****************************** ********THE MACUMBISTA******** ********BENJOLIN V5 and******* *****BUTTERFLY BENJOLIN V3**** *************2020************* ****************************** ****************************** **********QUICKSTART********** ****************************** 1) Patch one of the signal output banana jacks on the front panel (FIL for example) to the black banana jack labelled OUT. 2) Connect the OUT 6.3mm jack on the back side of the instrument to your favorite audio mixer or amplifier. 3) Adjust the volume with the VOL knob. 4) Enjoy the chaos. ****************************** *********DESCRIPTION********** ****************************** The Benjolin is a standalone synthesizer designed by Rob Hordijk from the Netherlands. It contains two oscillators, a voltage controlled filter and a circuit called a “Rungler”, which allows chaotic cross-modulation possibilities between the different parts of the instrument. Hordijk refers to the Benjolin as a circuit which has been “bent by design.” This hand-made Macumbista Benjolin has been further customized with a patchbay, which can be used to interface with other modular synthesizers or to setup further control voltage feedback systems within the Benjolin itself, attenuators on the three control voltage input, LEDs displaying the internal state of the Rungler, an external intput to the voltage controlled filter, an external Rungler clock source, and two Rungler pattern loop modes. The Butterfly Benjolin contains two identical Benjolin circuits and allows for even further patching possibilities, or for two parallel and independent instruments. The instruments in the 2019/2020 series of Macumbista Benjolins have been completely redesigned in collaboration with Pete Hartman of Frogleg Synthesis to include a buffered output, better external filter and clock inputs, and a switching DC power supply rather than the older, more difficult-to-find AC power supplies which only accepted either 110 or 220 V mains electricity. ****************************** ******USAGE INSTRUCTIONS****** ****************************** This Benjolin requires an adapter to convert AC mains power to 12V DC (center positive) suitable for running the instrument. A suitable mains adapted has been provided. NOTE: Benjolins made before 2019 require a mains to 12V AC adapter rather than a mains to 12V DC adapter. Do not try to run your pre-2019 Benjolin on a 12V DC adapter! *CONTROLS* O1 FRQ: manual frequency control of Oscillator 1 (VCO) O1 RUN: amount of "Rungler" control voltage modulating the frequency of Oscillator 1 (VCO) O2 FRQ: manual frequency control of Oscillator 2 (LFO/Clock) O2 RUN: amount of "Rungler" control voltage modulating the frequency of Oscillator 2 (LFO/Clock) FIL FRQ: manual cutoff frequency control of the Voltage Controlled Filter FIL RES: manual resonance control of the Voltage Controlled Filter FIL RUN: amount of "Rungler" control voltage modulating the frequency of the Voltage Controlled Filter FIL SWP: amount of Oscillator 2 triangle wave control voltage modulating the frequency of the Voltage Controlled Filter *PATCHBAY* The banana jack patchbay of your Benjolin has 8 outputs, three control voltage (CV) inputs and a main output going through the Volume control. They are represented by three different colored banana jacks. *OUTPUTS* O1 TRI: Triangle wave output of Oscillator 1 O1 PLS: Pulse wave output of Oscillator 1 O2 TRI: Triangle wave output of Oscillator 2 O2 PLS: Pulse wave output of Oscillator 2 PWM: Pulse-width-modulated comparison of the triangle waves of Oscillator 1 and 2 RUN: Rungler chaotic, stepped wave output which is fed data bits by Oscillator 1 and is clocked by Oscillator 2 XOR: the eXclusive/OR logic operation of the pulse waves of Oscillators 1 and 2 FIL: output of the Voltage Controlled Filter (resonant lowpass type) *CV INPUTS* O1 CV: Control Voltage Input modulating the frequency of Oscillator 1 O2 CV: Control Voltage Input modulating the frequency of Oscillator 2 FIL CV: : Control Voltage Input modulating the cutoff frequency of the Voltage Controlled Filter *BACK PANEL* On the back of the instrument are two 6.3mm jacks, two colored banana jacks, a black banana jack for ground, and the 12V DC connection. The banana jack is the common ground of the instrument. The jack labelled CLK is the Rungler Clock Input, with a trigger voltage around +5V. The jack labelled IN is the External Filter Input, and the jack labelled OUT is the main output of the instrument. *MAIN OUTPUT* To hear anything from the MAIN OUTPUT (6.3mm jack) on the back side of the instrument, something must be connected to the OUT banana jack (BLACK) on the faceplate, which is linked to the VOL knob. Often this is the output of the FIL (filter), however you can also listen to any of the raw waveforms of the Benjolin by connecting one of the OUTPUTS to any of the CV INPUT banana jacks. Please note that the filter will be approximately 12dB quieter than the raw waveforms, so turn the volume down when connecting to anything other than the filter! The main OUT of the new 2019/2020 Macumbista Benjolin series is buffered, which should allow it to be connected to many different kinds of mixers, interfaces, and DI boxes. Older versions of the the Macumbista Benjolin are not buffered in this way. *GROUNDING CONNECTION* There is a black GROUND banana jack on the back of the Benjolin which can be useful for connecting to other modular systems. However, if the Benjolin shares a connection to the same mixer (for example) through the grounded 6.3mm Jack output as the other systems in question, they already share a ground and no further grounding is necessary. Banana to large- or mini-jack adapters (aka “format jumblers”) can be easily made or bought online. *USING THE PATCHBAY* You can also use the patchbay to connect any of the outputs to the CV INPUTS of Oscillator 1, Oscillator 2 or the Filter. This generally increases the chaotic behavior of the Benjolin, however some combinations will stop it's activity. Be careful not to connect any of the OUTPUT jacks together with the banana cables. That also means do not try to stack many OUTPUTS onto one CV INPUT or the MAIN OUTPUT. Otherwise, explore! *MOD: LOOP SWITCH* The LOOP switch locks the otherwise chaotic pattern of the Rungler into a loop. The position with the “circular” graphic is a loop going forward, the MIDDLE position is the normal chaos of the Rungler, and the position with the “figure-8” graphic is a loop going forwards and then backwards. *MOD: EXTERNAL INPUT* The jack on the back of the instrument marked FIL can be used to send an external line level signal to the Benjolin low pass filter. This can be done by switching the FIL switch on the front panel to "EXT". *MOD: RUNGLER CLOCK* The banana jack on the back of the instrument marked CLK IN can be used to send an external clock signal to the Rungler (normally, the Rungler is clocked by OSC 2). A comparator circuit added to the Benjolin should square up many different kinds of signals, provided they have sufficient amplitude to cross a certain voltage threshold, so you can try experimenting with signals which are not square waves/pulses/triggers to see what is interesting. The external clock is used when the CLK switch is set to EXT. Also, if there is no external clock signal present, setting the CLK switch to EXT will hold the current Rungler voltage until switched back to INT or until an external clock signal arrives. ****************************** ********VOLTAGE LEVELS******** ****************************** *OUTPUTS* FIL: line level (approx ±2V) O1/O2 TRI: approx ±4V RUN/XOR: approx ±5V O1/O2 PLS: approx ±8V PWM: approx ±8.5V *INPUTS* CV inputs: do not exceed ±9V on any signal sent to these inputs EXT CLK input: triggers at approx +5V EXT FIL input: expects line level ****************************** **********MORE INFO*********** ****************************** You can find more detailed information about the Benjolin, and about the Rungler function in particular, here: http://electro-music.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38081&postorder=asc Macumbista instruments home page: http://macumbista.net