MANDALA MK2

Thank you for purchasing the Mandala MK2, and for RTFM !

The Mandala is an eight channels performance sequencer with a euclidean basis.
It can sequence and live play triggers, toggle gates, send CV and build crazy arpeggios, and has 8 configurable modulation inputs.

The module is pretty intuitive, but reading this document will definitely help you getting the best from your brand new sequencer modular brain :)

We hope you will enjoy it, and that it will boost your creativity !

Nico & Emilie

Check the firmware updates!

Before starting, please check your firmware version. There is a good chance that it is a little outdated if you purchased your Mandala from a distributor, and upgrading is a good idea!

Follow the instructions below

And if you happen to find any bug, please reach out to us at support [[at]] likaoninstruments.com.

Anatomy of the Mandala

Each track (or channel) has two outputs : trigger and CV. There are 8 tracks.

A track can be selected by clicking the corresponding activator button on the bottom line of the module. Let's take a look at the buttons on the right of the ring.

Euclidean distribution (Eu)

As long as the button [Eu] is highlighted, turning the central encoder distributes euclidean steps on the current track. Arbitrary steps can be manually enabled/disabled by clicking on the ring buttons. Manually-enabled steps are lit with a slightly different color than the other ones. This color indicates that these steps are locked.

Changing the euclidean distribution on a track that contains locked steps has no effect on them. We can also toggle lock/unlock all the steps of a track by shift (⇧) + clicking the encoder.

Pattern rotation (Ro)

Clicking the [Ro] button brings you to the Rotation mode. In rotation mode, turning the central encoder will... rotate the pattern.

Track length (Le)

By default, a track is made of 16 steps, but we can extend it up to 128 steps. The number of steps can be adjusted per track, by clicking the [Le] (Length) button. In Length mode, the big ring shows the number of steps; the number of pages is on the central ring. A page contains 16 steps, so we have a maximum of 8x16 = 128 steps per track. In Length mode, turning the encoder while pressing it adds full pages, i.e. multiples of 16 steps.

Shuffling (Sh)

Randomization is so cool. You can switch to the shuffle mode by pressing the [Sh] button once. Since the [Sh] button is highlighted, every time you press it again will redistribute random steps on the current track. The step density can be adjusted from the track's options menu (SHF DENS).

If at least one step has a note or CV defined, pressing [Sh] will generate random triggers AND random CV on the current track.

If you press shift (⇧) + Sh, the current steps stay in place, but their CV value will be regenerated, according to the SHF RANGE parameter.

Rush mode (Ru)

The original goal of this one is to make fills. Here is how it works now (things may evolve over time, suggestions are welcome!). Let's say we have 2 steps on the track.

• Press and hold [Ru]. The current steps get locked.
• While pressing [Ru], turn the encoder to the right.
• It will sequentially add 4 steps, 8 steps and 16 temporary steps.
• When you release [Ru], these temporary steps disappear.

Since version 1.0.20

Live mode

The [Ru] button has been repurposed to give a direct access to the live mode (instead of toggling live mode from the SYS menu).
As long as [Ru] is held down, any press on a track button will send triggers, synced on the clock.

Trigger record mode

Shift + click the [Ru] button to toggle the current track into "recording" mode.
In this mode, pressing [Ru] + a track button (see Live mode above) will add steps to the pattern.

Tempo, play, pause, reset

In master mode (i.e. internal clock source), you can change the tempo by pressing and holding down the Tempo button, and turning the encoder.

The play/pause button toggles the sequencer. Shift (⇧) + play/pause button resets the sequencer.

Exiting a menu

In general, when a menu is displayed, you can go back by clicking the shift (⇧) button.

Step level chance

You can adjust the probability for a specific step to be triggered. Press "Sh" button once. Hold down the step's button, and turn the encoder to adjust the chance percentage.

Track options : shift (⇧) + click on track activator

In the track options, the first option is the track mode (TRK MODE). The next options will depend on this track mode.

The track option menu is relatively long, and feature filtering has been implemented to make the desired options easy to find.

