fuse by daylight noise

fuse

light it and step back

20 HP

Light it and a spark runs down the fuse. Where the fuse forks the spark splits, and where each branch ends a charge goes off, so one trigger becomes a cascade of them, each at its own time, with a ramp under it all and the last charge at the very end. Every fuse is a new one.

Light it

Press LIGHT, or send it a gate, and a spark runs down the main fuse. Where the fuse forks, the spark splits and runs on down both ways; where each branch ends, a charge goes off.

LIGHT, a lit button and its gate: lights the fuse; lit again while it burns, it starts a fresh one. The button glows while it burns.

LENGTH, the big knob: how long the main fuse burns. Fully left a flash, ten milliseconds; a second at noon; fully right half a minute.

CLOCK: patched, the fuse burns in its pulses, every charge on one: 1 pulse fully left, 16 at noon, 128 fully right.

LENGTH, the jack: a CV added to the knob; 5 V takes it the whole way round.

The forks

Each fuse is laid fresh: which forks it takes, and how long each branch runs, are new every time. The one laid glows faintly on the panel before you light it.

BRANCH: how often it forks. Fully left one line and one charge; turned up, forks come off the main fuse, then splits off the forks, then frays off the splits; at noon four or five forks and a split or two; fully right every one of its 33 branches, a delta. Turning it adds or takes away only the branches the sparks haven't reached.

BRANCH, the jack: a CV added to the knob, 5 V the whole way.

The burn

SPIT: how unsteady it burns. Fully left an even burn; turned up, every spark spits, and now and then a spit stalls it or sends it racing; fully right each one spits thirty times a second and the charges scatter, the main fuse anywhere from half its length to two thirds as long again. On the clock a spark stalls a pulse or races two, so the charges stay on the beat.

CUT, a button and its gate: snuffs the branch due next where its spark is. Its charge never comes, and nothing it hadn't reached forks off it. A clock into CUT thins a cascade on the beat. When nothing burns, it lays a fresh fuse.

What comes out

BURN: how far the main fuse has burnt, 0 to 8 V, a straight ramp with SPIT fully left; back to 0 when it goes off.

SPARKS: a trigger at every spit.

FORK: a trigger at every charge at the end of a fork, a branch off the main fuse.

SPLIT: every charge at the end of a split, a branch off a fork.

FRAY: every charge at the end of a fray, a branch off a split.

LAST: the main fuse's own charge, at the end. Any spark still burning goes off with it.

ALL: every charge.

Specs

Format

Width: 20 HP
Controls: a big knob, 2 knobs, a lit button, a button

Inputs

LIGHT, CUT: gates, rising past 1 V
CLOCK: clock, rising past 1 V
LENGTH, BRANCH: CVs, added to the knobs, 5 V the whole way

Outputs

BURN: CV, 0 to 8 V
SPARKS: trigger, 0/5 V, 3 ms
Charges: FORK, SPLIT, FRAY, LAST, ALL: triggers, 0/5 V, 10 ms