CuteLab Mom Jeans, digital VCO combines pulsar synthesis with grain-width modulation

CuteLab Mom Jeans is a new 8HP digital oscillator (VCO) that combines pulsar synthesis with grain-width modulation.

Pulsar synthesis is a unique synthesis type that belongs to the granular synthesis and is based on the Curtis Roads article “Sound Composition with Pulsars. He describes it as a “technique that utilizes an impulse generator to trigger arbitrary wave shapes.”

In Eurorack, the Hieroglyphic Plume oscillator, released in 2024, uses this unique synthesis type as one of the first. CuteLab Mom Jeans is a new oscillator that incorporates this synthesis as well, but is significantly more compact.

CuteLab Mom Jeans

Mom Jeans is a new digital voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) that blends two unique synthesis concepts: pulsar synthesis with grain-width modulation. 

Yes, this is neither classically analog nor digital crisp FM, nor wavetable. Here, we are dealing with a special form of granular synthesis. It’s a hybrid of two concepts, opening up a surprisingly varied range of timbre.

According to CuteLab, Mom Jeans generates a train of regularly spaced harmonic grains while varying the width of these grains in a precise and pitch-related way.

Mom Jeans features five potentiometers (pitch, density, torque, cadence, and waveshape) and two switches (coupling and quantization), providing you with seven parameters to adjust.

Seven parameters are not a lot, but the developer promises that you can achieve sounds similar to FM, wavetable, bit-crushing, and granular synthesis, but without using a complex array of parameters.

This makes it much easier to dial in sounds and use CV to modulate between radically different timbres and sonic spaces.

Crank all the knobs for a super crispy hard-sync style tone, then dial back density halfway to hear its echos through radio static. Set all the knobs just shy of noon and activate coupling for the varied richness of PWM, but with a rate that follows the oscillator’s frequency. Then slowly push cadence further, until the modulation is so intense it somehow creates a sub-octave harmony.

Then pop on quant to suddenly evoke an old transistor organ… at least until you turn up shape and get lost in the buzz of high frequency transmissions. And that’s not even touching on the stuttering swamps that emerge when the module is pushed to its limits.

First Impression

Pulsar synthesis is still a relatively unexplored sound field for Synthesizer enthusiasts. Unfortunately, there’s no full demo of Moms Jeans, but what you can hear in the short video sounds beautifully digital. From elegant to harsh, it’s all there.

CuteLab Mom Jeans is available now for $279.

More information here: CuteLab 

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