Overview

Ears is our take on Tom Whitwell’s Mikrophonie module – a contact microphone and amplifier allowing you to generate a large palette of sounds by scratching, tapping, and more generally collecting any kind of acoustic waves surrounding your modular case – even speaker feedback. Ears is a perfect match for physical synthesis modules like Rings or Elements, but it can also be the gateway between external audio sources and your modular system.

Its built-in amplifier section can provide up to 40dB of gain, with a high impedance input suitable for guitars or other electro-acoustic instruments. It will effortlessly deliver clean amplification for line level signals or external contact microphones. Compared to the original Mikrophonie, Ears has been augmented with an envelope follower, and its amplification section has been redesigned from scratch for low noise and low distortion.

Technical characteristics

• Audio amplifier with 1M input impedance, up to 40dB of gain.
• Envelope follower with 3 preset attack and release times (adjustable by jumper).
• Gate detector with 3 preset sensitivity levels (adjustable by jumper) and +8V gate output.
• Three indicator LEDs: amplifier clipping (red), envelope follower level (white), gate detector activity (orange).
• 4-HP.
• Current consumption: +12V: 5mA ; -12V: 5mA.
• Open-source hardware.

User manual