Routing external audio to the filters

The audio inputs on the back of the Malström allows you to connect any audio signal to the filters and Shaper.

To use this feature, it’s important to understand the following background:

Normally the Malström behaves like any regular polyphonic synthesizer, in that each voice has its own filter. The filter settings are the same, but each filter envelope is triggered individually when you play a note.

However, when you connect a signal to the audio inputs, it is routed to an “extra” filter. The envelope for this filter is triggered each time any of the other filter envelopes is triggered. In other words, the “extra” filter envelope is triggered each time you play a note on the Malström.

There are two different uses for the audio inputs:

Connecting an external signal source

Connecting an audio signal from another device in the rack to the audio input allows you to process the signal through the filters and/or Shaper of the Malström. The processed signal will then be mixed with the Malström’s “own” voices (if activated) and sent to the outputs.

The result depends on the following:

•	To which jack you connect the signal.

•	Whether the filters and/or Shaper are activated on the front panel.

•	The routing button for filter:B.

If this is activated and you connect a signal to the Filter:B input, the signal will be processed in filter:B and then sent to the Shaper and filter:A (just as when routing Malström’s own oscillators on the front panel).

Note again that the filter envelope is triggered by all voices. To make use of the filter envelope, you either need to play the Malström or use gate signals to trigger it or the filter envelope, separately.

Connecting the signals from the Malström itself

If you connect one or both oscillator outputs to the audio input(s), the internal signal path from the oscillators to the filters is broken. In other words, no signals will pass internally from the oscillators to the filters, and the three routing buttons for the oscillators are ignored.

This may seem pointless at first, but there are several uses for this:

When you play the Malström in this mode, the filter envelope will be triggered for each note you play, affecting all sounding notes.

This is due to the monophonic “extra” filter described above. On older synthesizers, this feature is called “Multiple triggering”.

Since all notes you play are mixed before being sent into the filter, the result of using the Shaper will be totally different (if you play more than one note at a time).

This is similar to playing a guitar chord through a distortion effect, for example.

You can patch in external effects between the oscillators and the filters.

Just connect an oscillator output to the input of the effect device, and the effect output to the Malströms’s audio input.

You can use combinations of connections and routing. You could for instance connect an external audio signal to one of the inputs, one of the Malström’s oscillators to the other input and then use the routing options on the front panel for the other oscillator. All of these signals will then be mixed and sent to the Malström’s main outputs.