Hi all,

I think the Morph Groups are one of the coolest performance features on the NM. And of course, you can never have enough of a good thing, so I was sometimes running out of morph groups. Four just wasn't enough. I realize many of us have figured out this solution already, but for anyone who hasn't, check out the attached patch. I made it as an example of how to make your own additional Morph Groups. Turning one knob does the following:

Increases PWM depth

Decreases PWM rate

Increases Osc sync sweep depth

Decreases band reject filter sweep rate

Increases lowpass filter sweep rate

Decreases lowpass filter sweep depth

Increases panning depth

You start with a Constant module, and assign a knob to it (or a pedal or mod wheel etc.). Then, route the constant to numerous mod inputs, using Control Mixers to trim and/or invert the knob range. Or, control a multiplier module with the knob output and route other mod signals through the multiplier to control the level of other mod signals. (as shown with the Panner and it's LFO).

When I'm making a patch that will need lots of Morph Groups, I try to use the "real" morphs for groups of parameters that can't be controlled from a mod input (like Phaser resonance and the Chorus controls). If I still need more than four morphs, I just make more. And of course, if it's just one parameter instead of a group, I'll assign a knob directly to the parameter without using up a Morph.

I would love to simply be able to set ranges for knob twisting. I don't like always needing to use a morph group when I only want to use a small range for a knob. Are there any current workarounds for that "problem?"

If there is a modulation input, just use Constant Modules and Control Mixers.

Thanks so much! You know, as soon as I read this (I was at work so I couldn't check the patch) I thought "OF COURSE!" It figures that it's something I overlooked. So I went home and played with constant modules some more, because I *know* I neglect them. I've been using them with x-fade modules and it's been working slick -- just like what I was looking for.

You can use less DSP if you use Constants and Control Mixers instead of the x-faders. Here's how:

1. Connect one Constant to the Control Mixer, and set the knobs so that it produces a signal that is at the "middle" of the psuedo-morph range you are trying to set. Call this the "BIAS" Constant.

2. Connect a second Constant to the other Control Mixer input. Call this the "Morph" Constant. By adjusting the mixer knob & using the INVERT button, you can set it so the full range of the Constant module (controlled by a panel knob) is reduced & inverted (if needed) to the desired "morph" range. 3. Repeat as needed with additional Control Mixers & "bias" Constants so that the one "Morph" Constant produces several different sweeps with different ranges & directions.

You can also process the outputs from these knobs & control mixers so they don't all have a linear response. Use waveshapers, clippers, and VelKybdScale modules to make log, exp, etc. curves. Enjoy!

Constants, gain controllers and mixers can be combined for a technique sometimes called 'add along mixing' or 'cascaded mixing'. The idea is about how to handle a specific signal path. Imagine there is the signal that is going to do something, like eg modulating a filter cutoff. That signal is mostly a combination of several modulation signals coming from different sources and the question is how to get the most clear and easiest to handle control mechanism to control the different source signals for this one modulation signal.

The traditional way of thinking is of various signals all modulating the filter cutoff by feeding them to 'separate' modulation inputs by using a multi input mixer on the final modulation input. Here the mixing is sort of a parallel process, the mixer inputs are in parallel. But processing a modulation signal can also be considered to be a 'serial' process, where a root value is generated somewhere and various processings are 'added' or 'subtracted' to this root signal. This is very comparable to the way the audio routs through the patch, it goes from the VCO through the filter, though the VCA, through the distortion, through the effect, etc. A clear way of thinking which can be applied to modulating signals as well. The basic cutoff value goes though the LFO, through the sequencer, through the modulation envelope, through some manual controller, etc. But in contrast to audio processing the signals in the chain are 'added along' to the root signal in every single chain in the patch. The root signal defines the state of eg the cutoff without any modulation being applied.

In itself the technique is nothing special, it is just the way one looks at things. But it can aid tremendously in remembering how to play the patch and make patching easier and more transparent. Think of an 'add along' mixer as a two input mixer where only the second input has a level control. So the first input goes straight to the output unaltered and the second input is either added or subtracted in a specified amount to the signal on the first input. A simple NM control mixer will do this job so nothing special yet. Add along mixing starts to be more flexible when on the second input a gain controller is present, as then the add along mixing becomes modulatable. The trick of morphing is to use modulatable add along mixers in any signal path that needs to be morphed, but here both inputs receive the same signal. All modulation inputs receive the same control signal from a constant module. The mixer knob on the add along mixer sets the morphing range for that particular signalpath. By building one's own morphing in this way the morph becomes modulatable, as the constant that is used as the control for the morphs can be modulated by, yes, another add along mixer. So with this approach one can build morphs that morph other morphs that morph other morphs until one runs out of modules or DSP time. This way one can create very complex patches that can still be controlled in a schematic and easy to remember way with only a few controls.

This technique is of course how one has to do morphing on a real analog modular system. But there is no objection to use the same way of thinking on the NM. In fact digital systems use this 'add along' mixing process a lot internally, simply as there is a single DSP instruction that is in fact a modulatable add along mixer. The multiply instruction in a DSP uses an internal register called the accumulator. This accumulator is the little pocket calculator of the DSP, all actions take place in this accumulator, eg an addition adds a value from somewhere to the value that is in the accumulator and leaves the result in the accumulator. The nice thing about multiply instructions is that they multiply two values that come from somewhere else and add the product to the value that is in the accumulator. Add along mixing is nothing but loading the value on the first input in the accumulator and multiply the value on the second input to the value on the modulation input in this one instruction. After this instruction the accumulator holds the output value. So this is a very fast way of processing signals and the essence of most DSP algoritms. A DSP programmes uses this add along mixing idea all the time to press the most juice out of the DSP. But also to create easy to follow algoritms.

Strangely enough there have not been analog modular systems that offer single 'add along' mixing modules and perhaps thats why Clavia in their goal to create a NM that is 'as retro as possible' have skipped to add such a mixing module. An analog VCA module could most of the time be modified by adding an extra input connector and a single resistor. But on the NM one has to build them with a mixer and a gain controller. The technique is not only useful on modulation signals but is applicable to audio signals as well, just think in terms of serial chaining or cascading. One big advantage is that bipolar modulation is very easy to do as the gain controller is a bipolar or 'four quadrant' multiplier. And that is very useful if the modulation signal is an envelope, the envelope can be easily inverted by the gain controller.

In the attached patch 'MorphTheMorph' are some examples how to go about. Follow the green signalpath, that is the path that everything is added to. The purple signals are the 'add along' control signals or the 'morph' signals. In the second column everything is just added in the traditional way, only positive addition of the modulation signals is possible. In the thrid column controllable add along mixers are used and now each modulation signal can be inverted as well. In the fourth column 'morphing add along' mixers are used, which are basically two add along mixers in series. The morph can be controlled by a constant like a traditional morph or by a LFO where the morph is modulated.