Manual beta
This manual documents versions 107 and 108 of the software, which are still in beta.
- Connections
- User Interface
- Main Timing
- Settings Page
- Sync
- Memory
- Pulse Widths
- "O": The Other Input Pin
- Configuration
➢ Power
Pulsar Buddy always requires the 12V supply to work. Unlike many similar Arduino units, this one will not power via USB.
The 12V supply is a standard 5.5x2.1mm barrel jack, center positive (+). It draws 60mA, max. You can use any compatible wall converter, or a "Y" cable to split power off another device that is is 12V, center +.
➢ Ground
Since the control connections are all single wire, you must share signal ground with the other synth. If you are using a "Y" power splitter so that the unit and the synth share a power supply - you should be good. Otherwise, use the black banana jack to connect the unit's ground to some ground connection on the synth.
➢ Signals
All signals are presented as both pins for alligator clips, and banana jacks. You can use both at the same time if you want. The connections are all protected against mis-plugging so long as things stay in the ±15V range.
The two pins on the short edge, and the two red banana jacks on the back are trigger inputs. They are labeled "C" clock and "O" other. A rising voltage over about 2.5V is considered a trigger.
The other four pins and jacks are trigger outputs. They are labeled "T" tuplet, "B" beat, "M" measure, and "S" sequence. They trigger with a rising voltage of about 10V.
➢ LEDs
The four LEDs correspond to the four outputs. If you don't like blinking lights, you can cut the trace labeled "LED Power" (near the ground jack). On older boards, you can just remove the jumper.
➢ Main Display
The four sections of the display are:
- Sync: current BPM or synchronization status
- Sequence: number of measures and meter of the sequence
- Tuplet: tuplet ratio and note value
- Memory: four memory slots
➢ The Knob
Turning the knob left and right will select a field of the display. Clicking the knob then lets you change the value by turning. Click again to set the value. If you just pause, it'll all timeout and deselect.
Some operations require a "long" click - press for about 1.5 seconds, the display will change to let you know it was long enough, then let up. Now you can adjust a secondary parameter for the field.
Note: You never have to turn the knob while it is depressed.
➢ Screen
To protect the OLED screen, the brightness dims a bit after a few seconds of inactivity. After about 15 min. of inactivity, a screen saver will will start, which keeps most of the display off. Just turn the knob to restore the display.
The Sequence area sets up the length of a looped sequence. It outputs two triggers:
- "M" measure - at the start of each measure
- "S" sequence - at the start of each loop of the sequence
The Sequence is set with these fields:
- The number of measures in the sequence
- The number of beats in a measure
- The note value of a beat
- This compound selection will let you choose from common meters easily: 4/4 - 3/4 - 2/4 - 6/8 - 12/16 - 16/16
On the Pulsar-23, you can connect the "S" output to the "LRST" input, which will make the Loop Recorders cycle at the meter and measures set on the Pulsar Buddy. This is the raison d'etre of the Pulsar Buddy! Be warned: The Pulsar-23's Loop Recorder is maximally only 128 Pulsar-23 clocks (or 4 measures of 4/4). If you set the Pulsar Buddy sequence to be longer than that... well, things will be interesting!
Note: Changes to the Sequence settings are queued and happen at the start of the next measure.
The tuplet section controls the other two outputs:
- "B" beat - once for each base beat
- "T" tuplet - once for each tuplet beat
The Tuplet is set with these fields:
- The base beat
- The number of base beats in the group
- The number of tuplet notes the group is divided into
- This compound selection will let you select common tuplets easily: 3:2 - 2:3 - 4:3 - 5:4 - 7:4 - 7:6
Note: Changes to the Tuplet settings are queued and happen at the start of the next measure.
To get to the settings page, turn the knob to highlight the BPM/sync field:
Then, long press:
Selecting the return arrow, and clicking will take you back to the main page.
Pulsar Buddy can sync several different ways. The setting is the second field on the settings page ➢ Clock Sync
Pulsar Buddy syncs to the clock signal on the "C" input. You need to set what that clock represents. The second field on the settings page is sync setting. Hilight it, click once to select that field, then choose among these sync values:
Now you can use the knob to pick a sync value:
-
- quarter notes -
- eighth notes -
- sixteenth notes -
- thirty-second notes
When using PB with the Pulsar-23, these correspond to the Pulsar-23's pins labeled "4", "8", "16", and "CLK" respectively. Using "CLK" means the Pulsar Buddy will respond to clock changes a little faster, but the rest of the Pulsar-23's clock dividers may be out of phase. Using "4" means that the "16", "8", and "4" clock divider pins will be in phase w/the Pulsar Buddy. See "Alignment" below for more on this.
