MakeNoise Mimeophon

[ggillon]

only with poor gain staging, low input level and high post amplification. with a good input level it is completely unnoticeable to me.

This has been a recent realization for me, as I was trying to track and hunt sources of noise from my rack. The #1 enemy is post amplification and compressors.

I just try to keep all my signals as hot as possible now and it solved almost all my noise issues.

[pugix]

on another note, I suspected that a self-oscillating Mimeophon would take especially well to stacking another feedback path into it with a frequency shifter inserted in the middle, and I was pretty impressed by how well this works with Mimeophon.

starting in the first Zone and with no clock patched into Mimeophon, max out Repeats so that it self-oscillators and starts compressing itself (as I gather it is doing under the hood when Repeats is fully CW). patch a Mimeophon output into a frequency shifter, patch a frequency shifter output back into Mimeophon (either directly in, or through a mixer where you can add an external signal if you want to play with heterodyning), and also try patching the frequency shifter output into Mimeophon's Rate control (with the attenuverter at 12 o'clock). adjust the frequency shifter's parameters until the patch starts to spit out barberpole magic, and use a 1v/oct CV on µRate if you like. lightly pulling back the Rate attenuverter to 11:30-11:00 allows the feedback path to lightly FM the Mimeophon, which works surprisingly well in this scenario and combines with the shifter to prevent uninteresting runaway oscillations from taking over.

once it's self-oscillating in this writhingly ascending or descending movement, you can shift to higher Zones and it'll keep doing its thing but with more space between each oscillation. unsurprisingly I found it gets exponentially more interesting when adding a R*S resonant EQ + spring reverb into the feedback path. playing with Halo, Color, and Skew also opens things up further.

this worked amazingly well with the FX Aid as my frequency shifter. it could be even better if the shifter is analog, I don't know. I've long been a fan of patching frequency shifters in the feedback path of delays, but with Mimeophon it is something special.

by the way, I strongly suspect that beyond the first Zone, µRate accomplishes _phase modulation_. Make Noise has obliquely described it as "dedicated doppler modulation", but it sounds like PM to me when I record an oscillator into Mimeophon and Hold the buffer and patch an audio-rate signal into µRate, and compare that to PMing the same oscillator with that modulator. it would also make sense if this is the case because a couple years ago they added phase modulation to Morphagene and it sounds and behaves just like µRate, and I gather that Tom reuses some of his code between modules. (e.g. the similarities between Morphagene and Mimeophon when the Mimeophon buffer is frozen via Hold.)

I did this experiment. Really cool.

https://pugix.com/synth/barber-pole-experiment/

[autopoiesis]

good stuff, Richard! that's definitely in the ballpark of the haunted shit that inspired my post. I'll have to record an example of that with frequency shifting and feedback modulation of Rate.

I also recently discovered that in Zone 0, with an oscillator multed between the input and the Rate control (heavily attenuated), Mimeophon makes an interesting and surprisingly usable waveshaper. it behaves kinda like asymmetrical wavefolding as you turn up Repeats and strengthen the amount of Rate modulation. in this patch, you can mult your 1v/oct CV to µRate and your source oscillator and get actually usable waveshaping out of it, until you crank either Repeats or the Rate attenuator to their maxima. Halo I'm not sure about at this level of a synthesis chain

it's these kinds of surprises that I love about the soundhack x MN joints

oh yeah, and in these patches there is no noise floor to worry about

[bemushroomed]

what's an "analog frequency shifter"? any examples of such a module? is it one of those that gives a sub-octave out?

[DukeOfPrunes]

Dammit, I don't have a frequency shifter! I was hoping to try this patch.

[autopoiesis]

what's an "analog frequency shifter"? any examples of such a module? is it one of those that gives a sub-octave out?

two examples of analog frequency shifters I know of are the Cwejman FSH-1 and the Bode frequency shifter (Moog and Analogue Systems). both are utter unobtanium to me and so I have intentionally ignored how they work

[0netwo0netwo]

Echophon??

[bemushroomed]

two examples of analog frequency shifters I know of are the Cwejman FSH-1 and the Bode frequency shifter (Moog and Analogue Systems). both are utter unobtanium to me and so I have intentionally ignored how they work

aha, interesting. I listened to FSH-1 processing a drum machine. Can't say it sounded especially interesting, and nothing like a pitch shifter (which i didn't really expect either).

[bemushroomed]

Echophon??

Obviously digital, but it's kind of cool. Had it for a short while.

[0netwo0netwo]

ahh darn all them modules are digital huh, nm sorry lol

[pugix]

what's an "analog frequency shifter"? any examples of such a module? is it one of those that gives a sub-octave out?

I have a BugBrand frequency shifter and I'm going to try it with the barber pole patch. Looks analog to me.

https://pugix.com/synth/bugbrand-syn2b-and-syn2bx/

[Funky40]

I did this experiment. Really cool.

https://pugix.com/synth/barber-pole-experiment/

interesting.
ok, now i know what the "barberpole effect" is, hehe.
it was not clear to me if i reached into that type of sounds or not.


i made the patch suggested from autopoiesis too. With a Haible FS-1A Frequenzy shifter.......another "Bode" based one ( was DIY only)
i got also into some interesting sound territorys, ......but all that sort of soundstuff is finally not where my heart lies.
But i definitly had some sweetspot sounds going. And i´d proably never landed there without autopoiesis post,
which made me hunt harder .....within that sound area........than i´d usually would.
if i remember correctly was a subtle uRate adjustment a determing factor if i´d hit a sweetspot or not.
while the suggested modulation ( of rate?) was not yielding to "for me" interesting results.

