QCD Expander User Manual v1.0
Contents
1. just tap a tempo Kick conga Trig Delay Hats accent Snare Kick modulation Or to Blue Reset for random hats INV OUT Hats _ Pitch of kick conga Gate PW Trig Delay Ag Div Mult Clap Reset QUAD CLOCK a a DISTRIBUTOR a INV OUT Div Mult CV CD EXPANDER Tap a tempo or run a master clock into Red CLK IN Kick Turn Red Div Mult to 3 Run the Red main OUT to trigger a kick and or a low conga Turn Black Div Mult to 8 Patch Black OUT to Red Reset The Juke kick comes from a 8 reseting a 3 Hats Tum Blue Div Mult to 2 or Run the Blue QCD OUT to trigger your hi hats G Flip Red Mode Switch to center Inverted Gate mode Patch Red INV OUT to Blue Div Mult CV The Hats should be shifting tempo with the kick aAdjust Blue Div Mult CV attenuator carefully to get a good hats pattern Try just a hair to the right of center Adjust the Red Gate PW listening to how it changes the hats pattern Kick conga pitch 9 Turn Green Div Mult to 32 Run the Green OUT to your kick drum patch to modulate the pitch every 4 bars Hint Really you might want to run Green OUT into an RCD or another QCD and use one of those outputs to modulate pitch This gives you more flexibility since the Green channel will also be tied to the Clap sound OFlip Green Mode Switch to the right shuffle C Turn Green Trig Delay to 50 Run INV OUT2. the screwdriver slowly If you turn all the way to the left counter clockwise the LEDs will turn almost off If you turn all the way to the right clockwise the LEDs will be painfully bright to view Sunglasses optional If you re not sure if the screwdriver is the right size to turn the trimpot remove the QCD Expander from the rack The trimpot is visible from the top edge of the module so you can visually inspect if the screwdriver is fitting Forcing the wrong screwdriver can damage the trimpot
3. QCD Expander from 4ms Company Eurorack Module User Manual Div Mult CV Gate PW 9 g Dehn INV OUT QCD EXPANDER The QCD Expander from 4ms Company is an expansion module for the Quad Clock Distributor QCD The QCD Expander requires the QCD to function and adds a host of features The Expander turns the QCD into a programmatic non linear sequencer easily obtaining self patched evolving rhythms and swing shuffle patterns Each of the four channels has Multi mode output jack INV OUT mirrors the tempo of main QCD output Mode Switch for each INV OUT jack o Delayed Trigger Mode o Inverted Gate Mode o Shuffle Mode delayed original trigger PW Delay knob controls trigger delay time on INV OUT jack or pulse width in Inverted Gate Mode o Also controls Pulse Width of main QCD OUT jack o CV input jack for external control o Attenuverter allows for one channel to precisely modulate another channel s delay or pulse width Div Mult CV attenuator knob o Controls how much the signal on the main QCD s Div Mult CV jack will modulate the tempo o Useful for precisely modulating the speed of one channel with another A global LED brightness trimpot is accessible from the front panel DOWNLOAD MOST RECENT MANUAL AT http 4mspedals com qcd php Basic features e Connects to QCD module with a 16 conductor ribbon cable included e When connected to a QCD the following features are added to each QCD channel o Multi mode cloc
4. am below center In Shuffle Mode it s the same as Delayed Trigger Mode but the additional non delayed trigger is not effected Sweeping PW from 0 to 80 Sweeping PW from 0 to 100 Sweeping PW from 0 to 100 Top trace blue is main QCD output Top trace blue is main QCD output Top trace blue is main QCD output Bottom trace red is INV OUT in Bottom trace red is INV OUT in Bottom trace red is INV OUT in Shuffle Delayed Trigger Mode Inverted Gate Mode Mode Div Mult CV Attenuator The Div Mult CV attenuator is a small but powerful addition to the QCD Its function is to attenuate and or invert the incoming signal on the Div Mult CV jack This allows for patching channels into each other which is basis of programmatic non linear sequencing The simplest example of this is to set one channel to x2 and a second channel to 4 Patch the slower channel s main OUT jack into the faster channel s Div Mult CV jack both jacks are located on the main QCD panel Make sure the Pulse Width of the main channel is reasonable start with 50 Now adjust the faster channel s Div Mult CV attenuator carefully Listen to how each setting sounds It s a sensitive control so turn it a little bit at a time and listen In the examples below the top channel blue trace is set to 4 and the bottom channel red trace is set to x2 Top channel s OUT jack is patched into bottom channel s red trace Div Mult CV jack S
