Instruo arbhar granular processor

[submute]

Thanks for your kind comments. The LFOs are mostly on 1V/Oct and Scan inputs, but at times in the Width too. Here's another recent recording that I like even better: In this one, I'm using a couple of different samples of the same bird:

Hey, this stuff is very inspirational. I am wondering if you are playing the samples into Arbhar and recording them, or if you're using a USB stick with pre-loaded samples?

[wajobu]

In this case, I played the audio samples from my iPhone into the onboard microphone. The Arbhar and LFOs did the rest.

Thanks for your kind comment.

[cavidim]

Is there a particular reason the Scan CV input range is limited to -5/+5V? Since the scan knob offsets the CV value, it would be nice if the input accepted -10/+10V (but still required only 10V peak to peak for the full range). This way, it would not be necessary to offset unipolar CV before feeding it to Arbhar to control the full range of the parameter. Can this be changed somehow?

I have a small system and most of my modulation sources, including Pamela’s New Workout and 0-CTRL output 0-5V. I have to amplify these x2 and offset them to be bipolar to control the full range of the Scan parameter. It would be nice if the offset could be done within Arbhar since the functionality is already there. I imagine this is the case for others as well.

i totally agree on this, i would like to sweep the whole range of scan cv with pam and i can only use the half of it. Any ideas ?

[smartanimal]

Is there a particular reason the Scan CV input range is limited to -5/+5V? Since the scan knob offsets the CV value, it would be nice if the input accepted -10/+10V (but still required only 10V peak to peak for the full range). This way, it would not be necessary to offset unipolar CV before feeding it to Arbhar to control the full range of the parameter. Can this be changed somehow?

I have a small system and most of my modulation sources, including Pamela’s New Workout and 0-CTRL output 0-5V. I have to amplify these x2 and offset them to be bipolar to control the full range of the Scan parameter. It would be nice if the offset could be done within Arbhar since the functionality is already there. I imagine this is the case for others as well.

i totally agree on this, i would like to sweep the whole range of scan cv with pam and i can only use the half of it. Any ideas ?

Came here to check this exact thing- kind of a bummer on such an amazing module

[gran_syth]

Is there a particular reason the Scan CV input range is limited to -5/+5V? Since the scan knob offsets the CV value, it would be nice if the input accepted -10/+10V (but still required only 10V peak to peak for the full range). This way, it would not be necessary to offset unipolar CV before feeding it to Arbhar to control the full range of the parameter. Can this be changed somehow?

I have a small system and most of my modulation sources, including Pamela’s New Workout and 0-CTRL output 0-5V. I have to amplify these x2 and offset them to be bipolar to control the full range of the Scan parameter. It would be nice if the offset could be done within Arbhar since the functionality is already there. I imagine this is the case for others as well.

i totally agree on this, i would like to sweep the whole range of scan cv with pam and i can only use the half of it. Any ideas ?

Came here to check this exact thing- kind of a bummer on such an amazing module

To be honest, I am more annoyed how many control modules are restricted to 0-5V (yes, particularly for such an amazing module as Pamela's New Workout), while bipolar CV control just makes so much more sense to me in general. You want to be able to change a parameter in each direction, whatever its manual setting. In consequence I have quite a few attenuverters in my rack to tweak the controls to suit the range I want to control.

[Sync]

Is there a particular reason the Scan CV input range is limited to -5/+5V? Since the scan knob offsets the CV value, it would be nice if the input accepted -10/+10V (but still required only 10V peak to peak for the full range). This way, it would not be necessary to offset unipolar CV before feeding it to Arbhar to control the full range of the parameter. Can this be changed somehow?

I have a small system and most of my modulation sources, including Pamela’s New Workout and 0-CTRL output 0-5V. I have to amplify these x2 and offset them to be bipolar to control the full range of the Scan parameter. It would be nice if the offset could be done within Arbhar since the functionality is already there. I imagine this is the case for others as well.

i totally agree on this, i would like to sweep the whole range of scan cv with pam and i can only use the half of it. Any ideas ?

