Sugar Bytes NEST User manual
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NEST
USER MANUAL
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Table of Content
What is Nest 3
Overview 4
Get Started 5
Managing Wires 5
Clock Start 6
Presets 6
The 12 Wiring Scenes 6
The Modules 7
The Sound Page 30
Mode 31
Synth/Drums 31
Plug-ins 32
MIDI 32
Modulation Assign 34
Final Output 35
Header & Settings Screen 36
Host Integration 40
Installation/Uninstallation 43
Contact 45
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What is Nest?
Nest is what you could call a sandbox MIDI generator. It is like having a MIDI Sequencer laid out on the breadboard, having all the
internals ready to play with. Nest provides all possible MIDI sequencer functionalities, but on a modular circuit level.
Inputs and outputs of imaginary, (yet based on real) iCs can be connected in order to create gate, pitch and modulations, and send these
to 8 individual MIDI voices. These voices can be assigned to 4 VST2 plug-ins, internal sound generators and 16 MIDI channels, including
automation and MIDI CCs.
Leap into the the unknown
Nest is a giant Logic monster, and at a certain level, things become unpredictable. It is the moment when man and machine truly start to
work together. You are the master of the rules, and the machine will turn these into sound. And you do your best to trick the machine
into rules that create beautiful music. Feeding shift registers with strange clocks, writing data into sequencers, creating whole
compositions based on your MIDI chord, many things are possible, many plans can be made. Onboard drums, plus 2 different kinds of
synthesizers offer all you need as a starting point.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Overview
Similar to many of our products, it‘s a fwo faced demon. The user interface is divided into two main pages. The Wire page and Sound
page, plus options page. On the Wire Page we create an opus of MIDI data, and on the Sound Page we turn that data into sound.
The math is as follows:
We generate 8 voices of MIDI on the wire page.
Then we have 4 MIDI targets on the sound page.
Each MIDI target can decide, which of the 8 voices it will listen to.
It can either be an internal sound generator, a VST2 Plug-in or external hardware.
Wire Page
The Wire Page resembles our modular system.
Here we interconnect modules to achieve up to 8 voices of MIDI.
Presets and scenes are handles on top of the page, on the right side we have the Wire Editor
and on the bottom we have the MIDI out section, where we trigger voices, send pitch and CCs.
Sound Page
Here we receive our 8 voices and assign them to 4 sound channels.
Each of the four sound channels offers 3 work modes: Synth, Plug-in and MIDI.
Available are two subtractive synthesizers, one analog resonator and a simple drum machine, featuring
Kick, Snare and Noise.
Each channel can load a VST2 Plug-in or send MIDI Out to up to 8 individual MIDI channels.
At the output stage we offer a Reverb, which works as a send effect for the 4 internal sound generators.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Get Started
When you open up Nest for the first time and switch through some presets, you might be blown away by the monstrous amount of wires and
modules, which you might never have heard about before. But bear with us, as this is the moment where all the magic begins.
Managing Wires
Wires can be identified by color. To draw a wire, click a port (round for input, square for output), drag this click to an opposite port and let loose of
the mouse. To delete a wire, click one of its ports and refer to the Wire Editor. When you drag a wire from an In-Port, all other In-Ports will be
greyed out. When you drag a wire from an Out-Port, all other Out-Ports will be greyed out. When a port is selected (just clicked), all connected
ports will be highlighted.
If wires are stacked on inputs, their data is added. This saves us lots of module space, as mathematical adding is now included in the main
workflow. As it comes for adding gates, we included 3 gate-to-trigger modules in order to make gates so short that they don‘t overlap each other
(i.e. multiple gate sources arriving at the same port).
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Presets
We created many beautiful presets, which often develop over time and might also be spread along several “scenes“.
Check out the presets and maybe replace the internal sounds with VST2 Plug-ins from your collection.
Some presets require MIDI notes in order to unfold, as they might be based on the arpeggiator, or record notes to a sequencer.
Click the preset name (here init) in the Preset Browser of Nest to load global presets and save your own work.
Design up to 12 Wiring Scenes
The wiring page offers 12 memory slots for variations.
These 12 scenes not only cover the wiring, but the whole wire page data, including all controls.
