n.f. \flεksibilite\
“The enforcement of regulations resulted in a lack of flexibility.”
Installation
Always turn your eurorack case off before plugging or unplugging a module.
Do not touch any electrical terminals when attaching any Eurorack bus board cable.
Ritual Electronics Flexibilité requires:
- 10 mA +12V
- 7 mA -12V
- 0 mA 5V
You will need 10HP of free space in your Eurorack case to install Flexibilité. As it’s a 1U module, you will need 1U rack space, either Intellijel format or Pulplogic format. Please refer to either manufacturer website for complete specifications on their respective format.
As the 1U series does not have a shrouded header, all the modules will be follow the RED STRIPE DOWN norm. Just align the red stripe on your power cable to the line on the module with RED written next to it. Connect the other end of the cable to the bus board connector of your case.
Overview
Flexibilité is a fairly simple module. Plug an expression pedal into it and use your foot to control your modules.
By default it generates a 0-5V signal (unipolar) or a -5/+5V signal (bipolar), attenuated by the foot pedal.
Flexibilité has an input for external signals, so it can be used as a volume pedal on audio or attenuator/attenuverter on CV signals.
For when you need that extra hand!
Controls
- Expression pedal input
- External signal input
- Switch for Unipolar (0-5V) / Bipolar (-5/+5V)
Technical characteristics
- Buffered input & output
- Reverse polarity switch on the back of the module for compatibility with most expression pedals
Dimensions
- 35 mm deep
- 10HP large
- 1U
Controls
A – Pedal input
Plug your expression pedal here using a TRS jack.
See below
B – Signal input
When no jack is plugged in the pedal will rely on internal voltage and output 5V. When a signal is present it will be either attenuated or attenuverted.
C – Uni / Bipolar switch
Chose between unipolar or bipolar behavior.
See below
D – Signal level LED
When the signal (or 5V) is fully attenuated the LED is off when it’s not the LED will emit a pink light. Keep in mind that in attenuverter mode (bipolar), zero signal is the middle position of you pedal.
E – Output
Output the attenuated signal.
Expression Pedal
What is an expression pedal?
Expression pedals are used to control variable parameters on electronic music equipment such as digital amplifiers, rack effects, stomp boxes, MIDI controllers, and keyboards. The pedals do not contribute to the sound themselves, but remotely control aspects of the device they are connected to. It might help to think of an expression pedal as a remote knob that can be controlled with your foot.
Inside the pedal there’s a potentiometer that moves proportionally to the pedal. The potentiometer is connected to an output jack or output cable that attaches to the expression pedal input of the device you are controlling. Unlike an in line volume pedal, there is no ‘input’ on an expression pedal as it does not connect to the instruments signal chain. There is just the single output that connects to the dedicated expression pedal input on the effect device. The device sends out a control voltage on one conductor of the cable which passes through the potentiometer and then is received back by the device on another conductor. As the pedal is moved up and down, the resistance within the potentiometer changes allowing more or less of the input control voltage to be returned.
Expression pedals are typically passive devices that require no power of their own, with the control voltage being generated by the equipment they are connected to.
If you want to learn more about expression pedals, we recommend this great article by Mission Engineering:
https://missionengineering.com/understanding-expression-pedals/
Pedal Polarity
Flexibilité act as the interface.
The module sends either +5v or your input signal to the pedal’s potentiometer and reads how much of the original signal comes back. To do this you need an expression pedal that use a TRS (“Tip/Ring/Sleeve” or “Stereo”) cable. Depending on the model of pedal you’re using, the wiring of the inside potentiometer to the cable end might differ.
We decided to provide a polarity switch on the back of the module. As there’s no standard in the industry the switch has no label. Most expression pedal already have a polarity switch on them but if it Flexibilité does not seem to be working properly try changing the module’s polarity with this little button.
Sadly some pedals use a TS (“Tip/Sleeve” or “Mono”) cable and Flexibilité will not work with those.
