Studio Electronics – Boomstar Modular Grainy Clampit
GRAINY CLAMPIT is a granular and phase distortion additive oscillator—brand new heavy territory for Studio Electronics… we know; wait till you hear the stunning contrast it creates when paired with our discrete Class-A OSCILLATION module, and the inorganic to downright 1970’s combo organy / CS-80-ish tones it can generate. Pure voltage-controlled candy.
Available in black finish only.
Best to break Granny Clampett’s namesake down in stages, and time travel a bit.
First Stage – Additive mixing of 4 harmonics using one of 16 waveforms and one of 16 combinations of harmonics.
Second Stage – Granular or phase distorted mixing of the signal from the first stage, with a sync option.
Back to the First Stage – Additive section with selection of 16 different combinations of harmonics. The harmonics can be based on a sinewave or on one of 15 other waveforms.
There’s a separate control for mixing the selected harmonics.
Back to the Second Stage – The second processing stage allows granular processing or phase distortion. Granular processing gives you control over grain length and grain position, and can produce sync, detune, and wave sequencing effects. Phase distortion allows the signal from stage one to be “looked up” non-linearly, and can produce thick detune sounds and wildly varying pitch/timbre effects.
Both settings have a choice of long buffer length (for wave sequencing effects) or short buffer length (for smoother detuned effects).
See it’s just additive mixing of several combinations of harmonics using a choice of 16 waveforms, followed by granular or phase distortion processing for detuned and wave sequencing effects, with a sync option for further pitch variations. Capiche?
A Ver. 1 signal flow chart should help.
Potentiometer Potential
Eight attenuation and three attenuverter pots:
WAVE TYPE, OT TYPE, DETUNE, OT MIX CV, PITCH, OT MIX, OT T CV, S/A CV, LEN/PITCH, SPACE/AMT, FINE TUNE.
Switch it Up
GRAIN/PD – Up position: Selects Granular processing – the signal from the Wavetype/OT/Detune section is placed in a buffer, then is read back as ‘grains’ of sound of variable length. Down position: Selects Phase Distortion processing – the signal from the Wavetype/OT/Detune section is placed in a buffer, then is read back by a non-linear counter, distorting the waveform of the original signal.
FIX – In GRAIN mode, the up position allows Len/Pitch to directly affect the output pitch; in the down position, Len/Pitch syncs this output pitch to the master pitch of the module. In PD mode, the up position allows Len/Pitch to continuously vary the pitch of the phase distorted output; in the down position, Len/Pitch sets the pitch of the phase distorted output to musical intervals in respect to the master pitch.
RANGE – The size of the buffer used for Grain/PD processing. Up: Long buffer – results in wave sequencing effects, as the buffer can be heard repeating when Detune pot value is positive. Down: Short buffer – gives smoother sounds than the long buffer, which is good for detuned effects.
LOW RES – Gives priority to the 4th bit in the 8 bit digital-to-analog converter—for harsh and noisy sounds.
1V/OCT – 1 Volt per octave input controlling the overall pitch of the module. Input range is 0 to 10v.
OT T CV -CV control of Overtone Type – allows sequencing through all 16 preset combinations of 4 different harmonics. Input range is +/-10V.
OMX CV – CV control of Overtone Mix – sweeps through the mix of the harmonics, from lower harmonics loudest to higher harmonics loudest. Input range is +/-5V.
S/A CV – CV control of Space/Amount. In Grain mode: controls the spacing/detuning of grains.
In PD mode: controls the amount of non-linearity in the phase distorted output. Input range is +/-10V
OUTPUT – Sound output +/-5V range.
WAVE TYPE – Selects one of 16 source waveforms.
OT TYPE – Combines 4 copies of the Wave Type – selects one of 16 variations of four overtones.
OT MIX – Controls the mix of the four overtones, from lowest pitched to highest pitched dominance.
DETUNE – Combines the resulting mix with a copy of itself and detunes it up to one octave.
GRAIN/PD – Selects the next processing stage: Up: Granular, or Down: Phase Distortion.
LEN/PITCH – Controls and syncs the pitch (output and master).
SPACE/AMT – Sets the spacing between grains, for detune/wave-sequence effects.
FIX – Up: Len/Pitch controls pitch; Down: Len/Pitch controls sync.
RANGE – Up: Grain sample window is long, for wave sequencing (set Space Amt to 0 and turn up Detune pot); down: Grain sample window is short, for detune effects.
LOW RES – Gives priority to the 4th bit.
LEN/PITCH – Controls and sets the pitch (needs positive Space/Amt).
SPACE/AMT – Controls the amount of phase distortion.
FIX – Up: the pitch control of Len/Pitch is continuous; Down: Len/Pitch selects a range of fixed pitches.
RANGE – Up: PD sample window is long, for wave sequencing (turn up Detune pot); down: PD sample window is short, for detune effects.
LOW RES – Gives priority to the 4th bit.
1V/OCT – One volt per octave control voltage input.
OT T CV – Overtone Type control voltage.
OMX CV – Oscillator Mix control voltage.
S/A CV – Space Amount control voltage.
OUTPUT – Audio Output.
Size – 18hp
Depth – 35mm including connectors
Power Usage – 50mA max
