µRings SE
Eurorack Module
TD-URSE-B
Designed by Daniel & Michael Gilbert of Tall Dog
Electronics in Western Massachusetts
tall-dog.com | urings-se.com
Based on the Rings module designed by Olivier Gillet of
Manufactured by Elecrow in Shenzhen, China
Assembled at Rust Temple in Easthampton, MA
Mutable Instruments
mutable-instruments.net
elecrow.com
rusttemple.today
cba
Licensed under Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Source materials are available on GitHub
github.com/loglow/uRings_SE
Contents
About ............................................................................................... 3
Included Parts .............................................................................. 3
History ............................................................................................. 4
Warranty......................................................................................... 5
Polyphony Selection ................................................................. 6
Resonator Selection .................................................................. 7
Making Connections .................................................................. 9
Front Panel ..................................................................................11
Calibration ...................................................................................14
Firmware Warnings..................................................................15
Firmware Update ......................................................................16
Serial Programming ................................................................17
JTAG Programming ..................................................................18
Documentation .........................................................................19
CC BY-SA 4.0 ................................................................................20
Support .........................................................................................21
Who We Are .................................................................................21
2
About
Rings is a resonator, transforming unpitched excitations
(clicks, bursts, etc.) into full-bodied pitched sounds.
Rings models the bar, the tube, or the strings that you
can make vibrate by providing an external signal.
This redesigned µRings SE (Special Edition) is a new
revision of Rings that miniaturizes the module from
14HP to 8HP and redesigns its front panel layout.
µRings SE remains fully compatible with future
upstream Rings firmware upgrades and any other
alternate firmwares that are compliant with the
standard Rings design.
Included Parts
µRings SE includes a standard 16-pin to 10-pin Eurorack
power cable and two sets of mounting screws for racks/
enclosures with either M2.5 or M3 threads.
The TD-URSE-B/B variant has a matte black front panel
with gold markings made from FR-4 (glass-reinforced
epoxy laminate) material. The included mounting
screws are black.
The TD-URSE-B/S variant has a satin silver front panel
with black markings made from anodized aluminum
material via the Metalphoto process. The included
mounting screws are silver.
3
History
The original Rings (mutable-instruments.net/
modules/rings) was designed by Olivier Gillet of
Mutable Instruments (mutable-instruments.net/
about) under a CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-sa/3.0) license. Rings is available as a 14HP
Eurorack module.
Source: github.com/pichenettes/eurorack
4
Warranty
This product is covered under warranty for one year
following the date of purchase as indicated on the
original sales receipt. This warranty covers any defect
in the manufacturing of this product. This warranty
does not cover any damage or malfunction caused
by incorrect use—such as, but not limited to, power
cables connected backwards, excessive voltage levels,
exposure to extreme temperature or moisture levels,
physical damage due to impact, or any aermarket
physical or electrical modifications or repairs.
This warranty covers either repair or replacement,
at our sole discretion. This repair or replacement is
subject to verification of the defect or malfunction and
proof of purchase as confirmed by showing the model
number on an original dated sales receipt. Shipping
and handling fees are to be paid for by the customer.
Please contact support@tall-dog.com for a return
authorization prior to shipping anything to us. Please
understand that we will not be able to service units
under warranty that have been modified or previously
repaired by the customer or a third party.
Polyphony Selection
Rings operation is governed by two settings controlled
by buttons located near the center of the module: the
POLY button and the MODE button. Pressing either
button cycles between three states. The current state of
each setting is indicated by the color of its associated
LED: green, amber, or red.
The POLY button selects the polyphony of the module:
LED Color Notes
Green 1
Amber 2
Red 4
Enabling four note polyphony doesn’t mean that four
CV input jacks will magically appear on the module, but
simply that four notes played in sequence will nicely
overlap without cutting o each other’s tails.
To play chords, you will need to strum the module
by playing a rapid sequence of notes—something
you might have already encountered with the Braids
module’s PLUK model.
Note that Rings might reduce the number of harmonics
in the generated signals to cope with higher polyphony
settings.
