SLMSLMSLMSLM

Revision 1.0
WHAT IS SLM?
It is a slim, powerful, playable utility instrument designed to pair with Ciat Lonbarde friends. It is equal parts signal
generator and signal processor. There are four sections, each with identical circuits but reflected layouts. Each section
has a SCROLLFO (SLFO) and a MOBVRT circuit. The SCROLLFO generates a Mido‒centered, positive CV designed
to pair well with Ciat Lonbarde and like instruments. The MOBVRT processes CV by scaling and offsetting it. It is also
centered on Mido and outputs only positive signals. What is Mido? It is a reference voltage exactly between the 9V
power supply and ground (0V). To any electronics using the earth’s ground reference, this is a 4.5V offset, but in the
world of Ciat Lonbarde, this reference allows bipolar modulations using only a unipolar power supply. In MOBVRT,
the offset and attenuverter work together to process the input signal. MOBVRT can act as an interface utility between
Ciat Lonbarde instruments that use a Mido reference and eurorack or other synths that uses a ground reference, and
while it can accept negative CV, only positive CV will be output and any negative signals will be inverted.

MOBVRT

SCROLLFO

SCROLLLLLLLLLFO
The LFO shape has an asymmetrical triangle wave with a slight logarithmic rise and exponential fall, somewhat like
a shark tooth wave. In practice this means that the wave will create a modulation that falls slower than it rises (e.g.
a pitch will more quickly approach its peak than its low). This default shape can be processed by Mobvrt for more
variety of waveshapes. Below are examples of the LFO as patched through Mobvrt. Further waveshapes can be
created with use of the switches or using multiple Mobvrts in series.
MAPPING SLM
12. 4. 4. 12. .21 .4 .4 .21
9. 11. .11 .9 .11 .9
9.
5. 5. .5 .5
10. 6. 6. 10. .01 .6 .6 .01
8. 7. 7. 8. .8 .7 .7 .8
11.
1. 1. .1 .1
2. 3. 3. 2. .2 .3 .3 .2

1. LFO Run Button. This button is a 3-way switch that controls the LFO state. In its middle position the LFO value is
held through an analog sample and hold. In the up position, the switch latches and keeps the LFO on. Finally, in the
down position, it is a momentary switch that will hold the LFO on only while the button is pressed. When released, it
will switch back to the middle position.

2. Ground Pull Button. This button is a momentary switch that pulls the LFO to ground, as in earth ground, the
central pit.

3. Mido Pull Button. This button is another momentary switch that pulls the LFO to Mido. Mido is a virtual ground
in the Ciat Lonbarde lexicon. It is a reference voltage exactly between the 9V power supply and ground (0V). To any
electronics using the earth’s ground reference, this is a 4.5V offset, but in the world of Ciat Lonbarde, this reference
allows bipolar modulations using only a unipolar power supply.

4. LFO Out. This is the LFO signal, which may be either an oscillation or a constant signal depending on the settings
of the switches. It can swing 7Vpp. This node can provide ground or mido reference voltages in combination with [2]
and [3]. When initially powered up, if [1] is in the middle, the LFO will hold a random signal.

5. LFO Speed Switch. This is a 3-way switch selecting between different fixed LFO speeds. It is fastest in the
middle position, about 118Hz. It is slowest in the down position, about 16Hz. It is middlest in the up position, about
81Hz.

6. LFO Run CV Switch. This node allows for CV control of the LFO run/hold state. It switches ON for a signal
greater than Mido and OFF when the signal descreases. This will override the state of the button [1] and is equivalent
to a momentary hold while the gate is held high.

7. Mido Pull CV Switch. This node will momenatrily hold the LFO at Mido when a gate sent to it is held high. It is
equivalent to pressing [3].

8. Ground Pull CV Switch. This node will momenatarily hold the LFO at Ground when a gate sent to it is held
high. It is equivalent to pressing [2]. If held high, switch stays off and is resistent to button pushes (like pushing mido
while ground is held). Try sending the same signal to [8] or [7] and see what happens if both ground and mido and
pulled while cycling.

