Steady State Fate Entity Ultra-Kick

MUSICAL FEATURES

SSF Entity Ultra-Kick (UK) is a new kick drum synthesizer with dual core resonators.This unit, which has evolved the single core design of its predecessor, the Entity Bass Drum (BDS), implements a second resonator core called CHARACTER in addition to the main core that handles frequency components. The CHARACTER core, which is a key feature of the UK and determines the ability to generate a variety of impulses / attacks and overall acoustic characteristics, can be modulated on the main core via the RIPPLE feature. The saturation circuit that was placed on the output stage of the BDS has been improved and newly mounted between the main core and the character core.It also has a built-in Autodyne Yuzuri compressor.It has New York style mix balance control and side chain function.

HOW TO USE

Interface

trigger

The Ultra-Kick (UK) can be triggered using the trigger button in the center of the module, or any positive signal that transitions from 0V to 2.5V. Any signal patched to the TRIG input will be shaped by the built-in trigger adjustment circuit to the appropriate trigger amplitude and duration required for the module to operate.When the trigger is active, the front panel LED will illuminate, indicating the duration of the input signal when the TRIG input is used.

Tracking Volt / Octave

You can use the V / Oct input, which has a tracking performance of at least 5 octaves, to create basslines and percussive melodies that accurately follow the pitch CV, and for example, by patching sequences that change within an octave, drums. You can give the pattern a pleasant variability.

Resonate Control

The image above shows how the RESONATE control affects the waveform.The RESONATE value defines the amount of resonance produced by the excitation when the main resonator is excited by the input trigger.This excitation will eventually fully decay unless the next trigger re-excites the resonator core before the end of the resonant transients.
Trigger signals are essential for sound design in the UK, except when the RESONATE control is at or near maximum.This is a special case where the high feedback value required for the module to self-oscillate.Even if the self-oscillation does not require a trigger, the transient can be given a click feeling.In this way, RESONATE modifies the overall duration of sounds created in the UK.The following sections explain how this feature interacts with PITCH ENVELOPE to get a variety of kicks, basses, and other percussive sounds.

Envelope Controls-Pitch Decay & Depth

The UK has a built-in fixed attack, VC Decay quasi-exponential envelope generator.This envelope provides a control voltage for frequency modulation of the main and CHARACTER resonators, as well as a fixed amplitude control signal that affects the resonance response of the characteristic core.EPSA fixed-amplitude copy of the envelope signal is available from the output.It can be used for external modules or self-patched to one of the UK's voltage controlled features.also,DUCKA version of the envelope that is scaled and inverted for ducking the external VCA and offset to the positive electrode is available from the output.DEPTHModulates depth / intensity,PITCH DECAYChanges the decay time of the modulation envelope.In the image above, three simplified examples of how envelopes affect the waveform are shown.It is important to understand here that the duration of the waveform determined by the RESONATE control can be shorter or longer than the decay time of the envelope.If you want the decay time and resonance time to match, you need to adjust both parameters appropriately.

Frequency control

The pitch of the main resonator core is set by the FREQUENCY control.The range of this control is approximately 8Hz to 80Hz, but there is a difference between the "basic" frequency you set and the resulting output frequency.This is highly dependent on the depth and duration of the modulation envelope and, by design, raises the pitch of the main resonator until the modulation envelope settles down.This behavior was mentioned in the envelope section above, but you need to understand it to get the sound you want.For this reason, the pitch set by the FREQUENCY control can be thought of as acting as a base level or offset for internal or external modulation with V / OCT inputs.

You should refer to the details in the RESONATE and ENVELOPE controls section to understand how these parameters interact to produce a wide range of sounds.Below are some examples to illustrate these points.

1. Sound with a fast, powerful low-end impulse: Set PITCH DECAY to the minimum value, DEPTH to the high mid or high, and FREQUENCY to the low mid to match the desired lowest pitch. You can get any duration by adjusting RESONATE.
2. Soft, bouncy kick drum: Set PITCH DECAY to mid or low mid, DEPTH to mid, and FREQUENCY to a value slightly lower than 12 o'clock. Adjust the RESONATE to control the low end length of the kick.
3. Evolved mid tom or high tom sound: Set the PITCH DECAY higher to energize the resonance of the characteristic core with a longer pitch envelope. Set DEPTH to about 12 o'clock on the knob and FREQUENCY to about 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock. The duration is decided from 11:2 to XNUMX:XNUMX of RESONATE.
4. Another Dimensional Laser Kick: Set PITCH DECAY for the length you want to irradiate with the laser beam. DEPTH is set higher and FREQUENCY is set to match the pitch required at the laser landing point. Set RESONATE to match the length of the laser beam set in the DECAY control.

