F_RNGZ

RNGZ is a ring-scanned resonator and excitation module for Voltage Modular. Instead of using a conventional oscillator, RNGZ works with a circular vibrating model that is excited by gates, velocity, friction-style drive, air-style drive, or direct mouse clicks on the visual ring display. The module then scans that moving ring at one or two positions and converts the evolving motion into sound. The result ranges from metallic hits and animated resonances to bowed and blown textures with shifting stereo motion, hollow body character, and position-dependent excitation.

Concept

At the core of RNGZ is a circular field made from connected nodes. When the ring is excited, energy spreads through that circular structure, wraps around the loop, and slowly decays according to the current settings. A scanner moves around the ring and reads its shape as audio. Because the scanner keeps moving while the ring itself keeps changing, the sound can become lively, unstable, bright, hollow, airy, metallic, or surprisingly organic.

Unlike a standard oscillator, RNGZ does not simply repeat one fixed waveform. The sound comes from the interaction between excitation, decay, tension, scanner motion, stereo offset, fixed irregularity, body emphasis, color, strike position, and output level. This gives the module a specific character somewhere between scanned synthesis, resonant modelling, bowed motion, breath-driven behavior, and an abstract physical instrument.

Main Features

• Ring-based scanned synthesis engine
• Direct mouse excitation on the visual ring display
• Three excitation modes: HIT, BOW, and BLOW
• Dedicated controls for PITCH, DECAY, TENS, HIT, AIR, MULTI, STRIKE, MOTION, CHAR, COLOR, BODY, VARI, WIDTH, and LEVEL
• Gate and velocity-driven excitation
• Strike-position control for repeatable off-center excitation
• Multi-hit excitation for richer struck responses
• Stereo scanning with separate left and right read positions and mode-dependent stereo spread
• Assignable modulation inputs with target selection per slot
• Animated visual ring display showing ring shape, scanner movement, and strike location

Signal Flow

RNGZ starts by exciting a circular resonant field. The excitation can come from an incoming gate, a manual click on the canvas, or a sustained mode such as bowing or blowing. The ring responds as a connected system of nodes, and its motion evolves over time according to decay, tension, and internal variation. A scanner then reads the current state of the ring and turns it into audio. The left and right channels can scan at different positions, creating stereo width and moving spatial effects. Additional shaping such as body emphasis, color, air contribution, and multi-hit excitation can further change the result.

Top Section

The top section contains the main signal inputs and the assignable modulation area. The jacks use the standard Voltage Modular audio-style format for control signals.

PITCH is the 1V/Oct pitch input. It offsets the scanner pitch and moves the readout into different pitch regions.

GATE is the main trigger or sustain input. In HIT mode it mainly behaves as a trigger. In BOW and BLOW mode it can keep the excitation active while the gate remains high. In combination with SUSTAIN, this allows for more stable continuous tones.

VEL is the velocity input. Higher incoming values generally excite the ring more strongly and produce a more pronounced response.

MOD 1–6 are free modulation inputs. Each slot has its own selector button below the jack. Clicking the selector opens a menu for choosing the modulation target.

Available modulation targets include DECAY, TENS, HIT, CHAR, MOTION, WIDTH, VARI, BODY, AIR, COLOR, MULTI, and STRIKE. Multiple modulation inputs can be assigned to the same target, and their influence is summed internally.

Canvas Display

The large central display shows the ring itself. The blue circular shape represents the current deformation of the ring model. When the ring is excited, its shape changes and moves dynamically. Small moving markers show the scanner positions for the left and right channels. This makes it possible to see the relationship between the vibrating ring and the moving read points.

Clicking on the ring sets a manual excitation position. This is a direct way to explore how strike, bow, or blow position affects the sound. Different positions can change brightness, motion, stereo impression, and the balance of resonant components. In practice, the ring display is both a visualizer and a performance surface. The STRIKE control sets the normal excitation position used when no manual canvas strike is being applied.

Front Panel Controls

PITCH sets the scanning pitch. Higher values move the scanner faster around the ring and raise the apparent pitch or activity of the result. The control is best understood as scanner pitch rather than conventional oscillator pitch.

DECAY controls how long the motion remains active. Lower values shorten the sound and remove energy more quickly. Higher values let motion stay alive longer and produce more sustained or evolving tones.

TENS controls the coupling or tension within the ring model. Lower values can feel softer or looser, while higher values tighten the motion and often create brighter, firmer, or more active resonant behavior.