6
Resonator Selection
The MODE button selects from the three available types
of resonators. They are:
Modal Resonator (Green)
Modal synthesis works by simulating the phenomena
of resonance at play in vibrating structures, that is to
say the way a string or plate (for instance) will absorb
certain frequencies while it will ring at some other
frequencies, called the modes.
When we pluck a string, strike a drum or blow in a tube,
the short burst of energy of the blow/impact contains
many frequencies. Some of these fall outside of the
modes, and are absorbed. Some of these excite the
modes, producing a stable, pitched sound. Each mode
corresponds to a harmonic or partial in the spectrum of
the sound, and is modeled by a band-pass filter.
The Q factor of the filter determines how sustained the
oscillations are of the corresponding partial. Various
materials or structures are characterized by dierent
relationships between the frequencies of their modes,
which Rings recreates.
Resonator Selection Cont’d
Sympathetic Strings (Amber)
Some interesting string instruments (such as the sitar or
sarod) make use of strings that are not directly struck/
plucked by the musician, but which are just responding
to the vibration of other strings, and add extra overtones
or undertones.
Rings simulates this phenomenon with a bunch of virtual
strings (made with comb filters) allowing the addition of
extra tones to an incoming audio signal. The tuning ratio
between these strings can be altered.
Modulated/Inharmonic String (Red)
This last method is perhaps the most familiar, since it’s
based on the extended Karplus-Strong method: the
excitation signal is sent to a comb filter with an absorption
filter, simulating the multiple reflection of a wave
propagating on a string and being absorbed at its ends.
However, to bring more variety to the sound, Rings
adds three extra ingredients to this classic: a delaycompensated all-pole absorption filter creating more
drastic plucking eects, delay time modulation emulating
the sound of instruments with a curved bridge (like
the sitar or tanpura), and all-pass filters in the delay
loop, shiing the position of the partials and recreating
the tension of piano strings or completely bonkers
inharmonic timbres.
8
Making Connections
Ideally, Rings would need three input signals:
1. A trigger signal on the STRUM input, which indicates
that the currently playing note should fade away,
and that a new note is starting.
2. A CV signal on the V/OCT input, which controls the
frequency of the note.
3. An audio signal on the IN input, which will hit, strike
or caress the resonator.
Because it might not always be possible to get these
three signals in your setup, Rings makes the following
assumptions:
1. If nothing is patched to the IN audio input, the
module will synthesize an excitation signal
whenever a note is strummed. This excitation signal
is either a low-pass filtered pulse or a burst of noise,
depending on the resonator type.
2. If nothing is patched to the STRUM audio input, the
module will determine that a new string should be
strummed either by:
● Detecting note changes on the V/OCT input, or
● Detecting sharp transients within the IN audio
signal if nothing is patched to the V/OCT input.
Making Connections Cont’d
If there’s one take-home message from this:
You can play Rings perfectly with just one CV output
taken from a sequencer or sample & hold module!
The note changes on the CV input will be interpreted as
note changes and the module will produce a suitable
excitation signal internally for these note changes to
be heard.
10
Front Panel
FREQ — Coarse frequency, adjusted by semitone
increments. This control spans 5 octaves. Note that
the FREQ CV input is normalized to ⁄ V, allowing its
attenuverter to be used as a fine frequency control
when no patch cable is inserted.
STRUCT — Harmonic structure. With the modal
resonator, this parameter controls the frequency ratio
between partials (and by doing so, the perceived
structure—plate, bar, string). With the sympathetic
string resonator, this parameter controls the set of
frequency ratios between all strings (with virtual
notches at octaves or fihs). Finally, with the
modulated/inharmonic string resonator, this parameter
controls the amount of modulation and detuning of
the partials.
BRIGHT — Brightness. Adjusts the level of higher
harmonics in the signal, by the simultaneous action of a
low-pass filter on the exciter signal (closed at 8 o’clock,
fully open at 12 o’clock), and the damping filter (or Q
factor of the higher modes) on the rest of the course
of the potentiometer. Low values simulate materials
like wood or nylon. High values simulate materials like
glass or steel.
