If you have been in Eurorack for any length of time you’ve probably heard of Ornament and Crime often referred to as o_C. if you haven’t heard of o_C you should know about its a powerful tool that packs a lot of useful functionality. In this article, my goal is to provide an overview of o_C and why you might use it.

Ornament and Crime is a multipurpose module that contains a wide array of functionality. In short, you could think of it as a quantizing sample and hold with four channels, but it does a lot more than this.

Ornament and Crime contains 13 apps any one of which can be running at any time. Apps can be switched at any time without rebooting. Each app saves its settings and can be relaunched into its previously saved setting. Settings are not saved automatically.

Let’s unpack that. o_C is a digital module at its core that runs software. It has 13 software applications built in one of which runs at any time. If you’re averse to modules with menus and multipurpose controls you might not enjoy working with it.

The Apps

Ornament and Crime has the following “Apps”.

CopierMaschine a quantizing four-stage analog shift register (ASR).

(ASR). Harrington 1200 provides basic neo-Riemannian Tonnetz transformations of triadic chords.

of triadic chords. Automatonnetz combines Tonnetz transforms with a “vector” sequencer — it can be both a chord sequencer and a melody sequencer, but not of the usual kind.

— it can be both a chord sequencer and a melody sequencer, but not of the usual kind. Quantermain is a quad pitch quantizer for external voltages or internal sources, with editable scales and many other options.

for external voltages or internal sources, with editable scales and many other options. Meta-Q is a dual-channel quantiser, similar to Quantermain, but also offering scale and note mask sequencing .

. Quadraturia is a wavetable quadrature LFO.

Low-rents is a dual Lorenz and Rössler (strange attractor) modulation generator.

(strange attractor) modulation generator. Piqued is a quad voltage-controlled envelope generator with voltage control, self-triggering, and a wide array of options.

with voltage control, self-triggering, and a wide array of options. Sequins is a dual-channel step sequencer offering 4 “tracks” of up to 16 steps each; tracks can themselves be sequenced.

offering 4 “tracks” of up to 16 steps each; tracks can themselves be sequenced. Dialectic Ping Pong is a quad bouncing ball envelope generator.

Viznutcracker, sweet! is a quad “byte beat” equation generator , which can be used as an audio source to generate 8-bit noises and tunes, or control voltage sequences.

, which can be used as an audio source to generate 8-bit noises and tunes, or control voltage sequences. Acid Curds is both a chord quantizer, and a chord progression sequencer .

. References is a utility app that outputs specific reference voltages on each channel to help tune or calibrate VCOs and other modules. It also includes a high-precision frequency meter and note tuner.

That’s a lot of functionality in a single module that ranges from 8 to 14 HP. what kind of functions do we have here? Ornament and Crime’s main use cases fall in a few areas.

its a stepped voltage source.

it’s a quantizer

its a continuous voltage modulator

Let’s dig into this. o_C is a CV source. You’ll use it to control other modules. o_C is not an audio processor, or an audio source (with one exception.) What makes o_C such a strong module is rather than trying to be all things at once it’s a master of one domain: CV source and within this domain its an expert in one field: quantization.

Stepped voltages

As a stepped voltage generator Ornament and Crime can sample CV input like a traditional sample and hold, generate voltages from internal algorithms, or programmed sequences, and quantize the output control voltage to an of more than 100 predefined scales. In most of the apps, it does this across four channels. So generally speaking you get 4 shift registers, 4 quantizers, and or 4 sample and holds in any app.

Quantization

Voltages can be quantized to more than 100 predefined scales including microtonal, and 4 custom user-defined scales.

Scales are limited to 16 notes but scale steps/intervals can be as small as 1 cent (if I’m understanding the documentation.) Custom scales can be defined with the built-in scale editor.

Voltage Modulation

A couple of apps provide continuous voltages in the form of LFOs, envelope generators, and a chaotic function generator. With these apps again o_C provides 4 LFOs or 4 envelopes. In the case of the chaotic modulators, the app provides two and each has an X and Y CV output.

Audio source

Another app generates Bytebeats. These can be used as CV sources or used as an audio source. In a nutshell, a byte beat is an expression in computer code that generates glitchy 8-bit melodies that sound like old school arcade games.

The interface

The module physically consists of a small screen, two buttons: up and down, two encoders: left and right, four trigger inputs: TR1–4, four CV input: CV1–4, and four outputs: A, B, C, and D.

The right and left encoder navigate the menus and channels. The output is always from A, B, C, and D. Trigger and CV inputs vary from app to app.

Use cases for Ornament and Crime

Use cases for Ornament and Crime are many but most fall in the area of CV generation with a strong emphasis on quantized voltages.

Quantizing input CV

Use o_C to quantize voltages to any of 100 plus scales.

Use scale masks to quantize to select notes on any scale.

Define custom scales.

Generating pseudo-random melodic patterns

Generate stepped CV patterns with a wide variety of algorithms.

Programming Sequences

Program sequences, and sequence your sequences.

For more information try these links