MOOD MKII Spatial Chemistry

Manuals

YouTube Video Transcription:

Overview

If you played the original mood, Mark II picks up right where it left off if not welcome.

Mood is designed for playful exploration, improvisation and discovery. zMood is all about finding new sounds, so before we do anything useful, I'm just going to wildly turn some knobs for a moment and we'll see what happens.

In the simplest terms, Mood is a two-channel multi-effect. One-half samples in Loops brief moments that's the micro Looper. The other half is a collection of real-time spatial effects called the wet channel. The channels are aware of each other and work together. You can process micro loops with the wet Channel or record the wet channel into the micro Looper, the possibilities are pretty much endless

I/O

Before we dive in, a quick word on how mood handles various input and output routing. In a nutshell, mood can be used with mono or stereo sources and is set up to work with either right out of the box. If you're working in Stereo you'll want to use a TRS cable for both input and output. If you'd like mood to take a mono signal and output it in Stereo use a TS cable for the input a TRS cable for the output and then activate the MISO dip switch.

Controls

First things first, let's take a look at mood's controls. You can divide mood up into thirds: the wet channel the, micro Looper Channel and shared controls. We'll start with shared controls.

Mix sets the balance between your input signal and mood and controls both channels simultaneously.

The Clock sets Mood sample rate. This controls the length and resolution of the micro Looper Channel, as well as the quality and time of the wet channel. It's one of the most powerful and satisfying knobs you can twist.

As we explore each of Mood's channels, we'll also listen to how the clock affects the kinds of textures that mood can produce.

The Routing Switch determines which signals get processed by the wet Channel: your input, the micro Looper Channel, or both. It only has an effect if both channels are active.

The Presets Toggle Switch allows you to save and recall presets the left and right positions each store a preset, while the middle position is live your current settings. To save to the right slot, hold the right foot switch for three second, then add the left foot switch for another three seconds. Do the same to the left slot, but start by holding down the left foot switch. The middle LED will blink to indicate success.

Wet Channel

The wet Channel consists of three different spatial effects. Wwe're going to engage the spread dip switch so that the following sounds are in glorious stereo for our friends wearing headphones but they also sound great in mono.

Reverb Mode

Time affects the Decay and size of the Reverb. Short times are counterclockwise, and longer times are clockwise.

Modify affects the amount of smearing on the taps. Traditional Reverb sounds are on the clockwise side of the throw, and as the knob is turned counterclockwise, the Taps become more and more distinguishable like a multi-tap delay.

Now is a good time to mention that the wet channel can be frozen by holding the left foot switch causing the current sound to repeat infinitely. Each mode reacts differently and you can move around the knobs and manipulate the sound while Frozen.

Mood's Reverb can cover a lot of ground, so spend some time experimenting with different combinations of time and modify, and don't forget about the clock either.

Delay Mode

Mood's simplest mode but it has some unexpected abilities and uses when combined with the microlooper. Here Time adjusts the overall delay time. Mood's delay is designed so that changes to the delay knob do not introduce pitch shifting. This can be a fun knob to manipulate as you play.

Modify adds feedback. Counterclockwise you'll only get one repeat or technically one per side if spread is engaged. Once the knob is fully clockwise, the delay will pile up forever like a Looper. Try adjusting the time knob with mix and modify turned up to introduce a kind of manual time stretching.

It bears repeating, slowing down the clock can take you to some wonderfully crunchy places.

Slip Mode

Let's check out slip. Slip is an oddity. It samples your input continuously and spits it back out it is speed interaction of your choosing, generating Whimsical harmonies and Pitch shifting.

Time sets the sampling size. Llower settings will produce more instant results, and function like a pitch shifter. While higher settings will create harmonized phrases that follow behind you.

Modify sets the speed and direction of playback. It moves in semitone steps. One great use of slip mode is to create a real-time reverse effect.

