I still have yet to alter my Minimoog or Micromoog to get a trigger-Switch conversion to use the synths with my CSQ-600 Roland Sequencer. So I thought I’d start this topic. Are there good sequencers similar to the CSQ-600 (Does both step and recorded sequencing, 4 memory locations and a mere 600 note memory that stays in the system with battery backup) available that are a “plug-and-play” solution to the S-trig system the Minimoog and Micromoog utilize? I was hoping to come up with a good way to get these 2 synths to play without my having to be there to trigger the notes from the keyboard.. Then maybe play my drums along with them or something..
http://www.curiousinventor.com/kits/voice_of_saturn_sequencer
It isnt as sophisticated as the Roland one, but it has strig and regular gate/cv outs. I think you can gang a couple together as well. I plan on building at least one myself.
i had a friend of mine let me borrow his VOS sequencer, and it worked great with my micro…except when i would have steps switched off and the micro set to anything longer than a quick snappy release, the steps that i switched off would bleed through. i dont know if its a design flaw, and error on his part (he built it) or if it just doesnt work as well with the micro…but just a heads up to problems you might encounter
The MFOS 16 step sequencer is probably the best bang for the buck. Coarse and fine trim. Trigger and Gate outputs. Skip switches for each step. Forward, reverse, random, stop at count, revese at count or continuous run, etc.
Wide range of interpretation here as to what constitutes a “sequencer” perhaps. I find it difficult to understand why there would be no Moog sequencers or even any sequencers out there that are plug-in interfaces with the Minimoog D or the Micromoog, both of which were produced up to the late 70s and early 80s. A CSQ-600 has much more memory allocation than 16 steps. I guess I’m lazy. I thought I could just bypass the modifications from S-trig to V-triggers by finding the suitable sequencer that was used.
If you ask me this is a major limitation of the mini and micromoog. But maybe someone just hasn’t mentioned the sequencer out there that works? Or, is there a modern solution, one that involves a computer interface of some type?
A Minimoog model D may need modification to accept external CVs well.
There’s no external input that goes through the glide circuit or the orange VCF keyboard tracking switches.
You can mult (Y cable) the CV to the OSC and Filter input jacks, but then you won’t get the variable keyboard CV tracking of the filter, still no glide and the Mini’s keyboard will still add its voltage in, causing drift.
Minis are also based on F being 0 volts, while most other synths use C.
So the Mini will have to be transposed, modded or your CV will have to set somehow to this pitch center. For example, writing lines in a sequencer will have to be offset to another key.
Not at all MIDI to CV converters can produce the famous Minimoog linear glide either. So just because a converter might have a glide feature, it may not sound like the glide you’re accustomed to when playing the Mini from its keyboard.
The glide function is not one of the top priorities in this equation. The CSQ-600 has a glide function on it (although I’m looking for a sequencer similar, but not the same as one). What about a Kenton midi controller kit? Do they compensate for these limits?
Do they compensate for these limits?
As far as I know, no external converter will compensate for certain problems you’d experience driving a Mini under external control.
Let me see if I can explain this better:
In a Minimoog, you have three oscillators.
They are being fed control voltages from many sources:
The pitch wheel, tuning controls, modulation, keyboard, external input jack, etc.
A Mini’s keyboard works by providing first a CV, then a gate.
That gate triggers an internal sample and hold circuit for the CV above.
It’s this circuit that “holds” the CV stable when you let go of a key.
For example, when you have a long release time and the note dies away, the pitch must remain stable even though no keys are then being played.
All good, but this sample and hold doesn’t hold that voltage constant forever.
It slowly droops down until the voltage is back at zero volts.
Might take a few minutes, but it’s constantly dropping.
That’s your oscillator’s pitch constantly dropping too along with it.
This above IS the problem.
If you don’t hit a key when driving it externally, the pitch will not be stable because the CV from the keyboard’s sample and hold isn’t stable over time.
If, on the other hand, you DO hit and hold down a key, the voltage is then constant (good), but so is the gate.
The envs are being triggered as long as a key is held down.
So you lose your ability to retrigger your envs.
That’s why I say Minis need to be modded to be controlled correctly via external control.
When you put a voltage in the Ext in for the oscillators on a stock Mini, it ADDS that voltage to all the others including the keyboard’s.
So when I mod a Mini for ext control, I electrically replace the keyboard’s CV and Gate with the external ones.
I use jacks that make this swap when you plug into them.
The Moog doesn’t know.
It thinks these new voltages are from the keyboard.
Then, any external voltage goes through the glide AND the sample and hold and any external Gate goes to both the sample and hold and the envs.
It thinks your external signals are the keyboard.
The problem therefore isn’t what Midi converter or sequencer one uses, but still with the Mini itself.