Mixing & Output

Output

The final stage in every patch - master volume, DC blocking, and soft clipping into your speakers.

What is a Output?

An output module is the last stop in a modular synthesizer. Every sound the rack makes - from the cleanest sine through the most violent distorted feedback patch - has to pass through it on the way to a pair of speakers, headphones, or a recording interface. In a hardware Eurorack the output is a physical jack and a level pot; in a browser modular it's the bridge from the audio thread to the operating system's sound card.

The job is small but the responsibility is huge. The output module sets the master volume, blocks any DC offset that has crept in along the signal path, and (in most modern designs) gently soft-clips overloud signals so a stray spike does not turn into a hard digital clip. Without it you cannot hear anything at all - and with it set wrong, you can damage speakers, ears, or a recording chain in seconds.

Almost every patch ends with the same routing: the final mixer's L/R outputs go into the output module, master volume comes up to roughly 60-70%, and the rest of the work is done at module level. Treat it like the gain stage on a mixing console: not a creative tool, just the place where everything you've built becomes sound.

Our Output

Webrack's Output is a small 6 HP module with two inputs (L / R), two pass-through outputs, a master volume knob, and a DC filter toggle. Its job is to bridge the rack to the browser's AudioContext destination - your speakers or headphones - and to behave well while doing so.

Internally we run the master through a one-pole DC blocker at roughly 5Hz, then through a tanh soft-clipper. The DC blocker means a misbehaving CV chain that bleeds into audio (an LFO accidentally patched to L, an unbalanced Compare output) cannot push your woofer out of position. The soft-clipper means a feedback experiment that gets out of hand bends rather than tears.

Every patch needs exactly one Output module. The two thru jacks let you fork the master to a Scope or Spectrum Analyzer for non-invasive monitoring - what you see is what you hear, not a tap from somewhere upstream.

In a patch

The output module sits at the very end of a signal flow. Build a voice with a VCO, shape it with a VCF and a VCA, mix several voices in a Stereo Mixer, send the mixer's L/R into the output - that's a complete patch. If you patch a single mono signal into the L input only, most output modules will copy it to R automatically so you still hear it from both speakers.

Always set master volume low when you start a patch. Modular synths can produce very hot signals - a square wave straight from a VCO is already at full level, before any resonance, distortion, or feedback. Bring the volume up gradually and watch the meter; if you see clipping, attenuate at the source rather than at the master.

Pass-through outputs are the polite way to add measurement modules without disturbing the audio path. Patch the L thru into a Scope to confirm your final waveform looks the way you expect, and into a Spectrum Analyzer to see the frequency content of the actual master bus.

Inputs

L (audio) — Left audio input. If this is the only input patched, the signal is copied to both speakers for mono playback.
R (audio) — Right audio input. Patch both L and R for true stereo output from a stereo source like a mixer or stereo effect.

Outputs

L Thru (audio) — Left pass-through. Outputs the processed left channel signal. Use to monitor with a Scope or chain to another module.
R Thru (audio) — Right pass-through. Outputs the processed right channel signal.

Controls

Volume — Master volume level (0 to 1). Controls how loud the final output is. Start around 0.6-0.7 and adjust to taste.
DC Filter — DC blocking filter toggle. When on, removes any constant voltage offset (below ~5Hz) that could push your speakers or cause clicks. Leave this on unless you have a specific reason to turn it off.

Inspired by

A small, opinionated output stage in the spirit of every well-mannered hardware output module - master attenuation, a DC blocker that the analog world gets for free but a digital rack has to add by hand, and a tanh-style soft limiter so a hot signal does not turn into the digital equivalent of a torn speaker.

Mutable Instruments Veils final stage
Doepfer A-119 output
Intellijel Stereo Mixer output

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