Doepfer

I'm trying to make sense of how everything generally wires together in
a modular.  Obviously, anything is possible, and the experimentation
is where the fun comes in, but I would like to understand the
"typical" way that a synth is wired, so that I can know what I'm doing
when I deviate from it.  I'm just not 100% sure of how the signal
flows from one device to another to form a complete synth.  I've
pieced together bits and pieces, and just wanted to put it all down in
front of you guys, and see if I'm on the right track.  So, here goes.

basic synth:
midi gets converted to cv by a-190
cv goes into VCO, which puts out audio signal
audio signal from VCO goes into VCA, which puts out audio signal
audio signal from VCA goes into your mixer, recorder, or DAW

a bit fancier:
gate signal from a-190 goes into VC splitter
one VC goes into ADSR then VCA to control volume envelope
another VC goes into VCO sync so wave starts cleanly on every midi note

for a moog type of sound:
cv from a-190 goes into a cv splitter
cv's go into same setup as above, but into 2 or 3 chains of
VCO->ADSR/VCA, slightly detuned from one another, mixing wave shapes,
etc to fatten up sound...
all VCA's audio outputs go into an audio mixer, which mixes down to
one signal going into your DAW.

LFO's can then basically be plugged into any VC input in any above
setup to provide modulation, or introduce some variance to your sound.



Am I thinking about this in the right way?  Obviously, you can run
VCO's or LFO's into each other's sync inputs and get some chopped up
waves with weird harmonics and stuff, but I'm just trying to
understand the absolute basics of how this works before I really start
tearing up the sound and see what this beast is truly capable of.  :)

--- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com, "techmaster242" <techmaster@...>
wrote:
>
> I'm trying to make sense of how everything generally wires together in
> a modular.  Obviously, anything is possible, and the experimentation
> is where the fun comes in, but I would like to understand the
> "typical" way that a synth is wired, so that I can know what I'm doing
> when I deviate from it.  I'm just not 100% sure of how the signal
> flows from one device to another to form a complete synth.  I've
> pieced together bits and pieces, and just wanted to put it all down in
> front of you guys, and see if I'm on the right track.  So, here goes.
> 
> basic synth:
> midi gets converted to cv by a-190
> cv goes into VCO, which puts out audio signal
> audio signal from VCO goes into VCA, which puts out audio signal
> audio signal from VCA goes into your mixer, recorder, or DAW
> 
> a bit fancier:
> gate signal from a-190 goes into VC splitter
> one VC goes into ADSR then VCA to control volume envelope
> another VC goes into VCO sync so wave starts cleanly on every midi note
> 
> for a moog type of sound:
> cv from a-190 goes into a cv splitter
> cv's go into same setup as above, but into 2 or 3 chains of
> VCO->ADSR/VCA, slightly detuned from one another, mixing wave shapes,
> etc to fatten up sound...
> all VCA's audio outputs go into an audio mixer, which mixes down to
> one signal going into your DAW.
> 
> LFO's can then basically be plugged into any VC input in any above
> setup to provide modulation, or introduce some variance to your sound.
> 
> 
> 
> Am I thinking about this in the right way?  Obviously, you can run
> VCO's or LFO's into each other's sync inputs and get some chopped up
> waves with weird harmonics and stuff, but I'm just trying to
> understand the absolute basics of how this works before I really start
> tearing up the sound and see what this beast is truly capable of.  :)
>