[autopoiesis]

Mimeophon L & R outs => audio interface, recorded without any effects (or reverb, you're welcome)
Mimeophon L & R outs => FX Aid ins
FX Aid L & R outs => Mimeophon ins
FX Aid L => attenuator => Mimeophon Rate

FX Aid algorithm was the stereo in/stereo out frequency shifter. I also played with a voltage offset patched to μRate to pull it into delay times outside the normal range of Zone 0

as I mentioned this kind of patch is a lot more interesting with a compressor and EQ involved in the feedback loop, but I kept it minimal to prove my point

ears and monitors be warned, nothing but feedback bullshit ahead:


no about the lack of screws, this fx case is in flux

[closedLoop]

as I mentioned this kind of patch is a lot more interesting with a compressor and EQ involved in the feedback loop, but I kept it minimal to prove my point

Thanks. That was great sonic fun.

While watching, I kept wondering what would happen if the ResEQ was in the feedback path. It is in the center of the shot, begging for attention.

[autopoiesis]

as I mentioned this kind of patch is a lot more interesting with a compressor and EQ involved in the feedback loop, but I kept it minimal to prove my point

Thanks. That was great sonic fun.

While watching, I kept wondering what would happen if the ResEQ was in the feedback path. It is in the center of the shot, begging for attention.

yeah, the ResEQ was inserted in the original feedback path that motivated me to share my enthusiasm for this patch, and boosting certain frequency bands certainly did more interesting things to the feedback's modulation of Rate than what's captured in that sample. but he easily dominates a feedback patch and I wanted to show how intense and interesting Mimeophon can be as self-oscillating source in Zone 0 with only a modest digital frequency shifter in the loop

[Funky40]

sounds Great !

and has stunningly a similarity with the sounds that i made today with my Generate3.
i like those tones like coming at 2:27

[blizzt]

Received today the mimeophon along side the grayscale permutation and I can say this thing sounds amazing. So much room to get lost in sound, very hypnotic and begs to be imho gently modulated for best results. Definitely a keeper for me. I have to say this is also my first FX module for eurorack, so also take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I have to say I was a bit nervous concerning some reviews I read there on muff while I was planning a big modular purchase, but in the end I decided to order from one of the big music sellers in europe just in case I wasnt happy I could return the thing no questions asked. Well, YES, you can definitely hear some hissed gate noise on some very precise settings (very few repeats i think it was) although in my case I had to be very close to the speaker to even notice it and for sure this will be barely audible in a mix or a big live PA (maybe if your a headphone user I can understand this maybe bothering you). And, YES, in the roughly one hour I have played with it I could reproduce accidentally and very occasionally some pop/crack or digital artifact if turning very rapidly some knobs (I think it was the color knob).

So that is my review. In short, the module is fucking mesmerizing and you should get it Now, time to install the permutation in the rack...

[DirkB]

I play a lot with a permutation mimeophon combo; its huge fun!! gives you fantastic rhythmic variations and drive when sequenced through mimeophon; like they were made for each other (see Comparative Irrelevance's exercise)

[blizzt]

Permutations is very nice indeed, got to play a bit with it yesterday night and I love how you get nice melodies with very little effort. Im still waiting on the variant to arrive though.

[paranormind]

Apologies for the quality, but I recorded my first quick test with the Mimeophon processing a mix of drone~ish (telharmonic) and percussive sounds (elements), if you're curious...

[Yarin]

toumpouris
[... ]
I don't think MN wants the noise floor of the Mimeophon, however, I don't think they thought it would become an issue
[... ]
I just wish this thread would be more about using the Mimeophon uniquely from user to user and there was a thread for the noise floor issue.

I had a reply from make noise about it, where they said that the noise is actually intended to be there as it's the reason why it self oscillates in that unique way..
I think that mimeophon it's one of a kind and like everything else it's just you to decide if it suits your needs or not. I'd actually like if manufacturers would fit more details like this in the manuals in the future, cause if it's not a malfunction, then it would be nice to know entirely how a module works before buying it.. I guess many like me don't have the opportunity to go to a local shop and try this kind of products, so it would be fair, in my opinion..
anyway, I sold the module, at first, but then missed its magic a lot, so I bought back the same unit from my friend and I'm loving all its weird character since. it's the glue, in my system..
I think you're absolutely right,
we should go back talking about how much it's fun to play with it ✌

[closedLoop]

I had a reply from make noise about it, where they said that the noise is actually intended to be there as it's the reason why it self oscillates in that unique way..

Call me skeptical, but if the noise was intended MN, why didn't they just come out and say that when there was the first complaint about the noise level in the module?

[autopoiesis]

it's also a little strange that the auto-ducking noise would be present on the dry output, if its function is to support Mimeophon's characteristic self-oscillation.

but besides that, the explanation does make some sense ... the noise floor would serve to 'excite' the delay, and the auto-ducking of the noise (what sounds like a noise gate) would prevent the feedback from running away until it blows up and loses definition.

so my retort would be : if this is the case, could you work on a firmware where this 'noise in service of self-oscillation' is only present on the wet signal?

[Carci]

it's also a little strange that the auto-ducking noise would be present on the dry output, if its function is to support Mimeophon's characteristic self-oscillation.

but besides that, the explanation does make some sense ... the noise floor would serve to 'excite' the delay, and the auto-ducking of the noise (what sounds like a noise gate) would prevent the feedback from running away until it blows up and loses definition.

so my retort would be : if this is the case, could you work on a firmware where this 'noise in service of self-oscillation' is only present on the wet signal?

That would be a huge improvement in my opinion if they could get rid of the gated hiss on the dry output with a firmware update...
Until then I'll just use it with a crossfader next to it.
Because the wet is gorgeous.

[Granny]

My module has no problems in my opinion and it has Firmware V71 on it
The latest downloadable version on their website is V70
Don't want to get any hopes up, but wanted to mention it

It's definitely noisy, but at the right places