Qu-Bit Electronix Nebulae User manual

Nebulae
1

Description
Nebulae is a granular sampler and DSP platform. Its phase vocoder audio engine provides elastic audio, which
can be time stretched, granularized, and mangled to no end. With independent control over pitch and speed, and
granular controls such as overlap, window, and density, finding new sonic territory is only a knob turn away. Nebulae
can use live audio input, a recorded buffer, or audio files as the source material for its powerful audio manipulations.
The live input buffer can record up to five minutes of stereo audio at 48kHz, 24 bit. In addition, up to 75 MB of stereo
audio can be loaded simultaneously through the USB port. No naming convention or special formatting necessary;
just plug and play.
Nebulae lives a double life as an open source DSP platform with an extensive library of off the shelf alternate
instruments. You can turn the module into a lush reverb, spectral delay, or tape-style looper simply by loading a new
file onto the flash drive. Do you want to tweak one aspect of an existing instrument, even the default functionality?
No problem. No prior coding knowledge is necessary to tweak and refine existing firmware to your liking or start
with one of our templates. Alternate firmware files can be written with Pure Data, Csound, SuperCollider, and even
bare-bones C programs.
• Granular sampler with time stretching capabilities
• 5 minute stereo recording buffer at 48kHz, 24 bit (In addition to file playback buffer)
• No naming convention or special formatting necessary for file playback
• Supports Pure Data, Csound, and SuperCollider alternate instrument files
• Ships with loaded USB flash drive ready to use
• Black aluminum front panel
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Contents
Description 2
General 6
Specs.................................................. 6
Audio Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Depth ............................................... 6
Width ............................................... 6
Current Consumption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Boot Animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Marked Diagram 8
Granular Looper 9
Primary Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.Speed.............................................. 9
2.Pitch .............................................. 10
3.Start .............................................. 10
4.Size............................................... 10
5.Density ............................................. 10
6.Overlap............................................. 11
7.Blend.............................................. 11
8.Window............................................. 11
9. Audio Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
10. Audio Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
11.Record............................................. 12
12.File .............................................. 12
13.Source............................................. 12
14.Reset ............................................. 13
15.Freeze............................................. 13
16.Pulse ............................................. 13
Edit Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Reload Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Buffer Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Secondary ............................................... 13
2.Pitch .............................................. 14
3.Start .............................................. 14
4.Size............................................... 14
5.Density ............................................. 14
6.Overlap............................................. 14
7.Blend.............................................. 14
8.Window............................................. 15
11.Record............................................. 15
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12.File .............................................. 16
13.Source............................................. 16
15.Freeze............................................. 16
Instr Selector 17
Factory Instr Files 18
One-Shot Polyphonic Sample Player 19
Primary Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.Pitch .............................................. 19
3.Start .............................................. 19
4.Size............................................... 19
5.Density ............................................. 19
6.Overlap............................................. 19
7.Blend.............................................. 19
11.Record............................................. 20
12.File .............................................. 20
13.Source............................................. 20
14.Reset ............................................. 20
15.Freeze............................................. 20
Secondary Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.Start .............................................. 20
4.Size............................................... 20
5.Density ............................................. 20
6.Overlap............................................. 20
8.Window............................................. 21
11.Record............................................. 21
12.File .............................................. 21
14.Reset ............................................. 21
15.Freeze............................................. 21
Synth Voice 22
Primary Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.Pitch .............................................. 22
5.Density ............................................. 22
6.Overlap............................................. 22
7.Blend.............................................. 22
8.Window............................................. 22
10. Audio Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Secondary Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
World of Echo 24
Primary Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.Start .............................................. 24
4.Size............................................... 24
5.Density ............................................. 24
6.Overlap............................................. 24
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7.Blend.............................................. 24
8.Window............................................. 24
9. Audio Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
10. Audio Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
13.Source............................................. 25
Secondary Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Test I/O 26
Secondary Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.Speed.............................................. 26
Formatting a New USB Drive 27
MacOSX................................................ 27
Windows ................................................ 27
Linux................................................... 27
Loading Files 27
FileTypes ............................................. 28
Sample Rate and Bit Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Persistence of Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Addditional Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Neb Log 29
Firmware Update 30
What You Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Theprocess............................................... 30
Reverting to the Factory Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Release Notes 31
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General
Specs
Audio Quality
• 24-bit, 48kHz Stereo Audio Input/Output
Depth
• 34mm
Width
• 20hp
Current Consumption
Powered by +12V
• +12V: 318mA
• -12V: 7mA
Powered by +5V
• +12V: 47mA
• -12V: 7mA
• +5V: 271mA
Installation
To install, locate 20 HP of space in your Eurorack case and confirm the positive 12 volts and negative 12 volts sides
of the power distribution lines. Plug the connector into the power distribution board of your case, keeping in mind
that the red band corresponds to negative 12 volts. In most systems, the negative 12 volt supply line is at the bottom.
The power cable should be connected to the Nebulae with the red band facing the bottom of the module.
To power the the module from Eurorack +5V position the switch behind the Positive Speed LED to the +5V position.
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Boot Animations
The boot animation rotates the RGB LEDs in a circle during bootup, and when reloading files or instruments.
To give useful visual feedback there are a number of different colors used during this animation.
The white booting animation will start 10 seconds after powering the module.
Color Status
White Booting
Blue Loading Files
Aqua Loading Files from USB
Green Firmware Update
Red Error
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Marked Diagram
8

.
Granular Looper
The granular looper plays back an audio file or a recorded buffer and loops it. It is run through a phase vocoder to
allow for the independent pitch and speed control. The output is then run in parallel with a granular processor that
the user can mix between.
Primary Controls
1. Speed
Turning the encoder will increase/decrease the playback speed of the audio sample, or recorded buffer independently
of pitch.
CV input responds to +/- 5V, and is added to current knob position.
Speed ranges from 4x playing backwards to 4x playing forwards .
The illuminated LED will correspond to the direction in which the file is playing back. (Left is backward, right is
forward).
The LED will illuminate twice as bright when you’re set to an even factor of speed.
Positions between speed factors are indicated by a blend of the colors of the surrounding factors.
Speed Color
1/8 White
1/4 Orange
1/2 Yellow
1 (original speed) Blue
2 Green
4 Purple
Holding this encoder for 2 seconds will enter the instrument selector menu.
When recording, the speed is used to determine the new maximum size of the buffer, and is locked.
During circular recording, this lock is disabled, and speed can move freely. The buffer will remain the same size
no matter what..
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.
2. Pitch
Turning the encoder will increase/decrease the pitch of the audio sample, or recorded buffer independently of play-
back speed.
CV input tracks 1V/Octave, accepts 0-5V unipolar, and is added to the knob position.
Pitch ranges from -3 octaves to +2 octaves.
When set to original pitch, both pitch LEDs will be blue.
The LEDs will illuminate twice as bright when set to any octave that is above or below original pitch.
Positions between octaves are indicated by a blend of the colors of the surrounding octaves.
Octave Color Side (left/right)
-3 White Left
-2 Orange Left
-1 Yellow Left
0 (original pitch) Blue Both
+1 Green Right
+2 Purple Right
3. Start
Controls the start position of either the loaded file or the recorded buffer.
CV input responds to +/- 5V, and is added to the knob position.
4. Size
Controls the size of the currently selected loop.
CV input responds to +/- 5V, and is added to the knob position.
5. Density
Controls the rate of grain generation.
Ranges from .120Hz(8.3s) to 2.5kHz(400us).
When the secondary Freeze control is enabled, turning the density knob all the way down disables internal grain
generation.
CV input responds to +/- 5V, and is added to the knob position.
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