Showing posts with label Glide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glide. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Medic Modules Cranial Saw - Advanced VCO / SUB Eurorack Module Demo by Rezfilter

Medic Modules Cranial Saw Eurorack Module
rezfilter made a nice video demonstrating the features of the 38HP wide Medic Modules Cranial Saw.
The Cranial Saw is a dual VCO
with Glide, Sync, Sub Oscillator, Pulse Width Modulation, Mixer and Cross Modulator.

" It features two discrete component VCOs based on early 1970s circuits so they sound very vintage and are full of character.

The dual VCO performs best in mid to low range, and combined with the Sub-Osc, produces huge, powerful sounds.
The main pitch CV input goes through a Glide / portamento circuit.
There are modulation CV inputs with attenuators. Also, VCO2 has its own CV Mod input.
Each VCO has a Pulse Width slider and PWM CV input sockets.
The VCOs also have Sync.
Cross modulation is possible by taking the output of say VCO1 and patching this to VCO2’s Mod CV input.
The built in mixer allows the two VCOs and the Sub-Osc to be mixed via their own attenuators.
The mixer has its own audio output of course, but the VCOs and Sub-Osc also have pre-mixer, fixed level individual outputs.
The two VCOs each can be switched between Saw or Square waveforms.

VCO1 can be set to ‘Freerun’.
This means it will not track the incoming pitch CV.
VCO1 can be disconnected from the Glide circuit.
Features such as Freerun, and the Glide disconnect of VCO1, as well as individual Mod CV for VCO2, allow a great range of sounds and weird effects to be produced when cross mod is patched, or Sync used.
A lot of thought has been put into all this. Please take a look at the videos on Analogue Solutions web site and YouTube channel for examples. The idea is to allow production of a wide range of VCO sound effects with the minimum amount of patched, though, of course, patching can be done.
All sliders incorporate a LED in their shafts. The Tune slider will flash in accordance to the pitch of VCO1."

More info via http://analoguesolutions.org.uk/medicmodules/wp/

Video: Medic Modules Cranial Saw - Advanced VCO / SUB Eurorack Module

" The Cranial Saw is an advanced VCO / SUB eurorack module with glide, featuring a whole range of flexible modulation possibilities to appease even the most demanding musicians and euro enthusiasts."

Uploaded by rezfilter

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Doepfer MS-404

In December 1994, Doepfer released the Doepfer MS-404
The MS-404 is a MIDI analog synthesizer with a 24db resonant filter that Dieter Doepfer intentionally created for his own personal pleasure earlier that year.

MS-404 close-up - Picture via Matrixsynth
In the summer of 1994 he created a monophonic analog synthesizer in a 19-inch rackformat / 1 unit high.
Although his module could do so much more than reproducing the sound of a TB-303, most consumers looked at it as an extended clone of the classic Roland TB-303 bassline.

Its two LFOs (that can modulate the single VCO) add a lot extra to the original 303 functionality.
Other extra features include a full ADSR envelope generator, noise, FM and PWM capabilities, an external filter input, CV/GATE interfaces, MIDI implementation and a glide effect.
The MS-404 can be played via MIDI but all parameters are controlled manually only.
The slide and accent effects from the TB-303 are possible on the MS-404 via glide control and it uses MIDI velocity for accent.

MS-404 Picture via Matrixsynth
The price was around 300 Euros (598 DM) and the module was released in a time when the demand for 303-clones was huge and many different manufacturers were building those; Future Retro 777, Syntecno TeeBeeControl Synthesis Deep Bass 9, and MAM MB33 were  few competitors, to only name a few. (A large list of 303-clones can be found on Wikipedia)

In the beginning Doepfer only planned to launch 50 to 100 modules, but they received almost 500 orders in the first two months in 1995.
At the end of 1997 Doepfer had sold more than 3000 MS-404 units.
The last MS-404 was sold in March 2001, as the amount of inquiries was falling (from 100 items per month to hardly 10 items per month at the end of 2000).

The few differences between the 2 regular versions of this module are minor.
There were always rumors that the different versions of the MS-404 sound different, but there were never any changes in the MS-404 hardware.
Version 1 can not use MIDI sustain, but this doesn't have any effect on the sound.

The rare green version of the MS-404
(Picture via Marc C Young)
In 1997 approximately 100 limited edition synths (with a green faceplate and a printing 'Music Store') were sold as a 25th anniversary special for Music Store of Cologne, Germany.

Doepfer still offers technical support for the unit and the manual is still available online.

Video: Doepfer MS-404

" Smooth synthpop demo made with the Doepfer MS-404.
This is really a little 1 VCO beast. Multitrack + external FX. "
Uploaded by SyntheticMachines

More:
http://www.doepfer.de/ms404_e.htm
http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/ms404.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-404

Monday, April 25, 2011

A-170 Dual Slew Limiter

I mentioned my A-170 Dual Slew Limiter earlier in a few BFF posts, but so far i never took the time to write a separate blogpost about it. Until now that is...

The A-170 Dual Slew Limiter consists of  two separate slew limiters, also known as portamento controllers or integrators.
In electronics, the slew rate represents the maximum rate of change of a signal at any point in a circuit. Just like a Glide circuitry, it flattens or smoothes the incoming signal.

The top section of the module is the 'simplest' of the two Slew Limiters, with one joint control, which sets both rise and fall times (from approx. 0 ...10 sec).
For precision voltage control this one is recommended, but version One (before May 2009 / check your version number on the module's PCB) had a small voltage drop that was caused by the protection resistor at the A-170 output.
( check Doepfer's solutions for that HERE
A-170 modules after May 2009 don't have this voltage loss.

The second Slew Limiter has separate controls for rise and fall times, and you can set the overall range (high/low/medium) for these parameters with a three-position switch. 
Because the diodes in the lower Slew Limiter are voltage-dependant, there is a voltage off-set of around 0.5 V.  This naturally makes it unsuitable for precise 1Volt- per-octave work, but for simple voltage control this is no problem at all.

Not only is the lower Slew Generator suitable for pitch-CV's, you can alternatively use this one as a simple AR (attack/release) envelope generator (works with any gate/trigger or LFO).
Very useful if you don't have enough envelope generators and want some punchy or percussive basslines.

Also worth reading: Wikipedia Current Limiting

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Best Friends Forever III

My next unseparable combo is a threesome this time.

This is another essential combination for me, because i use my A-198 Trautonium/Ribbon Controller a lot to control my A-100 system.
The yellow patchcables between these modules always stay connected whenever i start a new patch.

The Voltage Control output ( pitch control ) of the Ribbon Controller goes straight into the A-156 Dual Quantizer.
This module divides the signal into various little steps that provides many different possibilities to scale the notes that are played, allowing the player to play more accurate notes and scales.


Note that I use the lower and more extended half of the Dual Quantizer.
The upper half has less functions and can only divide the signal into steps of 1 /12th Volt = 1 Volt per Octave


Last in the line is the A-170 Dual Slew limiter. With this one i can add a subtile portamento to the signal.

Again, only the lower half of the module is used in this patch, because this half has more possibilities.
The slewrates are adjustable from low to mid or high, and it has separate controls for rise and fall times.

This patch gives me all the control that i need, and i cannot do without any one of these in my live-setup.