Introduction

The disting NT is the latest in the line of modules from Expert Sleepers that started with the original disting in 2014, which performed one of 16 very different functions at the turn of a knob. This concept has evolved through the disting mk3 (2015) - which added the possibility of firmware updates, and so a continually improving selection of functions - and the disting mk4 (2017) - which added a display, and brought the MicroSD card slot onto the front of the module, emphasising its increased importance for functions such as sample playback - to the disting NT’s predecessor, the disting EX (2020).

Ever since the mk3 was released, the modules’ firmwares have been continuously updated with new features, making them even more useful and better value.

We aim to continue this legacy with the disting NT.

Whereas the disting EX built directly on the selection of functions in the mk4, and then added some of its own, with the disting NT we’ve taken everything back to square one. We anticipate (eventually) adding every function ever offered by the previous distings, but every algorithm has been reconsidered and reappraised in the light of the possibilities offered by the new hardware platform. Often things have been streamlined and simplified - for example, a disting EX algorithm that offered a polysynth, a chorus, and a delay would be implemented on the NT as three separate functions, which you could combine as you choose - each function therefore being smaller and easier to deal with.

While the exact future of this module is yet to be written, one thing is certain - it will be driven by user feedback. We have an active user community, and suggestions made by users have often made it into the firmware. So we strongly encourage you to get in touch! Let us know what the disting NT can be for you.

What does it do?

The module takes audio and/or CV input, runs a bunch of software processing, and generates audio and/or CV output. It does this continuously.

The chunks of software processing are called algorithms. You can think of them much as you would think of plug-ins in your DAW. The module has a number of algorithms to choose from, and you can add the ones you want in a big list and the module will run them all.

What is it not?

The disting NT is not a “virtual modular”. There are no virtual cables flying around. It simply collects together a variety of functions that are useful in the context of a modular synthesizer and makes it possible to use a number of them at once.

It is not a “patch player”. It is not the intention that you do all the complex setup on a computer and then copy it over to the module. The module is designed to be used in a modular, with a UI that makes it fluid to do everything in the module itself.

It is not only useful via MIDI. The large number of inputs (and outputs) makes it possible to use it entirely via CV, interfacing with the rest of your modules in a natural way. (That said, it does also make a really good MIDI polysynth.)

In 2019 the launch of the arbhar heralded a new generation of granular processing in Eurorack. Sampled audio could be chopped into tiny grains, scattered, shaped, re-pitched, reversed, and layered for an endless range of audio manipulation ranging from seamless frozen tones to mutated acousmatic madness. Each grain sounds with its defined specifications. When modulation is used, the “per-grain parameter” definition allows for true polyphonic layering.

With the introduction of firmware version 2 (2023) comes a complete rewrite of the entire codebase to implement both technical and conceptual improvements that will enhance the entire user experience of arbhar. We have ensured that the overall feel of the module has been preserved as much as possible. Advances in efficiency and expanded features will allow arbhar to explore many more sonic and musical spaces.

Meet the Lexer Method V2

arbhar | ˈɑɾˠuːɾˠ | noun (envelope) a containing structure or layer, a curve joining the successive peaks of a modulated wave

Granular processor Arbhar V2 Features
* Up to 88 sounding polyphonic grains between two granular engines
* Mono and stereo input configurations
* Six 10 second individual audio buffers
* 1 volt per octave pitch tracking
* On-board random pitch deviation and grain direction probability
* Scan Mode, Follow Mode, and Wavetable Mode
* Stereo pan, feedback delay, and reverb configurations
* Built-in condenser microphone
* Analogue input preamplifier and limiter
* USB import and export functionality
* Audio analysis with onset detection for automatic audio capturing
* User-definable configuration file for complete instrument customization
* Includes 2 HP passive CV Expansion module, 2 HP Passive USB Expansion module and 4GB USB flash drive

Designed in collaboration with Ben "DivKid" Wilson, the Instruo øchd packs 8 all analogue LFOs into a convenient 4HP package. Each independent core is free running with rates configured from fastest to slowest arranged from top to bottom, with a wide frequency range and CV-controllable global rate with attenuverter.

8 channels of active latching switches

Yes, you have VCAs - but none like this

I won't repeat the old motto: you can never have enough VCAs. You can. You probably have enough clean, well-behaved VCAs that show up, do the job and never cause any trouble. But this, this, is not that. This is Optika - an optical VCA, built with our very own handmade vactrols. It's got all the vactrol character you love, delightfully non-linear and easily pushed into overdrive for interesting harmonics. 