With the track option menu opened, press

• quick save button 1, and you'll get options contextual to the track mode, e.g. envelope-specific, or arp-specific.
• quick save button 2 displays the CV/melodic/glide options
• quick save button 3 displays clock division/shuffle-related options
• quick save button 4 jumps to the link option

Track mode: Trigger + CV

In this configuration, each active step will send a trigger. Steps can have (or not) a CV information attached (see Melodic sequencing / CV).

• Trigger output: triggers (15ms) or toggle output (0V, 5V)
• CV hold: by default, an inactive step with CV hold will not change the track's CV output. If CV hold is off, the CV output is set to 0V even if the step has no CV information.
• Root note: set it to the base note of your VCOs. It is here for information, to better reflect the actual notes played.
• Scale to apply the CV output. Scales definitions from o_C, hence essentially from Mutable Instruments ❤️.
• Transposition (-24 to +24 semitones).
• Glide between the CV steps (linear, exponential). This makes pretty cool LFOs.
• Clock Division, track specific, to slow down a track.
• Chance (percentage). The probability that an active step will actually trigger the output. This chance is on track level. For a step-level chance, see later in this manual.
• Shuffle density (percentage). When you generate steps with [Sh], each step has this probability to get enabled. It is also active in live mode :)
• Shuffle range (from 0 up to 60 semitones around the mean): when you regenerate random CV with [Sh], the CV will be in a range of ± this value around the track's CV mean.
• Link to: Links tracks together - see below.
• Output CV calibration and input CV calibration: see procedure below.

Track mode: Trigger + Envelope

In this configuration, each active step of the track will send an AD envelope on the track's CV output.

• Attack in milliseconds
• Decay in milliseconds
• Shape : linear, exponential
• Amplitude: peak of the envelope (from 1V to 5V, by steps of 1V)
• Invert envelope: makes the envelope negative

Track mode: Arpeggiator (since 1.0.20)

That's a big one, see details below!

Track mode: Quantizer

In quantizer mode, the Mandala reads from the CV inputs, applies the scale defined on the track, and outputs the quantized CV on its output.

In this configuration the inputs are fixed, so track 1 will read from CV1, track 2 from CV2, etc.

• Quantization : sample and hold, or continuous. In Sample and hold mode, the quantization takes place on active steps of the track. In continuous mode, it happens as soon as possible.

Melodic / CV sequencing

Each active step sends a trigger on its TRIG output(modulo the probabilities). But a step can also send CV on its CV output (-5V to +5V).

To define a step's note, or CV value, press and hold the step button and turn the encoder. By default, the display shows "NOTE INACTIVE". If you turn the encoder to the right, you can set the note/CV to be sent when this step is played. If you turn the encoder to the left, you can select a negative CV.

Note that the CV assigned to steps is based on MIDI notes, so the voltages are multiples of 1/12 (~0.0833V).

If the track's CV hold is on, the CV is held on the track output until the sequencer hits another step with a defined CV (i.e. not "NOTE INACTIVE"). Otherwise, the "NOTE INACTIVE" steps will set the CV output back to 0V.

Arpeggiator

Since version 1.0.20, the Mandala MK2 has a quite powerful arpeggiator, and two ways to use it:

Arp mode 1: bass on master track, arpeggios on slave track

- Arp Master track: where the main melodic steps are defined.

• Mode: TR+CV

- Arp Slave track: will contain the arpeggios derived from the master track.

• Mode: TR+ARP
• Link to [Master track number]

As soon as the slave track is connected to its master, any scale change to the master track will be reflected to the slave track. It is still possible to change the slave's scale afterwards though.

Arp mode 2: single track arpeggiator

To enable it, simply set the track mode to TR+ARP.

Arpeggiator parameters

With a scale applied to the arpeggiated track, we can now proceed with the arpeggio customization.

As of today, there are six parameters to customize the arpeggios:

1. ARP SIZE

It is the number of intervals (from 1 to 6), taken from the scale, that will make our arpeggio.

2. ARP FORM

It is the permutation number between the scale points. The distinct permutations increase very fast (factorial!) with the arp size:

• Size of 2: 2 arp forms
• Size of 3: 6 arp forms
• Size of 4: 24 arp forms
• Size of 5: 120 arp forms
• Size of 6: 720 arp forms

3. ARP DIRECTION

• Direct: from low pitch to high pitch.
• Ping pong: I'm sure you know !

