CV memory device?

[Duke Foog]

Just wondering if there is such a thing by Moog or someone else. Where you could patch in all the control parameters of a moogerfooger or multiple moogerfoogers. If a simple volume pedal could change the settings on these things it seems to me it shouldn't be that difficult to create a sort of central station type thing where you could patch all your stuff into this thing and save settings in a memory for easy recall.

I've been reading about this Frostwave controller here on the threads and am still sort of in the dark about what this thing does. Is this sort of what it does? a memory type thing for cv parameters?

[Rakuza]

It's my (second hand) understanding that the Voyager has this feature. To my knowledge, there is no device that is designed to store and recall CV settings for other gear.

I assume you're talking about the FAT Controller.

It's not a memory device, it's a sequencer.
Basically it's designed for "playing" electronic oscillators.

It has two outputs, called CV and GATE, which it plays over time, across a variable number of steps. CV stands for Control Voltage (I know that's confusing because that term has a more general meaning also). CV determines the pitch of the note played. GATE determines the when you hear the note and when you don't. Like note on/off messages in MIDI. The sequencer then cycles through these settings in predetermined "steps" which is why these things are also called step sequencers. Some sequencers have more of less memory for recalling a pattern or a sequence of steps, but this memory would not be very handy for storing CV settings for other gear. Actually, the only way I can imagine it would be functional is if you had a whole Fat Controller for every parameter (or two) you were trying to recall. Even then the Frostwave would not be the right choice, since it does not store CV settings, only rests (GATE) and it has only a single memory slot. That's analog, baby!

Since we're talking modular synthesis, either of these parameters (CV or GATE) are just voltage levels and therefore could be used for just about anything. CV can be used to control the Freq. Cutoff on a filter, the Sweep on the Phaser, or whatever.

Hope that helps,
R

[Impossible Sound]

A sequencer can do exactly what you describe. Although there are older models of CV sequencers with memory, your best bet with new equipment is a software or hardware sequencer driving a MIDI to CV converter.

There are also CV programmers, but not anything recently made i can think of. The Sequential 700 would be really cool if you could find one:

http://www.emulatorarchive.com/AM/Analo ... el700.html


Hope that helps,

Mike Fun

[Duke Foog]

hey thanks guys. i'll keep my eyes open for this stuff. it sounds great. i'm kinda suprised Doepfer or any of the buy modular guys don't make something like this.

[vintageabuser]

frostwave makes a midi-CV converter as well. check it out.

[nicholas d. kent]

The core of the matter is for every parameter you want to store your synth must have a CV input for it

I was surprised and pleased that the moogerfoogers included control voltage inputs for most of the adjustable values. For instance control of resonance by voltage is something the original Moog modular (and new and old minis) didn't have. Perhaps as a result you don't see it on the dozens of cloned Moog filters in various modular brands (a result of copying the limitations rather than improving on them).

I know Emu tried to build some sort of storage into their 1970s modular and Oberheim pioneered a fair amount, but in general the ability to store everything only fully arrived in late 70s synths that used IC chips that used CV as a means to control

As for Doepfer, the A-191 fits the billl. It's called a Shepard generator, and while generating Sheapard CVs has nothing to do with this topic it serves double duty as a 13 MIDi generated control signals, so together with a device that can store and generate MIDI you can send out up to 13 parallel stored voltages. Parallel is the operating word in a programmer. All sequencers are at least in part serial/sequential in nature. The ability one needs is a parallel connection for every parameter

In general Doepfer got off to a bad start with their basic modules not having CV inputs on the majority of parameters-- imho esential things like LFO rate and very useful ADSR parameters - though they did come out with more expensive modules that had more CV, so I guess thats a workable compromise.

Anyway my feeling is you'd have more programming devices on the market if in fact there were many modules with comprehensive CV. It's not a cheap proposition so it makes it less enticing for many people to buy only a partial solution

[Duke Foog]

So, what do you say Moog? This could be the revolutionary new step. A combination of Digital and Analog. Combining the best of both worlds. The awesome sound of analog and the ease of use of digital.

[nicholas d. kent]

So, what do you say Moog? This could be the revolutionary new step. A combination of Digital and Analog. Combining the best of both worlds. The awesome sound of analog and the ease of use of digital.

Umm that IS more or less the new minimoog synth already is. The patch storage on that is digital, the sound is analog. That sort of thing has been working since they started putting CPUs in analog synths in the 70s. David Smith's Evolver goes a step further with both analog and digital sounds.

On the voyager you can't get at every single parameter with a CV but you can program just about everything with MIDI.

What's not really solved is how to do that sort of thing on a true modular. It gets kind of convoluted and you'd need some kind of programmer that's being talked about here. You have to figure out how to change the patchcord around too. But if you can define exactly what it is that you want most then there might well be some kind of solution out there (but with some sort of compromise)

[Duke Foog]

Yeah, i was talking about modulars. i mean obviously digital and analog have been together for awhile. I do all this stuff with guitar, not keyboard, because all of the digital midi guitar stuff doesn't really do it for me. i want to be able to get all the cool fat synth sounds but through a guitar.