9. Mobvrt Input. This node is the input for the Mobvrt circuit which allows attenuversion with respect to Mido and
offsetting of signals patched here.
10. Vert Nob (Attenuverter). This blue-stripe knob is a combined control that can either reduce a signal from [9]
to mido, or whatever the offset is set to, at its central position or waveshape it. As turned CW from center it increases
the [9] signal with are verso response (i.e. increases in input increase on output). Conversely, as turned CCW from
center, it has an inverso response where increases on the input decrease on the output (i.e. it is inverted with respect
to Mido or whatever the offset is set to). The knob is highly sensitive but when set to the exact center of the pot, the
output is reduced to the offset setting. While a typical attenuator can only reduce a signal, Vrt can also increase a
signal by to a factor of two. Note that it can only increase a signal within the limits of the circuit (it will clip below
0.7V or above 7.5V). So, like any attenuverter, the knob range is divided in two, as stated above (in/verso), and
additionally, each side is further divided in two: half for zero to unity and half for unity to max. In other words, to
find unity gain, it is halfway between the center and the end of the range. For verso, unity is about 2 o’clock and it’s
about 10 o’clock for inverso. At the point of unity, with the Mob Nob in center, whatever is sent to the input is passed
through the output. Above unity, the feedback which makes the signal grow changes the response to the input. This
provides one aspect of waveshaping by changing the slope of the input (i.e. a triangle wave can nearly become
square). Another way to think about it is that below unity there is a linear response and above it is exponential, grow-
ing in proportion to itself. Note that any signals below the minimum Mobvrt operating boundary level, 0.7V, will be
inverted, providing another waveshaping application. Bipolar signals, such as audio, can be rectified this way.

11. Mob Nob (Offset). This red-stripe knob will set a voltage to be added/subtracted to the input signal from [9].
Essentially, it is re-biasing the input signal, or, said another way, it is like changing the reference signal from which the
input signal will modulate. The knob’s neutral position is in the center of its range, which would read as 4.5V on an
oscilliscope (though if you lived inside of SLM, the scope would read 0V since Mido would be the ground reference).
As turned CW from the center it increases the bias by adding up to +3V up from Mido. As the offset is increased, the
upper bound limits the dynamic range of the input signal which will clip at that boundary, and can make for a sim-
ple waveshaping effect. The lower bound is 0.7V, so as turned CCW, it translates the input signal closer to ground,
effectively clipping all but the peaks. For signals that were already using a ground reference, a CW setting is needed
to raise the original signal. Again, this too can be used for waveshaping effects to clip the valleys of the input signal.
When fully CW the reference goes to the upper limit, it will clipping the input signal. Offset can be used to provide
more headroon when boosting a signal. For example, the envelope out on the Coco peizo preamp is a positive only,
mido based signal. So if that were to control the VCA on a Coco, it could never fully close the VCA because the
signal would never drop below Mido. The offset can be used to shift down the reference to near ground, so it would
close the VCA, or even be used with Eurorack.

12. Mobvrt Out. This output is the result of scaling and offseting from [10] and [11].
PATCHES
The patches below provide inspiration for how to pair SLM with Ciat Lonbarde instruments and friends. Build on them,
morph and mutate them, expand them, invert them, and then destroy them. Audio examples are available on a You-
Tube playlist available here: https://tr.ee/Q5AOPGqxyt. When learning one, try patching as shown to get a feel for
the patch and then let your imagination run wild.

Swinging Sidrax. Imagine that pressing a barre on Sidrax modulates the melody and pressing another barre
brings it all back to the root. This patch uses two Sidrax barres to switch between two tunings. Mobvrt controls the
tuning, essentially setting the root and interval through the offset and attenuverter. The attenuverter sent to the global
pitch defines the direction and step size of tonal modulation on the Sidrax and the offset defines the root. The Sidrax
global pitch acts as another offset. The other attenuverters are used to invert the Sidrax barre pressure signal, which is
held high be default, and set it low, and then when pressed it sends a rising edge gate to switch the LFO. That con-
cept is patched twice using two Mobvrts, one for each barre. Then one is sent to the Ground switch and the other to
the Mido switch. Tune the Sidrax to taste, perhaps starting with simple intervals and also tune only after patched. The
left two barres on the Sidrax will tune the root of the chord tuned on the remaining barres. The buttons on the far right
panel can be pressed as well as a playing variation. As a variation, switch on the LFO with button [1] and the ground
barre will temporarily freeze the LFO.
Skrollrax. Inspired by the Ciat Lonbarde Sidrassi, this patch adds a scrolling LFO that is held with a momentary
switch, allowing the player to build ad hoc tunings on the fly. Additionally, the latching mode and the white/black
buttons allow for performance variation. Anyone who’s tried to send an LFO to the FM inputs on Sidrax has noticed
that attenuation needs to come from the source since there are no knob controls. The SLFOs processed by Mobvrt
create FM sources for Sidrax. Mobvrt is used to reign in the depth of modulation. The Mob Nob is set to center so
that the FM is centered on the unpatched pitch of the barre (note that the knob is very sensitive in this patch).