Micro-Looper Channel

On mood's right hand side you'll find the Micro-Looper Channel. It works a little bit differently than traditional Loopers, in that it's always listening and recording while it's bypassed. When you engage the channel you get to hear what's currently in the buffer. The microlooper is all about turning it on and seeing what you get, it's kind of like fishing for music

The length of the loop is determined by the Clock position. The LED will blink at the beginning of each Loop cycle.

If the wet channel is on while the micro looper is bypassed and therefore recording, its effects will be recorded into your micro loops.

Once you've snagged a loop, you can start to pile sounds on by overdubbing. This is done by holding down the micro looper foot switch. If the latch dip switch is engaged as it is here, overdouble stay active Until you long press to deactivate.

The micro looper's different modes give us three unique ways to explore the loop captured in the buffer. Let's start with tape, which is the most straightforward.

Tape Mode

Length controls the amount of the loop that plays back. The slice will get shorter and shorter as the knob is turned counterclockwise.

Modify controls the speed direction and pitch of the playback. This is quantized to octaves: half speed, normal speed, 2X, and 4x.

Try combining slower clock speeds with faster playback speeds, to introduce interesting grit and vibe.

Stretch Mode

Stretch mode lets you zoom in and explore the details of your Loop. Spreading short phrases into sprawling epics. It does this by chopping your Loop up into slices, and moving through them at a speed of your choosing.

Length sets the size of the slices. Higher settings will have more clarity and feature repeating phrases, while lower settings will be more blurry and grainy. Counterclockwise of noon is where you will find classic time stretching sounds.

Modify sets the playback direction as well as the amount of stretching. The closer you get to noon, the slower you'll progress. Forward playback has achieved clockwise at noon, and reverse is counterclockwise.

We can explore a single moment infinitely by setting Modify to noon. turning up Length will adjust the size of the moment we're repeating.

A few layers of overdubbing and stretch mode can turn just about anything into an infinitely interesting texture.

Envelope mode

ENV which is short for envelope allows you to interrupt the loop with your playing to create Dynamic stutters and frozen notes. It chops your Loop into slices and whenever sound is detected at the input, it will repeat the current slice until the sound disappears.

Length sets the size of the slices. Lower settings will zoom in on microscopic grains, while higher settings will repeat short phrases

Modify sets the sensitivity of the audio detector. The further counterclockwise the knob is, the less sensitive.

DIP Switches

Welcome to part two of mood's video manual. In this video we'll look at the different ways you can customize mood as well as mood's very powerful array of hidden options.

Let's talk customization first:

MISO

MISO stands for mono in stereo out and it'll split a mono signal into a stereo output

Spread

Spread allows mood to generate an affected stereo image. Each of mood's modes have a unique take on this, and here's a quick taste of what they sound like.

Dry Kill

Dry Kill removes your clean signal from the output of the pedal.

Trails

Trails allows the wet Channel modes to smoothly fade out after the pedal is bypassed.

Latch

Latch causes the hold function for each channel to be latching instead of momentary.

No Dub

No Dub reduces the micro Looper feedback down to zero for a quick way to turn the micro Looper channel into a pseudo live effect. You'll need to leave overdubbing engaged for this to work. The higher the clock knob is turned up the closer it will track your playing.

Smooth

Smooth clock removes the harmonized stepping effect from the clock knob for fluid adjustment.

Classic

Classic turns on classic Mode, which brings back all the flaws and idiosyncrasies of mood Mark 1. Because sometimes those are just what you need, clock noise deteriorating loops and more check out the field guide in this video's description for more specifics.

Hidden Options

Mood has a view options under the hood that can help you further customize the pedal to your liking. Most of these options are based on your user feedback on the original mood. To access the hidden options, hold down both foot switches. Both LEDs will turn green and keep holding them down while adjusting any desired parameters

Tone

Wet channels modify knob controls a simple high cut filter from mellowing the wet algorithms.

Stereo Width

The time knob controls the stereo width of the wet Channel when the spread dip switch is engaged.

