Cylonix Rainmaker

16-tap stereo spectral rhythm delay and comb resonator

The Intellijel/Cylonix RAINMAKER eurorack-format module provides a high-quality (96KHz sampling rate with 32-bit internal processing) stereo rhythmic delay and stereo comb resonator effect.

The stereo rhythm delay has 16 taps, each with its own resonant 2nd-order filter and granular pitch shifter. The filters have independently adjustable resonance and cutoff frequency, and can be set to either lowpass, bandpass, highpass or bypass operation. The filters are also capable of self-oscillation, enabling modal synthesis techniques. The granular pitch shifters have a range of 15 semitones up or 16 semitones down. Each tap can repeat at a rate value set in tap#’s in order to create regenerating echo effects.  The feedback signal has a lowpass/highpass tone control and its own pitch shifter. The tap delay times can range from 0.1 millisecond up to a maximum of 20 seconds. The overall delay times can be set with the rotary encoder, the tap tempo button, or synced to an external clock.

The stereo comb resonator section has 64 time-delayed taps which are summed together. This produces a deep comb filter or resonating effect. At large comb sizes (long time delays) a multiple echo effect is produced. The density of the resonator can be varied from 2 to 64 taps. The tap with the longest delay time is fed back to the input. High feedback levels, with short comb sizes, produce “Karplus-Strong” types of plucked string sounds. The relative timing of the 64 taps are set according to one of 16 different preset patterns, which provide different resonator timbres or echo rhythms. The comb size can be set either with the rotary encoder, an external clock or through a transposable 1v/oct input voltage.

The Rainmaker module has extensive voltage control capabilities. Direct voltage control is available for the delay feedback level and tone, the global pitch shift for all delay taps, the comb resonator size, and comb feedback level. There are two assignable modulation inputs, which can be assigned to different parameters in each preset. A trigger input with assignable functionality can trigger built-in types of noise bursts, freeze the delay buffer, reverse the delay, randomize parameters, mute taps, and much more.