Mutable Instruments Grids - Manual (Page 2)

Front panel
Controls
A. Tempo, from 40 to 240 BPM. When turned fully
counter-clockwise, the internal clock stops and the
tempo is controlled by clock pulses received on the
CLOCK input (1).
B. Tap to set the tempo. Tap just once to revert to the
tempo set by A.
C1, C2. Map X and Y coordinates.
D. Pattern randomness amount.
E1, E2, E3. Note density/fill rate for each of the 3 chan-
nels.
Inputs and Outputs
1. External clock input.
2. Pattern reset input.
3. 4. 5. CV inputs controlling respectively the map X/Y
and randomness parameters.
6. CV inputs controlling the density/fill rate parameters.
7. 8. Three trigger outputs and three accent outputs.
Installation
Grids requires a -12V / +12V / +5V power supply (2x8 pin
connector). The ribbon cable connector must be aligned
so that the red stripe of the ribbon cable (-12V) is on the
same side of the module’s power header as the “Red
stripe” marking on the board.
The power consumption is as follows:
-12V: 1mA; +5V: 25mA.
Concept
Grids is a 3-channel, algorithmic, rhythmic pattern gen-
erator based on data and models extracted from actual
drum loops. Two steps are involved in the generation of
the drum patterns:
Step 1: Synthesizing a pattern from the drum map...
A collection of drum loops has been spatially organized
and compressed into a 2-dimensional map. Using inter-
polation techniques, any pair of X/Y coordinates can be
translated into a rhythm, with smooth morphing from
one rhythm into the other.
Step 2: ... and sculpting it
Once a rhythmic skeleton is read from the map, varia-
tions can be generated by controlling the note density
of each of the three channels - gradually morphing the
pattern from a sparse backbone to a frantic pattern.
Synthesizing
Sculpting
BD
SD
HH
BD 6%
BD 19%
BD 31%
Map X
Map Y
Fill
1
2
3
4
5
8
7
6
E1
E2
E3
B
A
C1
C2
D