I'm driving mine with a Zadar, which has attenuation/offset options. Not sure what I'd do if I didn't have that, as I use Pams for a lot of stuff too and that would be useful. Though if the Arbhar could do a full scan with 0-5V that'd work with Pams well enough I'd think. I also have a unipolar LFO that's 0-5 as well.

[jingo]

Is there a particular reason the Scan CV input range is limited to -5/+5V? Since the scan knob offsets the CV value, it would be nice if the input accepted -10/+10V (but still required only 10V peak to peak for the full range). This way, it would not be necessary to offset unipolar CV before feeding it to Arbhar to control the full range of the parameter. Can this be changed somehow?

I have a small system and most of my modulation sources, including Pamela’s New Workout and 0-CTRL output 0-5V. I have to amplify these x2 and offset them to be bipolar to control the full range of the Scan parameter. It would be nice if the offset could be done within Arbhar since the functionality is already there. I imagine this is the case for others as well.

i totally agree on this, i would like to sweep the whole range of scan cv with pam and i can only use the half of it. Any ideas ?

I'm driving mine with a Zadar, which has attenuation/offset options. Not sure what I'd do if I didn't have that, as I use Pams for a lot of stuff too and that would be useful. Though if the Arbhar could do a full scan with 0-5V that'd work with Pams well enough I'd think. I also have a unipolar LFO that's 0-5 as well.

Could you point me into the direction where the Zadar has those options? Can't find them :(...

Ty!

[scragz]

Could you point me into the direction where the Zadar has those options? Can't find them :(...

Attenuation is the secondary function of the bottom right encoder. I don't recall being able to offset.

[jingo]

Could you point me into the direction where the Zadar has those options? Can't find them :(...

Attenuation is the secondary function of the bottom right encoder. I don't recall being able to offset.

Seems like, manual states 0-10V output, so no offset there...

[Sync]

Could you point me into the direction where the Zadar has those options? Can't find them :(...

Attenuation is the secondary function of the bottom right encoder. I don't recall being able to offset.

Seems like, manual states 0-10V output, so no offset there...

Yeah, I guess you're right-- I knew it had attenuation, thought it could do bipolar output as well but I guess not. For the Arbhar, the scan knob accomplishes the offset-- and the ENV Level on Zadar the attenuation so I'm able to get the kind of scan I need.

[Mr.Kus]

Could you point me into the direction where the Zadar has those options? Can't find them :(...

Attenuation is the secondary function of the bottom right encoder. I don't recall being able to offset.

Seems like, manual states 0-10V output, so no offset there...

Yeah, I guess you're right-- I knew it had attenuation, thought it could do bipolar output as well but I guess not. For the Arbhar, the scan knob accomplishes the offset-- and the ENV Level on Zadar the attenuation so I'm able to get the kind of scan I need.

You won't get the whole range without external offset that way, only about 5 seconds.

[Sync]

Could you point me into the direction where the Zadar has those options? Can't find them :(...

Attenuation is the secondary function of the bottom right encoder. I don't recall being able to offset.

Seems like, manual states 0-10V output, so no offset there...

Yeah, I guess you're right-- I knew it had attenuation, thought it could do bipolar output as well but I guess not. For the Arbhar, the scan knob accomplishes the offset-- and the ENV Level on Zadar the attenuation so I'm able to get the kind of scan I need.

You won't get the whole range without external offset that way, only about 5 seconds.

I guess you're right-- I was thinking it had a 10V swing (which it does, but not 0-10), and the Zadar generates 0-10... Looks like I was wrong...

In that case you can definitely count this as another vote to change how the Arbhar handles it. An argument for +/- 5V works for bipolar LFOs, but unipolar CV generators you're kind of stuck without an offset, and a 10V input swing means a lot of modulators will need amplification. If the Arbhar could take 0-10V, and you wanted to use a bipolar LFO, you could set the scan knob to midrange and get a full scan out of it as well as get a full scan with any 0-10V CV. Though that still leaves out 0-5V CVs, and I have some of those, plus the Zadar which defaults to 0-10V can easily be set to 0-5V for any particular channel. And it'd work with Pams which I also have, so it looks to me that Arbhar responding to a 0-5V signal to do a full scan when the Scan knob is set to minimum would be the optimal solution IMHO.