Oh, I forgot one more thing: Filters.  I think...  I'm totally new to
modular synthesis, but I'm familiar with analog style synthesis,
mainly on virtual analog synthesizers.  On a typical virtual analog
synth, you have your oscillators that can generate a sound, LFO
modulation of various parameters, etc...  But there are two
adjustments that are the favorites of many people, that being cutoff
and resonance.  I can't even describe what they do to a sound wave,
but they definitely fatten it up, a lot.  I'm guessing that in the
modular world, a filter is what you want to achieve this effect.  But
there are 3 types of filters: LPF, HPF, and BPF.  Never in a
self-contained keyboard have I seen a choice between the 3, you only
adjust the cutoff and resonance.  So which one does a typical synth
have?  I've been involved in the car audio world for quite some time,
and so am fairly familiar with what low pass, high pass, and band pass
mean, as it's apparently the exact same thing that a crossover does. 
There's a cutoff slope, and I'm guessing what the cutoff adjustment
does is adjust what frequencies it starts cutting at, but I honestly
have no idea what resonance does to a sound, nor do I know which of
the 3 filter types is the "typical" one...  These are fairly amateur
questions, obviously, but I really want to understand this stuff, and
know scientifically just what exactly am I doing to the sound waves
when I adjust a certain knob, or wire a certain patch.  Plus, I want
to make sure I'm buying the right modules to get the sound I want, and
not make an expensive mistake.  :)  Thanks!

If you have a modular system... it's because typical isn't an option... most important, just 
go with what you hear!
;)

--- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com, "techmaster242" <techmaster@...> wrote:

>
> --- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com, "techmaster242" <techmaster@>
> wrote:
> >
> > I'm trying to make sense of how everything generally wires together in
> > a modular.  Obviously, anything is possible, and the experimentation
> > is where the fun comes in, but I would like to understand the
> > "typical" way that a synth is wired, so that I can know what I'm doing
> > when I deviate from it.  I'm just not 100% sure of how the signal
> > flows from one device to another to form a complete synth.  I've
> > pieced together bits and pieces, and just wanted to put it all down in
> > front of you guys, and see if I'm on the right track.  So, here goes.
> > 
> > basic synth:
> > midi gets converted to cv by a-190
> > cv goes into VCO, which puts out audio signal
> > audio signal from VCO goes into VCA, which puts out audio signal
> > audio signal from VCA goes into your mixer, recorder, or DAW
> > 
> > a bit fancier:
> > gate signal from a-190 goes into VC splitter
> > one VC goes into ADSR then VCA to control volume envelope
> > another VC goes into VCO sync so wave starts cleanly on every midi note
> > 
> > for a moog type of sound:
> > cv from a-190 goes into a cv splitter
> > cv's go into same setup as above, but into 2 or 3 chains of
> > VCO->ADSR/VCA, slightly detuned from one another, mixing wave shapes,
> > etc to fatten up sound...
> > all VCA's audio outputs go into an audio mixer, which mixes down to
> > one signal going into your DAW.
> > 
> > LFO's can then basically be plugged into any VC input in any above
> > setup to provide modulation, or introduce some variance to your sound.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Am I thinking about this in the right way?  Obviously, you can run
> > VCO's or LFO's into each other's sync inputs and get some chopped up
> > waves with weird harmonics and stuff, but I'm just trying to
> > understand the absolute basics of how this works before I really start
> > tearing up the sound and see what this beast is truly capable of.  :)
> >
> 
> Oh, I forgot one more thing: Filters.  I think...  I'm totally new to
> modular synthesis, but I'm familiar with analog style synthesis,
> mainly on virtual analog synthesizers.  On a typical virtual analog
> synth, you have your oscillators that can generate a sound, LFO
> modulation of various parameters, etc...  But there are two
> adjustments that are the favorites of many people, that being cutoff
> and resonance.  I can't even describe what they do to a sound wave,
> but they definitely fatten it up, a lot.  I'm guessing that in the
> modular world, a filter is what you want to achieve this effect.  But
> there are 3 types of filters: LPF, HPF, and BPF.  Never in a
> self-contained keyboard have I seen a choice between the 3, you only
> adjust the cutoff and resonance.  So which one does a typical synth
> have?  I've been involved in the car audio world for quite some time,
> and so am fairly familiar with what low pass, high pass, and band pass
> mean, as it's apparently the exact same thing that a crossover does. 
> There's a cutoff slope, and I'm guessing what the cutoff adjustment
> does is adjust what frequencies it starts cutting at, but I honestly
> have no idea what resonance does to a sound, nor do I know which of
> the 3 filter types is the "typical" one...  These are fairly amateur
> questions, obviously, but I really want to understand this stuff, and
> know scientifically just what exactly am I doing to the sound waves
> when I adjust a certain knob, or wire a certain patch.  Plus, I want
> to make sure I'm buying the right modules to get the sound I want, and
> not make an expensive mistake.  :)  Thanks!
>

