does a lag generator eliminate midi stepping? I was thinking about getting a midi converter, but have heard about stepping issues during sweeps.
If you mean, does MIDI 7 bits data of Continuous Controller (CC) messages, once converted to control voltage and passed thru a lag generator will eliminate stepping when sweeping, then the answer is yes.
But even still, once the lag generator will have reached the set value, you will not be able to have fixed voltage values in between those set by the 127 possible with 7 bits of limited MIDI CC.
Some recent equipment, and the Moog Voyager, use NRPN messages instead which have much higher resolution than CC (14 bits offering 16383 values. So no stepping here!). But not all of them support it.
I don’t think that would be an issue with anything except pitch, right?
Also, on another topic, how does a lag generator actually work? I understand what it is doing, but say you have a S+H smoothed by the LG. Does it actually slow down an lfo’s pulse/cycle, or does it just discard every pulse in between the sweep from one note to another?
Pitch, and filter cutoff with high resonance, are the two things most sensitive to stepping.
Yeah I have the mp-201 with cv lag, so no problem there, but not enough outs. Plus I am trying to get an SEM, and I can save couple hundred by getting the patch panel SEM and another converter rather than the SEM pro.
A lag generator acts roughly like a capacitor with a variable resistor in series to adjust how fast it will charge and discharge. It’s sometimes called a slew generator as well. It will slow down, or smooth out, abrupt changes. If those changes are happening faster than the rate of charge/discharge of the circuit, and if their values are not extreme, they will have little or no effect on the output of the lag generator.
Ok, I get it. Thanks.
If I’m right, there are 4 CV outs on an MP201 ?
If you wish to send those to more than one destination each, you could build a very easy to do multiple box.
Just take a project box casing, put four 1/4" jacks connected together, and voilà: you have a 1 input 3 output multiple. You could have four of these (1 for each output of the MP201) on that box.
Yeah, but the SEM patch has more than 30 cv jacks, so I want to have more than 4 different cv sources. I was also thinking of something like Volta. I really just started getting interested in midi to Cv when I took the time to figure out the mp-201’s functionality. I’ve had it for a couple years, but never used the midi on it, and it was worth the $400 or so I paid for it just for the expression pedal. The pedal is so precise I can actually play melodies with the oscillating filter. It makes the minimoog almost duophonic. Anyway, I don’t usually like using midi or computers for music, but I figure If it’s controlling a minimoog, I might as well mess around with it, see if I can get it to play itself while I play other instruments.
Is there any difference befween a lag processor and lag generator here?
Most lag processors are simple glide circuits as found on many synths.
They slow down the transition between two voltages, but given enough time, do reach their latest given voltage accurately.
They won’t add any resolution and won’t remove any either.
A standard lag on a stepping value can decrease the stepping feeling, but impart another feeling of sluggishness or elasticity.
Lags are usually fixed to the time you set it, whereas knob turning can be fast or slow.
So if you turns knobs slowly and to narrow amounts, a lag might be nice.
But if you turn knobs quickly and to wide intervals, a lag could make a knob feel drunk.