5. ay with a timing offset From QPLFO or PEG output fil Div Mult To PEG or To hi hat te QPLFO Ping trigger input Gate PW Er AT a Div Mult O Trig Delay INV OUT Div Mult CV Reset UAD CLOCK CD EXPANDER Q a DISTRIBUTOR gp Now let s add some phase shifting hi hats The blue channel is set to shuffle mode and Trig Delay is modulated by a slow LFO or envelope making the shuffle amount change over time The green channel is set to a slow rate and should reset ping or trigger the external LFO envelope First patch blue INV OUT to trigger your hi hat sound 8 set blue Div Mult between and x3 This is the base rate of the hats 9 Flip blue Mode Switch right shuffle set blue Trig Delay big knob to about 10 Play with the setting and hear how the shuffle pattern changes set blue Trig Delay attenuverter to 100 Try setting it lower for a more subtle phase modulation Oset green Div Mult to 16 or 32 Run Green OUT to ping or trigger a PEG or QPLFO and run the output of that into the Blue CV jack Optionally instead of 2 you can run any slow LFO into the Blue CV jack Then the Green channel can be used for a different rhythm Example Patch 2 Juke Rhythm This patch makes a traditional Juke or Trap beat pattern There are many variations of this beat but this is a versatile starting point IUKE TRAP BEAT OO l 5 2 CRo Div Mult CV Master Clock In or
6. d Another way of looking at this mode is that a trigger will fire every time the main QCD output falls from high to low falling edge Since pulse width is defined as the amount of time between rising and falling edges controlling the Pulse Width changes the amount of delay between the rising edge and the delayed trigger Delayed Trigger Mode Top trace blue is master clock shown as a trigger for emphasis Bottom trace red is Delayed Trigger PW Trig Delay is at 50 Mode Switch Center Inverted Gate Mode Gate PW Trig Delay sets pulse width The INV OUT jack will be an inverted copy of the main QCD output The INV OUT always ranges from OV to 5V positive voltage so technically it s an inverted and shifted gate output What this means is when the main QCD output goes high from OV to 5V the INV OUT goes low from 5V to OV and vice versa Gate PW Trig Delay always controls the pulse width of the main QCD OUT and so in Inverted Gate Mode it inversely controls the pulse width of the INV OUT Thus if cis tee decd ic aa ocp our Gate PW is set to 75 the main QCD OUT will have a pulse width of 75 and the INV OUT will h Ise width of 25 Bottom trace red is INV OUT Re ett neers i PW Trig Delay being swept from 0 to about 75 The minimum pulse width is 10ms The maximum pulse width is 10ms short of the O full period Mode Switch Right Swing Mode Gate PW Trig Delay sets swing amount The INV OUT jack wil
7. d up and slow down the red channel The black Div Mult determines how quickly the red channel changes from fast to slow and back The black PW 5 determines how long it s fast vs how long it s slow The red Div Mult determines the slow speed and the CV attenuverter 4 determines the fast speed After patching we should hear bongos speeding up and slowing down and a kick whenever the bongos change tempo To bongo fast slow shuffle O Trig Delay INV OUT Div Mult CV To kick slow off beat INV OUT First tap in a tempo Plug Tap Out to trigger a snare or metronome C set red Div Mult to anywhere between and x3 Patch red INV OUT to trigger a bongo sound Oset black Div Mult to anywhere between 5 and 2 Patch black INV OUT to trigger a kick sound G Patch black OUT to red Div Mult CV G Flip the black Mode Switch to the left to start Try it later to the right especially if black Gate PW is not centered G aAdjust red Div Mult CV attenuverter knob slightly to the right Hear how the red channel goes fast slow The amount it goes faster will increase as you turn this knob to the right Adjust black Gate PW To the left the red channel will soend more time being slow To the right it ll soend more time being fast set red Mode Switch to the left or right Try both and listen for the difference more hits to the right Adjust red PW Delay if you want to pl
