DIY Frames (Black Magpie)

DIY Frames (Black Magpie)

diy frames, black magpie version

courtesy of the circuit designer, certain synth module designs are now available via creative commons licensing

we are delighted to be able to offer these for the diy community

pcbs are made by synthcube in blue material with immersion gold finish

panels are designed and produced by magpie modular. 

the full kit comes with everything you need, including the ARM processor pre-flashed with the latest firmware at the time of kitting

The heart of Frames is a 4-channel analog VCA under tight digital control. Through flexible input/output mixing and normalling options, it can be patched to serve the following purposes (among others):

• 4-channel attenuator/VCA.
• 4-channel mixer.
• 4-channel programmable CV source.
• Quadraphonic signal dispatcher.

But what makes Frames truly unique is the way in which channel/CV levels can be controlled, using a technique inspired by computer animation. Frames allows up to 64 configurations of the 4 level knobs to be stored and recalled throughout the course of its big Frame knob. By rotating the knob (or sending a CV to the Frame modulation input and adjusting its amount with the attenuverter), the configurations are morphed into one another.

To fine-tune the animation and get varied morphing or sequencing results, the following options are available for each of the 4 channel:

• Easing curve (stepped, linear, exponential, logarithmic, sine, bouncy)
• Attenuation response of the level knob, from linear to logarithmic

With a bit of patching and imagination, Frames can also be repurposed as a 4-channel sequencer, a multi-stage envelope generator or a trajectory generator for quadraphonic panning