Ornament and Crime – Polymorphic cv generator is one of the most versatile cv generator / processor modules for Eurorack. The Plum Audio OCP is an updated hardware revision which adds some new features and also converts the build into a completely through-hole kit (small number of SMD parts are already pre-soldered).
Ornament and Crime can load dozens of different apps for many uses, including quantisers, sequencers, LFOs, random/chaotic CV generators, and more. These apps are selectable on-the-fly, without having to reboot the module or toggle the power. There are two firmware versions available: Official firmware and Hemisphere suite, OCP kits comes pre loaded with the official firmware but it is an easy task to switch between firmware versions if you wish, more details here.
OCP – Build Guide & User Manuals | Build Video Series on Youtube
Official Firmware Apps
- CopierMaschine is an enhanced version of the original quantising digital emulation of a four stage analogue shift register (ASR).
- Harrington 1200 provides basic neo-Riemannian Tonnetz transformations of triadic chords, triggered by the digital (gate/trigger) inputs.
- Automatonnetz combines Tonnetz transforms with a “vector” sequencer – it can be both a chord sequencer and a melody sequencer, but not of the usual kind.
- Quantermain is a quad pitch quantiser for external voltages, with editable scales; it can do clocked (trigger-driven) quantising, or continuous quantising, with a latency of under 100 microseconds; it also features quad Turing Machines, May-Verhulst logistic maps or byte beats as optional, semi-random, internally generated CV sources.
- Meta-Q is a dual-channel quantiser, similar to Quantermain, but also offering scale and note mask sequencing.
- Quadraturia is a wavetable quadrature LFO, based on the “Easter egg” in the Mutable Instruments Frames module.
- Low-rents is a dual Lorenz and Rössler (strange attractor) modulation generator, partially based on the “Easter egg” in the Mutable Instruments Streams module.
- Piqued is a quad voltage-controlled envelope generator, based on envelope generator code from the Mutable Instruments Peaks module, but extending it with voltage control, additional envelope types, including re-triggering (looping) envelopes, additional segment shapes, adjustable trigger delays, and a unique Euclidean “trigger filter” which turns the app into a Euclidean rhythm generator which can output envelopes, not just gate or trigger pulses.
- Sequins is a dual-channel step sequencer offering 4 “tracks” of up to 16 steps each; tracks can themselves be sequenced.
- Dialectic Ping Pong is a quad bouncing ball envelope generator, based on a hidden mode of the Mutable Instruments Peaks module.
- Viznutcracker, sweet! is a quad “byte beat” equation generator, which can be used as an audio source to generate curious but often interesting 8-bit noises and tunes, or which can be clocked by an external source to produce “byte beat” control voltage sequences. “Byte beats” were first described in 2011 by viznut (aka Ville-Matias Heikkilä).
- Acid Curds is both a chord quantiser (sometimes called a “harmonic quantiser” for external pitch voltages), and a chord progression sequencer.
- References is an utility app that outputs specific reference voltages on each channel to help tune or calibrate VCOs and other modules. It also includes a high-precision frequency meter and note tuner, a high-precision BPM (beats per minute) tempo meter, and a closed-loop calibration mode.
OCP Added Features
OCP is slightly different from other Ornament and Crime versions, a few improvements are added including:
- Extended headroom of 10vpp (instead 9vpp on original Ornament and Crime).
- VOR (Variable Output Range): Unipolar 0v-10v, Bipolar +/-5v or asymmetrical -3v to 7v (firmware controlled with dedicated switch on panel).
- Attenuators / Attenuvertors for scaling and inverting CV inputs
- CV inputs are normalised to +5v source to fast access soft parameters from the panel knobs.
- 8 Bi colour LEDs to meter 4 cv controls and 4 outputs.
- Micro USB connector on panel for midi to cv function (with hemisphere firmware) and for fast firmware updates.
- Through Hole Project – especially for those who are not experienced in SMD
- Kit comes with pre-programmed Teensy with latest firmware