HIT controls the main excitation amount. Higher values inject more energy into the ring and make the response stronger and more immediate.

AIR controls the air-noise contribution used mainly in BLOW mode. Lower values keep the sound cleaner and more focused on the ring itself. Higher values add more breath-like texture and noise energy.

MULTI controls multi-hit excitation in HIT mode. Lower values stay close to a single strike. Higher values introduce additional excitation points around the ring, creating richer attacks, more complex resonances, and in some settings a slight beating or chorus-like thickness.

STRIKE sets the base strike position on the ring. This makes off-center excitation repeatable and patchable. Different strike positions can change the harmonic emphasis, stereo feel, and general character of the response.

MOTION controls how active and animated the ring behavior feels. Lower settings can feel calmer or slower. Higher settings generally create more motion, complexity, and instability.

CHAR moves the sound from softer and broader toward sharper and more metallic. Lower values tend to sound more organic and less pointed. Higher values narrow the excitation and can make the sound brighter, harder, and more metallic.

COLOR shapes the hardness and sharpness of the excitation behavior. Lower values tend to feel softer and rounder. Higher values can make the excitation more focused, harder, rougher, or more chiff-like depending on the active mode.

BODY adds hollow or cavity-like character. Lower values keep the sound closer to the direct ring scan. Higher values reduce some of the sharp direct quality and emphasize a more shell-like, tube-like, or cavity-flavored response.

VARI adds fixed per-node variation to the ring model. Low settings are cleaner and more stable. Higher settings introduce irregularity, asymmetry, rougher texture, and more unpredictable motion.

WIDTH controls the stereo offset between the left and right scanners. At lower values the two channels read nearly the same part of the ring. At higher values they separate more clearly and produce a wider stereo image. In the current version WIDTH also influences part of the pickup and body spread, so its effect is more meaningful than a simple pan offset.

LEVEL is the output level control. It can raise the level well above normal unity for stronger drive into later modules or effects. Use this with care when working with already bright or aggressive settings.

Mode Selector

The mode selector chooses the current excitation behavior.

HIT gives a clear struck response with a distinct attack and a more percussive feel. This is the most direct and immediate mode and works well for metallic hits, resonant pulses, bowls, bells, and animated percussion. MULTI has its strongest role here.

BOW continuously feeds energy into the ring while the gate is held. This creates a friction-like sustained response with more ongoing motion and less obvious attack than HIT. In SUSTAIN mode this behavior becomes more stable and less prone to decay.

BLOW uses a pressure-style excitation with air contribution. This gives a softer onset, more breath-driven sustain, and a more diffuse, hollow, or airy character than the other modes. In SUSTAIN mode the airflow remains active longer and produces a more continuous texture.

HOLD / SUSTAIN

The HOLD switch provides three different states that control how the ring model behaves over time.

OFF is the normal mode. The ring responds dynamically to incoming excitation and naturally decays according to the DECAY setting.

HOLD freezes the current state of the ring. Motion and energy propagation are effectively stopped, allowing you to capture and hold a specific resonant moment or texture.

SUSTAIN keeps the ring active for a longer time by reducing energy loss, while still allowing new excitation to enter the system. In BOW and BLOW modes this results in a more stable continuous sound. In HIT mode, SUSTAIN extends the decay but does not create continuous excitation.

Outputs

L and R are the stereo outputs. These carry the scanned ring audio. Because the left and right scanners can read different positions on the ring, the stereo image is an important part of the sound design rather than a simple duplicate of the same signal.

How RNGZ Sounds

RNGZ naturally favors animated, resonant, bright, metallic, airy, hollow, and moving textures. It can create short struck sounds, unstable resonant tones, drones, bowed gestures, blown tones, position-sensitive attacks, and unusual stereo movement depending on the active mode and settings. It is less like a classic subtractive oscillator and more like an evolving resonant object being continuously excited and read by moving pickups.

Basic Patch 1: Metallic Hit

Patch a gate sequence into GATE and a pitch source into PITCH. Set DECAY fairly high, TENS around the middle, HIT above the middle, CHAR somewhat high, AIR low, and WIDTH low to medium. Keep VARI moderate. In HIT mode this produces a bright, animated struck sound with a resonant metallic edge.

