How to cv control minitaur?

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#84

I mean that i vaguely recall reading that another Minitaur user (or similar) explicitly stated that in the manual there was a warning “Do not send Negative voltages or voltages in excess of 10V” … now this would be easy to do if you didn’t set up your ranges too cleverly, but i’m not sure how cautious the comment is or if indeed it even applies to the miniatur

In terms of which frequencies in the A4 that will go high or low that depends entirely on your settings

It’s a linear relationship, if you have two points on the line, then you’ve defined the whole function … look to see which pitch goes high and which goes low or do the simple maths

#85

I’ve set up CV to use my minitaur with all the guidelines I could find.
Everything works apart from one thing.
Minitaur only plays one note.
No matter what I try it’s always that one note. Mini keys same issue, yet when I use Blofeld on midi I can play all notes.
I’ve calibrated the minitaur, cables are set correctly and so are voltages and I’m just confused at this point.

Anybody had this/similar issue by any chance and knows the solution?
Thx.

#86

Could it be you are playing on the lower octaves of A4?

If you use the default cv settings for v/oct pitch then C3 is set to 0v. Every note below C3 then will send a negative voltage from A4. If I remember correctly the minitaur doesn’t respond to those.

To check this play some notes above C3.

Second idea: moog synths tend to add incoming cv to a base frequency set by the last received midi note. Try to send the lowest possible C to the moog via midi before connecting it up to the A4.

Good luck!

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#87

Thx for the input.
I’ll check it when I’m home and report back.

I gave up haha.
I’ll just keep sequencing the minitaur through DAW. Way better in the end.

#88

Try reversing the inputs.

#89

I gave up.
I never really needed this to work but figured why not give it a shot.
As is now using mini with the VST plugin is pretty amazing so the whole cv thing was me doing something I have no idea what for :grinning:

#90

Can´t even get a trig/gate going. Ideas?
Edit (ugh, two faulty cables…)

#92

Since few months, the only thing I could get from my Minitaur, controlled over CV was a high pitch note. Than became deeply frustrating, considering I followed so many tutorials without success.

I had the chance to chat with a Moog engineer and his answer finally solved this issues. I’m so grateful for the attention I got from them. Amazing support!!

Basicaly, I had to execute a manual calibration (1volts & 4 volts) via the Minitaur Editor.

Here what they said. I hope this will help some of you:

First, update to the latest firmware: https://www.moogmusic.com/products/taurus/minitaur#downloads-tab

"Another possibility is that the pitch CV calibration is not correct on his Minitaur, either because of some previous attempt to calibrate it using the editor, or for some other reason… proper calibration requires the ability to send exactly 1.000V and 4.000V to the pitch CV input… you may have instructions already written somewhere… in short, verify with a volt meter that you are sending exactly 1.0V to the Minitaur pitch CV jack, then press the PITCH CV CALIBRATION +1V button on the Editor SETUP page… then verify that you are sending exactly 4.0V to the Minitaur pitch CV input jack, and then press the PITCH CV CALIBRATION +4V button on the Editor setup page.

using the newest firmware, plus the above calibration step, should give good results.

If the Minitaur was made somewhat recently, then it should have a good factory calibration saved which will be recalled by pressing the RESTORE DEFAULT CV CALIBRATION button on the editor SETUP page… maybe try this first and if it doesn’t improve matters, then do the calibration I described above."

#93

Hey all - trying to hook my minitaur up and control/sequence through my AK. I am completely new to CV and am trying to figure it out but to no avail. I have all the power cords and a TRS Y cable. Would anyone be able to literally spell out how to get started here? I’ve been at it for an evening and have resigned myself to the fact that I’m not getting it without help. Youtube is a nightmare and other threads just go instantly off the rails. Thank you!!!

#94

Have you tried following the step-by-step “Setup example” given on pages 69-70 of the AK manual?

Anyway, let’s split this issue into two parts.