4. ARP TYPE

• Normal: the arpeggiated steps (arpeggiator size) are placed right after the master steps.
• Complex: put your arp steps anywhere using euclidean mode or manual mode. ARP FILL is not considered in this case.

5. ARP FILL

• Yes: Starting at the master notes, the arpeggio is repeated, potentially on several octaves, direct of ping-pong (see ARP DIRECTION).
• No: Every master step generated an arpeggio with the same length as ARP SIZE.

6. ARP OCTAVES

Number of octaves covered by the arpeggiator. With 2 octaves, we would get something like:
A0 B0 C0 D0 A1 B1 C1 D1

Arpeggiator mode extra: masking notes

In arpeggiator mode, a special feature is available: note masking.

The idea is simple, let's consider the following arpeggio:

A2 C2 E2 A3 C3 E3

The note masking allows you to temporarily disable specific notes. If we disable C, we will get:

A2 - E2 A3 - E3

To mask a note (or reactivate it if it's already masked), shift (⇧) + long press the step button. The step LED will flash.

This is a very nice way to play around a melody!

Substeps

Each step can be subdivided in 4 so-called substeps.

To access them, shift (⇧) + click the step.

The first four LEDs light up on the ring, in a slightly different color than the track's color.
The first LED represents the regular step, at the upper level.
Simply click on the substeps you want to activate, and when you are done just click shift (⇧) to exit the substep mode.

Back in the normal view, the steps that contain substeps blink.

Navigation mode

If a track's length is greater than 16 steps, setting steps manually can be tricky, because only 16 steps are displayed at a time.

If you want to navigate from page to page, press the encoder. The Mandala does not stop, but auto scrolling is now disabled. Turning the encoder now changes the current page, and you can now easily toggle steps, and change CV or probabilities !

Press the encoder again to exit the navigation mode.

Quick saves

The Mandala provides four volatile memory slots for live performance.

You can, at any time, save the Mandala's full state by shift (⇧) + clicking a quick save button.

You can then recall a state by simply clicking the corresponding quick save button. If you click an empty quick save, nothing happens to prevent accidents: you need to long-press the button if you really want to load an empty quick save (i.e. clear the sequencer)

System menu

1. Clock mode master / slave (MIDI/CLK IN).
2. Clock input divider
3. Clock output divider

4. CV mappings: this is used to select the behavior of the CV inputs (seel details below).
   Let's say that we want to modulate the rotation of track 6 with CV4.
   Turn the encoder and highlight the desired CV input: CV4. Press the track activator number 6. Click the encoder, and select "ROT". Press shift (⇧) to exit the menu.

5. CV hold default mode: determines the default state of CV hold in the track options.

6. Live mode: if enabled, trigger outputs (and potentialy envelopes on CV out) are triggered when the track buttons are clicked. The track copy (long press) is disabled when the Mandala is in Live mode, to prevent accidental overwrites while playing with the buttons. (Removed since version 1.0.20, see [Ru] button)

7. Melodic mode: when enabled, pressing a step button will suggest the last selected note instead of starting from 0v.

8. Save / load presets

Saving

It requires a microSD card plugged behind the module. To save the current state of the Mandala (including the quick saves), press the SYS, button, go to "Save state" and press the encoder.

The screen displays a file browser, and you can either create a new file, or overwrite an existing one.

You can rename presets by inserting the microSD into a computer and renaming files.

Selective loading

There are two ways of loading: - Load the currently running sequence only (and keep your current quick saves) : LOAD ACTIVE - Load the quick saves only (and keep your running sequence) : LOAD QUICK - This split loading allows transitioning between saved patterns.

CV inputs mapping

When a track is in Trig+CV, you can modulate some parameters with the module's CV inputs.

Open the SYS menu, go to CV mappings.

The UI (and features) will evolve, but here is how it works right now: let's say you want to assign CV4 to modulate the rotation on track 1.

• Turn the encoder until you reach CV4.
• Click the track 1 activator button
• Click the encoder
• Turn the encoder until you reach ROT
• Click the encoder again, or press shift (⇧) to exit the CV mapping menu.

At this time, one input can modulate one function on one track. Later, we will be able to do more complex mappings!

All the inputs are bipolar, from -5V to +5V.

