Voyager OS with Sequencer

[kimbo]

Hi
Ok, this may sound really basic to some, but modular synthesis is still a little new to me and I'm learning slowly!
I have acquired an old Roland CSQ-100 Sequencer which is good olde CV & Gate driven, for which I would like to hook up to my Voyager OS.
CV and Gate 'Out' from my VOS is quite straight forward, but I need some advice on where the CV and Gate 'Out' from the Sequencer need to go
I guess the CV Out goes to the 'Pitch' Input on the Voyager, but what about the Gate Out from the Sequencer?
Is this best fed through the Env Gate Input (blue socket) near the Audio Out sockets on the Voyager, with the switch set to 'On/External'?
Any advice would be much appreciated

[EMwhite]

Indeed, it's the ENV Gate. The Pitch (osc's) are always producing output, it's the 'firing' of the Envelopes (Filter and Amplitude) that allow the sound to be heard.

I used to own an MSQ-100, is it the same box, just CV instead of Midi?

[davydka]

Hi Kimbo,

Once you get this working, I'd be curious to hear your experience with pitch tracking on the OS. I hear it's not set to 1V/octave.

[xmit]

^ no that's right, it's not. I'm currently sequencing my VOS ( very basically ) from a Acidlab Bassline : the attenuator on my CP-251 is working the pitch voltage before it goes into the VOS - I've just set it by ear.
I'll be getting a Doepfer Dark Time in the New Year for more extensive sequencing, so over a larger range I'll be able to see how accurate my pitch tracking really is - guess I'll be trimming it a little more ...maybe...

[kimbo]

Thanks guys for all the advice.
I'll be feeding the pitch from the Voyager to the Sequencer through the VX-351 so it will enable me to 'fine tune'.
I'm still waiting to receive the Sequencer in the post, but as soon as I have it I'll let you guys know how I get on
P.S.- I'm also waiting for a very nice old Roland DR-55 analog drium machine which apparently can 'daisy chain' with the CSQ-100, so I'll have plenty to experiment with

[EMwhite]

Yes, if the CSQ-100 is anything like the MSQ that I had, it has a clock sync for devices like the 808.

[metron]

Hi Kimbo,

Once you get this working, I'd be curious to hear your experience with pitch tracking on the OS. I hear it's not set to 1V/octave.

Does anyone know why Moog did this? I thought 1V/oct was a standard.

[davydka]

^ no that's right, it's not. I'm currently sequencing my VOS ( very basically ) from a Acidlab Bassline : the attenuator on my CP-251 is working the pitch voltage before it goes into the VOS - I've just set it by ear.
I'll be getting a Doepfer Dark Time in the New Year for more extensive sequencing, so over a larger range I'll be able to see how accurate my pitch tracking really is - guess I'll be trimming it a little more ...maybe...

I'm very interested in this! Do you get accurate pitch tracking using this method? For instance, can you tell the moog OS to play a C, and then jump up a few octaves and have that C in tune? Do notes in between octaves pitch accurately? I'd much rather buy a CP-251 than the foot pedal to accomplish this. Awesome thread, btw!

[davydka]

Hi Kimbo,

Once you get this working, I'd be curious to hear your experience with pitch tracking on the OS. I hear it's not set to 1V/octave.

Does anyone know why Moog did this? I thought 1V/oct was a standard.

I wonder the same thing...

[kimbo]

Yes, me too.
The specs in the manual state 1v/Octave, and one would think this was 'per octave', without the need for the CP-251 or VX-351.
I'm very interested to find out when the sequencer arrives.

[xmit]

Well it seems to be tracking fine but my Bassline only has a two octave range - the acid test ( ahem, no pun intended ! ) will be when I get the Dark Time - 5 octave range - but I don't forsee a problem :

Here's what Moog tech support emailed me in this regard -

The Old School's pitch CV input is usually a bit higher or lower than 1 volt/octave. If you can adjust the CV output on your synth/sequencer, you may be able to dial in the appropriate range there. That would be the easiest solution.

I think you are referring to CP-251, not VX-351. There is attenuator on this device that will allow you to dial in the appropriate CV range. It will be handy for doing lots of modular stuff. Actually, you can increase CVs by going into the mult, coming out twice (thus doubling the voltage) and then attenuating down to the desired range.

The bit about the the VX-351 vs CP-251 still has me a bit confused ( I 'd mentioned using a VX-351 attenuator in my email to Moog tech support ) - I have both units anyway, so I'm using the CP's attenuator- I haven't tried the VX's one to acheive the same result, but tbh I dont see why it wouldn't work ? Perhaps some of the more experienced guys on here can shed some light ?
Anyhow, certainly with a CP-251 you can get the right amount of voltage to the OS's pitch input by either attenuating down or doubling & then trimming down as described above, so happy days !

Finally from Moog :

A third option involves soldering a trimmer in series with resistor onto the OS Analog pcb. It should only be done by skilled, experienced technicians

I decided against this as it will cause warranty issues of course & my OS is only a month old.

[EMwhite]

I'm no expert by any means but my perspective on this is that the VX-351's trip pot is a bit too late, ie. the voltage is already multiplied based on the key being pressed and trying to trim the proper amount of voltage off of the top such that the voltage per step is dead on is darn near impossible.

My impression of the 'inside the OS' option is that it's a per octave or per step increment (I could be wrong on this).

Having said all of this, I haven't bothered yet messing with the trim pot in the 351. The other solution (option 3 above) does require desoldering and soldering and I suppose technically speaking if you completely botch up your board, Moog will want to charge you the $65 for the 1/2 hr. to fix it or whatever plus shipping, but it's not a surface mount component, just a normal resistor that needs to be extracted ad replaced with an inline resister + mini pot. I've done quite a bit of old school solid state pinball repair so am comfortable with this sort of procedure (just lazy and haven't gotten to it).

I'll see about messing around with the 351 option this weekend to try ad document something if I have time. I have had luck with a Little Phatty sending midi to a Multipedal then doing the Midi-CV conversion on my Old School but NO luck at all doing CV out from my Phatty into the OS.