A good place to start is here:
http://www.clavia.se/nordmodular/Modularzone/
You just need to know 1 thing about the Clavia modular synths and that
is that the envelopes all have a build in vca, that could be confusing
at first.
This picture shows that:
http://www.clavia.se/nordmodular/Modularzone/Basics/Basic1.gif
Between the red input and output of the envelope you'll see the symbol
of a vca modulated by the envelope. 

Also the A-190 outputs not just cv, but gate and clock signals to.
CV is (mainly) for frequency things like oscillators and filters.
Gate is the timing signal. So sound on sound off, and mainly used to
trigger envelopes.
Clock signals produce midi synchronised gate signals. This can be used
to sync sequencers to midi. 
These are just global uses of CV/Gate/Clock signals, much more is
possible with this.

--- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com, "techmaster242" <techmaster@...>
wrote:

>
> I'm trying to make sense of how everything generally wires together in
> a modular.  Obviously, anything is possible, and the experimentation
> is where the fun comes in, but I would like to understand the
> "typical" way that a synth is wired, so that I can know what I'm doing
> when I deviate from it.  I'm just not 100% sure of how the signal
> flows from one device to another to form a complete synth.  I've
> pieced together bits and pieces, and just wanted to put it all down in
> front of you guys, and see if I'm on the right track.  So, here goes.
> 
> basic synth:
> midi gets converted to cv by a-190
> cv goes into VCO, which puts out audio signal
> audio signal from VCO goes into VCA, which puts out audio signal
> audio signal from VCA goes into your mixer, recorder, or DAW
> 
> a bit fancier:
> gate signal from a-190 goes into VC splitter
> one VC goes into ADSR then VCA to control volume envelope
> another VC goes into VCO sync so wave starts cleanly on every midi note
> 
> for a moog type of sound:
> cv from a-190 goes into a cv splitter
> cv's go into same setup as above, but into 2 or 3 chains of
> VCO->ADSR/VCA, slightly detuned from one another, mixing wave shapes,
> etc to fatten up sound...
> all VCA's audio outputs go into an audio mixer, which mixes down to
> one signal going into your DAW.
> 
> LFO's can then basically be plugged into any VC input in any above
> setup to provide modulation, or introduce some variance to your sound.
> 
> 
> 
> Am I thinking about this in the right way?  Obviously, you can run
> VCO's or LFO's into each other's sync inputs and get some chopped up
> waves with weird harmonics and stuff, but I'm just trying to
> understand the absolute basics of how this works before I really start
> tearing up the sound and see what this beast is truly capable of.  :)
>

The "standard patch" is for subtractive synthesis. The idea is that 
the VCO generates a signal rich in harmonics (eg. a square wave) and 
a filter is used to remove some of the harmonics to achive a desired 
sound. Whether you use BP, LP or HP depends on what part of the 
signal you want to subtract. It's best to have a picture of the 
patch, but I can't find one online at the moment, but it's pretty 
close to what you described:

MIDI pitch CV->VCO->Filter->VCA->Audio output

MIDI gate CV->ADSR->VCA

At this point, things can go in many directions because all of the 
modules typically have CV inputs for further modulation. For 
example, you could split the gate CV and feed a second ADSR into the 
filter cutoff. Or you could split the pitch CV and feed the filter 
cutoff. 

If you are concerned about what modules to purchase, I wouldn't 
sweat it too much. Just plan on selling ones that don't work out. 
Experimentation is one of the benefits of modular synthesis.

Doug




> I'm trying to make sense of how everything generally wires 
together in
> a modular.  Obviously, anything is possible, and the 
experimentation
> is where the fun comes in, but I would like to understand the
> "typical" way that a synth is wired, so that I can know what I'm 
doing
> when I deviate from it.