Modal Argon8 User manual

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Modal Argon8
8 voice polyphonic wavetable synthesiser
User Manual
OS Version - 1.0

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Important Safety Information
WARNING – AS WITH ALL ELECTRICAL PRODUCTS, care and general precautions must
be observed in order to operate this equipment safely. If you are unsure how to operate this
apparatus in a safe manner, please seek appropriate advice on its safe use.
ENSURE CORRECT PSU POLARITY - FAILURE TO DO SO MAY CAUSE PERMANENT
DAMAGE - RECOMMENDED USE WITH PROVIDED POWER SUPPLY
This apparatus MUST NOT BE OPERATED NEAR WATER or where there is risk of the
apparatus coming into contact with sources of water such as sinks, taps, showers or outdoor
water units, or wet environments such as in the rain. Take care to ensure that no liquids are
spilt onto or come into contact with the apparatus. In the event this should happen remove
power from the unit immediately and seek expert assistance.
This apparatus produces sound that could cause permanent damage to hearing. Always
operate the apparatus at safe listening volumes and ensure you take regular breaks from
being exposed to sound levels
THERE ARE NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE THIS APPARATUS. It should only be
serviced by qualified service personnel, specifically when:
• The apparatus has been dropped or damaged in any way or anything has fallen on the
apparatus
• The apparatus has been exposed to liquid whether this has entered the apparatus or not
• The power supply cables to the apparatus have been damaged in anyway whatsoever
• The apparatus functions in an abnormal manner or appears to operate differently in any
way whatsoever.

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Index
00. Introduction
Specification
01. Getting Started
Basic Functions
UI Combinations
02. Connections
03. Synthesis Engine
Oscillators
Oscillator Modifiers
Wavetable Modifiers
Filter
Envelopes
LFOs
Arpeggiator
Sequencer
FX
Modulation
Keyboard/Voice
Settings
04. MIDI
MIDI Implementation Chart
05. Update
06. ModalApp
Getting Started
Main Editor
Preset Manager Tab
Modulation Tab
FX Tab
Sequencer Tab
Keyboard Tab
Settings Tab
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00
Introduction
Modal Argon8 is an 8-voice polyphonic wavetable synthesiser.
It features four digital oscillators per voice split into two controllable wavetables with one
innovative offline wave modifier available per wavetable with 32 different options to redraw
each wavetables and one modulatable oscillator modifier available per patch with 8 modifier
types to choose from.
There are 4 flexible multi-mode filters and 3 dedicated flexible envelope generators for AMP,
MOD and FILTER that can be accessed independently or all three simultaneously on board.
Argon8 also boasts a hugely powerful “Mod Matrix” with eight assignable slots and four
additional fixed routes, 11 mod sources and 52 destinations.
The 4-axis joystick can be assigned to a huge range of modulation destinations and can be
‘locked’ in place when desired.
There are two Audio rate LFO’s with tempo sync (one poly, one global). Polyphonic LFO can
sync to frequency divisions.
Argon8 has 12 on board FX; a waveshaping distortion that is followed by three incredibly
powerful, independent and user configurable stereo FX engines that can create sophisticated
Delays, lush Reverbs, Flanging, Phasing, and Rich Choruses to name a few.
The hardware has been manufactured with high-quality components: a powder coated black
steel case, anodised aluminium top panel, endless encoders and a super bright white on black
OLED screen.
Among the many connections, Modal Argon8 features a USB port to connect your synth to
the MODALapp user interface on a computer tablet or phone. This can be used for preset
design and management as well as updating the firmware on your Argon8 (please see
‘Updates’ section).

