Visual Voltage Feedback

The Moog Forum Minimoog Forum
1

Hey All,

So I came up with a crazy idea that I tried out today and wanted to post here for a few reasons…first to share…second to see if someone smarter than me might tell me I’m crazy and I’m lucky I didn’t fry my Voyager! :slight_smile:

DISCLAIMER - TRY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I posted a movie that sorta sums up what I did but leaves out a few details so here is a more-detailed explanation along with the URL of the movie…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn2BtHizZ10

Please use the YouTube link if you pass this on to anyone or post elsewhere - thanks!

Alternatively you can view the video here if YouTube gives you fits or has sync issues: http://www.zobkiw.com/led.avi

Basically I wanted a visual way to tell if any voltage was moving through a patch I created via the VX-351 and Voyager, etc. So, as a quick testbed I attached an LED to a 1/4 inch phono plug and plugged it into the VX-351. It blinked. As you can see in the movie the LED blinks along with a square wave from the LFO. Suffice it to say that it also works with pedal inputs, triangle LFO, etc. and more or less “fades in” as you would expect as the voltage increases. I have not done the proper calculations to pick the right resistor and color LED for the various voltages that the VX-351/Voyager delivers, however. As you may know, different LEDs require different voltages to trigger. The example in this video is designed to be a simple one - I know there is an LED for the LFO already - but you can do much more with this method.

THERE IS STILL WORK TO BE DONE but this might be an interesting “community” project that I thought others would be interested in and could comment on. Any feedback would be welcome.

I would love to see someone create these things in a prettier package (and give me a ton of them for free) and maybe share some profits :wink:

Comments? Thoughts?

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That’s a cool idea but it doesn’t look like it is working right. The LFO light on the MMV is pretty dead-nuts. It looks pretty but seems kind of pointless. If the VX is hooked up there’s definitely a voltage running to it. At the same time, if you could be sure you weren’t damaging anything it’d be a lot of fun to mess around witha bunch of LED’s. You could make a sweet holiday video/greeting card! ha

Josh

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Thanks Josh - a couple points to clarify…

When I mentioned not being sure if I was getting any voltage I meant via my controller - a foot pedal in this case. I hooked up the Ring Mod and other stuff and slowly pushed on the pedal but didn’t hear anything. I had to get to the maximum voltage before I was able to hear a change in my audio. My question was not of voltage being in the VX but more that my patch was correct. I’m not debugging Moog equipment - just the placement of my patch cords.

If you watched the YouTube version then forget about anything syncing properly. Watch the other version of the video. It is definitely working right. The LFO is square coming out of the VX and the light blinks on and off with it as expected.

Does this help explain my case better? :slight_smile: