Polyend Dreadbox Medusa Owner's Manual
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Polyend Dreadbox Medusa Owner's Manual

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Summary of Contents for Polyend Dreadbox Medusa

  • Page 1 Owner’s Manual...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Contents Introduction ................3 Quick Start .................. 4 Schematic Diagram ..............5 Manual ..................6 Overview ................6 The Synthesizer ..............7 1. The Oscillators ............7 2. The Filter ..............8 3. The Envelopes ............8 4. The Low Frequency Oscillators (LFOs) ..... 9 5.

  • Page 3: Introduction

    8 x 8 grid of pads. As a first for Polyend, you’ll now have a myriad of shapeable analog and digital sounds that can be wildly modulated and directly married to the sequencer.

  • Page 4: Quick Start

    Quick Start 1 Connect the 2 Connect a corresponding power adapter and device (monitor, amp, headphones) turn the unit ON to the OUTPUT or PHONES 3 Let the synthesizer warm up 4 We suggest you explore for at least 20 minutes. the 32 factory presets.

  • Page 5: Schematic Diagram

    Schematic Diagram VCO FM A VCO1 A VCO2 A VCO3 Sync Sync NOISE D OSC3 D OSC1 D OSC2 MIXER EXTR IN Main Out Headphones Out...

  • Page 6: Manual

    Manual Overview OSC1 OSC1 OSC2 OSC2 OSC3 OSC3 The Medusa has 3 main sections for working with the synthesizer and sequencer. Section A This is the 8 x 8 grid of buttons that can be used to play the synth, program the sequenc- er, and select storage locations for GRID data and Medusa programs.

  • Page 7: The Synthesizer

    The Synthesizer After toggling on, your Medusa unit will welcome you with an initial auto-calibration process, the pads will pulse and there will be a progress bar visible on the top of the middle screen. 1. The Oscillators The Medusa is equipped with 3 analog oscillators and 3 digital oscillators (referred to as A OSC1, A OSC2, A OSC3 and D OSC1, D OSC2, D OSC3 for this manual and the menu options in the Medusa).

  • Page 8: The Filter

    The NOISE knob lets you mix a balance between brown noise (low-pass 6db/oct) and violet noise (high-pass 6db/oct). In the middle position it offers grey noise (notch filtered) equally mixing both the low-pass filtered noise and the high-pass filtered noise. The SYNC 2 button synchronizes A OSC 2 to A OSC 1, and SYNC 3 button syn-...

  • Page 9: The Low Frequency Oscillators (Lfos)

    4. The Low Frequency Oscillators (LFOs) The Medusa has 5 LFOs, with each LFO capable of variably sweeping through sine, pulse/square, saw (ramp up), triangle, and reverse saw (ramp down) waveforms. As you adjust the WAVE knob to sweep through the waveforms, the synth OLED will display the shape.

  • Page 10: Mixer And Volume

    6. Mixer and Volume The mixer lets you balance the output levels of the 3 ANALOG oscillators OSC1, OSC2, and OSC3; the NOISE source; and the 3 DIGITAL oscillators OSC1, OSC2, and OSC3. When the MIXER amplitude is turned down to minimum for any osc, that osc is actually switched off.

  • Page 11: Two Modes: Grid And Notes

    It’s easiest to think of each pad of the 8 x 8 matrix as 64 little boxes that can contain NOTE data, PATCH Modifying Data, both, or neither. Looking at the example to the right, pad 1 contains a NOTE value of C2 and PM Data where the filter cutoff is 64, the filter reso- nance is 52, and overall amplitude is 127.

  • Page 12: Creating, Playing, And Editing A Sequence

    Additional parameters for controlling and setting up the sequencer can be viewed and modified through the PRESET MENU. To access the PRESET MENU for the se- Menu Button quencer, press the (as shown on the previous page). This will let you access the following sequencer parameters: Parameter Possible Values...
  • Page 13 How To Mode Steps 1. Press the REC button (it should be blinking if ac- tive). 2. Press HOLD + CLEAR and hold. Clear all NOTES 3. On the seq OLED “Clear Notes & param” appears, GRID and PM data and using the Knob-Button, select “all steps”.
  • Page 14 1. Press the REC button (it should be blinking if active) 2. Press the pad you want to copy and hold it (both Copy note and PM data will be copied). After a couple sequencer seconds, the OLED will indicate the step and note notes and were copied.

  • Page 15: Using The Pads As A Keyboard

    1. Press the REC button (it should be blinking if active). 2. Press CLEAR button and hold it. 3. On the seq OLED “Clear parameters” appears, and using the Knob-Button, select either “selected steps” or “all steps”. Delete PM data GRID 4.
  • Page 16 When not in GRID mode (when the pads are behaving like a keyboard), the pads corresponding to the root and octave notes will be lit, letting you know which key- board layout is selected. Additional parameters for using the pads as a keyboard can be accessed through the PRESET MENU.

  • Page 17: Other Info

    Lets you assign a modulation target to respond to either 1) MIDI channel after- See Appendix A - Z Target touch values from an external MIDI con- List of Modulation AfterTouch troller or 2) adding pressure to a pad. Can Destinations scale the amount from 100 to 100 (can only scale positive values for aftertouch).