[nicholas d. kent]

Yeah, i was talking about modulars. i mean obviously digital and analog have been together for awhile. I do all this stuff with guitar, not keyboard, because all of the digital midi guitar stuff doesn't really do it for me. i want to be able to get all the cool fat synth sounds but through a guitar.

That's an issue of getting control signals out of a guitar. I'm not sure how we got there from talking about a memory system for voltages.

Though the more I think about it is since the moogerfoogers have control voltage in-s on the major parameters, it's one of the few situations where an analog programmer device could be put to significant use.

back to guitars

Lots of time and money has been spent on designing a guitar synth that "works". As you probably know, feeding a guitar sound through a synth is one thing, and easily do-able. Getting that guitar to control and trigger things can be done but with very compromised results that a lot of people never find acceptable. Arp partly bet the company's future on building one and failed... though they made a nice expander module - I'd bet more old guitar not quite successful synths are used by keyboard players - in yahoo's forum for old korgs [korgkornucopia] there's a thread on a guy who dismantled an old fairly unpopular vintage korg synth intended for guitar but pretty comporomised. He rewired the circuits to make a nice little modular that does a lot more than the original could

[Impossible Sound]

FYI - Big City Music currently has a Roland MC-8 Digital CV sequencer for sale. If I had the $ to spend I'd consider it:

http://www.bigcitymusic.com/product.asp ... id=3001203

[Duke Foog]

Wow that thing kinda looks like an old scale or something. pretty funky. the wood sides are great though so they can blend into the foogers. Don't know if i would be willing to spend that much on something that old. It's got a rating of like 2.7. sure has a heck of a lot of cv ins though

[nicholas d. kent]

Wow that thing kinda looks like an old scale or something. pretty funky. the wood sides are great though so they can blend into the foogers. Don't know if i would be willing to spend that much on something that old. It's got a rating of like 2.7. sure has a heck of a lot of cv ins though

That's one of the first multichannel sequencers. I guess you could use it to store 8 parameters, so it's a bit like an analog programmer, but it was meant to be a sequencer that controls a bunch of monophonic synths and/or a big modular.

I don't believe those are CV ins, most of them are CV & Gate outs. The idea is you'd numerically input up to 8 monophonic parts by measure, beat, length of gate and note name/octave - in not real time. You'd likely be working from a music score to keep track of where you are. Then it could spit out all those separate parts in control voltage when you run the sequencer. You'd store your sequence on data cassette

FWIW the newer more common MC-4 shows up more frequently. It's a similar device. Even more common is the MC-202 - which is cool since it's got little baby chicklet keys and an SH-101 monosynth built in. Getting one of those is a good way to figure out if you can stand programming sequences this way. Then if you like it you can buy the bigger less cute versions.

Very few people mastered these units though for a couple years you could make some good money programming them for acts. Hans Zimmer & Hideki Matsutake both made good money and contacts when they mastered the MC-8 and or MC-4 (I forget who used which when).

As for calling it a programmer, which it's not, is you'd be using this costly complex sequencer with a microprocessor inside just to store 8 voltages.

[Lengai]

I'll try and find the link for it, but a developer recently released an interface for extensive modular CV control with a PC called a PISM-1. It's a pretty neat idea. Hopefully I can find a link and post it.

[Lengai]

OK I found it. Here is the link for the PISM-1:

http://www.synthmodules.com/

The heart of this module is a powerful miniature computer (microcontroller) that processes 100,000 instructions per second. It is programmed with your Windows based PC in a simple and easy to learn form of BASIC. Each of the four analog outputs can be programmed to output 1V/Octave CV-OUT as a pattern sequencer and complex event generator, or simply as a gate. This is just the beginning. Use any of its four analog outputs as a programmable LFO to gate your ADSR and set up extremely complex filter sweeps. Clock your Binary Zone with complex events. Imagine what you can do with your filters! Generate CV along with extremely complex sequences that are only limited by your imagination. Unlike most typical analog sequencers, you can change the timing of the spaces between notes and/or gates. Like I said, this is all just the beginning. Additional add-on modules will follow. Unlike a one-time programmable ROM, you can change the program anytime you wish by simply plugging in a cable and downloading the changes to your module. The program remains in memory even with the power off until the next time you want to change the program. Once programmed, you can disconnect your computer and use it as you would any other module. Want random gate and CV sequences? Here you go! Change a few lines of code and you have chaos at it's finest!

The PSIM-1 makes a perfect QUAD Sample & Hold module. Other uses include a QUAD Quantizer (equivalent to four Blacet/Wiard Mini Wave modules in quantizer mode!), frequency divider/multiplier, Analog Shift Register (ASR), transposing control voltages, programmable sequencer, etc. The uses are almost endless and only limited by your imagination! It can even provide many of these functions like Quantizing the Sample & Hold voltages and outputting them as MIDI notes (CV to MIDI requires an add-on MIDI interface module) at the same time! Start and Stop of your sequences or other programs are also CV controllable! The Start and Stop buttons are also fully programmable! Most programs available now use the AUX jack as either a gate or clock input or output. However, it can also output several different waveforms to use as a reference for tuning your VCO's.