Well, of course they are. What I meant is that the main audio signal from the 4 voices is not converted to digital and then back to analog, interrupting the analog signal chain, as you wrote:
I think this is not the case.
Imo, the ADC/DAC is used to tap the individual voices just for the FX sends, and then to convert the stereo FX signal to analog so it can be mixed into the main stereo signal.[/quote]
Hmm well according to the official site you are right!
[i]Both oscillators of each voice are analog, with all their elaborate waveshaping completely analog, and with their pitches controlled digitally. The noise generator is digital. The two filters, and the overdrive circuit between them, of each voice are fully analog. The amplifiers are analog. The envelopes and LFOs are digital. Their design allow them to go well into audio range.
The signal path from the oscillators to the audio outputs is completely analog. The signal path from the external inputs to the audio outputs is also fully analog. The digital send effects are parallel to the main audio path, and the wet signals from the digital send effects are mixed with the dry analog signal before the main output stage.[/i]
Somehow I had it in my mind that you had to go THROUGH the effects processing, rather than mixing in with the original audio. BUT, this also means that the more “wet” your effects mix is, the less of the “true” analog sound remains.
The envelopes and LFOs being digital kinda explains the peculiar amount of logic ICs on the board. I bet the FPGA does a lot of that stuff as well. I doubt it’s being used to drive the display or do any of the UI input stuff.
What fascinates me is how SMALL a single voice section is in that thing. I bet you could easily modularize the whole thing and make it expandable to more voices. Heck, you could even start a new, modular kind of synth that offers slot-in expansions with different synthesis types, kinda like a Buchla but with each expansion adding one “voice” instead of requiring you to patch stuff like a telephone operator only to get a few bleeps and squeaks.
Just think about it, you could mix and match voices, you could slide in two digital sampler voices from an octatrack and three analog voices from the A4, or do all kinds of combinations.
Mmmm… daydreams…
