CV questions from a newb.

[jsharpphoto]

Greetings. I'm Jeremy Sharp, from Dallas, TX. I'm not new to synths, or moogs, but I am new to working with CV. Currently my setup is a Sub 37, an MF-104M and a CP-251. I figured the CP-251 would be a good crash course in CV, and I think i'm getting the hang of it. But it made me realize, that with my current equipment, it doesn't get me very far. I guess if I had 3 or 4 moogerfoogers or a synth with more CV patchability, I could do more interesting things with it. Right now, I'm just using the LFO and Lag processor to make drastically slow filter sweeps on the Sub 37.

I've been searching for my next piece of kit, and I've come across the Koma Electronic FT201. I'm thinking that I might replace the CP-251 with the Koma. I know they are drastically different pieces of gear, but for my use, I think the Koma might be more useful. Of course, that's assuming the following.

Can I use the CV generated by each step of the sequence, going from the "sequence CV out" into the "filter CV input" of the Sub 37 to make rhythmic filter patterns? obviously I could use the Koma as an audio effect using it's own built in filter(s) but for the instance that I wanted to use the moogs ladder filter instead, shouldn't that work? My guess is yes, but as stated, i've been doing this for about a month. Literally. I know I can use the step sequencer in the sub37 to modulate the filter (or almost anything else) but that's not exactly a "real time" edit.

My followup question is clock-related. All of my gear is sync'd to the midi clock from Abelton. I've never used any gear that operated on a CV gate clock for timing. What's the best way to sync that to the rest of my gear?

Please be gentle. Sorry if this is to much of an ambush for a first post, but at least i'm not trolling, right?

[EricK]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations. It looks as if you are at the point when you realize that the road you are heading down has been leading to modular this whole time.

1. You should be able to but you want to make sure that the voltage is compatible with the sub 37, or it might need attenuation. You can potentially fry the input of the Sub. You don't have to get rid of your CP unit, they will definitely play nicely together. What will be interesting is running your filters in series when you do this. It is not redundant to have multiple filters, even of the same type. You can have one filter sweeping with a sample and hold and the other filter sweeping slowly with higher resonance for an interesting effect.

2. Syncing CV clocks is probably one of the reason why MIDI was invented. It is a real pain sometimes because those decimal places at the end of the 120.00 beats per minute are infinite. It is super hard to get analog LFOs to sync, especially when the pots respond differently. This being said, a Midi-CV converter and a multiple might help you get everything working better. I use the CP's square all the time to sync both of my sequencers.



You might want to just consider looking into a modular setup.

[jsharpphoto]

Thanks EricK for the words of wisdom. The Koma ST201 has attenuators on the back for CV in & out. I think it produces +7v, and if i remember, the threshold on the sub is +5? I may be remembering wrong, just having read a bunch of CP-251 threads. So the attenuators on the back should correct that. Is there anyway to use a volt meter to measure the actual output at the cable tip?

I went ahead and ordered the koma filter sequencer. Apparently the click in ableton can trigger the gate clock. Seems like one of those "duh" things. Some people have had to replace the metronome samples to make it perform better, but that's easy enough.