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Specification
• True 8 voice polyphonic
• 120 carefully crafted wavetables split into 24 banks of 5 morphable waveform sets,
covering virtual analogue classics through to cutting edge EDM and many from the
original Modal 002 as well as a whole range of mathematically generated tables.
Additional PWM bank and 3 noise/modulation banks accessible on Oscillator 2
• 32 static wavetable modifiers including, de-rez, wave folders, wave shapers, phase
shapers and rectify that can be applied to the 120 wavetables to give a mind boggling
array of permutations and new waveshapes.
• 32 high resolution wavetable oscillators, 4 per voice
• 8 types of oscillator modifier including: Phase Mod (FM), Ring Mod, Amp Mod, Hard Sync
and Windowed Sync
• Voice Drift and Width controls that help to create massive stereo soundscapes
• Multiple keyboard modes, Mono, Poly, Unison 2, unison 4, unison 8, Stack 2 and Stack 4
• Inbuilt sophisticated programmable arpeggiator of 32 steps with rest capability with up to
2048 steps before repeating
• Glide/Portamento with both legato and staccato modes
• 4 Filter types. All filters types are 2 pole state-variable filters, the ‘Standard’ filters
are based on the resonant filter found in other Modal products (SKULPTsynth,
CRAFTsynth2.0). The ‘Classic’ types have a more rounded character and a softer
resonance response.
• 8 assignable modulation slots
• 4 additional fixed modulation routings for common assignments
• 11 modulation sources
• 52 modulation destinations
• 4-axis joystick that can be assigned to a huge range of modulation destinations and
virtually ‘locked’ when desired
• 3 dedicated envelope generators for AMP, MOD and FILTER that can be accessed
independently or all three simultaneously including negative (reverse) versions
• 2 Audio rate LFO’s with tempo sync (one poly, one global). Polyphonic LFO can sync to
frequency divisions
• Waveshaping distortion
• 3 incredibly powerful independent and user configurable stereo FX engines for Chorus,
Phaser, Flanger (Pos), Flanger (Neg), Tremolo, LoFi, Rotary, Stereo Delay, Ping-Pong Delay,
X-Over Delay and Reverb that can be arranged in any order
• 32-step programmable arpeggiator
• Real time sequencer with 512 notes with input quantise and four recordable / editable
parameter animations (Delay FX, LFO’s, sequencer and arpeggiator can be either clocked
internally or externally)
Specification
• 500 patch memories, all fully editable and ships with 300 factory programs
• 200 user patch spaces. Patch upload and download through the free MODALapp
• 100 sequencer presets that can be linked to any patch for quickly loading arrangements
• 100 FX presets
• 8 Quick Recall slots accessible from the panel for quickly loading your favourite patches
• Analogue clock sync in and out (configured to the KORG / Teenage Engineering
specification)
• MIDI DIN in and out
• Full size quarter inch jacks for stereo audio outs, headphones and external control such as
sustain and expression
• 3.5 mm stereo input with ability to route incoming audio through the FX
• FATAR TP9/S Full size 37 key keybed with both velocity and aftertouch
• 1.54 inch large OLED display – that provides instant visual feedback to the user at all
times of playing/editing
• Class compliant MIDI provided over USB connection to host computer or tablet
• Optional MODALapp software editor available for macOS, Windows, iOS and Android
• MODALapp can also be run within your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), with VST3
and AU versions available
• Power: DC-9.0V - 1.5A center-positive
• Road ready Steel and Aluminium chassis
Dimensions
• Width: 555mm – 22 inches
• Depth: 300mm – 11-3/4 inches
• Height: 100mm – 4 inches

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01
Getting Started
Basic Functions
Powering on
Connect the power lead to your Argon8 then connect the outputs of the Argon8 to your
mixer, or if you prefer, connect your headphones. Optionally connect a USB cable from your
computer or tablet device to the Argon8 for MODALapp communication.
Before powering up ensure the volume control to any speakers is at minimum, power on can
create a ‘pop’ and this may cause damage to your speakers and the sound guy’s ear drums.
Then power on.
You will see a loading animation on the screen. When the synth has loaded it will change to
show the main patch page.
Press down a key and slowly turn up the volume to a comfortable level.
Screen Control
The Modal Argon8 interface is designed to be extremely intuitive and easy to use, so that
all the most important parameters are easily accessible and tweakable directly from the top
panel, however, all functions are also accessible and tweakable on-screen using the two
indented encoders.
These two switched-encoders are located either side of the screen are used for screen
navigation and control and can be clicked to either switch mode or trigger / modify the
selected function:
• Page/Param - When this encoder is in ‘Page’ mode (top row of on-screen text) it cycles
through the parameter pages / groups (e.g. Osc1, Osc2, Filter); when it’s in ‘Param’ mode
(bottom row of on-screen text) it cycles through the parameters on that page / group.
Use the switch by clicking the encoder to toggle between the two modes, where the
mode is displayed on the screen with a line at top for ‘Page’ mode and at the bottom for
‘Param’ mode.
• Preset/Edit (/Bank) - This encoder/switch is used to adjust the currently selected value
or ‘trigger’ the currently displayed parameter. When the panel is in ‘Shift’ mode the
‘Load Patch’ encoder is used to select the patch bank number, jumping up or down in
increments of 100.

