The Door to the Stars is an expander for the Manifold Research Centre Tetragrid.
It allows you to send external cv inputs to perturbate the complex gravitational interactions of the tetragrid star map system.
Each one of the portals/inputs (right side) can be opened and closed through its correspondent hyperspace switch (left side): up is open, down is closed.
The inputs are normalled down, so if for example only the first input is patched, the signal is cascaded to inputs 2,3,4,5 and 6. If you don’t want this, you can still disengage the unused inputs through the switches.
Event Horizon
Once your cv has been sent through the portal, it will appear to its correspondent pad on the playing board (follow the MAP). Now, through the magnetic pins, you can connect it to its surrounding pads, affecting the internal tetragrid behaviour.
You can now gravitationally bend the tetragrid to external forces. The behaviour of the cv input is susceptible to the magnetic patching on the tetra grid. Which means different results can be obtained, such as stalling the outs over a certain threshold (or even the opposite, where the tetra runs only when the threshold is met) , or forcing a reset of the tetra grid cycles (similar to the syncon a VCO).
Slow rising/falling CVs can lead you to FM-like behaviours, as increase/decrease in speed.
The threshold that the tetra grid is looking for is around 3 volts, but again, this will all depend on the patching!
The use of the hyperspace switch adds a lot of playability and can bring you to unexpected results very quickly.
Due to its nature, only the unipolar side of a signal will interact with your tetragrid.
The inputs are scaled down and rectified, so you can still send +10V/-10V signals into the expander without having to worry.
So as you can see, full control cannot be achieved, the tetragrid will remain a chaotic system, on which you can now introduce an external set of rules.
How to Wire Your Star Gate System:
Door to the stars has 2 pin headers, the upper one is a 2x4 header, this is where your cv is going to travel through, and needs to be connected to the tetragrid 2x4 header (the donut is showing the orientation, make sure you are matching them).
The lowest one is a 2x5 power header, the orientation of the red stripe (-12V) is marked by the white silk screen line.
Video: https://youtu.be/EcL2ut-LVaQ
Product Specs
- Item Number: 26220
- Make: Manifold Research Centre
- Model: Door to the Stars
- Condition: Brand New
- Finish: Black
- Categories: keyboards-and-synths ⇒ eurorack
- Function: Clock Modulator CV Modulation Expander Utility
- Made In: United Kingdom
- MPN: MANF02
- Modular Grid: Eurorack ⓘ ＋
- Dimensions*: 4 HP 14 mm deep
- Power*: 11 mA +12V 12 mA -12V ? mA 5V
* User contributed details