The functions that can be modulated are: - STP : euclidean step count - ROT : pattern rotation - SHF : Shuffle regeneration - TRAN : CV transposition

Global clock dividers

To make interoperability with other modules easier, two clock dividers are available in the SYS menu:

• CLOCK IN DIV: divider applied to the CLK IN.
• CLOCK OUT DIV: divider applied to CLK OUT.

Mute switches and tracks LEDs

The bottom part of the Mandala offers clickable, backlit switches, toggle switches and color LEDs, each track having its own color.

When a track is not muted (toggle switch to the top), each active step triggers a white light on the track button. In this state, the color LED is steady.

When a track is muted, the white button stops flashing, and the color LED flashes instead. This is a visual help to build rythms on a muted track.

You can also clear the current track with one gesture: with the track button pressed, mute and unmute, done!

Copying a track onto another

Do you like your pattern on track 6? Think it would be nice to clone it onto track 7? Easy: show the track 6, and then press the track 7 activator button during 2 seconds. Done.

The track copy is disabled when the Mandala is in Live mode, to prevent accidental overwrites while playing with the buttons.

MIDI

Physical configuration

In the bottom-left corner of the module, you can see two black sockets, for TRS MIDI I/O. As usual, the big question: TRS type A or B ?

Give a look at the back of your Mandala. You can move the jumpers in A or B position, for input and output individually.

MIDI output

Whether in master or slave mode, the Mandala emits a MIDI clock at the output. - The triggers are mapped to channel 10, notes 24 to 32. - The notes are mapped to channels 1 to 8, and sent with a velocity of 127.

MIDI input

At this point, the only input signals handled by the Mandala are clock, start and stop.

CV outputs and inputs calibration

CV in and out are calibrated during the module testing in our labs (== in our kitchen), but if at some point you feel the need to recalibrate, here is the procedure.

Calibrating a track's CV output

• Patch a cable in the CV output and connect it to a voltmeter (or Data's voltage monitor)
• Shift (⇧) + click the track button.
• Scroll down to "Output calibr." and click the encoder.

From now on, the Mandala will ask you to turn the encoder until you get, successively, -5V, -4V, -3V, ... +5V.

Turn the encoder until you get -5V on the voltmeter. Click the encoder. Now it asks you to adjust it to -4V. Click it. As soon as -5V and -4V are defined, the next steps will get closer to the target, so you will not need big adjustments.

Once +5V is validated, the calibration is saved.

Repeat the process on all the tracks you want to calibrate !

Calibrating a track's CV input

As the outputs are now calibrated, we will use them to calibrate the inputs.

Let's calibrate the CV1 input:

• Patch a cable between CV out 1 and CV in 1
• Shift (⇧) + click the track 1 button.
• Scroll down to "Input calibr." and click the encoder.

Repeat the process on all the inputs you want to calibrate !

Track linking

You can link a track to another. If you link track 2 to track 1, the track 2 will be a 1:1 copy of track 1. You can still lock some steps on track 2, they will not be affected by the linking.

Linking is very useful to synchronize an envelope track with a melodic track, for example.

Saved information

Quick saves

In the quick saves, the steps and some track information are saved:

• Track information

  • Euclidean steps count
  • Rotation
  • Length
  • Clock divider
  • Envelope voltage range
  • Envelope inversion
  • Attack
  • Decay
  • Track linking

• Step information

  • Position
  • CV info

Micro SD

The micro SD card stores:

• Your saves presets, and each preset file contains the running pattern AND the quick saves
• The CV mappings
• The global settings: input and output clock dividers, CV hold default value, melodic mode, tempo.

Screen saving

The OLED display goes to sleep after 5 minutes without touching the module to avoid wearing. Pressing any button will wake it up immediately.

Technical information

• Module size: 30hp
• Module depth: 42mm
• Power consumption:
  • +5V: 180mA
  • +12V: 14mA
  • -12V: 18mA

FAQ

Q: Sometimes, when I press a track button, nothing happens. Is it a bug or a mechanical issue?

A: Track buttons handle long presses, so their action is linked to the click duration. To activate a track or open its options, the click must be relatively fast, like on a computer mouse for example.

Firmware updates

Procedure

• Download the firmware binary file from the link below, and unzip it.

• The firmware must be uploaded to the Mandala with the Teensy Loader software.