For an almost exhaustive list of all expression pedals and their respective specs and polarity head over there:
http://expressionpedals.com/list-of-expression-pedals
Polarity A
Bespeco VM18LU
Behringer FCV-100
Korg EXP-2
Zoom FP02M
Polarity B
Boss EV-30
Boss FV-50H 2
Dunlop DVP3
EHX Dual Expression
M-Audio EX-P
Mission engineering EP-1
Compatible pedals suggestion.
Unipolar & Bipolar
Uni(polar)
With no inputs the module outputs a voltage ranging between 0V (pedal fully closed) to 5V (pedal fully open).
When a signal is present at the input, you will go from no signal (fully closed) to signal multiplied by 1 (original signal, without attenuation)
Bipolar
With no inputs the module outputs a voltage ranging between -5V (pedal fully closed) to 5V (pedal fully open). 0V is obtainable half way through.
When a signal is present at the input Flexibilité will act as an attenuverter. When the pedal is closed the signal is multiplied by -1 (signal inversion), halfway through the signal is 0 (attenuation of the inversed signal to 0, then attenuation of the original signal), when the pedal is fully open the signal is multiplied by 1 (unattenuated).
Patch Ideas
Patch #1 – Violoning made easy
Violoning is very popular in ambient guitar playing. It uses a volume pedal as an enveloppe to cut the attack of the guitar, resulting in a bowed sound.
Save yourself a VCA and an enveloppe and use a pedal instead!
Patch notes
Whatever, audio out ———— Flexibilité, In
See next page for next level violoning
Patch #2 – Violoning LVL.2
If you have a spare VCA, and a filter in your violoning patch try this one out. It is slightly more complex but achieve great results.
Patch notes
Oscillator, Saw out ———— Filter, In
Filter, Out ———— VCA, In
Flexibilité, Out ———— VCA, CV In
Flexibilité, Out ———— Filter, CV In
Do not hesitate to mult the output of Flexibilité and send it to many patch points with different attenuations/attenuversion levels!
Patch #3 – Phase inversion
Inverting the polarity of a control signal is quite common.
Inverting audio phase is less used in modular. It is very handy in feedback patches where it can have drastic changes.
Use Flexibilité in attenuverter mode to control phase reversal.
Patch notes
Whatever, audio out ———— VCA In
VCA, VCA out ———— Guillotine In
VCA, VCA CV ———— LFO / Enveloppe
Of course, use two VCAs and one or more CV source for stereo gain control
Patch #4 – CV feedback
As you open Flexibilité, the input gets less attenuated.
Now if you control a parameter of the module you use as an input with the output of Flexibilité… Feedback.
Here, we have an LFO patched to Flexibilité. As you increase the intensity of the modulation, the LFO will go faster.
Patch notes
Anima, LFO out ———— Flexibilité, In
Flexibilité, Out ———— Anima, Attack/Decay CV in
Flexibilité, Out ———— Oscillator, In
This type of patch is useful when used as “mod wheel”
Warranty
Thank you for purchasing Ritual Electronics Flexibilité.
Your module has been assembled with care in Marseille, France.
You can find your module on Modulargrid:
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/ritual-electronics-flexibilite
For any remarks and informations, contact us at:
contact@ritualelectronics.com
For video demos and patch ideas check:
https://www.instagram.com/ritualelectronics/ https://www.youtube.com/c/ritualelectronics
Limited Warranty
Ritual Electronics warrants this product to be free of defects in materials
or construction for a period of one year from the date of purchase.
Malfunction resulting from wrong power supply voltages, backwards
or reversed eurorack bus board cable connection, abuse of the product
or any other causes determined by Ritual Electronics to be the fault of the
user are not covered by this warranty, and normal service rates will apply.
During the warranty period, any defective products will be repaired
or replaced, at the option of Ritual Electronics, on a return-to-Ritual
Electronics basis with the customer paying the transit cost to Ritual
Electronics. The return of your module is on us.
Ritual Electronics implies and accepts no responsibility for harm to person
or apparatus caused through operation of this product.