Mannequins' Cold Mac??

mdoudoroff · Post by **mdoudoroff** » Mon Dec 17, 2018 4:12 pm

Video:

[video][/video]

Tried out my new lav mic for this, which went well. Also, my new phone seems less prone to overheating, which bodes well for future videos!

Accent · Post by **Accent** » Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:59 pm

I found this really informative. Thank you for making the video.

propertyof · Post by **propertyof** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 9:26 am

mdoudoroff
Any video documentation from the Demystifying Cold Mac class at Ctrl-mod for us who live in different part of the world?

My Cold Mac just arrived today, right now I’m diving into your manual. Many thanks for this!

mdoudoroff · Post by **mdoudoroff** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 9:34 am

propertyof wrote:mdoudoroff
Any video documentation from the Demystifying Cold Mac class at Ctrl-mod for us who live in different part of the world?

No, but I am going to try to create a video. Success is not certain. Wish me luck!

propertyof · Post by **propertyof** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 9:37 am

Great looking forward to it! Thank you & good luck!

smurf · Post by **smurf** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:34 am

mdoudoroff wrote:
propertyof wrote:mdoudoroff
Any video documentation from the Demystifying Cold Mac class at Ctrl-mod for us who live in different part of the world?
No, but I am going to try to create a video. Success is not certain. Wish me luck!

Fantastic! I have learnt a great deal from your videos. Thanks!

nrg242 · Post by **nrg242** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:42 pm

mdoudoroff wrote:
propertyof wrote:mdoudoroff
Any video documentation from the Demystifying Cold Mac class at Ctrl-mod for us who live in different part of the world?
No, but I am going to try to create a video. Success is not certain. Wish me luck!

that would be amazing. had to bail on the class at the last minute and would love to catch some of the pearls.

medium Rob · Post by **medium Rob** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 11:07 pm

What is it about Cold Mac that's so slippery / difficult to explain / confusing? Is it so oblique / ambiguous, or is it straightforward? Is it a multi-purpose / multi-function module like Maths? Could its functionality / purpose be summed up in a sentence or two? Apologies if beating a dead horse..

Sunden · Post by **Sunden** » Fri Dec 21, 2018 12:07 am

It is a utility Swiss Army knife, made up of 6 so different functional blocks. What makes it unique is some clever normalizations and the ability to use one control signal to affect them all simultaneously.

The utilities are all DC- Coupled:
- cross fader/panner
- analog or (maximum circuit)
- analog and (minimum circuit)
- fullwave rectifier and an envelope follower
- an intereasting wave “creaser”
- an integrator

There’s also a 6-channel mixer with a VCA on the output.

It’s actually quite straightforward, as the utilities are all pretty easy to understand. The panel graphics on newer modules also make all the normalizations clearer so it’s all around much easier to understand!

mdoudoroff · Post by **mdoudoroff** » Fri Dec 21, 2018 5:21 pm

Ok, new video:

[video][/video]

This covers about 90% of what we went through on Wednesday at Control, but in about half the time.

Accent · Post by **Accent** » Fri Dec 21, 2018 11:27 pm

mdoudoroff wrote:Ok, new video:

[video][/video]

This covers about 90% of what we went through on Wednesday at Control, but in about half the time.

You are a scholar and a gentleman. I’ve had Cold Mac for a few years now, and while it is one of my favorite modules and I’ve come to more or less grok what it’s doing, this video put it into plain view for me. Looking forward to getting stuck into it and falling in love with it all over again in the coming weeks with this knowledge. Cheers.

mdoudoroff · Post by **mdoudoroff** » Sat Dec 22, 2018 10:24 am

Accent wrote:I’ve had Cold Mac for a few years now, and while it is one of my favorite modules and I’ve come to more or less grok what it’s doing, this video put it into plain view for me. Looking forward to getting stuck into it and falling in love with it all over again in the coming weeks with this knowledge. Cheers.

Mission accomplished!

Happiness Forever · Post by **Happiness Forever** » Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:28 pm

Accent wrote:
mdoudoroff wrote:Ok, new video:

This covers about 90% of what we went through on Wednesday at Control, but in about half the time.
V. recently got me a Cold Mac, this video comes at just the perfect time.
THANKS!!

in_sherman · Post by **in_sherman** » Sat Dec 22, 2018 1:53 pm

mdoudoroff, your video is a great aid for understanding this creative tool and is a nice compliment to your written manual.

Pighood · Post by **Pighood** » Sat Dec 22, 2018 2:00 pm

Would there be a reason to replace my Function with Cold Mac to sit beside my Maths?

mdoudoroff · Post by **mdoudoroff** » Sat Dec 22, 2018 2:17 pm

Pighood wrote:Would there be a reason to replace my Function with Cold Mac to sit beside my Maths?