➢ DIN Sync
Puslar Buddy also supports DIN sync. Besure to connect ground on the DIN connector (DIN pin 2 or the shield) to the ground jack, and the clock (DIN pin 3) to the "C" input.
-
- DIN 24 -
- DIN 48
➢ MIDI Sync
Puslar Buddy also supports MIDI sync on it's USB port. Remember that Pulsar Buddy is a USB device, and must be connected to a USB host - like a computer.
➢ Internal Sync
Pulsar Buddy can also ignore "C" and generate it's own BPM. Choose:
-
- Internal sync
When internally sync'd, scrolling to the Sync field, and clicking just once allows you to then change the BPM by twisting the knob.
If everything is sync'd and good, the Sync field shows the current BPM. When the BPM is not a perfect integer, it is annoying to see the occasional jump in the BPM on screen, so the value displayed is filtered to be stable. The internal clock tracker is following the sync signal more tightly. Listen with your ears, not your eyes!
If sync isn't happening, you'll see one these in the Sync field:
-
Paused: The incoming clocks seem to have stopped. -
Confused: The incoming clock is much faster or slower than makes sense for the Sync type. Like getting 100 clock per second when the Sync is supposed to be eighth notes. That would be 3,000BPM - which isn't likely!
The current settings - Sync, Sequence, and Tuplet are always persisted so that if you turn off the Pulsar Buddy (or someone trips over your power cord), it'll come right back when you turn it back on.
In addition, the Pulsar Buddy has four memory slots, each holding the Sequence and Tuplet settings, so that you can switch between rhythms easily while playing.
➢ Loading
Selecting the Memory field will then let you scroll between the four memories. In this mode, the display will show you the contents of the selected memory - but it won't be playing. If you want to load one, you must click the knob while it is showing. If you don't, just pause, and the selection will time out.
When you select a memory, it is queued and changes on the next measure boundary, so everything stays in sync. You'll see the "queued" markers, small triangles along the top, that indicated a pending change:
You'll also see those if you change any of the Sequence or Tuplet settings.
➢ Saving
When you change the Sequence or Tuplet settings, it only affects what is currently playing. If you want to store those settings in a memory, you need to do so explicitly.
To save, scroll to the Memory section, and "long-click":
Only one dot will display. You can scroll to pick which memory to save it in, and then click. As always, if you just pause, it'll all time out and cancel.
On the settings page you can set the pulse lengths generated on each of the four output pins. Rotate the knob to one of the fields under a pin, click to select, and turn to change the width. There are six settings:
From left to right these are:
- Fixed short pulse (~2.5ms)
- 1/4 duty cycle
- 1/3 duty cycle
- 1/2 duty cycle
The last two in this image are these options:
- 1/16th note pulse width
- 1/32nd note pulse width
The O input provides some optional features. By default these are disabled:
The DIN Sync connector includes one or two additional lines that can be used to have the controlling device start, stop, or pause the Pulsar Buddy. In theory, pin 1 is start & stop, and pin 4 is restart & stop (see DIN sync). However, not all devices have both signals, and not all devices implement them to mean the same things.
As there is just one input on Pulsar Buddy, you need to determine if your controlling unit restarts from the top of the pattern on each play, or if it just picks up from where it left off. There are two settings on Pulsar Buddy for these two:
- Stop / Play from top of pattern
- Pause / Continue from where stopped
Usually the first is more useful, but you may need the second if that is the only way you can get your machine to work.
Note for Elektron users: If you use DIN out on the Elektron boxes, they signal pause/continue (by pressing the ▷ button repeatedly), and stop/restart (by pressing ▢ followed by ▷) the same... so there is no way to tell what the instrument is doing! It is best, if using DIN sync to an Elektron box to use the Stop/Play mode for the O pin, and only stop the Elektron unit with the ▢ button.
You can connect O to a trigger source with these modes, and triggers will toggle back and forth between stop/play, or between pause/continue - like similar buttons on a transport control.