  • Page 18: Random Button

    3. Random Button The RANDOM button lets you randomize various synth and GRID parameter settings as described below. Randomize Mode Steps 1. Press the RANDOM button 2. Select “confirm” section 3. Various synth OSC parameters including WAVE, NOTES parameters wavetable position, OCTAVE, SYNC 2, and SYNC 3 (excluding FM) will be randomized 1.
  • Page 19 Lets you select if the Medusa receives MIDI data on all channels, on one channel (1 through 16), or it doesn’t receive MIDI data. Additionally - Channel per voice allows you 1-16 MIDI Channel to control, play and sequence each of Me- dusa’s oscillators on a separate MIDI chan- Channel per nel form 1 to 6 (fixed) with external gear.

  • Page 20: Firmware Update Procedure

    Lets you choose whether up-and-down Absolute movement of the pad fully controls/mod- Y mode Relative ulates the target or only relative to its initial value. Firmware Displays installed firmware version Credits Displays the Medusa production credits Cancel Calibration Calibrates and tunes the analog oscillators Start 5.

  • Page 21: Cc Chart

    6. CC Chart Function Function OSC1_TUNING OSC6_U_TUNING OSC1_U_TUNING OSC6_WAVE OSC1_WAVE OSC6_OCTAVE OSC1_OCTAVE OSC3_OSC12 OSC2_TUNING OSC3_FILTER OSC2_U_TUNING OSC_PW OSC2_WAVE OSC_NOISE OSC2_OCTAVE OSC_WAVETABLE OSC3_TUNING OSC_SYNC2 OSC3_U_TUNING OSC_SYNC3 OSC3_WAVE PLAY_MODE OSC3_OCTAVE PLAY_MODE_GLIDE OSC4_TUNING FILTER_CUTOFF OSC4_U_TUNING FILTER_RESONANCE OSC4_WAVE FILTER_TYPE OSC4_OCTAVE FILTER_TRACK OSC5_TUNING MIXER_OSC1_ANALOG OSC5_U_TUNING MIXER_OSC2_ANALOG OSC5_WAVE MIXER_OSC3_ANALOG...
  • Page 22 Function Function MIXER_OSC2_DIGITAL ENV3_R MIXER_OSC3_DIGITAL ENV3_AMOUNT ENV1_DELAY ENV3_TARGET ENV1_A ENV3_LOOP ENV1_D ENV4_DELAY ENV1_S ENV4_A ENV1_R ENV4_D ENV1_AMOUNT ENV4_S ENV1_TARGET ENV4_R ENV1_LOOP ENV4_AMOUNT ENV2_DELAY ENV4_LOOP ENV2_A ENV5_DELAY ENV2_D ENV5_A ENV2_S ENV5_D ENV2_R ENV5_S ENV2_AMOUNT ENV5_R ENV2_TARGET ENV5_AMOUNT ENV2_LOOP ENV5_LOOP ENV3_DELAY LFO1_RATE ENV3_A LFO1_WAVE ENV3_D...
  • Page 23 Function Function LFO1_SYNC TARGET_Y_SELECT LFO2_RATE TARGET_Z_SELECT LFO2_WAVE TARGET_Y_VALUE LFO2_AMOUNT LFO2_TARGET LFO2_SYNC LFO3_RATE LFO3_WAVE LFO3_AMOUNT LFO3_TARGET LFO3_SYNC LFO4_RATE LFO4_WAVE LFO4_AMOUNT LFO4_TARGET LFO4_SYNC LFO5_RATE LFO5_WAVE LFO5_AMOUNT LFO5_TARGET LFO5_SYNC TARGET_X_SELECT...

  • Page 24: Appendices

    Appendices Appendix A - List of Modulation Destinations Destination What will be modulated None Nothing Pitch Frequency or pitch of all 6 oscillators Overall amplitude of all 6 oscillators Cutoff Cutoff frequency of the filter Resonance Resonance of the filter FM Osc 1,2 Frequency modulation amount for OSC 1 and 2 FM Filter...
  • Page 25 D Osc2 Freq Frequency or pitch of D OSC2 D Osc3 Freq Frequency or pitch of D OSC3 Noise Color Mix of high pass and low pass filtering of the noise source A Osc1 Mix Amount of A OSC1 signal in the overall mix A Osc2 Mix Amount of A OSC2 signal in the overall mix A Osc3 Mix...

  • Page 26: List Of Modes And Scales

    Appendix B - List of Modes and Scales Number Full Name Abbreviation No scale Chromatic Chromatic Minor Minor Major Major Dorian Dorian Lyd Maj Lydian Lyd Min Lydian Minor Locrian Locrian Phrygian Phrygian PhrygDom Phrygian Dominant Mixolydian Mixolydian Melodic Minor Melo Min Harm Min Harmonic Minor...
  • Page 27 Iwato Iwato Whole Half WholeHalf Kumoi Kumoi Overtone Overtone Double Harmonic DoubHarm Indian Indian Gypsy Gypsy Neapolitan NeapoMaj Neapolitan Minor NeapoMin Enigmatic Enigmatic...

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