Maybe. Maybe not. Does Cold Mac offer anything you want?

srogers · Post by **srogers** » Sat Dec 22, 2018 3:22 pm

I don’t have Cold Mac (yet?) but that video was extremely helpful to break it down! I am slowly but surely getting more and more into Mannequins & Monome stuff so there may be one in my near future.

magneteyez · Post by **magneteyez** » Sat Dec 22, 2018 4:11 pm

Thank you so much for helping us to understand this module better.

propertyof · Post by **propertyof** » Sat Dec 22, 2018 11:20 pm

mdoudoroff thank you so much for doing this!

fluxsignal · Post by **fluxsignal** » Thu May 02, 2019 2:08 pm

Here's some advanced logic operators on Cold Mac!

Logical NAND Operator
Gate 1 > AND1
Gate 2 > AND2
AND(OUT) > FADE
+5V Offset > OFFSET
RIGHT(OUT) = Gate 1 NAND Gate 2

Logical XOR operator
Gate 1 > OR1, AND1 (normalled, no mult needed)
Gate 2 > OR2, AND2 (mult/stackable needed, or patch to SURVEY CV with SURVEY knob at 0V)
AND(OUT) > FADE
OR(OUT) > OFFSET
RIGHT(OUT) = OFFSET-FADE = Gate 1 XOR Gate 2

insoul8 · Post by **insoul8** » Mon May 13, 2019 9:46 am

What are some creative uses for follow and location on the cold mac? I don't seem to use them very much thus far.

mdoudoroff · Post by **mdoudoroff** » Mon May 13, 2019 10:30 am

insoul8 wrote:What are some creative uses for follow and location on the cold mac? I don't seem to use them very much thus far.

Follow: extract amplitude CV from sound from microphone or tape input? As long as you get your audio signal up into modular levels, it does work as a rudimentary envelope follower.

It’ll also simply smooth out jagged stuff. For example, my Zadar can produce some very complex, spiky “envelopes” (feature, not bug), but I can smooth them right out with Follow:

Location: I would love to hear some new creative uses for Location. It’s such a peculiar beastie. All I’ve got for you is the sort of patch surveillance I demonstrated above:

viewtopic.php?p=2961540#2961540

The key is that Location is going to put out about ±4.2v, but often somewhat less of a range, so you’re looking for applications where a laggy, rising/falling quasi-subtle voltage shift would be interesting. I would think bipolar parameters (timbre controls, effects, …) are going to work best.

mdoudoroff · Post by **mdoudoroff** » Mon May 13, 2019 10:32 am

Some interesting ideas here:

https://llllllll.co/t/cold-mac-ideas/3840

insoul8 · Post by **insoul8** » Mon May 13, 2019 10:36 am

mdoudoroff wrote:Follow: extract amplitude CV from sound from microphone or tape input? As long as you get your audio signal up into modular levels, it does work as a rudimentary envelope follower.

It’ll also simply smooth out jagged stuff. For example, my Zadar can produce some very complex, spiky “envelopes” (feature, not bug), but I can smooth them right out with Follow:

Location: I would love to hear some new creative uses for Location. It’s such a peculiar beastie. All I’ve got for you is the sort of patch surveillance I demonstrated above:

viewtopic.php?p=2961540#2961540

The key is that Location is going to put out about ±4.2v, but often somewhat less of a range, so you’re looking for applications where a laggy, rising/falling quasi-subtle voltage shift would be interesting. I would think bipolar parameters (timbre controls, effects, …) are going to work best.

Thanks! Yea, the only time I really do use the follow circuit is to smooth out jagged envelopes but that doesn't come up that often. I'll try it an an env follower too. Still a brilliant module but those two circuits seem to be less useful at least for how I patch right now.

fluxsignal · Post by **fluxsignal** » Mon May 13, 2019 10:39 am

A fun use for LOCATION is a "transition manager."

The basic idea is to offset the LOCATION output by about +5V so the range is around 0-10V. This lets it have no effect on a destination parameter when it is at its minimum, or a controllable (via attenuverters) affect on the parameter when it is at its maximum.

Once you've offset it, patch the offset version to several different parameters around your synthesizer, but ideally pass it through an individual attenuverter first for each parameter.

Set LOCATION so that it ramps to the minimum (the offset version is now outputting around 0V. Use the knobs for the parameters it is connected to set the "deault" preset for each parameter.

Set LOCATION so that it ramps to the maximum (the offset version is now outputting around +10V). Use the attenuverters to set the "alternate" preset for each parameter.

Now you can use the LOCATION input voltage to control how quickly you transition between your two presets. Setting the voltage to 0V will cause LOCATION to freeze in its tracks, leaving you with an interpolation of your two presets.

Something similar can be done with FOLLOW. You don't need to offset the voltage though since it is already 0-5V. In this example, changing the FOLLOW input voltage will simply slew between your "default" and "alternate" presets - default is at 0V input, alternate is at +/- 5V input.

MUFF WIGGLER

MUFF WIGGLER

Mannequins' Cold Mac??