uBurst

Michigan Synth Works 8HP
fw Parasites
GRANULAR EFFECTS DELAY REVERB

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8HP micro-clone of Mutable Instruments Clouds running Parasites firmware. Same DSP as Clouds (stereo granular texture synth with a rolling buffer) plus five alternate engines: Pitch-shifter/Time-stretcher, Looping Delay, Spectral Madness, Oliverb (shimmer reverb), and Resonestor (Karplus-Strong string/chord resonator).

Patch Ideas · 7

★ Spectral freeze drone
Spectral Madness mode with Freeze held and slow LFOs on Position and Size — infinite evolving harmonic drone.
Walkthrough
  1. Hold the small Quality/Blend-select button (right of the Blend knob) for 5 seconds until the Blend LED turns yellow, then short-press Quality three times to land on Spectral Madness (LED indicates the mode).
  2. Short-press Quality until the Blend LED is green (Dry/Wet slot), turn the Blend knob fully CW (all wet).
  3. Starting positions: Position noon, Spectral Warp (Size) at noon, Pitch at noon, Temporal Quantisation (Density) at noon, Spectral Quantisation (Texture) at noon.
  4. Patch your source (pad, guitar, field rec) -> uBurst In L. In R is normalled from In L for mono.
  5. Play a few seconds of source, then press Freeze. The LED lights and the buffer stops recording.
  6. Patch a slow LFO (cycle ~30s) -> uBurst Position CV — sweeps through spectral frames.
  7. Patch a second slow LFO (cycle ~15s) -> uBurst Size CV — animates the warp.
  8. Patch uBurst Out L -> Mixer L and Out R -> Mixer R.
Signal out Out L / Out R — stereo phase-vocoder drone, ±8V, stays frozen until you release Freeze.
Listen for A continuous harmonic wash where partials drift in and out as the Warp LFO moves. The frame-scan LFO keeps it from locking into one tone — you hear the source's harmonics smeared across pitch.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 5 modules and 5 connections. Modules: uBurst, Source, LFO 1, LFO 2, Mixer. Signals: 3 audio, 2 cv.uBurstSourceLFO 1LFO 2MixerMode: Spectral Madness (5s hold Quality + 3 presses)Freeze: ONBlend slot: Dry/Wet, full CWIn LaudioPosition CVcvSize CVcvOut LaudioRight OutaudioOutaudioSlowcvSlowercvIn LaudioIn Raudioaudiocv
★ Pitched reverb
Pitch-shifter/Time-stretcher mode with a quantized melody on V/Oct and heavy reverb in the Blend slot.
Walkthrough
  1. Hold Quality 5s until yellow LED, then short-press Quality once to select Pitch-shifter/Time-stretcher mode.
  2. Short-press Quality until the Blend LED is yellow (Reverb slot), set the Blend knob to ~3 o'clock for a wet tail.
  3. Size at ~1 o'clock (medium window), Diffusion (Density) at ~1 o'clock, LP/HP Filter (Texture) at noon.
  4. Pitch knob at noon — V/Oct will set the transposition.
  5. Patch a VCO or sampled voice -> uBurst In L.
  6. Patch a quantizer or sequencer pitch CV -> uBurst V/Oct — each step re-pitches the grain engine.
  7. Patch uBurst Out L -> Mixer L and Out R -> Mixer R.
Signal out Out L / Out R — transposed source with long reverb tail, ±8V stereo.
Listen for Each V/Oct step transposes the whole wet signal by that interval — the reverb tail climbs and falls with the sequence like a haunted choir.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 4 modules and 4 connections. Modules: uBurst, VCO, Quantizer, Mixer. Signals: 3 audio, 1 pitch.uBurstVCOQuantizerMixerMode: Pitch-shifter/Time-stretcher (5s hold + 1 press)Blend slot: Reverb (yellow), ~3 o'clockSize: ~1 o'clockIn LaudioV/Oct1v/octOut LaudioRight OutaudioOutaudioOut1v/octIn LaudioIn Raudioaudiopitch
★ Granular stutter
One grain per clock pulse with Density at noon — rhythmic micro-slicing of incoming audio.
Walkthrough
  1. Confirm Granular mode (default on power-up, Blend LED green). If unsure, hold Quality 5s and short-press to cycle back to Granular.
  2. Short-press Quality until Blend LED is green (Dry/Wet slot), turn Blend fully CW (all wet so only grains are heard).
  3. Set Density to exactly noon — at this setting no grains spawn automatically; only external triggers fire grains.
  4. Size at ~10 o'clock (very short grains), Texture CCW for sharp/glitchy windows, Pitch at noon.
  5. Patch your source (drum loop, vocal) -> uBurst In L.
  6. Patch a clock or rhythmic gate (16th notes work well) -> uBurst Trigger — each pulse fires one grain.
  7. Patch uBurst Out L -> Output L and Out R -> Output R.
Signal out Out L / Out R — one grain per clock pulse, ±8V, rhythmically stuttered source.
Listen for Your source chopped into tiny slices on every clock step — a glitchy rhythmic stutter. Shorter Size = clickier slices; wider Texture = smoother micro-slices.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 4 modules and 4 connections. Modules: uBurst, Source, Clock, Output. Signals: 3 audio, 1 clock.uBurstSourceClockOutputMode: GranularDensity: noon (1 grain per TRIG)Size: very shortBlend slot: Dry/Wet, full CWIn LaudioTriggerclkLeft OutaudioRight OutaudioOutaudioOutclkIn LaudioIn Raudioaudioclock
Looping delay with degradation
Looping Delay mode with LFO on the filter and envelope-swept feedback — decaying dub delays.
Walkthrough
  1. Hold Quality 5s, then short-press twice to enter Looping Delay mode.
  2. Short-press Quality until Blend LED is orange (Feedback slot), Blend knob at ~2 o'clock for 3-4 audible repeats.
  3. Position (Pre-delay) at noon, Size at noon (~medium delay time), Pitch at 0 to bypass the pitch-shifter for clean delays.