Any of the above examples can be further refined by taking advantage of the six sound shaping parameters described in the sections that follow. 

Punch Control

Punch controls the soft clipper / saturator of the interstage transistor.Soft clipping is a concept similar to hard clipping that adds gain to the signal and finally cuts the peaks of the waveform to create distortion.This type of distortion is considered a harsh sound because of the high frequencies generated by the clipping transitions.Soft clipping rounds these transitions to create warmer, deeper bass distortion.The Punch circuit of this unit is implemented between the output of the main (FREQUENCY) resonator core and the input to the characteristic (CHARACTER) resonator core. If the Punch control is at the full aperture, the input signal will be slightly attenuated without distortion. As you apply Punch in small increments, the volume and low end will begin to boost, and saturation will be applied at higher settings from the soft clipping area.You can also control the voltage of the parameters from the PUNCH CV INPUT at the bottom of the module.

Character Control

Character controls the second resonator in the UK's dual-core structure.The final stage of this resonator provides impulse transients for the excited waveform and excellent control over the overall sound quality.The effect width of this parameter ranges from subtle variations of impulse transients to unison effects, and also performs overall lowpass filtering of the resonance waveform of the main core.This resonator is excited by the output of the main core and, like the main core, is pitch-modulated with an internal envelope.It shares the 2V / Oct tracking input with the main core, but the resonance response is different. The Character's resonance response is more attenuated and is not affected by the RESONATE setting. As mentioned in the Envelope and Frequency sections, PITCH DECAY ENVELOPE is tied to the Character's resonance circuitry to provide extra power to excite the Character's core's initial impulses.This provides a novel way to give total control over accents, clicks and percussive attack styles.Create more complex impulse transients. Character resonance adds complexity to the initial impulse transients by increasing the DECAY envelope time with less attenuation and allowing the two cores to collide in a very short amount of time.These effects are even more pronounced and go into more complex areas when used in conjunction with the RIPPLE controls in the next section.The CHARACTER parameter can also be modulated using the CHAR CV input and attenuator at the bottom of the module.

Ripple Control 

Ripple introduces the excited main (FREQUENCY) resonator waveform to the dedicated FM input of the CHARACTER resonator core.Especially when combined with Character and Punch parameters, it expands the range of impulse transient sounds. Raising the level of Ripple increases its strength and breadth for interesting FM and wave distortion effects. Punch dramatically changes the effect of Ripple depending on the settings. With a minimum Punch, Ripple's effect is the cleanest, so you won't get an extremely intense sound.If you set the knob to about 9 o'clock or more and add Punch, the roughness and presence will be emphasized to enhance the impact and transient effect. Extremely high Punch values ​​give priority to distortion over Ripple effects. Since the level of Character also affects the effect of Ripple, various effects can be obtained depending on the settings of each level of Ripple, Punch, and Character.Also, increasing the level of RESONATE will increase the effect of the main (FREQUENCY) resonator core on the Character core via Ripple.In this way, Ripple can be used as a wave shaping function in addition to the initial transient sound design.For example, adding a little Ripple to the tom drum example in the FREQUENCY section can greatly improve the tom and bongo synthesis.

Dynamics

The Dynamics feature set includes a Feed-forward auto-compressor, a voltage-controlled 6dB / Oct high-pass sidechain filter called BASS DRIVE, a New York-style wet level crossfader labeled DYNAMICS, and a discrete. It consists of a voltage-controlled GAIN-DISTORTION equipped with a feedback-type distortion limiter.

• AUTO COMPRESSOR: This feed-forward compressor detects the signal level that excites the CHARACTER core and automatically responds to the amplitude of the frequency component of this signal.Unlike some compressors, instead of setting the time constant with an independent attack / release control, it uses automatic attack / release with level detection that matches the UK sound palette.Therefore, the operation of the compressor changes depending on whether or not it is passed through the sidechain filter.
• BASS DRIVE: A voltage-controlled sidechain filter.Increasing the value of this control eliminates the low frequencies that enter the compressor sidechain, essentially preventing the sidechain from sensing them.This prevents the low frequencies below the cutoff frequency of the filter from being compressed, allowing it to pass through subsequent GAIN-DIST and LIMITER circuits relatively safely.While you can emphasize these frequencies, they are more susceptible to pre-release, and depending on the DEPTH, FREQUENCY, and RESONATE values, post-release distortion may be more pronounced.With a little more detail, PITCH DEPTH, as well as the frequency of the excited waveform, is raised above the sidechain filter cutoff of the initial impulse portion of the waveform to initiate compression. FREQUENCY sets the offset and pitch at which the waveform will eventually fall, and RESONATE determines whether the lower level is actually reached before the signal is completely attenuated. If RESONATE is set long enough to exceed the compressor release phase, the low frequency volume passing through the BASS DRIVE will be louder than the first half of the waveform.Most kick drum sounds are short (low RESONATE values) and fit within the compressor's time constant, but it's important to understand this behavior and how to correct it if necessary. BASS DRIVE, PUNCH, GAIN-DIST adjustments all affect gain and in all cases emphasize or reduce low-end distortion.You can also basically use BASS DRIVE to boost the bass.
  