The only downside is if you have a +/- 5V LFO, you'd want to cut it in half before feeding it to the Arbhar, but I'd say that'd be necessary less often and more desirable of a situation than needing a -5V offset plus amplifier as it is now. I've got an LFO that has a -5 to 5 V output, but it also has an attenuator.

What I don't know is if such a change can be done in the Arbhar's software. Hopefully it wouldn't require a hardware change.

[submute]

curious: did your Arbhar units come with a USB card? Mine did not: I scored one of the first, though, wondering if Jason started throwing in USB sticks later.

[jingo]

curious: did your Arbhar units come with a USB card? Mine did not: I scored one of the first, though, wondering if Jason started throwing in USB sticks later.

Yap, it had two USB devices when I bought it, a SD card and an USB stick...

[jingo]

Here are my 2 cents on the arbhar...



triple sloth modulates nearly all cv in (incl. expander), arbhar is one buffer with a sample from piston honda mk3...

[corbetta]

I guess you're right-- I was thinking it had a 10V swing (which it does, but not 0-10), and the Zadar generates 0-10... Looks like I was wrong...
If the Arbhar could take 0-10V, and you wanted to use a bipolar LFO, you could set the scan knob to midrange and get a full scan out of it as well as get a full scan with any 0-10V CV.

If the input only accepted 0-10v negative CV would be ignored and you couldn’t modulate the whole buffer (or do anything really) with bipolar LFOs/CV. As it is, most faceplate controls on the Arbhar act as an offset, really only requiring attenuation to get most functionality from bipolar CV. I know Pam’s is popular but I wouldn’t design my CV inputs around it If I were Jason—bipolar is the way to go AFAIC

[scragz]

If the input only accepted 0-10v negative CV would be ignored and you couldn’t modulate the whole buffer (or do anything really) with bipolar LFOs/CV. As it is, most faceplate controls on the Arbhar act as an offset, really only requiring attenuation to get most functionality from bipolar CV. I know Pam’s is popular but I wouldn’t design my CV inputs around it If I were Jason—bipolar is the way to go AFAIC

The best way I've seen for handling this kind of thing is making the full range of the parameter 10v, knob acts as an offset, input accepts +/- 10v, and it wraps around if you give too much in one direction. Piston Honda mk3 is like this on the morph inputs.

[corbetta]

^^^ yeah I would like that a lot better than a 0-10v solution. But for my use case +/-5v is fine

[Sync]

I guess you're right-- I was thinking it had a 10V swing (which it does, but not 0-10), and the Zadar generates 0-10... Looks like I was wrong...
If the Arbhar could take 0-10V, and you wanted to use a bipolar LFO, you could set the scan knob to midrange and get a full scan out of it as well as get a full scan with any 0-10V CV.

If the input only accepted 0-10v negative CV would be ignored and you couldn’t modulate the whole buffer (or do anything really) with bipolar LFOs/CV. As it is, most faceplate controls on the Arbhar act as an offset, really only requiring attenuation to get most functionality from bipolar CV. I know Pam’s is popular but I wouldn’t design my CV inputs around it If I were Jason—bipolar is the way to go AFAIC

The problem with this is, that there are a LOT of unipolar CV sources. I've got at least 3 that I can think of-- Pams, Zadar and the 2HP LFO. I've probably got others-- I think the original O_C quad ADSR is probably unipolar. And I'd think that most envelope generators are unipolar, ADSRs, etc. Given the way it is now, none of these can be used with the Arbhar for a full scan without at least offset, if not also amplification. And I'm not sure if I even have a CV amplifier, or know of one, though I do have a couple of attenuator/offset modules. If the Arbhar accepted 0-5V for a full scan, at most you'd need an attenuator/offset which are pretty common, and sometimes attenuation would be enough.