This makes it possible to tailor a Nest performance exactly to your song, as each scene can have its own pitch and scale settings.
Handling is as easy as possible:
Click the source scene.
Click the copy-to-button, everything starts blinking.
Click the target, blinking stops, success!
Clock Start
Nest can be triggered per MIDI notes or per internal sequencer. Clicking the Gear Icon on top right opens up the 'Clock Start' option.
If the clock option is set to HOST, Nest will sync to your host’s clock. If it's set to MIDI, Nest 's sequencer will be triggered by a MIDI note only.
In INTERNAL mode, Nest will run on its internal clock, only retriggered by your DAW start/stop.
Wire Editor
Working on the Wire Page is most likely starting with a plan. This Module helps with the wiring, especially when things get messy.
Click on a port and the wire editor will show all connections of the selected port.
You can hover a wire to read the Ins and Outs, delete a wire with the X below it, or delete all wires with the X.
A wire can also be deleted by right-clicking it directly, but there is a certain error-quote, as wires might be overlapping too much in order to
rightclick a certain wire.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Let‘s do the Modules!
In order to make a plan, you need to know what tools are at hand.
Learning the modules as good as possible will be rewarded with awesome results.
Multiplexer and Demultiplexer
Shift Registers
Converters
Clock
Delay/Hold/ClockDivider/Envelope
S+H
Counters
Logic
Not
If/Else
Gate To Trigger and Flop (TRIG and F/2)
Math
Invert
Constants
Oscillators
External MIDI in
Arpeggiator
Sequencer
Gate/Velocity/Pitch MIDI out
Scale
CC/AUTO (Mod Out)
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Multiplexer & Demultiplexer
These modules refer to the 4051 multiplexer IC. It is used to convert parallel and serial data, and basically they work like radio buttons. An address,
defined by 3 bits, is given to the multiplexer, which will determine, which of the 8 inputs is sent to the output.
This is the classical sequencer operation, where you have 8 steps, which are addressed by a clock. Now, if you have access to the 4051 IC itself,
you can do all kinds of things with its address inputs and data inputs. And this is where the fun starts.
Multiplexer (MUX)
Here we have something like a standard sequencer module.
A reminiscence to the 4051 multiplexer and a 4029 binary up/down counter. We have 8 steps, which are
selected by the clock. The selected step is forwarded to the output. For convenience, each step has a
parameter, so no external step value is required. As soon as a cable is connected to the step input, the value
will be ignored and the step input value will be used.
Inputs: Step value (x8)
Clock: Send individual triggers to push the sequencer
one step forward or backward, according to DIR.
Pos: Add a value to the current read position.
Rst: Restart the internal counter.
Dir: 0-up counter, 1-down counter.
Output1: Current step number.
Output2: Multiplexer output.
BMode: A: Address bit to count up to 1. B: Address
bit to count up to 4. C: Address bit to count up to 8.
Inhibit: Address operation is put to rest.
Latch: Sample the output value with the clock, to
maintain a value for the lifetime of a step.
Out:The output represents the value selected by
the given address unless Latch is active.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Demultiplexer (DEMUX)
Here we have the 4051 the other way around. One input signal is sent to one of 8 outputs.
You could spread a rhythm over different voices/sound generators or have an 8-entry table to write pitch into.
The B Mode here as well switches to binary address mode, where the counter is bypassed and the address is
applied directly, using three address bits.
A-Mode:
Clock: Send individual triggers to push the sequencer one step forward or backward, according to DIR.
Pos: Add a value to the current read position.
Rst: Restart the internal counter.
Dir: 0-up counter, 1-down counter.
Step: Step out value (x8).
B Mode:
A: Address bit to count from 0 to 1.
B: Address bit to count up to 4.
C: Address bit to count up to 8.
Inhibit: Address operation is put to rest.
Input: Data input.
Latch: Step value is written to the current step when the clock is triggered, turning the demultiplexer into an 8-entry memory cell.
8 outputs: The input data is sent to the output, which is selected by the address. The output value will be present for the lifetime of a step unless
Latch is active.
Tips:
Send different clocks or triggers to the inputs and then use a slow clock to read the outputs: Use the step number output to shift the pitch!