• Dual optical VCA - enjoy the natural sound of vactrols

• Colorful sound - decidedly non-transparent VCA which imparts character

• Handmade vactrols - get them before they're outlawed forever

• These vactrols don't bleed - that's right, they fully close

Two channels of drunken muscle that help you turn even a clock signal into organic plucks. The kind of slewy, chewy stuff that makes envelopes of gates, the kind that overdrives and gives you stink-face, the kind that de-sterilizes your digital waveforms, the kind that's got home made vactrols with no palm oil inside them, the kind that makes you fall in love with vactrols all over again. 

If I haven't convinced you at this point, nothing will. Go make ordinary music with clean, boring VCAs, I can't stop you - only you can make that choice.

Shush! With Stum it's easy to tame your audio and signals in a soft and gentle manner - four mechanical switches make it easy to quickly turn an incoming signal on or off, and an adjacent LED makes it immediately obvious whether signal is currently passing or not, so performing even in the dark is no challenge at all.

High quality and generously sized mechanical switches sit flat against the panel to prevent accidents, and give you tactile feedback when muting and unmuting, even an audible click - unlike in your output, where you can look forward to no clicks, no abruptly truncated transients and no signal passing when you least want it to. These mutes close and open fully, and in between offer a smooth and pleasant fade-in and fade-out transition thanks to the vactrols assigned to controlling the mute.

Fully analog and built with reliability and longevity in mind, the Stum will be the perfect companion for anyone seeking a small and reliable solution to control their incoming and outgoing signals without fear of clicking, actuation noise, bleed or other unpleasantness.

The module comes with the latching switches.

Push button, receive gate and trigger signal.

Okay, that's an oversimplification, but not by much. Altered States is a manual gate and trigger generator that allows you to generate gates and triggers, manually, by hand. The gates and triggers are not hand made, of course, those are made electronically by the circuit within, but you're in control of how and when they happen thanks to the buttons.

Operation is simple: the top button is latching, the lower button is momentary. Each button has three outputs: one which generates a gate when the button is depressed, one which generates a gate when the button is not depressed, and one that generates a trigger in response to the former. Use it to flip/flop between patches, trigger events coincident with turning something on or off, temporarily mute (or unmute) CV or audio, generate your own trigger patterns, the possibilities are limited only by your own creativity.

• Generates independent 5v gates in both button states (high and low)

• Generates a trigger upon button presses

• LEDs visually indicate the current state of any given output

All that, and in just 3hp - create syncopations, tap your way into rhythms, trigger events, flip/flop, trigger logic modules, and all of it by hand, giving you new creative options during performance. 

Did you know? During development, the module was called Pusher in reference to the Nicholas Winding Refn trilogy which takes place here, on Amager, where Herzlich Labs modules are hand-built in a torchlit cave on a saber-tooth tiger pelt, using hot rocks for a soldering iron.

OR? Or what, buddy?

Sometimes, you can’t have it all—it’s one or the other. That’s often the case with logic signals, like gates, clocks, and triggers, and mixing them can lead to unintended and undesirable side effects. The simple solution is the clever application of a bit of logic—OR logic.

An analog logic circuit designed for CV, clock, gate, and triggers.

Use it as a dual 3:1 logic, or leave Output A unplugged to use it as 6:1 logic.

It only passes the strongest current signal while blocking others.

It’s a passive design, so it draws no power from your case.

Trigger patterns, gates, clock, and all fall well in control with the OR. Use the fact that stronger signals take priority to your advantage and attenuate signals that you want to take less priority to build interesting patterns with this analog logic device.

Not experimental enough? Send audio through! You’ll get some very interesting harmonics as all negative waveforms are hard-clipped, and the strongest amplitudes will continuously take precedence over other inputs. You may just discover sounds no one had dared dream of.

What you do now is up to you—or is it?

For once, there isn't much to say - what you see is exactly what you get. Four passive attenuators, in 4hp. Perhaps the most useful utility in any system, and here, you get four of them! Fully open, fully closed, or somewhere in between, Qatt will put your signal exactly where you want it to be.

Choose something. Choose nothing.

There was a philosopher who wrote a book about how to live your life in the 1840s. He wrote it from the perspective of two different people, who had vastly different answers to Aristotle's question, "How should we live?"

What he did not account for, however, was the sheer power of the passive OR logic node. Had he known about this, I am certain he would have reached a different conclusion at the end of his book, safe in the knowledge that you can combine up to 8 different CV, trigger and clock signals (audio, too, if you're OK with half-wave rectification) and freely assign them to either bus A or B right at the end, in order to generate complex modulations, rhythms and much more.

• Analog logic circuit designed for CV, clock, gate and triggers

• Eight inputs which can be freely assigned to output A or B

• Only passes the strongest currently present signal, while blocking others

• Passive design: draws no power from your case