Showing posts with label Converters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Converters. Show all posts

Friday, March 21, 2014

More A-190-4 MIDI-CV/Gate/Sync Interface Specifications

Last year, quickly after the A-190-4 prototype suddenly appeared in the wild, i already contacted Dieter Doepfer about some of the specs of the module.

The Doepfer A-190-4 will be the new replacement for module A-190-1 which is no longer available.
The functions of A-190-1 and A-190-4 are nearly the same (Midi In, Midi Out, CV1, CV2, Gate, Clock, Reset), but the operation of the A-190-4 has been improved because a 3-digit LED display is available.

The current values of all parameters (like Midi channel, reference note, clock divider) can be read back and modified by means of up/down buttons.
In addition A-190-4 is equipped with an USB interface and the external +5V supply is no longer available.

A-190(-1)  MIDI-CV/Sync
Interface
The A-190-1 has 2  DACs (Digital-to-Analog Converters)
In the original A-190-1 DAC 1 is 'hard-wired' to receive MIDI note messages and convert them into control voltages available at CV output socket CV 1. This DAC has 12-bit resolution, which gives excellent tuning resolution (in steps of 1/4096th). As a rule, DAC 1 will be used to control VCO pitch.
DAC 2 can be assigned to your choice of MIDI controller. This DAC has 7-bit resolution (1/128th steps).

At the time (almost one year ago) Dieter couldn't tell much about the processing power and if any other functions would be available (arpeggiator? like the A-190-3), but this week I have managed to get a bit more info.
Christian Assall, software developer at Doepfer, was kind enough to explain a few more things about the A-190-4 via e-mail:

A-190-4 Prototype
- "The A-190-4 will have 2 new DACs... Because the development of the A-190-1 was now before more than 15 years, it makes sense to use modern pieces."

- "DAC2 will now also be 12 bit and will have a range of 0 ... 10 + volt ( but can also only use it for velocity/controller and things similar to the A190-1 , but not for pitch/tune controlling like the CV1 - so it's not possible to control two voices - because you also have only one gate ;-) - for polyphonic things we have the A190-5 in development"

About future firmware updates:
- "As the next development in schedule list is the A-190-5 - which is something like a 'great' brother of the A-190-4 - the A-190-4 has in most cases the possibility to inherit his features...
...so it's more a question of what we and the users want and decide to include in a preferably easy to use CV-interface the A-190-4 should be... This also belongs to the topic arpeggiator."

The A-190-1 Arpeg. mode never got released 
About the somewhat hidden arpeggiator-function in the A-190-3:
- " It's more a cost-free present or an eastern-egg like thing than a real feature in my eyes, because it hasn't any dedicated switches or display for that - so I think it's for many users hard to use ...
But if you can - sure you can use it and you can do some arp. things without any additional devices/software ...."

- " We never released this feature in the A-190-1, mostly because of the not optimal user interface, that was not suited in our eyes for additional and such a complex features.
An arp. should have a dedicated/suitable user interface - otherwise it didn't make much sense in my experience/eyes.
Sure also the weak processor power was a reason, not to try with many tricks to get an arp. which is in timing and didn't interfere with the other functions of the module.
So, never to release, was more a matured consideration that came from practical experiences..."

The A-190-1 will be replaced by the A-190-4 from about April 2014.
As of April, the Doepfer BS basic systems will come with an A-190-4 installed...

Sunday, December 29, 2013

DIY Eurorack MIDI-to-CV Converter by Stereoping

Today i discovered Stereoping and its interesting line of products.

Stereoping was founded by Gregor Zoll.
Since his graduate to a graphics designer he is selfemployed in 3D-computeranimation, programming and development of computergames.
As a sideline he always made lots of music and repaired, altered and – in the end – developed lots of musical equipment like drumcomputers and synthesizers.
Stereoping MIDI-to-CV
Converter
As his ideas got more concrete and his developments got more professional through the years, he started a business in 2013 for the development and worldwide shipping of innovative diy-assembly kits for musical devices.

If this business will develop as he hopes, his goal will be to offer complete out-of-the-box products in some years...

Stereoping produces 'DIY assembly kits for making magical music' and will be opening a webshop in early 2014, where he will be selling some of the products shown on their site.
Some modules will also be available as a DIY-kit...
They also have a special Eurorack section on their site with interesting stuff.

The latest product is this Eurorack MIDI CV Interface, a basic MIDI-to-CV converter which is really not that innovative, but still a good piece of work IMO.
I like the plain and simple design of the panels, and I'm looking forward to seeing more modules coming from this new company.

