Forgive me if this has been asked and answered - nothing turned up using the search function. I just ordered A4 yesterday and have been intrigued by the possibilities of using its CV track to sequence my vintage stuff. Korgs, Yamahas, Moogs, etc seem to be on the menu, but I noticed that there is some built-in custom CV scaling on offer in the A4 and I wonder if this could be use to dial in the bonkers 0.3v per octave expected by the VCS3. I could use the input scaling knobs on the VCS3 itself, I think, but they are anything but precise.
AFAIK the A4/AK sports only two pitch CV outputs … V/Oct and Hz/V.
Maybe a resistor circiut (voltage divider) can help making a 1/3 of the A4 V/Oct voltage fit to your VCS3? There are poties at electronic groceries, which do the job.
I use the A4 with my Synthi almost everyday. Using the cv scaling you can dial,pretty much every voltage/oct you want. I have a digitana snake with precision trimmers for vc inputs but you could have the input knobs at 10 and using the A4. Scaling. I also use it with my buchla gear and serge, smetimes all,at once! Yes you can different scaling for each CV out. Just one advice: use 4 volt max. gate or triggers with your EMS or you coul fry the envelope transistor. Have fun!!!
[quote=“synthi, post:3, topic:32055, full:true”]
I use the A4 with my Synthi almost everyday. Using the cv scaling you can dial,pretty much every voltage/oct you want. I have a digitana snake with precision trimmers for vc inputs but you could have the input knobs at 10 and using the A4. Scaling. I also use it with my buchla gear and serge, smetimes all,at once! Yes you can different scaling for each CV out. Just one advice: use 4 volt max. gate or triggers with your EMS or you coul fry the envelope transistor. Have fun!!!
[/quote]Thanks for the advice and very good news indeed! I am even more excited for the A4 to arrive now. I have done the mod that allows the trigger input to function with gates and triggers of up to 10v (on this page: http://www.hinton-instruments.co.uk/ems/recommended.html), so I hope I won’t run the risk of frying the EG transistor (but I’ll limit the gates to 4v just in case!)
Buchla, Serge and Synthi with the A4? This must be euphoric!
I made a box years ago that allows me to sequence the VCS3 from my V/Oct modular system, but it depends on getting the scaling just right with those tricky VCS3 input knobs. Hopefully the A4 scaling will be a little easier to dial into pitch. Luckily, my VCS3 stays in tune very well for a very long time.
Yep, as you’ve already garnered, the A4 is very flexible in this regard
If the scaling is linear it will be fine
For the initial responder V/Oct doesn’t need to mean 1V/Oct although that is indeed the most common standard … the previous manner of setting up indeed specified the ratio/incline (so you’d have just entered 0.3 e.g.), but the new method of calibrating is about explicitly defining two points on the line (six and half a dozen I guess)
using it with the Korg (doubling per octave) soon leads to a shortage of volts, so as per the MS20 e.g. you only get a narrow pitch window
There are 4 separate flexible outs that needn’t even be paired, should be lots of fun above and beyond just sequencing
Not limited frequency, I mean that the octave range is necessarily restricted due to the Hz/V standard … so if you were using the broad octave range on the face of the A4 you’d soon run out of room (you’ll get 4>5 octaves iirc before the tracking falls apart or the voltages are exceeding the 10 servable from the A4, not that they’d be wanted at the ms20 anyway)
The 4 Cs of three octave keyboard on yer ms20 go 1v 2v 4v 8v iirc … 0.5v should play nice, but thereafter will drift if going down, obviously going up is not possible beyond a few extra tones