- Stop / Play from top of pattern
- Pause / Continue from where stopped
A problem with the Pulsar-23's clock system, is that there is no way to resync it except by pressing the small button in the clock module. This makes it difficult to keep other devices, like Pulsar Buddy, in phase when the Pulsar-23 is the controlling clock.
For example if you are sync'd to Pulsar-23's clock, which is 1/32nd note pulse, then while Pulsar Buddy will stay in sync, and aligned to those 1/32nd notes, there is nothing ensuring that both devices know which 1/32nd puls is a 1/4 note boundry.
One way to handle this is to use 1/4 sync instead, and connect the Pulsar-23's 4 pin to the C pin. This works, but means that Pulsar Buddy will be a little more sluggish in responding to clock changes, and of course the problem of alignment will still be present for longer units.
When using Pulsar Buddy to just keep the Pulsar-23's Looper/Recorders in time to some meter, alignment doesn't matter: The Looper/Recorders are true loops and have no idea of where "the one" is: It is wherever you start playing it.
When using the tuplet features - if you also want to use the Pulsar-23's clock pins - then alignment will be a concern (or not, depending on your music!)
The O input pin can be used to set alignment. In this mode, a pulse on the pin tells Pulsar Buddy where a larger metrical boundry is. Pulsar Buddy will either slew smoothly if it is close, or jump to align if not.
You can set the alignment on pulse to be:
- quarter notes
- half notes
- whole notes
These are useful when O is connected to Pulsar-23's 4, 2, or 1 pins respectively. Larger values ensure that all smaller units are aligned, but take longer to align the first time.
Be aware that aligning to a metrical value that isn't a division of your sequence will align in a musically useful way, but it may not be obvious: If your timing is set to 3 x 5/8.. and you align to 1/4 notes... then since the total sequence length is 15/8, which isn't a mulple of quarter notes, the quarter notes will shift by an 1/8 each time through.
You can also use the align modes with a pulse from a manual switch, or some other patch. Pulsar Buddy will align when it sees a pulse, and will be happy to ignore O if there is no pulse. This allows one time alignment, or you can purposely let things drift, and align them back only to drift again!
For this use there are two more useful alignment settings:
- start of a measure
- start of a sequence
Since these are big metrical units, pulses here will mostly likely snap to alignment, rather than slew.
In this mode, a trigger on O will load the next memory (wrapping around to the start if needed). This is exactly like loading it manually: It'll queue up and change over on the next measure boundry.
You probably won't ever need these configuration options, and certainly never while you're playing. But there are some tunable options here. This is also how you see what version firmware the unit is running.
To get the configuration screen, hold the knob down while you power on the unit, until you see:
— 2x, cause the text is small
The knob will scroll around the various options. Clicking the knob while on an option toggles it on (+) or off (-).
-
Line 1
-
←- saves the configuration changes and restarts
-
-
Line 2 - Options
-
extBPM- extended BPM sync range: currently not used! Pulsar Buddy is now always set in extended range and will track from 10bpm to 900bpm!
-
-
Line 3 - Screen
-
dim- causes the screen to always be dimmer, rather than turning bright as you use it -
sav- enables the screen saver. If you disable it (-), don't leave the Pulsar Buddy on 24 hours a day - the OLED will eventually fade over a few thousand hours of continuous display. -
flip- flips the display over if you prefer to position the Pulsar Buddy the other way 'round.
-
-
Line 4 - Debugging - Leave these off (
-), unless you are working on the code.-
w- wait for the serial line, over USB, to the Arduino IDE, while starting. This ensures you see all the debugging messages. If you turn this on, the unit won't fully start unless you have the USB connected to a computer and the IDE is running. -
f- write messages about flash storage -
t- write messages about timers -
p- plot the clock state variables, using the IDE's plot facility
-
If you make changes, be sure to click on ← on line 1 to save and restart. If you want to abandon your changes, just power cycle the unit.
There are also two commands on line 4:
➢ hw Hardware Test
The display shows an image of the trigger pins & jacks, in and out. Twisting the knob will turn on and off the four trigger outputs in various patterns, some static, and some at 120bpm... just try it and see. The trigger inputs are monitored, and displayed on the screen at all times.
See Kit Assembly for the testing procedure.
➢ xx Erase & Test Memory
This command, after you confirm, erases all of the flash memory and then does a destructive memory test. You will lose all your settings.