Tall Dog mRings SE Series User manual

µRings SE
Eurorack Module
TD-URSE-B
Designed by Daniel & Michael Gilbert of Tall Dog
Electronics in Western Massachusetts
tall-dog.com | urings-se.com
Based on the Rings module designed by Olivier Gillet of
Mutable Instruments
mutable-instruments.net
Manufactured by Elecrow in Shenzhen, China
elecrow.com
Assembled at Rust Temple in Easthampton, MA
rusttemple.today
cba
Licensed under Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Source materials are available on GitHub
github.com/loglow/uRings_SE

2
Contents
About............................................................................................... 3
Included Parts.............................................................................. 3
History............................................................................................. 4
Warranty......................................................................................... 5
Polyphony Selection ................................................................. 6
Resonator Selection .................................................................. 7
Making Connections.................................................................. 9
Front Panel..................................................................................11
Calibration................................................................................... 14
Firmware Warnings..................................................................15
Firmware Update......................................................................16
Serial Programming ................................................................17
JTAG Programming..................................................................18
Documentation .........................................................................19
CC BY-SA 4.0 ................................................................................20
Support......................................................................................... 21
Who We Are ................................................................................. 21

3
About
Rings is a resonator, transforming unpitched excitations
(clicks, bursts, etc.) into full-bodied pitched sounds.
Rings models the bar, the tube, or the strings that you
can make vibrate by providing an external signal.
This redesigned µRings SE (Special Edition) is a new
revision of Rings that miniaturizes the module from
14HP to 8HP and redesigns its front panel layout.
µRings SE remains fully compatible with future
upstream Rings firmware upgrades and any other
alternate firmwares that are compliant with the
standard Rings design.
Included Parts
µRings SE includes a standard 16-pin to 10-pin Eurorack
power cable and two sets of mounting screws for racks/
enclosures with either M2.5 or M3 threads.
The TD-URSE-B/B variant has a matte black front panel
with gold markings made from FR-4 (glass-reinforced
epoxy laminate) material. The included mounting
screws are black.
The TD-URSE-B/S variant has a satin silver front panel
with black markings made from anodized aluminum
material via the Metalphoto process. The included
mounting screws are silver.

4
History
The original Rings (mutable-instruments.net/
modules/rings) was designed by Olivier Gillet of
Mutable Instruments (mutable-instruments.net/
about) under a CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-sa/3.0) license. Rings is available as a 14HP
Eurorack module.
Source: github.com/pichenettes/eurorack

4 5
Warranty
This product is covered under warranty for one year
following the date of purchase as indicated on the
original sales receipt. This warranty covers any defect
in the manufacturing of this product. This warranty
does not cover any damage or malfunction caused
by incorrect use—such as, but not limited to, power
cables connected backwards, excessive voltage levels,
exposure to extreme temperature or moisture levels,
physical damage due to impact, or any aermarket
physical or electrical modifications or repairs.
This warranty covers either repair or replacement,
at our sole discretion. This repair or replacement is
subject to verification of the defect or malfunction and
proof of purchase as confirmed by showing the model
number on an original dated sales receipt. Shipping
and handling fees are to be paid for by the customer.
Please contact [e-mail] for a return
authorization prior to shipping anything to us. Please
understand that we will not be able to service units
under warranty that have been modified or previously
repaired by the customer or a third party.

6
Polyphony Selection
Rings operation is governed by two settings controlled
by buttons located near the center of the module: the
POLY button and the MODE button. Pressing either
button cycles between three states. The current state of
each setting is indicated by the color of its associated
LED: green, amber, or red.
The POLY button selects the polyphony of the module:
LED Color Notes
Green 1
Amber 2
Red 4
Enabling four note polyphony doesn’t mean that four
CV input jacks will magically appear on the module, but
simply that four notes played in sequence will nicely
overlap without cutting o each other’s tails.
To play chords, you will need to strum the module
by playing a rapid sequence of notes—something
you might have already encountered with the Braids
module’s PLUK model.
Note that Rings might reduce the number of harmonics
in the generated signals to cope with higher polyphony
settings.

6 7
Resonator Selection
The MODE button selects from the three available types
of resonators. They are:
Modal Resonator (Green)
Modal synthesis works by simulating the phenomena
of resonance at play in vibrating structures, that is to
say the way a string or plate (for instance) will absorb
certain frequencies while it will ring at some other
frequencies, called the modes.
When we pluck a string, strike a drum or blow in a tube,
the short burst of energy of the blow/impact contains
many frequencies. Some of these fall outside of the
modes, and are absorbed. Some of these excite the
modes, producing a stable, pitched sound. Each mode
corresponds to a harmonic or partial in the spectrum of
the sound, and is modeled by a band-pass filter.
The Q factor of the filter determines how sustained the
oscillations are of the corresponding partial. Various
materials or structures are characterized by dierent
relationships between the frequencies of their modes,
which Rings recreates.

8
Resonator Selection Cont’d
Sympathetic Strings (Amber)
Some interesting string instruments (such as the sitar or
sarod) make use of strings that are not directly struck/
plucked by the musician, but which are just responding
to the vibration of other strings, and add extra overtones
or undertones.
Rings simulates this phenomenon with a bunch of virtual
strings (made with comb filters) allowing the addition of
extra tones to an incoming audio signal. The tuning ratio
between these strings can be altered.
Modulated/Inharmonic String (Red)
This last method is perhaps the most familiar, since it’s
based on the extended Karplus-Strong method: the
excitation signal is sent to a comb filter with an absorption
filter, simulating the multiple reflection of a wave
propagating on a string and being absorbed at its ends.
However, to bring more variety to the sound, Rings
adds three extra ingredients to this classic: a delay-
compensated all-pole absorption filter creating more
drastic plucking eects, delay time modulation emulating
the sound of instruments with a curved bridge (like
the sitar or tanpura), and all-pass filters in the delay
loop, shiing the position of the partials and recreating
the tension of piano strings or completely bonkers
inharmonic timbres.

8 9
Making Connections
Ideally, Rings would need three input signals:
1. A trigger signal on the STRUM input, which indicates
that the currently playing note should fade away,
and that a new note is starting.
2. A CV signal on the V/OCT input, which controls the
frequency of the note.
3. An audio signal on the IN input, which will hit, strike
or caress the resonator.
Because it might not always be possible to get these
three signals in your setup, Rings makes the following
assumptions:
1. If nothing is patched to the IN audio input, the
module will synthesize an excitation signal
whenever a note is strummed. This excitation signal
is either a low-pass filtered pulse or a burst of noise,
depending on the resonator type.
2. If nothing is patched to the STRUM audio input, the
module will determine that a new string should be
strummed either by:
●Detecting note changes on the V/OCT input, or
●Detecting sharp transients within the IN audio
signal if nothing is patched to the V/OCT input.

10
Making Connections Cont’d
If there’s one take-home message from this:
You can play Rings perfectly with just one CV output
taken from a sequencer or sample & hold module!
The note changes on the CV input will be interpreted as
note changes and the module will produce a suitable
excitation signal internally for these note changes to
be heard.