Tools

FACES

See any CV six ways: bar, wave, dial, star, ripple, phase.

What is a FACES?

FACES is a CV visualizer designed for teaching. Patch any control voltage into IN, then twist MODE to see the same signal six ways: BAR (bipolar bargraph with peak ticks), WAVE (rolling ~1 second time-domain trace), DIAL (analog needle from -V through 0 to +V), STAR (a radial polygon: 32 spokes around a center, each spoke length set by a recent trace sample, tips connected as a closed rosette - constant CV draws a clean circle, periodic CV draws a stable petalled flower, random CV draws a chaotic spiky burst), RIPL (a still pond where each rising-edge crossing of a range-relative threshold fires a concentric ring, so a periodic CV draws an evenly-spaced target and a random CV produces chaotic bursts), and PHAS (a phase portrait plotting trace[t-lag] vs trace[t], turning a sine into a circle, a triangle into a diamond, a square wave into two dots). The mode knob IS the lesson - one signal, six lenses. Where Scope is a 12HP dual-channel oscilloscope tuned for audio inspection, FACES is a Basic-series teaching tool: small footprint, beginner-friendly, restrained. Reach for FACES when you want a learner to SEE what an LFO, envelope, or sequencer is doing; reach for Scope when you need triggered audio-rate inspection.

In a patch

The canonical use: patch a Basic LFO's OUT into FACES IN. In BAR mode the bar climbs and falls with the LFO; in WAVE mode you see the actual sine/triangle/saw/square shape rolling across the screen; in DIAL mode the needle swings like a VU meter; STAR turns the LFO into a glowing rosette polygon whose petals stay stable when the LFO is periodic; RIPL fires a concentric ring on every cycle, drawing a target pattern that gets denser as the LFO speeds up; PHAS plots the LFO as a closed shape - a sine becomes a circle, a triangle becomes a diamond, a square wave becomes two dots. Patch FACES THRU into a VCA's CV input and the LFO is now modulating volume - all six views still track the audible wobble. Second canonical use: patch a Basic AD envelope output here and watch the shape unfold every time you trigger it, then change Attack/Decay knobs and watch the captured shape change. Beyond LFO and envelope visualisation, FACES makes a quick sanity check for any patch ("is this CV moving at all? is it where I expect?"), and the THRU pass-through means it never breaks the signal chain - drop it in mid-patch without rewiring.

Inputs

IN (cv) — CV input. Accepts the full Eurorack ±10V range; bipolar (positive and negative voltages), unipolar (envelope 0-10V), gates and triggers (0/+5V or 0/+10V) all display correctly. The displayed signal is denormal-flushed, so you cannot poison FACES with NaN/Inf from a broken upstream module. Sweet-spot patching: an LFO at 0.5-2 Hz makes a beautifully readable BAR/WAVE/STAR/RIPL; an AD envelope with 200ms decay shows clearly in WAVE mode after a trigger; a sine LFO drawn in PHAS collapses to a clean circle, a triangle to a diamond, a square wave to two distinct dots.

Outputs

THRU (cv) — Pass-through output: an exact copy of IN, denormal-flushed but otherwise unchanged. Use FACES in-line in a patch - put it BETWEEN your LFO and your VCA, with the LFO patched into IN and THRU patched onward to the VCA's CV input. The signal continues to its destination while you watch it.

Controls

MODE — Display mode (integer-snapped knob, 6 positions). BAR: vertical bipolar bargraph centered on 0V with slow-decaying tick marks at recent positive and negative peaks. WAVE: rolling ~1-second trace, oldest sample on the left, newest on the right - audio-rate signals above ~128 Hz alias into noise (a feature for the audio-vs-CV lesson). DIAL: analog needle from -V (left) through 0 (top) to +V (right). STAR: a radial polygon. 32 spokes radiate from a center point; each spoke length is set by one sample from the recent trace ring, and adjacent tips are connected by a closed outline. The result is a glowing geometric rosette that breathes with the signal: constant CV draws a clean regular polygon, periodic CV draws a stable petalled flower (the same trace shape that produces a wiggle in WAVE produces a fixed rotational pattern here), random CV draws a chaotic spiky burst that morphs each frame. RIPL: a still pond. Each time the smoothed value crosses a range-relative threshold (range × 0.2) on a rising edge, a concentric ring expands outward from the center. A periodic LFO produces evenly-spaced rings (a target). A clock or unipolar envelope fires sharp single ripples per pulse. Random CV produces chaotic bursts. The rhythmic pulse of CV becomes spatial. PHAS: a phase portrait. Plots trace[t-LAG] on X against trace[t] on Y, with LAG ~= 64 trace points (~250 ms). The same signal that draws a wiggly line in WAVE draws a closed SHAPE here: sine -> circle, triangle -> diamond, square wave -> two dots, periodic sequencer steps -> a polygon, random CV -> noise cloud, constant CV -> single dot. Beautiful and pedagogically rich.
ZOOM — Display range (integer-snapped knob, 3 positions). 10V: full Eurorack span (±10V), good for mixed CV that uses the full range. 5V (default): tighter, good for typical envelopes (0-10V envelope still fits because the display clips, not the signal) and most LFOs. 1V: fine detail, useful when you want to see modulation around a DC offset, V/Oct cents drift, or a tightly-scoped CV. Affects display only - THRU output passes the full ±10V signal regardless.

Inspired by

A teaching-shaped reduction of the kitchen-sink Eurorack data display. Mordax DATA does many things at once; FACES does three, one at a time, and the act of toggling is the lesson.

Mordax DATA
Joranalogue Switch 4 (bicolor LED)
classic VU meter

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