  4. Diffusion (Density) at ~1 o'clock, LP/HP Filter (Texture) at noon as a starting point.
  5. Patch your source -> uBurst In L.
  6. Patch a slow LFO -> uBurst Texture CV for filter motion that sweeps each repeat.
  7. Patch an envelope (triggered by your rhythm) -> uBurst Density CV for diffusion swells.
  8. Patch uBurst Out L -> Output L and Out R -> Output R.
Signal out Out L / Out R — dry + delayed source with moving filter and diffusion, ±8V.
Listen for A dub delay that slowly filters down and smears each repeat. The LFO darkens/brightens the tail; the envelope makes each hit bloom into a diffused cloud.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 5 modules and 5 connections. Modules: uBurst, Source, LFO, Envelope, Output. Signals: 3 audio, 2 cv.uBurstSourceLFOEnvelopeOutputMode: Looping Delay (5s hold + 2 presses)Blend slot: Feedback (orange), ~2 o'clockPitch: 0 (bypass)In LaudioTexture CVcvDensity CVcvLeft OutaudioRight OutaudioOutaudioOutcvOutcvIn LaudioIn Raudioaudiocv
Freeze-chopped reverb tail
Reverb feeds uBurst in Granular mode, euclidean gates toggle Freeze, LFO drifts Position inside each freeze.
Walkthrough
  1. Confirm Granular mode (Blend LED green).
  2. Short-press Quality until Blend LED is green (Dry/Wet), Blend knob full CW (all wet).
  3. Position at noon, Size at ~1 o'clock, Density at ~2 o'clock (thick cloud), Texture at noon.
  4. Patch an external reverb (e.g. Desmodus Versio) Left Out -> uBurst In L.
  5. Patch a euclidean gate sequencer -> uBurst Freeze input — each pulse latches Freeze on/off, chopping the tail.
  6. Patch a slow LFO (cycle ~4s) -> uBurst Position CV — drifts the playhead during each frozen window.
  7. Patch uBurst Out L -> Mixer L and Out R -> Mixer R.
Signal out Out L / Out R — gated granular reverb tail, ±8V, drifts while each freeze window holds.
Listen for The reverb tail gets chopped into rhythmic blooms. During each frozen chunk the LFO scrubs Position so the tail still mutates slightly — rhythmic stutters with living content underneath.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 5 modules and 5 connections. Modules: uBurst, Desmodus Versio, Euclidean Gate, LFO, Mixer. Signals: 3 audio, 1 cv, 1 trigger.uBurstDesmodus VersioEuclidean GateLFOMixerMode: GranularBlend slot: Dry/Wet, full CWIn LaudioFreezetrigPosition CVcvLeft OutaudioRight OutaudioOut LaudioOuttrigOutcvIn LaudioIn Raudioaudiocvtrigger
Parasites looping delay disintegration
Looping Delay with feedback near runaway, slow Position warble, and lo-fi buffer — the loop falls apart.
Walkthrough
  1. Hold Quality 5s then press twice for Looping Delay mode.
  2. Hold Quality 1s then short-press until the 3rd quality LED (16kHz 8-bit stereo, 4s buffer) lights red — lo-fi crunch plus a longer buffer.
  3. Short-press Quality until Blend LED is orange (Feedback slot), Blend knob at ~2 o'clock (just shy of runaway).
  4. Position (Pre-delay) at noon, Size at ~1 o'clock, Pitch at 0 to bypass the pitch-shifter, Diffusion (Density) at ~1 o'clock, LP/HP Filter (Texture) fully CW (bright/HP).
  5. Patch your source -> uBurst In L. Play a few seconds, then press Freeze to lock the loop.
  6. Patch a very slow LFO (cycle ~20s) -> uBurst Position CV — warble detunes repeats slowly.
  7. Patch uBurst Out L -> Output L and Out R -> Output R.
  8. Nudge Feedback CCW if it screams; CW to revive.
Signal out Out L / Out R — self-feeding, warbling, bit-crushed loop, ±8V.
Listen for The loop starts recognizable, then bit-crush grit and slow pitch warble eat it from the inside — each repeat slightly more damaged until it collapses into abstract texture.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 4 modules and 4 connections. Modules: uBurst, Source, Slow LFO, Output. Signals: 3 audio, 1 cv.uBurstSourceSlow LFOOutputMode: Looping DelayQuality: 16kHz 8-bit stereo (4s)Blend slot: Feedback (orange), ~2 o'clockFreeze: ON (after capture)In LaudioPosition CVcvLeft OutaudioRight OutaudioOutaudioOutcvIn LaudioIn Raudioaudiocv
Clouds-frozen Rings excitation
Capture a drum loop, freeze it, modulate Position at audio rate, use the grains to excite Rings.
Walkthrough
  1. Confirm Granular mode (Blend LED green).
  2. Short-press Quality until Blend LED is green (Dry/Wet), Blend knob full CW (all wet grains, no dry).
  3. Position at noon, Size at ~11 o'clock (small grains), Density at ~2 o'clock (dense cloud), Texture at noon.
  4. Patch a 1-bar drum loop -> uBurst In L. Let one bar record, then press Freeze.
  5. Patch a VCO square wave (100-500Hz) -> uBurst Position CV — audio-rate scrubbing creates FM-metallic spectral morphing.
  6. Patch uBurst Out L -> Rings IN (excitation input).
  7. Patch Rings ODD -> Mixer L and EVEN -> Mixer R.
Signal out Rings ODD/EVEN — sympathetic string resonance excited by the frozen, audio-rate-scrubbed grains, ±8V stereo.
Listen for Rings rings like struck strings, but the 'mallet' is a frozen drum loop being scrubbed at audio rate — a continuous metallic hum whose pitch tracks the VCO, harmonics tracking the drums underneath.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 5 modules and 5 connections. Modules: uBurst, Drums, VCO, Rings, Mixer. Signals: 4 audio, 1 cv.uBurstDrumsVCORingsMixerMode: GranularFreeze: ON (1-bar drum capture)Blend slot: Dry/Wet, full CWIn LaudioPosition CVcvLeft OutaudioOutaudioSquarecvINaudioODDaudioEVENaudioIn LaudioIn Raudioaudiocv