  The image above is a simplified representation of the compressor operating on a high resonance waveform, with the compression stage shown in blue.The pitch envelope is also drawn with a dotted green line.In the purple area, at the back of the waveform, there is an area where the maximum gain defined by the BASS DRIVE cutoff frequency occurs.
  * The frequency range of the BASS DRIVE filter is approximately 20Hz to 530Hz.Therefore, it is possible to apply Pre-release distortion to high frequencies by setting BASS DRIVE to a high value.
  The CV input labeled BASS also provides voltage control for this function, in which case the control knob acts as an offset.By using the control voltage of the negative electrode, the cutoff frequency can be made even lower than the value that can be set with the control knob.In the case of positive electrode voltage, the drive value can be increased.
• GAIN-DIST: The output stage of the compressor.This control can be used in small amounts to increase the output level, which is especially useful if you want to add presence to the overall sound.At high values, it eventually introduces distortion to overdrive both the compressor's VCA and subsequent limiter stages. High values ​​for PUNCH and BASS DRIVE also affect the effect of distortion, so you can adjust these three parameters to get a variety of saturations, gains, and distortions.Voltage control is available from the CV input labeled GAIN.The positive voltage increases the gain and distortion, and the negative voltage reduces them while at the same time attenuating the output if necessary. When using the CV input, the control knob acts as an offset for the CV.
• DISTORTION LIMITER: The final output stage consists of a discrete feedback limiter.This limiter maintains a maximum amplitude of approximately 19.5Vpp to prevent the output from being overloaded by external modules that are susceptible to phase inversion distortion.You can also use this limiter to create different types of distortion that don't require very large gains.When the upper limit of the control that adds gain to the signal is reached, the output is also severely crushed and a layer of clipping distortion is added.
• SIDE-CHAIN ​​INPUT: Labeled SDCHN on the external sidechain input.Applying a sidechain to a kick drum is less common (for example, because a kick is usually used as a sidechain to ducking a bass line), but it can be further enhanced by using this input with the correct type of signal. Provides the shaping ability of the transient.There are two basic ways to take advantage of these, one is relatively simple and the other is a bit more delicate and sophisticated. If you patch the signal to the SDCHN input, the UK waveform will be completely out of the sidechain, so set BASS DRIVE, PUNCH, and GAIN to the minimum.You'll want to add some of these again at some point, but you'll get the best results by starting with the minimum as the default.The simplest procedure is to apply other percussive elements to this input.For example, you can slightly compress the UK level when other percussive elements are active, or layer multiple kicks to control UK dynamics with different kick dynamic content.A more advanced procedure is to trigger the function generator with the same trigger used to excite the UK and patch the output of the function to the SDCHN input.This method, which acts like a compressor pseudo-attack / release control, requires the timing of the function to match most of the length of the UK output waveform.By increasing the attack time, it delays the initial movement of the compressor and enhances the front end of the transient waveform generated by the UK.Both linear and logarithmic functions tend to have interesting results, but these timing elements should be set relatively quickly, especially when using linear fall shapes.Reduce the most compressed part of the waveform by increasing the release time.This is useful not only for fine-tuning the dynamics in the context of how the transient sounds, but also for improving the way the kick is mixed with other percussive elements.
• DYNAMICS CROSS FADER: The dry / wet control of the compressor, labeled DYNAMICS.The use of this feature is known in the audio engineering world as New York Style Compression.You can squeeze this control to the minimum and bypass the DYNAMICS section altogether, but this control provides a way to mix the original uncompressed signal with the output of a fully processed compressor.This gives you much more control over your dynamics and can bring out the presence of a particularly intense distortion effect.Note that both BASS DRIVE and GAIN-DIST are part of the compressor, so if the DYNAMICS control is set to 100% bypass, these features will be disabled.