Sync

The wet channel mode toggle allows you to sync one channel to the other. In the right position, the wet channel is synced to the micro Looper the time knob now moves in steps that are rhythmically related to the micro loop length.

In the left position the micro Looper is synced to the wet channel. The length of the micro loop is now set by the time knob. It's a great way to capture more rhythmic ideas. If your playing is in time with the wet Channel effects your Loop will neatly capture that timing.

Ramping Waveform

The mix knob selects the waveform used by the ramping LFO. The shapes smoothly warp from one to the next.

Level Balance

The clock knob sets the relative loudness of the two channels. Turn the knob toward the channel that you'd like to hear more of. At noon they're even.

Spread Solo

The routing toggle switch lets you engage spread on one channel but not the other. This might be helpful if for example you want to keep your micro loop mono but have it pass through a ping pong delay

When the toggle is in the middle, both channels will be affected by spread, otherwise flip the toggle in the direction of the channel that you'd like spread to apply to.

Fade

The length knob, when turned counterclockwise, will cause your Loops to gradually fade while overdubbing for slowly evolving Loops or the ability to treat the micro Looper channels like a delay.

Direct M<icro-Loop

Normally when a micro loop passes through the wet channel the spatial effects are 100 wet, but, as the microloopers modify knob is turned clockwise, some of the clean micro loop will be introduced into the signal.

Loop length

The micro Looper mode toggle switch can be used to cut the loop length in half and match the response of the original mood. Flip it to the left if that's what you want to do.

Reset Hidden Options

Now if you get lost and you need to reset hidden options reset all of the hidden options to their default setting flip the preset toggles to the left position and back to Center three times in a row. Once you see the blinking lights press both foot switches simultaneously to confirm, and you're back to square one.

Specs

Stereo I/O
Presets (2)
Internal modulation (Ramping)
MIDI (note, PC, CC, clock sync)
CV control
Expression control
Trails
Analog dry thru
Buffered bypass
9V DC Center Negative ~270 mA

MOOD MKII is a different kind of multi-effect. Its two channels are aware of each other and work together. One half samples and loops brief moments, the other is a collection of real-time spatial effects.

Twist any sound into a sprawling texture that you can freeze, loop and scatter across the stereo field, for instant gratification and endless exploration.

It’s a musical chemistry set. Transfer, combine, and get lost.

What’s new for MKII?

A lot! Stereo, overdubbing, freezing, syncing, fading, filtering, balancing, blending, smoothing, etc.

We’ve also polished up the sound quality, but there’s a Classic Mode for those of you who prefer dents and dings.

Capture and expand any moment, instantly.

Stretch, slice, and dynamically control the ambience.

Mix and mingle mode-based stereo motion.

Shift both channels in musical, harmonized steps.

Musical clock. Your partner in MOOD.

The Clock knob controls the sample rate of both channels at once, and shifts everything in harmonized steps – so you can instantly half-speed a loop and the reverb it’s being processed by. It’s tone, length, and quality all in one.

Micro-looping

MOOD MKII features an always-listening looper. It’s a bit like fishing for music: the channel is continuously recording until you turn it on, and then you see what you get. Now featuring overdubbing.

Spatial effects

The Wet Channel is a twist on the classic ambient palette. It’s a collection of real-time effects that can process your micro-loops, input signal, or both – in both familiar and warped ways.

MIDI Magic

Our deepest MIDI integration yet, introducing the ability to play MOOD MKII with a keyboard. Also included are clock sync and control over every parameter, even the hidden ones.

Reversible AF.

Freeze and refresh.

MOOD MKII lets you turn each channel on its head. The Wet Channel can be frozen in place, turning its live effects into ambient pads or secondary loops, while the Micro-Looper can be turned into a delay or even a pseudo-live effect.

Expand and integrate

MOOD MKII features advanced connectivity and customization options including MIDI, CV and Expression control, presets, and internal modulation of any or all its knobs.

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Arrived April 21st 2023. Serial No. 01264