Great to hear it works! There’s no transpose like keyboard transpose.
Praise be to this thread btw, took me a while but I got there. Now I’m triggering my MS20s farts from all the right places.
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does anyone know how to correctly setup the A4 Hz/V CV-range to sequence the Ms-20 mini?
by trial and error i figured this settings
Hz/V
A2 = 0,869 V
A5 = 6,891 V
strange numbers but works ok
if the voltage nominally doubles per octave then it shouldn’t be ‘trial and error’ to get close, those numbers look close
Can i clock the MS=20’s Sample /hold with A4?
Doing any of this is still pretty foreign to me, and i"m still pretty fresh on the A4 still.
But I have 2 MS=20’s, and can probably be doing way cooler shit with them+A4 if i knew how to think about it.
Rn i have a really cool patch happening with the pair of Korgs all patched into one another, that if i could just sync the A4’s master clock to the clock of the “master” MS-20’s sample and hold, i could work this cool sound into a composition i have the rest of the stuff co-operating to perform.
Do i even make sense?
Couple of things to set straight first … the MS20 has its own way of doing things and that’s what makes it so very special imho (besides the glorious sounding voice) So conventional thinking if you’re used to more popular synth paradigms will get you stuck a bit; things like the Hz/v tuning, the modulation of the amp envelope and a few other things, including the ‘Sample and Hold’ - I’ve read it described as more of a ‘track and hold’ i.e. the input is always followed when open and the snapshot is taken when closed(held)
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Now another idiosyncrasy of the MS20 is the ability to use grounding to trigger things (see screen print under the ‘passive’ button) - this means you can wire up an external push to close switch and ‘ground’ the action (as opposed to sending an active ‘high’ voltage to trigger things, this has advantages)
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So to do this with the A4 you need to know that the Korg will pull to ground when you send a voltage that is lower than approx 1.3v - you can test this by setting a CV channel up as value lin, make the range be 0v to 1.5v and vary the value whilst connected to the S&H ‘clock’ (hook a slow ramp lfo to the input and put the output on the pitch) … you should see that when the voltage is high (i.e. value lin is at 127 that the ‘track and hold’ will pass the lfo through, but if you drop the value lin down to 100 or so, it’ll drop the voltage sufficiently to effectively ground the circuit (& then hold).
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So you need to be able to drop a voltage beneath a 1.3ish threshold to act as a ‘clock’ in your case, now if you want a typical ‘S&H’ effect where the effect is steps, then all you need to do is set up e.g. an envelope which is targeting the value lin value (set it to zero on its main twiddle page (ie 0-127)) if you set all parameters of the Env to zero then you get a very fast voltage spike which momentarily exceeds 1.3v and allows the input through, but because it is so fast the ‘tracking’ isn’t heard, you just get the stepping effect whenever you play a key
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So that’s how to get it going, to make it work best for yourself you’ll want to use any number of strategies to work the voltages - if you don’t want it linked to keyboard action you have lots of options to explore - remember that the MS20 noise section is quite low voltage, so as a mod source it’s underpowered, you’re best using the ramp LFO set fast to get a broader ‘random’ input to sample - the CV potential of the A4 is extremely powerful, so you ought to be able to get what you’re after with a bit of thought
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I’ve read this like ten times, you are so generous.
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Cheers, you’re welcome. Hooking other non MS things up to >gnd inputs was something I wanted to refresh in my head.
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One thing to add, re noise level, is that there’s an easy to forget spare VCA on the MS20, so if you wanted a true random input source for the S&H circuit, just boost the noise through the VCA.
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fwiw: It may also be simpler to use a clocked random(S&H) LFO directly from the A4 straight to the input you were feeding from the MS S&H circuit - use a CV track LFO on a Value Lin channel and set the appropriate Voltage range (refer to MS input labelling) and LFO modulation amount to taste - this way you still only use one A4 CV channel, but you have saved all the MS circuits for other duties 
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Just thought i’d add This Link to cross-reference a more recent thread as it contains some more setup info and other things to check for basic connection teething issues
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This is great - I’ve been tweaking away all evening on the MS-20 under A4 control thanks to this - cheers!
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Hi!
I have a Ms20mini sequenced by a Analogkeys and it’s well sequenced except that the Ms20 never stop sounding. When I have one step, that note keeps on sounding all the time (till the next step ).
My configuration is:
Ms20 output to the inLeft of the Analog Keys
Pitch is controlled by the Cv A of the Analog Keys
Trig-in (of Ms20) connected to CVA/B of Analog Keys
source for the Cv A: CV track of Analog Keys
Source for the Cv B : Cv track of Analog Keys
CV B config: Gate/S-Trig/5.0V
Note length: 1/16
Could you help me?
Thanks
I was running into the same thing and lowering the voltage of the gate to 3.0V worked for me.
This just points to other fundamental issues as the voltage isn’t so important - when the MS ‘gates’ you are actually shorting ‘S-Trig’ the connection … i.e. 0v, so the MS Gates on 0 volts which means that going from 5v to 3v is irrelevant - it suggests issues elsewhere with connections/configurations/note length etc
try shortening this for fast passages and make sure the connections are correct - often it can help to use one CV source from A/B and the other from C/D as you can be more confident that the cabling/connections isn’t part of the problem
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Thanks for your answers,
about the solution proposed by Zheygro … it doesn’t work for me…
Avantronica, I tried to shortened note length, and I have the same problem.
I have only one cable Audio/cv Split bought at elecktron. That cable is plug into the CVA-B.
Do you mean plug another cable for the Cv-CD? (I dont have it right now, I should buy another cable)
Even when I play one note in the analog Keys (without the sequencer) Ms20 keeps on sounding. I stop playing but the Ms20 keeps on sounding the last note.
Best
Hi avantronica,
I tried with another standard mono phono cable for the CV/CD (connected with the Ms20 HP filter) and I’ve still the same problem.
When I have only one trig in the sequencer, Ms20 keeps on sounding . Even without the sequencer the sound from the Ms20 never stop.
Any idea?
Thanks,
firstly, is the MS20 patch playing normally when you unplug the CV control
make sure you understand the slightly strange amp envelope and that you have a simple sound with normal release
instead of sending CV s-gate from the A4 (check it is s-gate) try using the MS’s momenrtary switch plugged into the gate input - if this doesn’t still make a normal release simple sound when pressed then start again
assuming this works then you know you have to work on the A4 settings - start just with s-gate and one cable and replicate what you did but with the a4 keys (not sequencer yet) - this should play the same way as before - if all’s good then connect the pitch side up
if you can’t sequence properly then look at all parameters affecting the CV output and make sure note length isn’t too long (almost overlapping steps)
TBH - without sharing details of exactly what you’re doing it’s hard to know where the issue is
sounds like you have your gate the wrong way around - it should short when you press (not after)
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Hi!
Hope you have a nice summer. I’m back and I followed your suggestions, no luck.
I send you here a little video with the test
Could you help me again?
Thanks!
you have to start with a simple patch - build up from there (although obviously shorting with the momentary switch does seem to work fine at least) - also there needs to be info on what else you’re doing in the A4 in order to get useful feedback
if I want to test a CV signal - I’d put it into filter or pitch to see if it’s roughly doing what I wanted
you may also want to check that the CV isn’t needing calibration -if you expect the A4 is sending out 0v then patching a cable in to e.g. filter-mod shouldn’t iirc make any difference
debugging CV issues just requires being a bit methodical
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Thanks for your help avantronica,
and now…it works!! but I dont know how I get it. :)… yes, I should be more methodical
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