Manual for noise tools? (Now Available)

The video is nice but it’s also convenient to have a quick reference. Does anyone have a good reference for the Noise Tools 1U?

The functions are quite explicit but it would be nice to have an idea of the frequency range of the clock generator and the range for the slew limiter too (which always seems pretty fast to me).

A manual or quick reference guide would be great for the Noise Tools. The video is very helpful, but a document is also nice! Thanks

There’s now a Noise Tools Manual:

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Is it normal that pulse normalization to trig is interrupted as i connect pulse out to another module (i.e. Intellijel Quadra)?
I’ve noticed that s&h “follows” pulse if i don’t connect pulse out to any module except for 1u buffered mult, instead if i connect pulse out to a clock divider or an envelope generator s&h detect both pulse on/off and so it’s like s&h “double” actual pulse timing.
Does it make sense to anyone?

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I see the same behaviour on my module, I’ll pass this up the chain.

Yeah, I confirmed this on my two demo units too.

Just found out that this strange behaviour doesn’t happen with make noise maths, but i have to admit that this module have buffered outputs…i don’t know really anything about electronics but this things fascinates me!

I’m considering this for my case, despite not really needing more random - the T&H and the Slew could potentially fill a gap for me. I’m wondering if anyone has had success using the Slew section as an Envelope Follower? Obviously not a fully featured one, but I’m wondering if it’s passable? Thanks.

What, if anything, does the Pulse Rate knob do when Noise Tools is receiving Trig input from an external source (clock and/or random)?

I’m assuming it does nothing…? However, it would be nice if it could function as sort of a clock multiplier/divider, so that there’s some way to turn an incoming clock signal into a clock-synced random pulse. But I guess that would require a clock input in the Pulse section, or a knob in the Hold section?

The pulse section is independent of the sample and hold section, so if you’re using an external source for the TRIG input the pulse knob is still controlling the rate of the pulses at the PULSE output.

A friend strongly recommended I get Noise Tools, so I did, along with Quadratt and Steppy. I’m brand new to modular if you haven’t figured it out :slight_smile:

Steppy is awesome for making beats fast. Love it.
Noise Tools? I just wasn’t able to get anything musical happening. Wish the manual had patch examples. Couldn’t really find anything online :frowning:

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Check out the demo video:

It’s also featured in a bunch of other videos that might give you some ideas, here’s one I could think of off the top of my head:

@ScottMFR would know which videos have the best examples.

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Those are cool videos, but I still don’t know how to patch it :slight_smile:

What part of Noise Tools are you still finding confusing?

Some patches that I would recommend based on the screenshot of your system from the Essential 1U thread:

  1. Send the HOLD output to the Disting Quantizer to generate random melodies. This works best if you go through one or more channels of Quadratt to attenuate and offset the range of voltages to be more musical. You could send the Quad LFO to the S&H input, and use Pams to the TRIG input to generate synched arpeggios.
  2. Take the output of the Disting Quantizer and send it to the SLEW input then send the output to an oscillator or other voice. Now you can use the Slew Rate to control the slide time between notes.
  3. Mult the HOLD and SLEW outputs and send them to the four channels of Quadratt in bipolar mode. Then connect these to a few modulation inputs on your BIA, use the Quadratt channels to control the range and direction of modulation and use the Clock rate to determine the rate of modulation.
  4. Send the noise outputs to your Forbidden Planet Filter, and use Maths or Function to generate some percussive zaps. You could use the PULSE output in clock or random mode to trigger the envelope, then play with Pulse Rate. Use the HOLD output to randomize the FALL time of your envelopes
  5. Use the HOLD output to randomize the sample start time of Morphagene or Nebulae.

Those are just a few off the top of my head. Hope that helps!

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Now we’re getting somewhere! Brought my eurorack on tour, so as soon as I’m in one place for a few days I’ll try some of these techniques. Thanks!

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Had an hour to kill in the hotel last night, so I tried some of this stuff I with Noise Tools. That was fun, but notice I’m not posting any audio examples :slight_smile:
As a sidebar, having the 7U Performance case and travel bag is really nice. Can set up and tear down super fast. Love it!

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Thread revival! I’m using Noise Tools with Quadrax right now. If I’m not mistaken, @polid was talking about how the sample circuit in Noise Tools creates a new sample at both the rise and fall of the pulse generator. This seems inconsistent with the concept of a trigger for the following reason:

I am patching the Pulse out of Noise Tools to the 1V/Oct of a VCO, and I’m patching the Pulse out of Noise Tools to the Trig in of an AD (Attack-Decay) channel on Quadrax. Ideally, the note would only change when the envelope reopens. As it is, the note is changing both when the envelope opens and halfway through each envelope cycle. This is because the sample circuit is engaging both when the pulse rises and falls while the envelope is only reacting to the rise in the pulse. This also appears inconsistent with the Noise Tools manual, which reads:

When switched to SAMPLE, Noise Tools operates as a traditional sample & hold–sampling the SAMPLE IN voltage at the rising edge of each pulse and holding that sampled voltage steady until until the next rising pulse edge.

If the module did this, I think it would make a lot more sense in this fundamental patch of mine, and the fix seems to be that the module should only be resampling at every rise of the clock pulse.

Update: If nothing is plugged in to the Pulse out jack, the S&H only resamples on the rise of every clock cycle. As soon as I plug something into clock out, S&H resamples on the rise and fall again.