instrument by the musician when (s)he bows, blows
or strikes it.

2. Processing this excitation by a resonator modeling

the vibrating structure itself and its environment - be it a
string, tube or plate. Properties such as its size, tuning,
shape and material can be simulated by adjusting the
parameters of the resonator.

Control and exciter section

Overview

Three generators are available to build an excitation
signal:

BOW produces a continous, granular scratching noise,
which is smoothed by a built-in low-pass filter; and a
purer tone interacting with the resonator frequency.

BLOW produces a continuous granular noise, whose
pitch and colour can be altered.

STRIKE plays samples of percussive attacks, or synthe­sizes bursts of impulsions. These sounds are sculpted
by a low-pass filter.

The BOW and BLOW signals are enveloped by a built-in
ADSR contour generator.

Controls

A. ADSR CONTOUR. Morphs through preset shapes.

B. Excitation mixer. Adjusts the level of the BOW, BLOW

and STRIKE generators.

C. Press and hold this button to trigger the exciter. This

is equivalent to sending a positive gate to the GATE
input.

D. Air FLOW. Scans through various flavours of noise.

Controlling this parameter with a CV (for example, from
a slow LFO), will create an evolving texture reminiscent
of a turbulent air flow.

A B

C D

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2

3 4

5 6

7 8

E. MALLET type. This parameter controls the type of

percussive noise produced by the STRIKE generator.
Several synthesis models are featured along the path
of this knob: samples; damped mallet model; plectrum
model; and bouncing particles.

F. TIMBRE. Tone colour (filter cutoff, sample playback

speed, or granulation rate) of each excitation generator.

G. Attenuverters for the CV inputs.

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F

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Inputs and outputs

1. 2. Main V/OCT CV input, and FM CV input. They control

and modulate the note to which the resonator is tuned.

3. GATE input. Triggers the STRIKE generator and starts

the course of the BOW/BLOW envelope.

4. STRENGTH CV input. This CV boosts or attenuates the

amplitude of the three exciters, with a gain of +3dB/V.
Ideal for velocity control or accentuation by a sequencer.

5. 6. Resonator external audio inputs. Before being sent

to the resonator, the signal from the first input goes
through the BOW/BLOW envelope and diffuser; while
the second input signal does not undergo any further
processing.

7. 8. Stereo audio output. Depending on the position of

the SPACE knob, this consists of either the individual
exciter/resonator components, or a true stereo pair with
reverberation.

9. CV inputs for the five exciter parameters.