Video: Demo for my DIY Eurorack Module 'Midi CV Interface'

" Short and musically quite boring demo of the features of my Eurorack diy Midi-CV-Interface. In case you dont know: such an interface lets you integrate the analogue module system into the digital midi production set. It has - besides Pitch-CV and Gate - simultaeneous outputs for velocity and 2 controllers. It can learn the midichannel (and remember it) and be set to single trigger (held notes will not send another gate) or multiple trigger. It also has a potentiometer to set the glidetime (portamento). A switch lets select if all notes should be glided or just held notes.The latter gives kind of temporary glide like on the tb303. It also has 5 Volt outputs for midiclock and sequencer-start/stop (both not features in this video). More technical info on my homepage. Sorry for the bad video quality, forgot to disable manual focus."

Uploaded by stereoping

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Doepfer A-190-8 Midi/USB to Sync Interface Now Available

At the end of the year, Doepfer finally announced that the A-190-8 Midi/USB to Sync Interface is available starting today.
A-190-8 Prototype

Basically this module divides the incoming MIDI or USB clock messages into smaller steps.
You could look at the A-190-8 as a modular version of the MSY2 MIDI-to-SYNC Converter.
It was already announced in December last year, and besides the normal MSY2 functions this module also features multiple simultaneous outputs and added USB support.

Here are the most important features of this version of the module:
- Midi input (recognizes only Midi realtime messages clock, start, stop and continue)

- USB input for Midi via USB

-Clock outputs:
96: outputs the Midi clock 1:1 (96 pulses per measure/ppm or 24 pulses per quarter note/ppq)
32: outputs the Midi clock divided by 3 (32 pulses per measure/ppm or 8 pulses per quarter note/ppq)
16: outputs the Midi clock divided by 6 (16 pulses per measure/ppm or 4 pulses per quarter note/ppq)
8: outputs the Midi clock divided by 12 (8 pulses per measure/ppm or 2 pulses per quarter note/ppq)
1: outputs a pulse at the start of each measure

- Other outputs:
Start: outputs a pulse at each Midi Start or Continue message or generates a gate signal that remains in the high state until a Midi Stop message occurs (selectable via jumper)
Stop: outputs a pulse at each Midi Stop message
Reset: outputs a pulse at each Midi Start message that follows a Midi Stop message

- Wait control input, can be selected by means of a jumper between Gate function or Switch function: in - Gate mode the positive edge of a gate signal is used to init the Wait state, in Switch mode an external switch that connects to GND is used to init the Wait state (equivalent to Switch-Trigger)

- Wait button / Wait control input: Whenever the Wait button is operated or a positive voltage is applied to the Wait input the module waits for the next measure start until the clock signals are generated.

- LED displays for clock, "1" and start (display of Start depends upon the chosen Start mode, see above)
output voltages can be selected between +5V and +12V by means of an internal jumper (for DIN Sync applications +5V has to be used !)
firmware updates via USB (provided that there will be updates available)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Synovatron CVGT1 Eurorack-to-Buchla Converter

If you want to control a Buchla modular synthesizer with your Eurorack (or your Eurorack with a Buchla!) you should know that Buchla uses a different Volts-per-octave ratio as the Eurorack synthesizers, that work on a standard 1 Volts/Oct.
Buchla's pitch CV scaling conforms to neither the common 1V-per-octave or Volt-per-Hz (Roland) standards.

Buchlas generally conform to 1.2V/Octave (100mV/semitone) but older systems have 2V/octave scaling e.g. 258.
The other voltages lie in standard regions. 
Control voltages and timing pulses of the Buchla are +5V (signals with sustain) and +10V (transients only), and should be compatible with most other manufacturers' devices.
Besides that, Eurorack uses 3.5mm mini jack sockets and Buchla uses 4mm banana sockets.

Synovatron's latest module is a Eurorack format Eurorack/Buchla translator called CVGT1.
It was launched a few months ago at the Brighton Modular Meet at the University of Sussex just outside Brighton UK.
The 8 HP wide module allows Eurorack and Buchla synths to interact with each other, as the name suggest it provides a CV and a Gate/Trigger interface.

The module is an active module; The CV amplifiers use precision 0.1% resistors to set the scaling plus very fine adjustment by trim pots to achieve even better accuracy.
Trim pots (on the board) can be adjusted for trigger widths between 0.5ms and 5ms.
Not only does it provide the correct format connectors (and adheres to the Buchla color code) but it also deals with the CV scaling and offsetting and the gate/trigger and timing pulse conversion required to allow control in both directions.
CVGT1 can also be used to adapt to other banana connector synths e.g. Serge or Bugbrand which have 1V/octave using the "1" scale position.

More info at http://synovatron.blogspot.com

Watch the CVGT1 in action below (although it is hardly visible in the video, but i do like the soundscapes):

Video: Mutipatch 1 by Eldancer (Buchla and Eurorack)

mutipatch 1 from Eldancer on Vimeo.

