Mutable Instruments Ears

The Mutable Instruments Ears is Mutable Instruments’ take on Tom Whitwell’s open-source Mikrophonie module – a contact microphone and amplifier. A large palette of organic, physical sounds can be generated by scratching, tapping, and more generally collecting any kind of acoustic waves surrounding your modular case – even speaker feedback. With its built-in envelope follower and gate detector, it can also be the gateway between external audio sources and your modular system.

Features:

• Built-in contact microphone soldered right under the front panel, turning the panel and your entire case into a microphone
• Increasingly spaced ridges on the panel, generating sonically interesting pulses or impulse combs when rubbed - strike, pick or scratch digital resonators like Rings, Elements or the 4ms SMR
• High-quality amplification stage suitable for external contact microphones, electro-acoustic instruments like guitars, or plain line-level signals
• Audio amplifier with 1M input impedance, up to 40 dB of gain
• External input bypassing the built-in contact microphone
• Envelope follower with 3 preset attack and release times (adjustable by jumper)
• Gate detector with 3 preset sensitivity levels (adjustable by jumper) and +8 V gate output
• Three indicator LEDs: amplifier clipping (red), envelope follower level (white), gate detector activity (orange)