Especially interesting when the multiplexer is pushed around. Do not always use clocks to read the sequencer, try other trigger sources.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Shift Register
Derived from a classic, the 4015 shift register with an added preset memory. The best image for a shift register is a bucket brigade.
We have 8 individuals, each one holding a bucket. The clock tells them to pass their buckets onward.
When a clock event arrives, the first individual will give its bucket to the second individual and sample a new bucket from the
data input. Now the bucket might be full or empty, according to the data input being high or low when the clock arrives.
In case of the analog shift register, the bucket contains a value between 0 and 127. With each clock input, the buckets are given to the next slot,
until the last slot throws the bucket away. If you connect the last slot to the data entry, the last slot will hand its bucket to the first slot again.
Feedbacking a shift register together with an EXOR logic function makes a LFSR (linear feedback shift register),
producing digital noise, being the most complex 8-bit pattern possible.
Experimenting with other thingies in the feedback loop will bring interesting results.
Because each of the shift registers 8 buckets has an output, you have a clocked delay, which can be used to build
chords for example. The shift register includes a feature from other IC´s that crossed my view, an internal 8 bit preset.
So the 8 bits in the shift register can be saved and loaded via external triggers.
Inputs: Input value.
Clock: Will sample data to the first slot, while all slots
pass their data to the next slot.
Data: Feed data to be sampled by the shift register,
mind the analog mode!
Write: Write the internal preset.
Read: Read the internal preset.
Clear: Trigger this to erase all data from the shift register.
Data out: 8 outputs represent the 8 memory slots of the
shift register.
Additional out: Added bits in the shift register.
ANALOG switch: You can switch SR2 to analog mode in
order to process pitch, velocity or modulation.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Converters
Here we have a 7-bit AD DA converter. The use of such a converter is to turn analog voltage into digital numbers and vice versa.
The number of bits defines the highest number that can be presented.
With 7 bits, we have a value range between 0 and 127, which is perfect for working with MIDI.
Now what do we do with that thing?
AD Converter
The AD Converter will convert a number to 7 bits. If the number changes, the bits change as well.
Higher numbers will address higher bits. Feed the AD with pitch and read these bits with the multiplexer (just use them as
triggers) and you have a pattern generator. Connect these bits to the DA and you are generating different numbers.
DA Converter
The DA Converter will convert seven bits (to be fed with triggers of any kind) into a number between 0 and 127.
Address higher bits to generate higher numbers. The DA Converter basically is used as a number generator, in order to create
pitch,
velocity or modulation.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Clock
Here we have 8 clock division, ready to trigger things in a monotonic fashion.
Tempo: Global Tempo division, which is then divided down further by the clock divider.
Swing: Each 2nd step of the global tempo divider is delayed.
Three clocks are available:
Straight (Clock): 8 Straight clock divisions, based on the global division.
Triplet (Clock T): Clock divisions include triplets.
Binary (Binary Counter): 8 clocks in form of a Binary counter.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Delay/Hold/ClockDivider/Envelope
Here we have 4 modules to choose from.
Delay
Sometimes a trigger is working better in the future or the past, which is when the delay comes in handy.
The delay time is based on 16th notes.
In: Data input for the things that should be delayed.
Time: the delay time, given by the number of 16th notes
Out: Data output for the delayed things.
Hold
Sometimes a trigger or gate should be longer. Maybe for a legato note, or for suppressing other gates arriving at the same ports.
In: Data input for the thing that must hold on.
Time: Hold time in 16th notes.
Out: Data output for the stuff that holds on.
Clock divider
Sometimes a clock is not slow enough, or a rhythm is too busy. This is when an additional clock divider is our friend.
In: Data input for the clock that must be divides.
Time: Division factor, where 3/16 means that the incoming clock is divided by 3.
Out: Data output for the divided clock.
Envelope
Thinking about things, an envelope is the perfect addition here. It can be used to great success when slowly falling curves are required.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Which might well be the pitch of a sound generator, just slightly falling over time. There is a preset called Enveloped Pitch, which shows this.
In: Trigger input for the envelope.
Time: Decay time given in 16th notes.
