Mousse modular desktop groovebox by Herbs and Stones

Last year, synth manufacturer Herbs and Stones has teased its new Mousse modular desktop groovebox on its YouTube channel, even though there was very little information about it — it wasn’t even listed on their website at time of writing this.

Well, we’ve gone back to check and now there’s a lot more info about the Mousse, so let’s take a look:

The short video gives an overview of the module’s capabilities:

“Mousse is a desktop dual groove box designed to generate soundscapes, complex rhythms, wonky baselines, and much, much more” according to the product page.

Features

A total of 40 patch points

• CV controllable clock plus separate clock in/out jacks
• Two complex voltage controlled LFOs
• Two envelope generators with curve invert input
• Two sequencers with 4 gate outputs, pitch CV output, random and step skip mode, CV controllable slew limiter plus manual and CV control over rotation and step lenght
• Two hybrid synth voices with a total of 11 CV inputs: digital sound generatorswith analog VCAs and VCFs
• Separate outputs for voices A and B plus a mix output

Clock section:

The clock section is the main heartbeat of Mousse and it controls the timing of the sequencers.

Controls:

• “c i” jack input: external clock input, 0-5V
• “c o” jack output: active clock output (internal or external)
• “c rate” knob: controls the rate of the internal clock
• cv” trimmer knob and CV input: CV input to modulate the internal clock (think tempo changes, wobbly rhythmic patterns)

LFO X:

LFO X is tied to LFO Y (more on that later) and is controlled via the “skip” button and LFO Y “steps” knob and CV input.

LFO X outputs a random waveform that can be tamed in various ways.

Controls:

• “skip” button: enabled at start, when pressed it toggles between two amplitude ranges for the waveform. One is full range and in the other the range is dynamically modulated by LFO Y.
• “steps” knob and CV input (in common with LFO Y): controls the resolution of the digital random waveform: in full counterclockwise position you get white noise, gradually turning the knob clockwise you can hear more and more “steps” (useful to generate random swinging melodies).

LFO Y: 

LFO Y is a variable waveform LFO that similarly to LFO X can also become a generative pattern sequencer.

Controls:

• “rate” knob and CV input: controls the speed of the LFO
• “shape” knob and CV input: when in full CCW position outputs a rising sawtooth wave, turning the knob clockwise the sawtooth morphs into a sine/saw hybrid
• “steps” knob and CV input: controls the resolution of the digital random waveform: in full counterclockwise position you get a “pure” LFO waveform, gradually turning the knob clockwise you can hear steps that gradually will become a stepped pattern (useful to generate non random looping swinging melodies).
• “r” gate input: the reset input, when it receives a gate the waveform resets at its zero point

Envelope generators:

Two identical decay-only envelope generators which can be inverted with the dedicated gate input.
(Think sequencer control over rising and falling curve of the envelope)

Controls:

• “g” input: trigger or gate input to excite the envelope generator
• “decay” knob: controls the length of the envelope generator
• “i” gate input: when a high gate signal is patched into this input the envelope gets inverted (thus creating a rising envelope voltage)
• “eg a” output: output for envelope generator a
• “eg b” output: output for envelope generator b

Sequencers A and B:

The two sequencers work independently but share the same clock and some of the features.

Sequencer A Controls:

• – “slew” knob: controls the slew limiter for the stepped sequence that is created by turning the four pitch knobs.
• “g” slew gate input: if a gate signal is patched into this input the slew limited signal is availabla only when a high gate is present at the input.
• “steps out”: outputs a four level voltage sequence (controlled by the four knobs on the left) that can be used to control various parameters of the synth
• “a1″…”a4” gate outputs: the four gate outputs of the sequencer 
• “rotate” button and gate input: when the button is pressed or a gate is patched into the input, sequencer A changes rotation
• “steps” button and gate input: when the button is pressed or a gate is patched into the input, sequencer A changes length: two steps, three steps, four steps

Sequencer B Controls:

• – “div” button: when it is pressed it toggles between a two step pattern (gates 1 and 3 or gates 2 and 4, depending on which step is active when the button is pressed) and a normal four step pattern
• “form”: when pressed it toggles between normal mode and semi random mode for sequencer B
• “b1″…”b4” gate outputs: the four gate outputs for sequencer B
• “rotate” button and gate input: when the button is pressed or a gate is patched into the input, sequencer B changes rotation
• “steps” button and gate input: when the button is pressed or a gate is patched into the input, sequencer B changes length. two steps, three steps, four steps

Voice A:

A “time manipulation synthesis” voice. A sine wave is fed through an audio rate chorus effect to generate 2 OP FM-like sounds.

Controls:

• “pitch” knob and CV input: pitch of the sine wave oscillator
• “mod” knob and CV input: rate of the chorus modulation effect
• “amount” knob and CV input: depth of the chorus effect
• “fb” knob and CV input: feedback of the modulated delay which generates the chorusing effect
• “vca” knob and CV input: control for voice A analog VCA
• “cutoff” knob and CV input: control for voica A analog VCF center frequency
• “resonance” knob: control for voice A analog VCF resonance
• “mode” button: toggles between filter A modes (low pass, band pass, high pass)

Voice B:

Voice B is a subtractive multi waveform voice

Controls:

• “pitch” knob and CV input: pitch of voice B digital oscillator
• “wave” knob and CV input: blends in a not linear way between three waveform outputs: triangle, square and sawtooth
• “noise” knob and CV input: noise blend stage, the waveform / noise ratio changes organically depending on the waveform control position
• “vca” knob and CV input: control for voice B analog VCA
• “cutoff” knob and CV input: control for voice B analog VCF center frequency
• “resonance” knob: control for voice B analog VCF resonance
• “mode” button: toggles between filter B modes (low pass, band pass, high pass)

Available for €899

Product page