Latch the SLFOs ON but switch off for variation. Alternatively, to create gestures similar to the Sidrassi, keep the LFOs
off and use the momentary switch to retune a barre on the fly. The SLFOs can be made to run in or out of phase with
each other from pressing the black or white buttons. For example, press and release the black ground button on two
SLFOs set to the same speed at the same time and they will be synced.
Sidrax Drumsticks. One of the first patches I tried with both a Sidrax and a Plumbutter was to try triggering the
Gongues with the Sidrax wodden barres. It turned out that it wasn’t possible to just directly patch them together.
Something is needed to process the pressure signal. In this patch, Mobvrt is used to create a switch that toggles the
LFO between ground and mido. This toggling then becomes the trigger for the Gongues. It can be set to trigger on
barre press or release. This is a way to manually play the gongues without going through their aux input, which gives
double triggers (for the rising and falling edge). This patch is a good use case of Mobvrt and the LFO interacting to
create logic signals.

First, a note about how to trigger the Gongues. The Plumbutter Dance Party guide explains in more detail about the
Trigger response and trigger input, but in essence, a falling edge will trigger the impulse. For this patch, four Mobvrts
are used and two SLFOs are used to create a binary square wave from one that will not normally trigger Gongues
by itself. It takes two Mobverts per barre because one is assigned to switch Mido and one to ground. Only one will
hold at a time as the switches are set to be out of phase with each other. The switch triggers ON with an increasing
signal. So if the barre pressure is held high at rest, then when pressed, it is pulled down. In this case, a verso response
is what is needed to create. The Mobvrt attenuator should be set clockwise for verso and vice versa inverso. The
signal that is held high is then patched to the Mido switch for triggering on the press. Additionally, an inverse copy
of the signal, created in another Mobvrt, is sent to the other switch on the LFO which ensures that the switches toggle
at the same moment. To change the order of whether it triggers on press or release, flip which Mobvrt is patched to
ground and which to Mido. Flipping around the attenuators can add variation to the patch. Also, note that the piezos
under the Sidrax barres can change their polarity without touching them which adds unpredicatbility to the patch.

When tuning the Sidrax and the Plumbutter, consider the interval between the Sidrax barres that trigger the Gongues
and the Gongues’ resonance.

Note: The patch diagram here corrects a small error from one in the corresponding video.
Envelope Leader. Using Mobvrt, the shape of the Gongues controls amplitude and frequency modulation to
inputs without a built in attenuverter. This provides a pseudo-sync, providing a rhythmic cohesion to a patch. The
Cocoquantus has a useful envelope follower in its preamp section, but being it can only be a positive signal since
it tracks a volume (and a volume can’t be less than zero), and being mido based, it only provides signals between
Mido and the top rail power supply. This poses two challenges when patching. First, it means that the dynamic range
is limited and second, it never falls below 4.5V. As a modulation source to the VCAs on Coco, that means it will never
close the VCA (i.e. it’ll never be silent) and as a mod to FM the Quantussy, it can only increase the frequency. Mobvrt
has utilities to expand possibilities with the envelope signal.

The idea of this patch is to use the Coco to track the envelope from a Gongue so that the the sound of the Quantussy
and FM of a barre in Sidraxwill be in sync. The Quantussy, especially with chaos up, cannot be synced to anything,
but using this idea, a rhythm is imposed on it. Two Mobverts process the envelope in different ways to fit the signal
needs of the Coco VCA and the Sidrax FM. The overall tempo of the patch is controlled from the one rollz speed.
On the SLM, the Mob Nob transposes the modulation and the Vrt Nob controls the depth of the modulation (e.g. the
volume of the Coco). Tune to taste. Different examples of the same patch are available in the video. The patch is a
simple idea that can be taken in many directions.

Note that for the audio signal flow in the diagrammed patch, the plumbutter audio out must be split for this patch to
have a Gongue dry signal.
Plum Chaser. This patch takes the actual time of one Gongue’s bang to trigger another, something that cannot be
done simply by patching from orange to green. By doing so one Gongue leads the beat and the other follows, with
a variable delay as set by it’s own trigger response. One SLFO Mobvrt pair is used to process the Gongue response
signal so that it can trigger another Gongue, something I’d always wanted to do with the Plumbutter. Two SLFOs are
used to create tonal variety on the Gongues, in time with the rollz. The rollz control the base speed of the groove.
One Mobvrt to the Gongue Verso controls the overall tempo. Turn its Vrt to center and the Mob Nob will control the
Gongue in the same way as the Gongue Response knob, but their settings will be combined. Playing the buttons in
the middle section lets the player control the beat, with ground adding rests. Turning off the scrolling will freeze the
Gongue pitch. For groove variation, try different Vrt settings and trigger responses. One other tip about patching with
PB is that Mobvrt can invert the browns for new pulses from rollz.
SPECS
Size: 13.5” x 2.625” (as wide as a Ciat Lonbarde Sidrax)
Power: 12V center positive

ABOUT
Josh Rodriquez (crücFX) designed and created SLM. It was inspired by the work of Peter Blasser.

Josh Singer (ieat31415) authored this guide and created the accompanying SLM patch series.