>>I use mainly analogue synths, with MIDI to CV convertors driving
them from my P3. A MIDI note of C translates to a whole number
voltage on the CV convertor output. For some synths, such as my
minimoog, the incoming CV can be 'transposed' by playing on the
keyboard. If you play a sequence, and the last note is not a C, you
are left transposed.<<
to complicate things further, the same voltage isn't the same pitch
on each of these instruments anyway, neccessitating on my rogues &
the prodigals a permanent offset introduced by the pitch wheels to
transpose them away from the G they prefer. the pro-1 & the source
both have C as their bottom note.
C is usually the home key for keyboardists because the key of Cmaj,
which I don't know how to play in (seriously- it'd be easier if all
one's fingers were the same length..), is all white notes. I suppose
one could argue that this is also true of Amin.....
so I suspect that colin will have to make this user-configurable to
keep us all happy. what we might be forgetting though is that sending
a single note through y'r midi>cv converter is only doing half the
job.
I have spent hours & hours tuning analogue synths- opening & closing
the cases, breathing on the tweaks, going away for ten minutes then
coming back again.
the usual routine is to make the thing work on it's own first-
keyboard volts, then the cv/glide buffer, then the pitch, scale &
high-trims on each oscillator. I like 2-oscillator synths to beat
very slowly at the 0V end & not at all at the high end.
once this is ok, attention turns to the midi>cv convertor, which
usually has it's own scale adjustment. this would typically be
adjusted depending on the condition of the connection to the synth-
if you are using the same cv to drive two synths, or the cv cable is
a long one for some reason, there will be a small volt drop.
to cut to the chase, if I may, the trick I usually employ is to write
a short sequence with a spread of notes across the range of whichever
synth it is. I won't spend hours getting the pro-1 to squeak in pitch
if it's playing a bassline, for instance, but I'll get it close.
the shortcut here is to send the same little sequence (octaves &
fifths is good) /via midi/ to a module with known good intonation (&
bearing in mind that this might itself be non-standard, if you've
decided to work in just-C or a balinese tuning or summat). a bit of
tempo-locked delay is useful as it highlights any discords.
then throw a mellotron into the mix....
& people ask us why we "don't do key changes".
tcha.
anyway.
I had this mad idea last night. I wondered if it would be possible (&
if anyone else could see the use) to randomise the pattern playlist
within a part. so instead of playing the patterns for each track in
playlist order, the part would be set up to choose the pattern & it's
number-of-repeats on a variably-random basis.
I think there's a way to achieve the same effect by randomising
within the patterns themselves but I think this would "feel"
different. as usual, I've forgotten why this was so important...
d/r.m.i.