We had a visit with Ross from Moffenzeef Modular this weekend, who introduced us to his new dedicated clock module, the Count. A decidedly straight ahead module (compared to MITO, Muskrat, Deviant or the rest) from a weird, out-there company, Count has a couple of interesting quirks that give it the Moffenzeef signature…
Count is designed to act as a leading clock, the centerpiece tempo source for an entire modular system. The time section, which includes coarse and fine tuning frequency knobs, a slow or fast range switch and a CV input, can range from extremely slow clocks to aggressively fast. The resulting clock tempo is output from the main output at the bottom left corner of the module. Modulating the time can generate strange and unusual beat combinations, especially when paired with a step sequencer. The width section controls the pulse width of each clock pulse, from a constrained trigger at the far left, to the longer held gates as the control rises. This can also be modulated by CV to create interesting, changing patterns.
The Count starts to look more unique as we descend down the panel to the four switches, starting with the start/stop switch. The switch simply starts or stops the clock, sending a gate from the start CV output directly beneath the switch. The start gate is handy as a restart function, making sure sequencers restart at the beginning of their patterns when the clock starts.
The other switches alter the performance of the four clock division outputs. The upbeat/downbeat switch toggles the starting action of the 4 divisions, between triggering all of the clocks on the downbeat when the clock starts or cascading through the clocks on upbeats. This can also be used once the clocks are moving to shift the timings of the beats, which can be useful for fills. The last two switches shift the four division outputs to the relative clock divisions. The Count website says “TØP/BØTTØM switches the divisiøns frøm “even” tø “ødd” metered divisiøns where as RIGHT/LEFT switches the divisiøns frøm “beats” tø “bars.” Pøssible divisiøns are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36.”
How are you generating interesting clocks in your system? Tell us about it in the comments!