Data Output for the envelope curve, which is a float value between 0 and 1. It must be multiplied to a bigger value, as Nest overall works with
values between 0 and 127. Refer to the Math module for multiplication.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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S+H
Sample and hold is mainly used as a randomizer in old synthesizers, but it can do far more than just that. Snatching a value from any
data stream at a certain moment is a true superpower. It is only overpowered by the Shift Register, which packs 8 sample and holds
into one module.
The module explains best by port description:
Trig: If this input is triggered, the data input and the internal randomizer will be sampled.
Data: Apply data to be sampled here.
Slew: If the output data changes, the change can be a smooth transition. The transition rate is given by the slew control,
The slew(or transition)rate is determined by divisions of one bar.
The Maximum setting bypasses the transition for a clean cut.
RND: A random value will be generated when the trig input is triggered.
Out: Output presents the resultin value
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Counters
These counters increment values according to arriving clock events, wrapping around at a given number. Counters are good for many things.
They usually run sequencers, but they also are the main tools when generating pitch. Here you can create melodies that go up or down at any
time, at any interval.
Up: Trigger an upcount. The upcount has the value of the trigger. So if you send a 3 here, the result is incremented by 3.
Down: Trigger a down-count. So if you send a 3 here, the result is decremented by 3.
Rst: Set the counter to 0. As for all Rst inputs it is triggered when the host clock restarts.
Max: The counter will wrap around at this number, which will keep the result below this number.
Num: Data Output (result)
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Logic
Logic Gates are the key operators of computing. We feed triggers to the inputs A and B, select a rule and enjoy the result on the output.
Use Logic Gates to merge gates or create new sequences/triggers from existing ones, or set rules based on value comparation.
Logic Gates operate with binary values, 0 being LOW (no signal), 1 and above being HIGH (signal).
For convenience, we included Comparators (>, <, =), which work with all numbers.
OR Output will be HIGH if one or both inputs are HIGH
NOR Output will be LOW if one or both inputs are HIGH
XOR Output will be HIGH if one input is LOW and the other is HIGH
XNOR Output will be LOW if one input is LOW and the other is HIGH
AND Output will be HIGH if both inputs are HIGH
NAND Output will be LOW if both inputs are HIGH
> Output will be HIGH if A is greater than B
< Output will be HIGH if A is smaller than B
= Output will be HIGH if both inputs are equal
!= Output will be HIGH if both inputs are unequal
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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If/Else
The basics of computing come in quite handy, so we included it in the game in the form of an IF/ELSE module.
It operates on various conditions, comparing inputs A and B, while inputs C (true) or D(false) are forwarded to the Output port.
If A (condition) B, we select input C, otherwise we select input D.
A=B If input A is equal to Input B, input c is selected, otherwise input D is selected
A!=B If input A is unequal to Input B, input c is selected, otherwise input D is selected
A>B If input A is greater than Input B, input c is selected, otherwise input D is selected
A>=B If input A is greater than or equal to Input B, input c is selected, otherwise input D is selected
A<B If input A is smaller than Input B, input c is selected, otherwise input D is selected
A<=B If input A is smaller than or equal to Input B, input c is selected, otherwise input D is selected
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
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Gate To Trigger and Flop (TRIG and F/2)
Gate To Trigger
Generally, only one high state can be imminent. If a high state is added to an existing high state, the resulting state just
remains high. Use gate to trig to shorten gate events. Let’s say you use the very slow 16/1 clock, which has a lifetime of
8/1 (with a 16th clock resolution this would be half a bar) to trigger a gate. Now for the lifetime of that event (1/2 bar) no
other gates will be accepted.
Send the 16/1 clock to the gate to trig first. Now, you have a very short gate impulse, which lets room for other gate
impulses you might want to add to this gate slot.
Tip: It’s also helping the other way around: If you have too many gates going on, add a very long gate (like this slow clock)
in order to mute all gates for some time, as the long gate keeps the input high and thus not accepting further gates.
If you run out of gate to trig, use the hold from the delay/hold/clock divider/envelope module.
Flop
or better flip-flop.
It’s basically a simple clock divider. An input gate will turn the flop high, another input gate will turn the flop low again.
Let‘s do the Modules! The Sound Page Header Settings Screen Table of Content
Table of contents