8. etting Div Mult CV attenuator to the right of center causes the channel to speed up when a gate is applied to the Div Mult CV jack Bottom channel s Div Mult CV attenuator set to about 60 right of center Setting Div Mult CV attenuator to the left of center inverting causes the channel to slow down when a gate is applied to the Div Mult CV jack Bottom channel s Div Mult CV attenuator set to about 40 left of center Creating Humanness and Motion It s easy to create motion and humanness even though the QCD relies on strict mathematics One trick to take advantage of is that two events which theoretically happen at the same time actually happen at slightly different times one or the other will happen a fraction of a millisecond earlier If the QCD is patched to take advantage of this we get an illusion of randomness Try simply patching INV OUT into a channel s Div Mult CV jack and playing with the Div Mult CV attenuator and Gate PW INV OUT Randomy Humanish beat Creating Humanness and Motion con t In the patch below different settings of the knobs Gate PW Div Mult and Div Mult CV attenuator on red and black channels will give different random patterns Try combining the two gate outputs to get a four note random melody INV OUT INV OUT Div Mult cv Div Mat Creating Fills fo Ene Bottom channel speeding up a the end of the measure via Bottom cha
9. ii 4 a EE E small needle nose pliers to remove the jumpers if you can t remove them with your _ fingers Second connect the QCD and QCD Expander together using the 16 conductor ribbon cable provided One end plugs into the EXPANDER header on the QCD and the other end plugs into the TO QCD header on the QCD Expander Make sure the red stripe points down on both modules Now connect both modules to your power rails and power up Tap a tempo on the QCD and the lights on the QCD Expander should blink in time and change rate when you turn the QCD s Div Mult pot Also the main QCD s lights should react to adjusting the Gate PW knob on the Expander Note The ribbon cable that connects the QCD and QCD Expander is a standard Doepfer Eurorack power cable In case you lose or misplace the cable or need a different length you can use a Standard 16 to 76pin Eurorack power cable About Attenuverters Attenuverter is short for attenuating inverter These knobs take the signal on the CV CV ATTENUVERTERS jack and control how much of this signal will effect the parameter They also can invert the CV signal meaning that a positive CV signal creates a negative effect and vice versa Null On the QCD and Expander the two parameters with CV jacks and attenuverters are no CV Div Mult and Gate PW Trig Delay The CV jack for Div Mult is located on the main QCD less less module and the CV jack for PW Delay is located on the Expa
10. k output INV OUT is the same tempo as the QCD s OUT jack o Switch for selecting mode of the INV OUT jack Delayed Trigger mode left Inverted Gate mode center Shuffle mode delayed original trigger right o Knob for controlling amount of trigger delay as well as pulse width of the main QCD output o CV yack for controlling trigger delay and pulse width using another channel or external CV o Attenuverter knob for Gate PW Trig Delay CV jack controls the amount the signal on the jack effects the PW Delay o Attenuverter knob for Div Mult CV jack on the main QCD module e LED brightness can be adjusted from the front panel Controls and jacks CV Attenuverter for PW Delay CV jack PW Delay adds to attenuverted CV Mode Switch ri i CV Input for PW Delay Y E a CV Attenuverter OUTPUT gt Trig Delay for Div Mult jack Mode Switch selects piv Muitcv ON main QCD module output type g gt lt C MODE SWITCHES S s i e edl aE Delayed Inverted Swing CV ATTENUVERTERS T rig Delay TSR Div Mult CV Null aw ab no CV less less S A r ip Trig Delay ko d g Velay Subtract J Add ETN more more trigger gate trigger a a Sim A rig e ay LED dimmer INVOUT xy Div Mult CV li QCD EXPANDER e INV OUT jack each channel e 5V trigger 10ms or 5V gate output See Mode Switch below e Runs at the same Div Mult tempo as the main QCD output but may be de