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Basic Functions
Secondary functions
Argon8 is a comprehensive and fully featured synthesiser despite its small size. Therefore there
are a number of user interface combinations that are required to access some of the deeper
functions of the synth. The top panel UI has 4 buttons that can access secondary functions.
These are the SHIFT, PATCH, VELO & ARP buttons.
To access the functions labelled in light blue text you may either press ‘Shift’ to latch shift
mode or use it momentarily by holding ‘Shift’ and turning an encoder or pressing a button.
Once let go the panel will return automatically to it’s regular non-Shift state.
To access the functions on the panel labelled in light grey text (3 buttons bottom left, 3
buttons and 2 encoders bottom right), hold the button in that section that has a light grey
ring (‘Velo’ button or ‘Arp’ button) and press the relevant button. NOTE: These combinations
are momentary, not latch-able.
The ‘Patch/Seq’ button is primarily used to switch the screen to either the ‘Load Patch’ or
‘Load Seq’ param for loading patches or sequences, entering the panel into either ‘Patch’
mode or ‘Seq’ mode. When in ‘Patch’ mode the ‘Save’ and ‘Init’ buttons are used for patch
preset management, however when in ‘Seq’ mode the ‘Save’ and ‘Init’ buttons are used for
sequence preset management. When the white LED above this button is lit, it signifies that the
panel is in ‘Seq’ mode.
When held the ‘Patch/Seq’ button can also be used to select ‘WavMod’s for each wavetable
by turning either of the ‘Wave1’ or ‘Wave2’ encoders, to select the Filter Type by turning the
‘Cutoff’ encoder, to select the ‘Arp Gate’ length by turning the ‘Arp’ encoder or, to dial in
the amount of dynamics processing being applied by the ‘Patch Gain’ function by turning the
‘Volume’ encoder.
The ‘Init / Rand’ button/functions respond to a button hold.
Navigating and Loading Preset
To navigate through and load patches first press the ‘Patch/Seq’ button to return to the Patch
page and use the ‘Preset/Edit’ encoder to scroll through presets. Click this encoder in on the
desired preset to load it. An asterisk will appear on next to the current preset name to indicate
unsaved edits.
Init Preset
Press and hold the ‘Init’ button, a confirmation message will appear on-screen however the
preset will not be overwritten until saved.
Basic Functions
Randomise Preset
Either when in ’Shift’ mode or while momentarily holding ‘Shift’ press and hold the ‘Rand’
button, a confirmation message will appear on-screen however the preset will not be
overwritten until saved. Randomise is only available for patches.
Save Preset
First press the ’Save’ button to enter the ‘full’ save procedure (setting preset slot and/or name
- see below), or hold the ‘Save’ button to perform a ‘quick’ save (saving preset directly into
current slot with current name).
Once you are in the ‘full’ save procedure, presets are saved in the following way:
Slot Selection
Use the ‘Preset/Edit’ encoder to select the preset bank/number to save into, and press the
‘Edit’ switch to select it.
Naming
Use the ‘Page/Param’ encoder to select the character position, and use the ‘Edit’ encoder
to select the character. Press the ‘Preset/Edit’ switch to finish editing the name. There are a
number of panel shortcuts here:
• Press ‘Oct-‘ to jump to lowercase characters
• Press ‘Oct+’ to jump to uppercase characters
• Press ‘Transpose’ to jump to numbers
• Press ‘Chord’ to jump to symbols
• Press the ‘Page/Param’ switch to add a space (increment all above characters)
• Press ‘Init’ to delete the current character (decrement all above characters)
• Hold ‘Init’ to delete the entire name
Confirming
Press the ‘Preset/Edit’ switch to confirm the settings and save the preset.
At any point during the save procedure hold the ‘Page/Param’ switch to move back a step.
To exit/quit the procedure without saving the preset, press the ‘Patch/Seq’ button.

