Description
Make It Rain… Or Shine
Cylonix and Intellijel are at it again with a combination rhythm and comb delay module. The Rhythm Delay allows individual control of any or all 16 taps—set timing, level, pan, filter type, cutoff and Q on each tap. The Comb Delay opens up further possibilities for complex comb filtering, along with resonator or reverb effects. Bring some light showers or something more torrential to your rack.
From Trickle to Torrent
Rainmaker is a deluge of a delay module made up of two main sections: Rhythm and Comb. In the Rhythm Delay section, exhaustive control of all 16 taps is at your fingertips. You can set Levels, Panning, Filter Type, Cutoff and Q for each tap, and make many adjustments to their timing and behaviour. The Comb section opens up further possibilities for complex comb filtering, along with resonator or reverb effects. Whether your patch needs some light showers, or something more torrential, Rainmaker has you covered.
Features
- 16-Tap Rhythm Delay section with comprehensive control of each tap
- Comb Delay section with up to 64 taps controlled by preset patterns, slopes, and filters.
- Delay CLK IN, Comb CLK IN, CLK OUT and clock dividers allow for synchronization with other elements in your patches.
- 96KHz, 24-bit (32-bit internal) signal processing
- Most parameters are controllable by external control voltages, either directly or through the two auxiliary modulation inputs (MOD A, MOD B)
- Audio-rate randomization of all parameters, or selectable subsets of parameters
- 128 Preset slots with online preset librarian via Laser Mammoth and USB connectivity
Overview
The Intellijel/Cylonix Rainmaker provides a high-quality (96KHz sampling rate with 32-bit internal processing) stereo rhythmic delay and stereo comb resonator effect.
The Stereo Rhythm Delay has 16 taps, each with its own resonant 2nd-order filter and granular pitch shifter. The filters have independently adjustable resonance and cutoff frequency, and can be set to either lowpass, bandpass, highpass or bypass operation. The filters are also capable of self-oscillation, enabling modal synthesis techniques. The granular pitch shifters have a range of 15 semitones up or 16 semitones down. Each tap can repeat at a rate value set in tap#’s in order to create regenerating echo effects. The feedback signal has a lowpass/highpass tone control and its own pitch shifter. The tap delay times can range from 0.1 millisecond up to a maximum of 20 seconds. The overall delay times can be set with the rotary encoder, the tap tempo button, or synced to an external clock.
The Stereo Comb Resonator section has 64 time-delayed taps which are summed together. This produces a deep comb filter or resonating effect. At large comb sizes (long time delays) a multiple echo effect is produced. The density of the resonator can be varied from 2 to 64 taps. The tap with the longest delay time is fed back to the input. High feedback levels, with short comb sizes, produce “Karplus-Strong” types of plucked string sounds. The relative timing of the 64 taps are set according to one of 16 different preset patterns, which provide different resonator timbres or echo rhythms. The comb size can be set either with the rotary encoder, an external clock, synched to the delay clock, or through a transposable 1v/oct input voltage.
The Rainmaker module has extensive voltage control capabilities. Direct voltage control is available for the delay feedback level and tone, the global pitch shift for all delay taps, the comb resonator size, and comb feedback level. There are two assignable modulation inputs, which can be assigned to different parameters in each preset. A trigger input with assignable functionality can trigger built-in types of noise bursts, freeze the delay buffer, reverse the delay, randomize parameters, mute taps, and much more.
16-Tap Stereo Rhythm Delay
- Each of the 16 taps has its own set of audio processors:
- 2nd order resonant multi-mode filter (LP,BP,HP) with adjustable cutoff frequency and resonance
- Level and Balance setting, with quick mute capability
- +/- 1 octave granular pitch shifter. 1,2 or 4 grains with adjustable grain size.
- Delay line feedback can be taken from any of the 16 taps (pre-filter) or from the sum of the 16 taps (post-filter)
- Delay line feedback has its own granular pitch shifter and 1st-order tone filter
- Global delay time can be set either by manual entry with the encoder, or by an external clock with adjustable clock divider, or by tap tempo button.
- Individual tap delays are set according to one of 16 preset grooves
- Global delay time modulation by an LFO with 8 selectable waveforms
- Delay times range from 0.1 millisecond to 20 seconds.
- Delay buffer freeze and reverse
- Taps can be piled on top of each other to give complex filtering and chord effects
- Global pitch shift control which transposes the delay line output by +/- 1 octave
Stereo Multi-Tap Comb Resonator
- Comb can have between 1 and 64 taps allowing for complex resonances
- Three different nonlinear comb feedback structures for spectral shaping
- Comb is pingable to give physically-modeled guitar, sitar, and clarinet types of sounds
- 16 different comb tap spacing patterns
- Global comb time can be set either by manual entry with the encoder, or by an external clock (with adjustable clock divider), or by a 1v/oct control voltage.
- Global comb time modulation by an LFO with 8 selectable waveforms
- Comb times range from 0.1 millisecond to 20 seconds.
Presets
Each Rainmaker currently ships with a set of 68 factory presets plus an additional 41 presets created by sound designer extraordinaire Richard Devine. (See below the videos for details)
Thanks to Laser Mammoth there is now an online SysEx librarian for managing Rainmaker presets. Visit the Laser Mammoth website to share your presets!
If you want to return your Rainmaker back to the initial factory conditions you can download the presets file and upload it to your module via the display’s MIDI sysex interface: rainmaker_factory_presets_1.09.syx. NOTE: This will overwrite your user presets.
Instructions for uploading the presets are found in the manual.