11. l output the same trigger as in Delayed Trigger Mode plus an additional non delayed trigger This creates a shuffle or swing pattern Another way of looking at this mode is that it fires a trigger when the main QCD output rises and another when it falls Note that this creates twice as many triggers as the other two modes Essentially the tempo is doubled as well as swung Tip if you don t want the tempo to be doubled use the Div Mult control to halve it Like Delayed Trigger Mode the amount of delay time is controlled by the Gate Inverted Gate Mode PW Trig Delay Mixed with the original trigger this creates a shuffle swing rhythm If Top trace blue is main QCD OUT you re familiar with the 4ms SCM you may recognize the Gate PW Trig Delay knob Bottom trace red is Delayed Trigger is similar to the Slip knob PW Trig Delay is set to 25 Gate Pulse Width Trig Delay The Gate PW Trig Delay parameter is simple yet has complex implications First it controls the pulse width of the main QCD output At 0 the main QCD OUT will be 10ms wide a trigger At 50 the pulse width will be 50 or a square wave At 100 the pulse width will be just shy of 100 with a 10ms down trigger The way the Gate PW Trig Delay parameter effects the INV OUT is more complicated In Delayed Trigger Mode it controls the time between the main OUT s rising edge and the INV OUT s trigger In Inverted Gate Mode the pulse width is inversely effected see diagr
12. layed inverted and or shuffled e Three position Mode Switch each channel e Only effects the INV OUT jack on the Expander no effect on the main QCD output e Left Delayed Trigger mode e Center Inverted Gate mode e Right Shuffle mode delayed undelayed effectively doubles the tempo e Trigger Delay Pulse Width big knob attenuverter and jack e Depending on the Mode Switch either trigger delay time or pulse width is controlled e Pulse width of the main QCD output is always effected no matter what mode the expander is in e The big knob sets the amount of delay time or pulse width e The signal on the CV jack is variably attenuated and or inverted using the attenuverter e The attenuverted CV and big knob s setting are added together e Attenuverter for Div Mult CV e Variably attenuates and or inverts the signal on the Div Mult CV jack on the main QCD module e LED dimmer e The small hole at the bottom is for adjusting the LED brightness A tiny phillips screwdriver can be inserted through the panel to adjust the brightness See section later in the manual for details Specifications e 12 HP Eurorack format module e 0 98 25 mm maximum depth 72V rail 44mA max 5V rail not used 12V rail 30mMA max Connecting to the QCD First remove all the jumpers from the QCD s EXPANDER header Save these jumpers YDANDER 6 with your QCD box and manual in the bag 1 a ae aE TH i provided with the QCD You may wish to use Es i
13. nder module Both o attenuverters are located on the Expander parameter The knob has a slight detent at center so this position can be easily found by feel Turning the knob slightly to the right means that a positive signal on the CV jack will increase the parameter slightly for example Div Mult might sweep from to x2 At fully clock wise a 5V signal will sweep the parameter from half way to maximum for example Div Mult would sweep from to x16 A 10V signal will sweep the parameter from minimum to maximum 32 to x16 Turning the knob slightly to the left means a positive signal will decrease the parameter slightly for example Div Mult might sweep from to 2 At fully counter clockwise a 5V signal will sweep from half way to minimum e g to 32 When patching one QCD channel into another s Div Mult CV jack the channel will switch between two tempos The first tempo is set by the main Div Mult knob The second tempo is set by the Div Mult CV attenuator Turning the attenuator to the right means the second tempo will be faster than the first Turning the attenuator to the left means it ll be slower Subtract o Add When the attenuverter knob is turned to the center the CV jack will have no effect on the Ms more more Making Rhythms The QCD Expander and QCD are designed to create an infinite variety of rhythms that can be programmatically built as opposed to linearly grid sequenced This i