Basic Patch 2: Multi Struck Bell

Stay in HIT mode, raise MULTI, and move STRIKE away from the center default position. Keep DECAY fairly long and BODY low to moderate. This often creates a richer struck response with more partial complexity and a more clustered metallic impression.

Basic Patch 3: Softer Organic Ring

Use the same gate and pitch patch, but lower CHAR, lower VARI slightly, and reduce MOTION. Keep DECAY fairly long. Try several STRIKE positions or click different ring areas on the canvas. This usually produces a gentler and more organic sound.

Basic Patch 4: Wide Stereo Motion

Raise WIDTH and keep VARI moderate. Use a repeating gate source and let DECAY stay fairly long. Because the left and right scanners move apart and the stereo pickup behavior becomes more active, the sound becomes wider and more animated in stereo.

Basic Patch 5: Hollow Resonant Tone

Set BODY above the middle, keep CHAR moderate or slightly low, and avoid extreme MOTION settings at first. This shifts the output away from the sharpest direct tone and into a more cavity-like area. Small changes of TENS and VARI can make a large difference here.

Basic Patch 6: Bowed Sustain

Select BOW mode and feed a held gate into GATE. Set DECAY high enough to allow continuous motion, then explore CHAR, VARI, BODY, and STRIKE. This often produces friction-like sustained tones with a living, rubbing quality.

Basic Patch 7: Blown Texture

Select BLOW mode and hold a gate. Raise AIR carefully, keep BODY at a moderate setting, and use DECAY and MOTION to find the right balance between body and motion. Move STRIKE to different ring positions to change the emphasis of the response. This can move from soft breathy tone to noisy, unstable air-driven texture.

Using Mouse Excitation

The canvas is not only visual. It is also a performance control. Clicking different places around the ring changes where the excitation happens. This matters because the position of excitation changes the resulting motion and harmonic balance. One position may sound tighter or brighter, while another may feel softer, wider, hollower, or more unusual. Manual clicks are especially useful for quickly auditioning strike positions before setting a repeatable STRIKE knob value.

Using Modulation

The six free modulation inputs make RNGZ far more powerful. Slow LFO modulation of MOTION or WIDTH adds evolving movement. Envelope modulation of HIT or AIR changes how each event speaks. Random modulation of VARI or BODY can move the sound between more stable and more irregular resonant states. Modulating CHAR shifts the balance between softer and more metallic behavior. Modulating STRIKE is especially useful, because it makes the excitation point move around the ring without needing manual clicks.

Practical Modulation Ideas

• Assign a slow LFO to WIDTH for drifting stereo movement
• Assign an envelope to HIT for dynamic accents
• Assign random CV or sample-and-hold to STRIKE for changing strike positions on each event
• Assign modulation to MULTI in HIT mode for moving between cleaner and richer attacks
• Assign a slow modulation source to AIR in BLOW mode for changing breath intensity
• Assign random CV to VARI for changing irregularity
• Assign a slow source to BODY for moving cavity character
• Assign modulation to CHAR or COLOR for gradual shifts in excitation hardness

Tips

• Small changes can have a large sonic effect, especially when DECAY is long
• WIDTH and VARI together strongly influence stereo complexity
• Lower CHAR values usually make the sound broader and less sharp
• BODY is useful when the sound feels too direct or too metallic
• AIR is usually best added with restraint rather than pushed too hard
• STRIKE is one of the most effective controls for changing the response without changing pitch
• MULTI is strongest in HIT mode and is best used to add complexity rather than simple loudness
• Clicking different positions on the ring is often more interesting than leaving the excite point fixed
• With sustained modes, the balance between HIT, AIR, DECAY, CHAR, COLOR, and mode behavior is critical
• High LEVEL settings can be musically useful, but also easier to overload downstream modules

What RNGZ Is Best For

RNGZ is especially good for experimental percussion, animated resonances, metallic plucks, bowls, bells, unstable textures, bowed drones, blown tones, strange stereo movement, and unusual physically-inspired timbres. It also works very well as a source for further processing with filters, delays, reverbs, distortion, or spectral effects.

In Short

RNGZ is not a conventional oscillator. It is a moving resonant object that is excited, scanned, and turned into sound. That gives it a character that can be bright, sharp, hollow, metallic, airy, unstable, animated, or surprisingly organic. Use STRIKE and the canvas to place excitations, use MULTI to enrich struck attacks, use the controls to shape the ring’s behavior, and use the modulation slots to keep the sound alive.