Plaits is the spiritual successor of Mutable Instruments’ best-selling voltage-controlled sound source, Braids. Not just a mkII version: its hardware and software have been redesigned from scratch.
Just like its predecessor, it offers direct access to a large palette of easily tweakable raw sonic material, covering the whole gamut of synthesis techniques.
Text and diagrams by Mutable Instruments and is Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Virtual-analog synthesis of classic waveforms.
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detuning
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variable square
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variable saw
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Sum of two hardsync’ed waveforms, the shape of which is controlled by MORPH and detuning by HARMONICS.
A narrow pulse or wide notch results in silence! Use this trick if you want to silence one of the two oscillators, to get just a variable square or variable saw.
An asymmetric triangle processed by a waveshaper and a wavefolder. i.e. Tides at audio rate.
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waveshaper waveform
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wavefolder amount
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waveform asymmetry
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variant employing another wavefolder curve, as available in Warps.
Two sine-wave oscillators modulating each other’s phase.
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ratio
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mod index
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feedback
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sub osc
turn MORPH fully CCW to get the same range of sounds as Braids’ WTFM. Turn MORPH fully CW to recreate the same sounds as Braids’ FBFM. A gentler palette equivalent to Braids’ FM is found with MORPH at 12 o’clock.
Simulation of formants and filtered waveforms through the multiplication, addition and synchronization of segments of sine waves.
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ratio
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formant frequency
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width / shape
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simulation of filtered waveforms by windowed sine waves – a recreation of Braids’ Z*** models. HARMONICS controls the filter type (peaking, LP, BP, HP), with smooth variation from one response to another.
An additive mixture of harmonically-related sine waves
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# of bumps
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index
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bump shape
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variant including only the subset of harmonics present in the drawbars of a Hammond organ (frequency ratios of 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12).
Four banks of 8x8 waveforms, accessed by row and column, with or without interpolation.
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bank selection
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row
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column
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low-fi (5-bit) output.
Bank A: harmonically poor waveforms obtained by additive synthesis (sine harmonics, drawbar organ waveforms).
Bank B: harmonically rich waveforms obtained by formant synthesis or waveshaping.
Bank C: wavetables from the Shruthi-1 / Ambika, sampled from classic wavetable or ROM playback synths.
Bank D: a joyous semi-random permutation of waveforms from the other 3 banks.
Four-note chords, played by virtual analogue or wavetable oscillators. The virtual analogue oscillators emulate the stack of harmonically-related square or sawtooth waveforms generated by vintage string&organ machines.
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chord shape
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inversion
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waveform
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Root note of the chord.
The first half of the knob goes through a selection of string-machine like raw waveforms (different combinations of the organ and string “drawbars”), the second half of the knob scans a small wavetable containing 16 waveforms.
A collection of speech synthesis algorithms.
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formants / SAM / LPC
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species
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phoneme / word segment
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Unfiltered vocal cords’ signal.
A swarm of 8 enveloped sawtooth waves.
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pitch randomization
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density
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duration / overlap
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Variant with sine wave oscillators.
To get a nice “supersaw” waveform, try a moderate amount of pitch randomization and grain density, with full grain overlap.
Variable-clock white noise processed by a resonant filter. The cutoff frequency of the filter is controlled by the FREQUENCY knob and the V/OCT CV input. This allows proper tracking!
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LP / BP / HP
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clock frequency
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resonance
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Variant employing two band-pass filters, with their separation controlled by HARMONICS.
Dust noise processed by networks of all-pass or band-pass filters.
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frequency randomization
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particle density
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filter type
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Raw dust noise.
Modulated/inharmonic string synthesis, and modal resonators. A mini-rings.
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inharmonicity / material selection
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brightness / density
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decay
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Raw exciter signal.
Plaits uses a less powerful processor than Rings, and is thus limited to 3 voices of polyphony in inharmonic string modeling mode, and 1 voice of polyphony with 24 partials in modal resonator mode. Plaits does not allow you to control the position of the excitation, which is set to 25% of the length of the string/bar/tube.
When the TRIG input is not patched, the string/resonator is excited by dust (particle) noise. Otherwise, the string is excited by a short burst of filtered white noise, or by a low-pass filtered click.
Simulation of circuits from classic drum machines. The drum machine emulated on OUT employs a bridged T-network excited by a nicely shaped pulse.
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attack / drive
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brightness
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decay
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Frequency-modulated triangle VCO, turned into a sine with a pair of diodes, and shaped by a dirty VCA.
Without any signal patched to the TRIG input, a continuous tone is produced. Not particularly useful, but its amplitude can still be modulated by the MORPH knob and CV input!
The drum machine emulated on OUT employs a bunch of bridged T-networks, one for each mode of the shell, excited by a nicely shaped pulse; plus some band-pass filtered noise.
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tone / noise
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modes
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decay
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Based on a pair of frequency-modulated sine VCO, mixed with high-pass filtered noise.
6 square Square oscillators generate a harsh, metallic tone. The resulting signal is mixed with clocked noise, sent to a HPF, then to a dirty transitor VCA.
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metal / noise
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high pass
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decay
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three pairs of square oscillators ring-modulating each other, and a clean, linear VCA.
Pair of classic waveforms
Waveshaping oscillator
Two operator FM
Granular formant oscillator
Harmonic oscillator
Wavetable oscillator
Chords
Vowel and speech synthesis
Granular cloud
Filtered noise
Particle noise
String modeling / Modal resonator
Analog bass drum model
Analog snare drum model
Analog hi-hat model