• Plug a micro USB cable between your computer and the Teensy board on the back of the module.

• Start the Teensy Loader program, go to File > Open HEX file, and select the firmware file on your computer.

• Press the white button on the Teensy board. The upload will start, and after a few seconds the module will restart. Done!

Firmware Downloads

• Mandala v1.1.12 - Latest version
• Mandala v1.0.17
• Mandala v1.0.13
• Mandala v1.0.11b

Change log

Global note: your saved presets have a good chance to be lost, as the file format may evolve (for the better!)

1.0.9

• Fixed: Track synchronization issue when playing with the track lengths.
• Fixed: Track copy: issue if the source track was rotated
• Added: Customizable CV range (shuffle)
• Fixed: Clock input was triggered on falling edge.
• Fixed: Display the right BPM in slave mode. Calculated from the clock source, can show a few inaccuracies.

1.0.11b

• Improved readability of the menus. Big rewrite of the menu system.

1.0.11c

• Fixed: Melodic shuffle (CV controlled) was using the currently displayed track as CV reference.
• Added: clock input divider, clock output divider
• Live mode : press the track button to send a trigger, quantized against the clock.
• Microstepping is back
• Link tracks: a track can reference another track and its steps stay in sync (excepted if they are locked)

1.0.13

• Fixed bug in the external clock + reset signal handling.
• MIDI input clock handles up to 400bpm. MIDI output clock is still relatively unstable.
• In slave mode, microsteps were not working
• Adjusted the current step display to get something more relevant in terms of position on the circle.
• Loading an empty quicksave now requires a long press: is prevents accidents !
• Linked tracks : the slave tracks are now shown with the same color as the ref. track.
• Pressing SYS now hides the menu if it was already displayed (i.e. toggle mode).
• Transposition modulation now works
• Linked tracks are displayed with the same color as the reference track.
• Click on an empty quicksave now does nothing. A long press is required to actually load the empty quick save. It prevents accidental clearing!

1.0.14

• Fixed live mode menu item: now reflecting the real state.
• Finally added the per-track clock division!

1.0.15

• When muted while playing a trig: the trig output stays high (rare event)
• The screen automatically turns off after 5 minutes.
• Fixed: When displaying a track that is quantized, the tempo slows down
• Master mode: displaying cv mappings was also slowing down the real bpm
• Quick saves now also store the track's envelope information, clock divider and track links
• Check preset file compatibility to avoid byd surprises when loading if the file structure changed between firmware versions.
• Display the active substeps on the screen when we are in substep edition mode
• Live mode: also triggers envelopes!
• Fix clock div in glide mode

1.0.16

• Added root note in the track menu. Used to display the correct notes on screen, according to the VCO tuning.
• When live mode is enabled, the track copy feature is now disabled. It prevents unwanted copy when we just want to triiiiiigger steps manually.
• New on-screen display for transposed tracks
• Really fixed now : when muted while playing a trig: the trig output stays high (not so rare event! )
• Fixed a bug in the input clock divider. Counting was really bad.
• Fixed: in slave mode: live mode was crashing the sequencer, due to SPI reading in an interrupt context.

1.0.17

• The shuffle range was only taken in account when shift+clicking Sh. It works now with simple clicking on Sh.

1.0.17b

• Enabled the melodic mode to SYS menu, to directly assign the latest midi note to the empty clicked steps
• microsteps now work in midi slave mode

1.0.17c

• LIVE RECORDING ! You have to enable Live mode in SYS menu. Shift + Ru: toggle record mode on the current track. Press the track's button to place trigger steps.

1.0.19

• loading a quicksave sends a value of 0,1,2,3 on MIDI CC 83, channel 0
• Live recording is now enabled as long as the Rush button is pressed.
• New option in SYS menu: CV HOLD DEF. (on/off). This controls the initial behavior of the Mandala, regarding the formerly-called ZERO_CV option on track level. If on, the CV will be held until the track hits a new CV step, and won't change if it hits a non-CV step. If off, hitting a non-CV step will reset the output CV to 0V.

1.0.20

• Introducing the ARPEGGIATOR as beta feature !!!

1.1.9

• Keeping implementing/stabilizing the arpeggiator

1.1.12

• Working on the arpeggiator, harmonization.