With a common clock, green diversity and an external CV, Marbles X becomes a 3-stage shift register

Pressing the external-processing button makes the X section sample the SPREAD CV input instead of generating its own random voltage. One notable edge case: when channel diversity [N] is at its first (green) position AND the module is externally clocked AND fed an external CV, instead of all three outputs carrying the identical voltage the module switches to a shift-register mode — X2 carries X1’s voltage delayed by one clock tick, and X3 carries X2’s, delayed again. That yields a three-voice canon/delay of an incoming melodic sequence in one module, with no extra hardware. The behaviour only appears under that exact combination of common external clock and green diversity.

Examples

Feed a 4-step sequencer CV to SPREAD in external mode, with a common external clock and green diversity: X1 is the current step, X2 the previous step, X3 the one before — a melodic canon.

Assessment

Contrast the X outputs in external mode with green diversity and a common clock versus with no common clock, and give a musical use for the shift-register behaviour.