Tony (from Synovatron) mailed me today that he can't make them fast enough, and that he's just over half way through my pre-order waiting list.
He underestimated the demand, initially he only bought enough components, pcbs and front panels for 20 modules (big mistake).
He will be building another ten or so but have negotiated with a local company to build the rest for him.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Doepfer USB/CV/Gate/MIDI Converters Update

A little bit more info (by Dieter himself) on two upcoming Doepfer modules popped up in the Yahoo Doepfer Usergroup today.

It said that the A-192-2 Dual CV/Gate-to-MIDI/USB Interface is in the starting blocks and will be included with the next (fall 2012) production series.
Module A-192-2 contains two independent CV/Gate-to-Midi/USB interfaces.
Another product that almost reached the production stage is the A-190-5 four voice polyphonic Midi to CV/Gate interface that will probably be included in the last production series in 2012.

The A-190-5 will have 12 CV and 4 Gate outputs, and different modes (e.g. unisono, four-fold monophonic, different four voice polyphonic modes)
The hardware of the A-190-5 module is ready and Christian is working on the firmware.
Though it was planned to use 12 bit DA converters Doepfer thinks about 8 bit converters to reduce the price a bit.
"12 bit converters don't seem to have any advantage because the module only converts 7 bit midi data into CV (no software LFOs or software envelopes or software glide) and in this case 12 bit DACs
are wasted money because the last 5 bits are not used.", according to Dieter.

The estimated price for the A-192-2 is approximately 130 Euro, expect to pay around 300 Euro for the A-190-5.
Price and release date are still without obligation

Find the latest updates on new Doepfer modules HERE

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Doepfer Usergroup Poll: MS-02 Module?

A new Poll at the  official Doepfer Usergroep is about the idea of realizing an A-100 module with the possibillities of the 'classic' Korg MS-02 expander module.
This module was part of Korg's MS series of instruments, which also included the MS-20 Monophonic Synthesizer, the single oscillator MS-10, the keyboardless MS-50 module, and the SQ-10 sequencer. Additional devices included the MS-01 Foot Controller, MS-03 Signal Processor, MS-04 Modulation Pedal and VC-10 Vocoder.
( MS-02 user manual with detailed info online available HERE )

" In my search for a Korg MS-02 I haven't been successful so far. In building a great A-100 modular synth I was. This got me thinking: It would be great if Doepfer would add a module to the A-100 module list with the functionality of the Korg MS-02. I can imagine more people are interested. I sent the question to Dieter and he suggested to start a poll on this list. So here we go. "

Options:
O - I would be interested in a Korg MS-02 like module as long it's cheaper than 100 euro
O - I would be interested in a Korg MS-02 like module as long it's cheaper than 150 euro
O - I would be interested in a Korg MS-02 like module as long it's cheaper than 200 euro
O - I'm not interested in such a module

To vote, you can go to the Yahoo! Groups Poll HERE.

More info controlling a MS-20 / MS-10 with a Doepfer device HERE

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Most Wanted I - A-195-1 Pitch-to-CV/MIDI Interface

If there is one module that i am looking forward to, it must be the A-195-1 Pitch-to-CV/MIDI Interface.
The Doepfer Future Modules page tells us it will be an
"interface for conversion of a monophonic audio signal (e.g. singing, wind or string instrument) into the corresponding pitch CV (1V/Oct.), loudness CV and gate. Simultaneously the values are transmitted via MIDI"

Great idea, you sing, whistle or play a tune into a microphone and your A-100 will follow.

I used to own a Roland CP40 Pitch-to-MIDI converter that did the same, i bought it second-hand, and i saw the potential but sold it later ( and regret it now... kinda )
The CP40 was a small light-weight plastic desktop module, not very expensive at the time and had some basic changeable parameters like Bend, Octave Shift and Expression.
It worked as expected, not completely flawless, but good enough for impressive sounds. Too bad it was MIDI, and not analog.

...and that is why i am looking forward to this forthcoming A-195-1 Pitch-to-CV/MIDI Module ( note: No release date so far )
I bet Doepfer is still thinking hard about how this module should look.
The module has been in and out of the Doepfer brochures over the last years but i recently saw it was also back on the Doepfer Future Modules page now. Are they making progress?
There was a Poll on the A-100 forums a long time ago before i joined them, but at that time there wasn't much response to that, if i am correct.

I hope we will see a release date soon, i am sooo looking forward to this, even more to the Pitch-to-CV conversion than to the Pitch-to-MIDI conversion
Ofcourse the module should have some basic functions like a gain for the input, a slew controller plus some other functions of the CP40, but i trust the engineers at Doepfer... ;) I'll leave that to them, but the "loudness CV and gate" are a good start.