Keyboard (MIDI-to-CV)

1. Trig Output Generates a short 10V pulse every time a new note is pressed on a MIDI keyboard.
2. Rel Output Generates a short 10V pulse when the last note is released from a MIDI keyboard.
3. Gate Output High output (10V) when at least one note is pressed on a MIDI keyboard.
4. Note Output Voltage that represents the last MIDI note played. 0V is middle C (MIDI 60). 1V/octave.
5. Bend Output Voltage that represents the amount of MIDI pitch bend. 1V/octave. 0V means no pitch bend. Range of this output depends on the Pitch Bend Range setting in the Settings panel (View→Settings menu in the toolbar).
6. Pitch Output Main pitch output. Voltage that represents the last MIDI note played, with pitch bend. 0V is middle C (MIDI 60). 1V/octave.
7. Mod 1 Output Voltage between 0V and 10V that represents the last value received from Mod 1 Source, as defined in the Settings panel (View→Settings menu in the toolbar).
8. Mod 2 Output Voltage between 0V and 10V that represents the last value received from Mod 2 Source, as defined in the Settings panel (View→Settings menu in the toolbar).
9. Vel Output Voltage between -5V and 5V that represents the MIDI velocity of the last note played. -5V is MIDI velocity 1, 0V is MIDI velocity 64, 5V is MIDI velocity 127.

Overview ⚓︎

This is a simple MIDI-to-CV module that converts the incoming MIDI signals into CV signals ready for use in a modular synth. Only one note at a time can play. If the last played note is released while previously played notes are still depressed, then the lowest of these notes will be retriggered.

This module is always present on the top row and cannot be moved or removed.

The Keyboard module will also respond to notes played on the bottom panel’s keyboard (accessed from the toolbar with the View→Keyboard menu.)

This module automatically handles the sustain pedal and pitch bend.

In Depth ⚓︎

Basic Usage ⚓︎

A simple analog patch will typically use the bottom three outputs:

• The Gate output will be connected to the Gate input of an ADSR to turn it on or off when notes are played.
• The Pitch output will be connected to the Pitch input of a VCO (such as the Classic VCO)
• The Vel output can be connected to the Vel input of the ADSR to control the note volume, or to a filter’s cutoff frequency modulation input.

Additionally, the Trig output can be connected to the ADSR’s Trig input to retrigger the envelope when a new note is played.

Note On/Off Section ⚓︎

Gate

The gate signal is low (0V) when no notes are being played on the keyboard, and high (10V) for as long as at least one note is playing. It will not be retriggered if a second note is played before the first one is released.

If the sustain pedal is pressed while a note is playing, the gate will remain high for as long as the sustain pedal is pressed even if all notes are released.

Trig

The trigger output generates a short 10V pulse every time a new note starts playing, but will otherwise always be 0V.

Connect this output to inputs named Trig or Reset to trigger or synchronize modules when a new note is played.

Rel

The release trigger generates a short 10V pulse every time the last note is released and the gate goes low.

Pitch Section ⚓︎

The Pitch and Note outputs are 1 volt per octave (1V/oct) pitch signals, with 0V representing middle C (MIDI 60, 261.63 Hz). Therefore, 1V will be the C one octave above (MIDI 72), -1V will be the C one octave below (MIDI 48), etc.

The full MIDI note range is from -5V (MIDI 0) to 5.5833V (MIDI 127).

Pitch

This is the main pitch output that should be used in most situations. As indicated on the panel, this is the sum of the Note and Bend outputs.

Note

The Note output is a voltage that represents the last note that was played on the keyboard, without the pitch bend.

Since this output does not include pitch bend, it will be the best choice to send to a Quantizer module or a Gate + CV Sequencer’s Pitch input. The Bend signal can then be mixed with that module’s output.

Bend

The Bend output is a bipolar signal that represents the current MIDI pitch bend value as a voltage. Since this is a 1V/Oct output and the pitch bend range is usually not very wide, this output will have a much smaller voltage range than most other outputs.

This can be mixed with the pitch output of a sequencer or with a randomly generated pitch to add a human touch.

The pitch bend depth can be adjusted from the Settings panel (View→Settings in the toolbar).

Modulation Section ⚓︎

Mod 1 and Mod 2

Signal from the Mod 1 and Mod 2 MIDI sources, as defined in the Settings panel (View→Settings in the toolbar).

The MIDI range of 0–127 is mapped to 0–10V.

Vel

The Vel output represents the MIDI note-on velocity as a voltage between -5V and 5V. It will hold its value until a new note is played.

• -5V → MIDI velocity 1
• 0V → MIDI velocity 64
• 5V → MIDI velocity 127

In many modular synths, both hardware and software, the velocity signal is unipolar, with MIDI velocity 1 at 0V. This is rather annoying when adding velocity modulation to an existing patch since we almost never play notes at MIDI velocity 1, so the velocity output is always too high and the patch must be re-balanced to take the velocity modulation into account.

On the other hand, with a bipolar output, MIDI velocity 64 is at 0V. This means that playing at a medium volume will have minimal impact on the patch, playing louder will result in a positive modulation and playing softer will result in a negative modulation. As such, you can try adding velocity modulation anywhere without breaking everything.