First, sequencing the Minitaur from your AK:
How are you connecting the AK’s CV/Gate outputs to the Minitaur’s CV/Gate inputs?

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#95

Pete -

Thanks for your patience and understanding. I hope my frustrations aren’t too annoying. I’m locating my manual rn. I am using a TRS out of the AK’s CV AB port into the Pitch CV (send TRS) and Gate CV (return TRS) of the Minitaur.

#96

Sounds good so far.

You can always download the current manual from Elektron’s website if needed.

#97

Ok. I followed the manual all the way out and I downloaded the new Minitaur firmware. I’m gonna get in touch w moog for their documentation and troubleshooting list just to make sure I’m all good. Still no sound. But I know I’m not done. I checked track one with the oscillator set to “L” as that’s where the moog’s output is. Nothing yet.

#98

That’s if you want to filter the Moog via an A4 analog Voice - you probably want to start by going to the FX track and raising the Ext In Level (probably panning the L input to the centre and raising delay/rvb to taste

If you use that approach you will have to open the voice up by trigging and ensuring the filter isn’t closed

#99

Thanks! My end game is use the AK to play and step sequence the Moog and be able to use P-locks and slides, lfos, etc. is this still the way I wanna go? Basically, I want to use the moog as the sound generator, and the Ak as the control with access to its bells and whistles.

#100

As you can tell, I am incredibly green to all this stuff.

#101

But presumably not at explaining what you’re doing just now … everything, methodically, why, exactly

Keep it simple

Try basics first, can you hear Moog if it’s sequenced by something else, without A4, thru A4 …

can you modulate the filter e.g. using Value Lin on CVC (TRS Tip Ring Sleeve) and ensure CVD is grounded … presumably there’s only a varying signal at one of the cable ends (either use an LFO targeting Value C or Move the little virtual Pot on the Main page of CVC (it’s Enc C iirc))

So check your audio is coming through, check cables are splitting and working, then move onto CV pitch and gate and start with regular settings for V/Oct (e.g. C2 0V C3 1V) and Gate (V Trig = 5V) and ensure SRC Track is CV track and then sequence notes from CV track - if you want to CV sequence modulatable params on Moog you’ll want two Y splitter cables and set CVC and CVD to Value Lin perhaps then use LFOs or Envs to taste

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#102

Ok, so - losing my mind here :/. I’ve tried almost all of the tricks (pitch calibration, manual and default CV) mentioned here and still it doesn’t work.

I HAVE got the C2 playing in the right key (0.355) but the setting for C4 (2.355) is almost a half tone too low and when I try to fine tune these settings the interval seems to stay the same no matter what I do.

Got 2.2 firmware for Minitaur and the latest for AK.

Any suggestions?

#103

hi guys. i have a minitaur but i have the same problem of everybody in this post. i have it connected via cv/gate with the analog four but can´t hear the pitch. total impossible. Finally is there a DEFINITIVE guide to configure the minitaur working cv/gate with the a4 ? its impossible for me. I have done all the instructions in this post voltage 1 and voltage 2, cablibration via minitaur editor but nothing happens, dont know where is the “secret” to working well

#104

I have now got it to work but it’s impossible for me to understand what exactly made it work.

I will say that I took these steps though:

  1. Download and install latest Minitaur firmware and editor
  2. Connect pitch and cv cables - I use elektron’s cables
  3. Set c2 to 1 volt and c5 to 4 volt, pitch/Oct
  4. Performed note reset in Minitaur editor
  5. Calibrated cv via Minitaur editor by pressing and holding c2 while sending 1 volt, then pressing c5 and pressing 4 volt

Around here, it started to get in the right direction. Somehow it was 3 half notes off from C initially but I did this procedure 2-3 times and the final time I went in and checked the pitch setting in the cv track. That had for some reason changed so changed that back and voilá - everything’s magically working!

After this, I was able to add filter and filter envelope (selected that instead of volume in the Minitaur editor) cv without and hiccup at all.

So, don’t give up :thup:

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