14. nnel changing shuffle via top channel patched top channel patched into Div Mult CV into PW CV This is an easy patch with the QCD Just run the INV OUT of a slow channel 8 for example into the Div Mult CV jack of a faster channel x4 for example Set the slower channel s Mode Switch to center Inverted Gate mode Turn the faster channel s Div Mult CV attenuator slightly to the right of center to set how fast the fill will be Adjust the slower channel s Gate PW to set the length of the fill number of beats Another way of making a fill is to use the PW CV jack instead of the Div Mult CV jack If the faster channel is in Shuffle Mode then the shuffle amount will change at the end of the measure Of course for either of these patches the OUT jack of the slower channel could be used to make the change happen at the beginning of the measure Adjusting LED a uUiik eo The brightness of the LEDs can be adjusted from very dim to very bright producing a light show on your face You should leave the unit powered on while you do this so you can watch the LEDs change You will need a small screwdriver 0 size phillips tip J la and 1 8 3mm or smaller diameter shaft Carefully insert the screwdriver into the LED adjustment hole as chown in the photo Make sure the screwdriver is perpendicular to the panel You should feel contact with the trim pot which is a short distance below the surface of the panel Turn
15. s a form of non linear sequencing Using a few short patch cables you can create complex rhythmic patterns for multiple voices drums The basic concept is to use the channels to modulate each other e Modulate a channel s Div Mult amount with another channel Use the Div Mult CV attenuator knob to fine tune e Modulate a channel s Trig Delay amount with another channel Use the PW Delay CV attenuator knob to fine tune e Reset a faster channel with a slower channel e Use one channel to route other channels using an external module such as a switch or VCA Matrix e Clock a channel with a dynamically changing channel to introduce clock tracking lag Typically the modulated channel will be faster than the modulating channel For example one channel might run at x2 and the second channel running at 4 could modulate the first channel s Div Mult between x2 and x3 In the examples below some references to drums kick snare hats etc will be made This is only to make use of acommon musical language and the relative tempos spaces these drums traditionally fill in music That is you don t actually need to imitate a particular type of acoustic instrument to enjoy the QCD It s great practice to Async trigger a PEG channel or Reset trigger a QPLFO channel or trigger an ADSR and use those shapes to modulate filters VCOs VCAs wavetables etc Example Rhythmic Patch 1 To snare steady metronome This patch uses the black channel to spee
16. to trigger your clap sound You still have two INV OUT jacks not being used Try patching them into other drum modulation points or controlling an LFO that sweeps some other parameter of the QCD Also to add some spasticness try patching the Blue INV OUT into the blue Reset jack Adjust Blue Gate PW Trig Delay to control density Next with a second QCD RCD and or SCM you can slowly change some of the QCD s parameters to create an evolving beat Just add a sampler one vocal sample and some footwork Mode Switch Each channel has a mode switch located above the Div Mult CV attenuator MODE SWITCHES The Mode Switch only effects the INV OUT jack It has no effect on the main QCD output The Mode Switch interacts with the Pulse Width Trig Delay setting d es Delayed Inverted Swing r The switch has three positions left center and right brip bot abr Left Delayed Trigger mode trigger gate trigge Center Inverted Gate mode Right Shuffle Mode delayed original triggers Gei Mode Switch Left Delayed Trigger Mode Gate PW Trig Delay sets delay time percentage The INV OUT jack will output a 10ms trigger delayed by a percentage fraction of the beat s period Delay time is set by the Gate PW Trig Delay knob and CV For example with the knob at 50 and no CV the delayed trigger will happen after 50 of the period has passed on the up beat At 25 the trigger will happen 25 through the beat perio
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