Behaviors

Granular Processing (default) default on power-up

Stereo grain cloud reading from the rolling buffer. Position scans, Size sets grain length, Density sets rate (noon = no grains, CCW = random/Poisson, CW = constant), Texture morphs the grain window.

Pitch-shifter / Time-stretcher mode hold Quality button 5s until yellow, then press once

Two overlapping grain windows spliced to the input's dominant period. Size controls window length, Pitch transposes independently of time, Density becomes Diffusion, Texture becomes LP/HP Filter. Position becomes a clock divider/multiplier for pre-delay when a clock is patched to Trigger.

Looping Delay mode 5s hold Quality, then press twice

Pitch-shifting looping delay. Position is pre-delay, Size is delay-time window, Pitch transposes repeats (pitch at 0 bypasses the pitch-shifter for clean delay), Density is Diffusion, Texture is LP/HP Filter. Trigger syncs delay time to external clock.

Spectral Madness mode 5s hold Quality, then press three times

FFT phase vocoder. Position scans spectral frames, Spectral Warp (Size) shifts/wraps bins, Temporal Quantisation (Density) controls FFT refresh rate (past noon adds phase randomization), Spectral Quantisation (Texture) sets bin resolution. Trigger fires a random glitch algorithm (spectral hold, shift-and-alias, kill largest harmonic, or nasty high-pass).

Oliverb mode 5s hold Quality, then press four times

Shimmer reverb. Pre-delay (Position), Reverb Size (Size), Pitch Shift fed back into the reverb loop (±1 oct, CW = classic shimmer), Decay (Density, past 3 o'clock self-oscillates), Diffusion (Texture). Blend slots remap to Dry/Wet, Dampening, LFO Speed, LFO Amount.