I suppose there are bipolar ADSRs, but I'd guess a lot of them are not.

[corbetta]

I don’t think there are many bipolar ADSRs, but envelopes are hardly the only source of CV. I’m much more likely to send noise or an LFO to any of the inputs of the Arbhar myself—and if not, I can offset as needed. Again the solution you suggest would be more limiting in a broader modular context (the +/-10v suggested above is probably the most “universal” one but again individual use cases will often need adjustment).

If you really want to scan your buffer from beginning to end a bunch don’t forget about “follow” mode (though it only goes “forwards”)


Edit: the biggest problem is that 0-5v input would preclude you from ever modulating the scan position (or any parameter) backwards, which is a huge usability drawback. I love to send a slow falling cv so that I can travel backwards through the buffer while still seeding forwards-playing grains, for example.

[corbetta]

edit—double post

[Mr.Kus]

If there's no hardware limitations, maybe it would be possible to update the firmware to allow users to select preferred input voltage ranges with arbhar_config.txt. I often would like to use envelopes to modulate scan position and lfo for other parameters.

[auditorycanvas]

Is there a particular reason the Scan CV input range is limited to -5/+5V? Since the scan knob offsets the CV value, it would be nice if the input accepted -10/+10V (but still required only 10V peak to peak for the full range). This way, it would not be necessary to offset unipolar CV before feeding it to Arbhar to control the full range of the parameter. Can this be changed somehow?

I have a small system and most of my modulation sources, including Pamela’s New Workout and 0-CTRL output 0-5V. I have to amplify these x2 and offset them to be bipolar to control the full range of the Scan parameter. It would be nice if the offset could be done within Arbhar since the functionality is already there. I imagine this is the case for others as well.

i totally agree on this, i would like to sweep the whole range of scan cv with pam and i can only use the half of it. Any ideas ?

Not ideal, but I recently ordered a Frap Tools 321 to make Pams more flexible. It enables you to amplify the signal to 10v, then offset it to -5/+5. It has 3 identical channels, and some other useful features too.

[Sync]

I don’t think there are many bipolar ADSRs, but envelopes are hardly the only source of CV. I’m much more likely to send noise or an LFO to any of the inputs of the Arbhar myself—and if not, I can offset as needed. Again the solution you suggest would be more limiting in a broader modular context (the +/-10v suggested above is probably the most “universal” one but again individual use cases will often need adjustment).

If you really want to scan your buffer from beginning to end a bunch don’t forget about “follow” mode (though it only goes “forwards”)


Edit: the biggest problem is that 0-5v input would preclude you from ever modulating the scan position (or any parameter) backwards, which is a huge usability drawback. I love to send a slow falling cv so that I can travel backwards through the buffer while still seeding forwards-playing grains, for example.

0-5V for a full scan when the scan knob is set to minimum, but would allow negative values as well when the scan knob is not at minimum (such as sending a -5-0 when the scan knob is at maximum) would address your issue. But leaving the scan knob at 0 and using either an ascending or descending 0-5 ranged envelope would do what you suggest as well.

[corbetta]

But leaving the scan knob at 0 and using either an ascending or descending 0-5 ranged envelope would do what you suggest as well.

I guess I must use my Arbhar in a significantly different fashion than you do. One of the things I like to do is find a portion of a buffer to explore (manually, by setting scan), and then use CV to diverge from it within a specific range; unipolar modulation doesn’t lend itself to that. Similarly, the intensity knob really works best with bipolar input, allowing you to have the module “silent” at either extreme, and then moving towards higher activity on either the synchronous or asynchronous side. As I have very little interest in synchronous grain seeding, having the input respond to 0-5v would be a huge pain in the butt.

I’ve never encountered a module that changes its input behavior based on knob position; that sounds like a usability nightmare, especially mid-patch. Besides, I’m not sure whether the input ranges are determined by the hardware or software; my hunch is on on the former, but if it’s the latter I really hope Jason would make any change optional if they came to pass.