The Mutable effect

1

There seems to be a lot of ‘new age’ electronica-style music that comes from people that use Mutable Instruments modules and that isn’t a bad thing. They make it very easy to create lots of movement with just a few CVs.

2

Start with Marbles, which acts as both trigger and pitch output. Set the bpm and add a little variation with the jitter control. Note range is set by the spread knob and you can define the stopped vs glide with the steps control.

3

Patch t1 and x1 respectively into the trigger and v/oct of Plaits and choose a voice you like. For this kind of patch the kick drum works well and is a good contrast to the other sounds. Adjust the harmonics, timbre and morph to taste.

4

Take t3 and x3 and patch them into the strum and v/oct of Rings. We like the sympathetic strings setting (orange

LED on the right) with both position and dampening turned up quite high, for an open tone.

5

Take the output of Plaits and patch into Arbhar, then record a few seconds into one channel. Set the wet/dry mix then tinker with the length, intensity and spread until you like what you hear. We prefer a larger spread, which is less reverberant and more identifiable as the source audio.

6

Lastly use Ochd (or any LFO) to modulate the settings that add motion such as position of Rings, Morph or Plaits and the spread of Arbhar. Send the outputs of Arbhar & Rings into a reverb, set not too high, via a mixer/VCA and you are done. A great starting point for an evolving ambient patch.