Resonestor mode 5s hold Quality, then press five times

Karplus-Strong resonator. Timbre & Duration (Position) shapes the noise burst, Chord (Size) selects 16 chord types, Pitch sets base frequency (noon = A3/220Hz), Decay (Density), Dampening (Texture). Burst input (Trigger) switches between two voices (duophony). Blend slots remap to Dry/Wet, Stereo split, Scatter, Harmonics.

Freeze captures the buffer Freeze button or Freeze gate

Stops buffer recording. Grains keep reading the last-captured audio. Combine with slow Position scrub for infinite-hold ambient effects.

Audio-rate Size modulation VCO into Size CV

Modulating grain Size at audio rate produces FM-like sidebands and glitch artifacts — classic Clouds/uBurst sound.

Audio quality / lo-fi buffer 1s hold Quality, then press to cycle

Four settings trade sample rate and bit depth for buffer length: 32kHz 16-bit stereo 1s · 32kHz 16-bit mono 2s · 16kHz 8-bit stereo 4s · 16kHz 8-bit mono 8s. Lower settings add lo-fi crunch and a longer capture window.

Controls

global Position Grain playhead location within the rolling buffer. CW travels back in time. Function changes per mode (Pre-delay in delay modes, Timbre & Duration in Resonestor).
0-100% of buffer · CV ±5V
global Size Grain duration. CCW very short spikes; CW longer grains. Tonal at audio-rate modulation.
~1ms to ~1s · CV ±5V · audio-rate accepted
global Pitch Grain transposition ±2 octaves. Noon = original pitch. V/Oct tracked via V/Oct input.
-24 to +24 semitones · 1V/Oct CV
global Density Grain rate in Granular mode. Noon = no grains generated. CW = regular (constant) rate, CCW = Poisson/random rate. Function remaps per alternate mode (Diffusion, Temporal Quantisation, Decay, etc.).
CCW: random · noon: silent · CW: regular · CV ±5V
global Texture Grain envelope shape. Morphs between square, ramp-up, ramp-down, triangle, and triangle-with-diffuser windows. CCW is sharper (more glitch); CW is smoother.
CV ±5V · function changes per mode (Filter, Spectral Quant., Diffusion, Dampening)
global Blend Multi-function knob selected by short-pressing the Quality/Blend button. Cycles through Dry/Wet, Stereo Spread, Feedback, and Reverb amount. The LED color under the knob indicates the current slot.
4 slots cycled by short-press · CV ±5V follows selected slot
global Freeze Latching button. Press once to stop buffer recording (LED lit); press again to release. Grains keep scrubbing the frozen audio. Gate input mirrors the button.
Latching · also gated via FREEZE input
global Quality / Blend-select button Small button right of the Blend knob. Short-press: cycles Blend slot. 1s hold then press: cycles audio quality (stereo 1s / mono 2s / lo-fi stereo 4s / lo-fi mono 8s). 5s hold then press: cycles the six alternate engines.
Short press: Blend slot · 1s hold: quality · 5s hold: mode

I/O

IN · 10

  • In L ±8V audio AUDIO
    Left audio input. Normalled to Right input when Right is unpatched (mono operation).
    NORM → In L feeds In R when unpatched
  • In R ±8V audio AUDIO
    Right audio input for stereo operation.
  • Freeze >1V gate GATE
    Gate input. High = buffer frozen, low = recording. Mirrors the Freeze button.
  • Trigger >1V trigger GATE
    Trigger/Clock input. In Granular mode fires a single grain (with Density at noon). In delay/pitch-shifter modes acts as clock for delay-time sync. In Spectral Madness picks a random glitch algorithm. In Resonestor switches the active voice and fires a burst.
  • V/Oct -2V to +2V CV
    1V/oct pitch input transposing grain playback (added to Pitch knob).
  • Position CV ±5V CV
    CV for buffer Position (or Pre-delay / Timbre & Duration depending on mode).
  • Size CV ±5V CV
    CV for grain Size (or Spectral Warp / Reverb Size / Chord depending on mode). Accepts audio-rate.
  • Density CV ±5V CV
    CV for grain Density (or Diffusion / Temporal Quant. / Decay depending on mode).
  • Texture CV ±5V CV
    CV for Texture (or LP/HP Filter / Spectral Quant. / Dampening depending on mode).
  • Blend CV ±5V CV
    CV for the currently selected Blend slot (Dry/Wet, Spread, Feedback, or Reverb).

OUT · 2

  • Out L ±8V AUDIO
    Left channel processed audio output.
  • Out R ±8V AUDIO
    Right channel processed audio output.