DAMP — Damping. Controls the decay time of the
sound, from less than 100 ms to about 10 seconds.
Front Panel Cont’d
POS — Excitation position. Controls on which point of
the string/surface the excitation is applied. Applying
the excitation right in the middle of the surface will
cause, by symmetry, the even harmonics to cancel
each other, resulting in a hollow sound reminiscent of
a square wave. This setting will remind you of the PWM
control on a square oscillator, or of the comb-filtering
eect of a phaser.
POLY — Polyphony setting. Selects between
monophonic, duophonic and quadriphonic operation.
MODE — Resonator type. Selects between modal,
sympathetic and string resonators.
STRUM — Strumming trigger input, for polyphonic
operation. Whenever a trigger is received on this input,
the module freezes the currently playing voice and lets
it decay, and starts a note on the next voice. Normalized
to a step detector on the V/OCT input and a transient
detector on the IN input.
IN — Audio input for the excitation signal. Modular
levels are expected. Normalized to a pulse/burst
generator that reacts to note changes on the V/OCT
input.
V/OCT — CV input. Controls the main frequency of the
resonator.
12
Front Panel Cont’d
ODD and EVEN — Odd and even audio outputs:
● In monophonic mode, these two outputs carry two
complementary components of the signal (odd and
even numbered partials with the modal resonator,
dephased components due to picking position and
pickup placement with the string resonators).
● In polyphonic mode, the signal is split into odd and
even numbered strings/plates.
● Note that you need to insert a jack into each output
to split the signals. When only one jack is inserted,
both signals are mixed together.
Calibration
The module is factory-calibrated using precision
voltage sources. Follow this procedure only if you want
to compensate for inaccuracies in your CV sources, or if
your module has lost its calibration settings following a
fault or the installation of alternative firmware.
To calibrate the unit:
1. Disconnect all CV inputs.
2. Connect the note CV output of a well-calibrated
keyboard interface or MIDI-CV converter to the
V/OCT input jack.
3. Connect a patch cable to the FREQ CV input. Leave
the other end of the cable unplugged.
4. Press and hold both the POLY and MODE buttons for
two seconds. The POLY LED will blink amber.
5. Play a C2 note, or send a 1V signal from your CV
source.
6. Press the POLY button. The MODE LED will blink
amber.
7. Play a C4 note, or send a 3V signal from your CV
source.
8. Press the POLY button.
If calibration was successful, the module will return to
its normal state. Otherwise, both LEDs will blink red for
a few seconds.
14
Firmware Warnings
Before starting the audio firmware update procedure,
please double-check the following:
● Make sure that no additional sound (such as email
notification sounds, background music, etc.) from
your computer will be played during the procedure.
● Make sure that your speakers/monitors are muted
or not connected to your audio interface—the noises
emitted during the procedure are aggressive and
can harm your hearing.
● On non-studio audio equipment (for example the
line output from a desktop computer), you might
have to turn up the volume to the maximum.
Firmware Update
Unplug all inputs/outputs from the module. Connect
the output of your audio interface or sound card to
the IN input jack. Set the FREQ knob to 12 o’clock.
Power on your modular system while holding the POLY
button, then release. Both LEDs should blink amber.
When you are all set, play the firmware update file into
the module. While the module receives data, the POLY
LED will blink green, and the MODE LED will monitor
the signal level. Signal reception is optimal when the
MODE LED is green or yellow. Try adjusting the FREQ
knob to change gain. The module will periodically
pause to write data to its permanent memory. Both
LEDs will be amber during these pauses. When the
end of the audio file is reached, the module will
automatically restart. If it doesn’t restart, please retry
the procedure.
If the signal level is too weak, the LEDs will blink red
in an alternating pattern. Press the POLY button and
retry with a higher gain. If this doesn’t help, try the
procedure from a dierent computer or audio interface,
and make sure that no other equipment (such as an
equalizer or FX processor) is inserted in the signal
chain.