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UI Combinations
Quick Recalls
Argon8 has 8 Quick Recall slots for quickly loading presets. Quick Recalls are controlled using
the following button combos:
• Hold ‘Patch’ + hold one of the eight buttons on bottom left of the panel to assign the
currently loaded patch to a QR slot
• Hold ‘Patch’ + press one of the eight buttons on bottom left of the panel to load the
patch in the QR slot
LFO
• Turn the ‘Rate’ encoders into the negative range to access synced rates
Oscillators
• Hold the ‘Patch’ button and turn the ‘Wave1’ or ’Wave2’ encoder to control the WavMod
parameters
Filter
• Hold the ‘Patch’ button and turn the ‘Cutoff’ encoder to control the Filter Type parameter
Envelopes
• Hold any of the EG buttons for one second and then turn the ADSR encoders to adjust all
envelopes simultaneously
• Press the MEG button when MEG is already selected to latch MEG assign
Sequencer
• Hold the ‘Mute’ button to clear the sequencer notes
• Hold the Anim1 / Anim2 / Anim3 / Anim4 buttons to clear an animation lane
• When the screen is displaying the ‘Linked Sequence’ parameter, hold the ‘Edit’ switch to
set the value to be the currently loaded sequence.
Arp
• Hold the ‘Arp’ button and press keys on the internal or an external keyboard to add
pattern notes or press the ‘Rest’ button to add a rest to the pattern
• Hold the ‘Patch’ button and turn the ‘Division’ encoder to control Arp Gate
UI Combinations
Keyboard/Voice
• Press ‘Unison’ repeatedly to cycle through the different unison modes; press ‘Stack’
repeatedly to cycle through the different stack modes
• Press ‘Chord’ whilst holding a chord on the internal or an external keyboard to set the
chord mode chord.
• Hold ‘Transpose’ and press a key on the internal keyboard to transpose all notes, where
the central C key is the root note. Press ’Transpose’ with no keyboard interaction to reset
the transpose value back to 0.
Modulation
• To assign a Mod Slot either hold (momentary) or latch the desired Mod source button -
then set a depth by turning desired modulation destination parameter encoder
• When latched in a Mod Source assign mode pressing the flashing Mod Source button
again will exit assign mode
• Mod source button + ‘Depth’ encoder - set global depth for that mod source
• Press ModSlot repeatedly to cycle through and view all mod slot settings on the screen
• When the screen is displaying a mod slot ‘Depth’ parameter (most easily accessed via
assigning modulation using the panel or via the ModSlot button), hold the ‘Edit’ switch to
clear the mod slot assignment.
• To assign a mod source to an osc’s global frequency destination, use either of the fine
tune controls. ‘Tune1’ will assign to Osc1 tune, ‘Tune2’ will assign to Osc2 tune.
FX
• Press FX1 / FX2 / FX3 button repeatedly to change the FX type of the slot
• Hold FX1 / FX2 / FX3 button to reset the FX type of the slot to ‘None’
• Turn the ‘B’ encoder into the negative range for the slot with a Delay FX assigned to
access synced delay times
• Press FX1 + FX2 + FX3 to jump to the ‘FX Preset Load’ parameter
Global Settings
• When the screen is displaying the ‘Reset’ option, hold the ‘Edit’ switch to trigger the
‘Reset’ function.

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02
Connections
Headphones
Headphone output on 3.5mm Stereo
jack. The volume can be adjusted using
the VOLUME knob, the MODALApp, or
through MDI CC. (See the MIDI section)
The headphone output will match the
audio output so it can be either stereo
or mono depending on the current
audio out configuration.
Line Out
Line level stereo outputs on 1/4” mono/
TS and stereo/TRS jacks. The left jack
only will break the stereo circuit and
collapse the signal to mono. These
outputs can be connected to any
line level input for monitoring and
recording. The line output is higher
quality than the headphone output,
so always use it when recording or
performing. The Line out level can be
adjusted using the ‘Volume’ knob.
Sustain Pedal over standard 1/4” mono/
TS or stereo/TRS jack from an external
sustain pedal.
Note: Argon8 supports both types of sustain pedal
polarities. “Positive / Normally Open” pedals can be
connected / disconnected whilst Argon8 is powered on,
however “Negative / Normally Closed” pedals must be
connected before powering on the device and disconnected
after powering off the device in order to work correctly.
If your sustain pedal has a polarity switch we recommend
setting it to the “Positive” polarity. If you are unsure of your
pedal’s polarity type, it is recommended to only connect /
disconnected the pedal whilst the device is powered off.
Expression Pedal over standard 1/4”
stereo/TRS jack from an external
expression source.
Argon8 works best with expression pedals that use the TRS
polarity and have a resistance of 10k or above. However
ARGON8 has a software configuration option for providing
basic compatibility with RTS polarity pedals as well as for
improving the compatibility with different resistances. If
your expression pedal has a polarity switch we recommend
setting it to the ‘TRS’ polarity (the default setting on most
pedals). For setting maximum compatibility with your
expression pedal’s polarity and resistance value, please see
the ‘Settings - Pedal Type’ section. If you are unable to
configure Argon8 to work adequately with your expression
pedal, you may need to use a TRS Polarity Adapter. Please
note that expression pedals with the TS polarity will not
work with Argon8.
Clock Sync (In, Out)
Clock Sync In / Out on 1/4” mono/TS
jack. Simply plug into your clockable
gear as desired. (See the Sync section)
Power
Power switch for Argon8. Power via
DC-9.0V - 1.5A center-positive PSU
(supplied)
Audio In
Audio Input on 3.5mm stereo/TRS jack.
USB MIDI
Argon8 is a class compliant USB MIDI
device and connects to a USB host
via USB B Connection for MODALapp
communication, MIDI input and MIDI
output. Simply connect Argon8 to a
USB socket, such as on your computer
or tablet with a standard USB cable and
find ‘Argon8’ listed as a MIDI port on
your computer or tablet.
MIDI (In, Out)
MIDI In / Out on MIDI 5-pin DIN
cable. These outputs can be used
to communicate with any other
MIDI devices. The MIDI Out can be
set to Thru using MODALapp or
MODALplugin (See the MIDI section)

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Synthesis engine