Dual VCO / DVCO

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No, they are VCOs. DCOs use a digital counter for generating the waveform.
The VCOs on the Rytm receive CV (voltage!) from a digital source (with DAC) - that doesn’t make them DCOs.

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Maybe it‘s just me, but if I were a prospective customer, I‘d be convinced dual VCO is already available on both MK1 and MK2 after watching Elektron‘s own official video at https://youtu.be/2Wu1BJWk8-k (2min 49sec in). Mindboggling, really.

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Yeah it’s a really good idea to keep talking about it. That’ll FOR SURE calm us down. :wink:

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I’m really no expert, nor party to insider facts, but I thought DCOs produced/shaped the waveform in the same manner as as a VCO but that there was more control over tuning stability by deriving the frequency aspects from digital control rather than component activity. They’re both analog oscillators, but one is intrinsically more stable.

I’m not sure if the Analog Four is the same tech, but I’d surprised that Elektron didn’t then ask @smokyfrog to rephrase his review of their first Analog device to arguably enhance its prestige somewhat (he reviews the A4 as being a DCO synth) … also reiterated in this review here fwiw … One thing’s for sure, the RYTM does have tastier sounding open oscillators, but I’d been putting this down to other aspects

Perhaps though the need to keep the box powered up for 2 hours prior to calibration confirms that it’s indeed a VCO design as you’d obviously know in any case - curious to hear if anything’s different wrt the A4 and if the article raised eyebrows back then or whether it is a subtler delineation given that the marketing was all about digital control iirc

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No, they don’t. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitally_controlled_oscillator
And yes, the Four has DCOs. The Rytm has VCOs.

You don’t need to confirm anything by assumption, I’m telling you the facts here… :slight_smile:

Digital control doesn’t equate to DCO, as I wrote above you can send CV from a digital source - that’s a form of digital control. You have digital control of the VCF (Four/Rytm), VCAs… Etc… They aren’t DCF or DCAs because of that fact. The point being the system in its entirety - digitally controlled, analog sound generation.

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Why was this advertised as being “available” when it’s clearly not the case? I mean, “WTF”

time doesn’t really exist but anyway here’s a fascinating article re/ timing and tuning of oscillators etc …

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It still is.

The source of my understandable confusion is quite clear, I’m not sure many folk were aware that the AR was different to its sister product in that regard, it makes sense now

thanks for clearing up this matter following my guess, we’ve all learned something I think, we’ll I have anyway :thup:

so DVCO is 100% legit then :wink:

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Explains why the A4 sounds flat compared to the RYTM

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@psyclone001 : The digitally controlled aspects of these machines dont affect the timbre; They provide stable and recallable tuning and modulation.

Just in case you missed the discussion.
One has VCO’s, one has DCO’s
There’s a difference

Yup, just pointing out that DCO vs VCO does not equate to flat vs. not-flat. (But of course I’m making assumptions about your definition of “flat”.)

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Yes you are :wink:

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I’d definitely take a release with Dual VCO, without having to wait for Overbridge.

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WIthout wishing to get further off topic I think the Filter (see here) has some bearing in the resulting often unpopular timbres of the A4, but i wonder if the oscillators in the AR are more pleasing due to their being simpler in some regards - either way the AR sounds lovely as a mono synth despite the voice/osc simplicity, the DVCO will surely be fun when it drops

I’m also not so sure that the charm/drift we appreciate from a traditional VCO is the reason why the AR sounds in some ways more meaty/satisfying given that its VCOs are somewhat on a digital leash for stability/control etc

I wasn’t aware the P’08 was a DCO which it seems to be - that’s certainly not remotely flat

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The Rytm has tons of low end and tons of distortion. I’m guessing this has much more effect on the sound than any difference between VCO and DCO.
Rytm also has sampling and while that is pretty much full-on digital, it also sounds ‘meaty’. So the sound of the Rytm seems to mostly come from the signal path after the oscillators/sampler.

I found the P08 flat compared to the p6, or my old Polysix. That said I found the a4 mki flat and the mkii amazing. Well I shouldn’t say totally flat, it was still a gorgeous sounding synth, it just lacked weight and the overdrive was paltry but that’s all been fixed.

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I agree - there’s a life and presence to samples that seem to come alive … this means that the A4 should sound pretty impressive if we fire it through the inputs then surely :wink:

It’s clear that the analog designs have evolved AR>AK>A4 - I don’t know where the A4mk2 sits, but it seems to be ticking the boxes so that too suggests the ‘flat’ issue is not down to DCOs alone but to the other aspects of the signal path and in all likelihood the specs of the old/new LPF which is not present in the AR

Fingers crossed the DVCO comes before OB as per the DT compressor, that’d be a welcome gesture, especially as the DVCO was shown

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