16
Serial Programming
The module can also be programmed using a serial
data connection. This is most easily accomplished by
using a USB-to-serial chip such as the popular FT232R
which can be found in many standalone breakout
boards and cables, including the FTDI TTL-232R-3V3 as
well as various equivalents from Adafruit, SparkFun,
and others. Data signals should be at 3.3V levels.
The serial connection should be hooked up to the
white shrouded 6-pin header labeled FTDI (H6) on the
module’s PCB. This is a JST-XH header that works very
well with the 0.1 pitch female connectors that are
frequently found on these cables. Only pins 1 (GND),
4 (RX), and 5 (TX) are used, and the location of pin 1 is
closest to the top of the board. Power must be supplied
separately via a Eurorack power cable connected to the
POWER (H7) header.
To prepare the processor for serial programming:
1. Power-on the module.
2. Press and hold both the BOOT (S1) and RESET (S2)
buttons at the same time.
3. Release the RESET button.
4. Wait a moment, then release the BOOT button.
The processor is now ready to be programmed.
JTAG Programming
The module can also be programmed using a JTAG
programmer connected to the black shrouded header
labeled JTAG (H5) on the module’s PCB. Power must
be supplied separately via a Eurorack power cable
connected to the POWER (H7) header.
An example of this kind of programmer is the Olimex
ARM-USB-OCD. Their ARM-JTAG-20-10 adapter is also
necessary in order to accommodate the module’s
miniature 0.05 pitch 10-pin header.
No additional steps are necessary to prepare the
module for programming via this method.
If you are interested in serial or JTAG programming,
please explore the Vagrant environment for Mutable
Instruments modules hacking which can be found at
github.com/pichenettes/mutable-dev-environment
Other programming resources can be found at forum.
mutable-instruments.net/t/4336 (Mac Tutorial: How
to compile and upload the firmware of MIs eurorack
modules) and at medium.com/music-thing-modular-
notes/a08173cec317 (How to get started writing your
own firmware for Mutable Instruments Clouds), the latter
of which was written for the Clouds module but is also
applicable to Rings.
18
Documentation
Much of the information in this manual was created by
Olivier Gillet of Mutable Instruments and released under
the CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
Modifications and additions to this material were
created by Tall Dog and released under the compatible
CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
For an overview of the implications and terms of these
licenses, please read the following page.
CC BY-SA 4.0
This is a human-readable summary of (and not a
substitute for) the license, which can be found at
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode
You are free to:
● Share — copy and redistribute the material in any
medium or format.
● Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the
material for any purpose, even commercially.
Under the following terms:
● Attribution — You must give appropriate credit,
provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes
were made. You may do so in any reasonable
manner, but not in any way that suggests the
licensor endorses you or your use.
● ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon
the material, you must distribute your contributions
under the same license as the original.
● No additional restrictions — You may not apply
legal terms or technological measures that legally
restrict others from doing anything the license
permits.
20
Support
For all support inquiries, please send an email to
support@tall-dog.com
Who We Are
Tall Dog Electronics is located in the Pioneer Valley
region of Western Massachusetts. Tall Dog has primarily
focused on producing a variety of breakout boards for
the Teensy microprocessor development platform and
conducts the majority of its business via the Tindie
marketplace. Tall Dog released their first Eurorack
module, µBraids SE, in late 2017.
Michael Gilbert is a composer, recording artist, and
teacher of electronic music, for over 40 years. His
music is a creative mix of electronic, jazz, world, and
contemporary classical idioms, and is available on 9
albums of original work as Michael William Gilbert. The
music has featured Adam Holzman, Mark Walker, Peter
Kaukonen, David Moss, and Tony Vacca. He has also
designed and built electronic music equipment, using
it in his own studio and making it available to other
musicians.
Daniel Gilbert is a designer and engineer with a
background in film, photography, and animation. Aer
graduating from Hampshire College he spent the next
several years working in the Los Angeles film industry.
He now resides in Easthampton, Massachusetts, where
he designs, builds, and distributes Tall Dog products.
Rings SE User Manual
Revised 2018-11-05
Documentation CC BY-SA 4.0
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