Another CV thread

[gak]

As I'm more than two months into reason, I have a gripe about tuts on CV. They go out of their way to mention what CV means and show analog of the old days and why, but I'm having a very tough time with understanding how you can use these creatively or maybe even efficiently. Just knowing how to hook up a "matrix" or "arp" is hardly difficult. 

For example, it seems that if you buy a kuassa RE, there is not a manual that explains the various ways to use the CV's on the back. They have to be there for SOME reason I'd like to know if a synth or drums can trigger something, and HOW to hook those up (randomly checking CV connectivity generally leads me to either "well, this does nothing" or "these don't hook up" There has to be something out there (and it's certainly not the manual) that delves into such things.

So, take this post with a grain of salt, I understand I'm new and I'll get used to all of it, but it would be great to find some tut's with ideas to help get you going in the direction of creative possibilities. Not just synths, but with all the audio stuff too.

[Puckboy2000]

I find most of the CV routing stuff to produce Avante Garde effects. Like FM tweaking. Not really musical, IMO. More mad scientist. Maybe my own ignorance just as well. I usually use the CV for pad triggers, automating parameters on synths and effects (filter, resonance, amp... The standard), arp, gating and the like. If someone has some good tutorials to post I would like to see them too.

[Benedict]

Hi

CV is definitely an area of confusion for many unfamiliar with the concept - just as MIDI is to people who have never used it.

I raise MIDI as the two are rather similar in broad concept. MIDI carries control signals from one place to another. That is it. You then think: well, what might I use those control signals on a MIDI wire/bus for? Turning Notes On and Off is the obvious answer. But MIDI also carries Continuous Controller (CC) info as well. CC are simply values that slide from top to bottom. The most obvious use for this is to control a Mod Wheel or Filter Cutoff. Some clever people realized you could build disco lights that were controllable over MIDI. Which brings us to CV.

CV is like a simpler version of MIDI and carries data from one place to another. In Analog synths CV simply carried a voltage that might be anywhere from top to bottom. That voltage (CV) signal can be read and therefore used to control anything that is accessible to the CV bus. Initially that is anything there is a socket for on the back of a unit but then you can use a Combi to translate to anything a Combi can reach so the options are pretty broad before we even starting talking about Thor's Mod Matrix.

Back to your question - what would I use the CV for? Well nothing if you don't have a purpose. And don't feel bad about that. However if you want to make something that has a pattern that plays over and over and you aren't making that pattern in the Sequencer then a Matrix, Thor, CV Mutant etc. are a great place to generate the pattern and CV the way to carry that control data from place to place.

This set of four pieces from 1979 are pretty good examples of CVs in action in a pre-MIDI synth (Roland System 100) as they define a lot of what you hear from sound creation to performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA3ItW1A-GM

This second video shows a System 100 doing some of what you hear above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=187&v=6YSEmCI9qSA

You will probably find your own uses for CV over time. The possibilities for CV are almost unlimited.

[gak]

Ok.

So. As usual......if you don't post something, you will never get results

I tried taking out a few CV's and doing things like a kick from kong to the volume of an amp sim. That's what I expected in the first place

Ok, back to playing! Hey, and thanks for the info, very nice  

[Tincture]

Experimentation is your friend if you have the time with CV. It can be SO amazing.

[raymondh]

Hi

CV is definitely an area of confusion for many unfamiliar with the concept - just as MIDI is to people who have never used it.

I raise MIDI as the two are rather similar in broad concept. MIDI carries control signals from one place to another. That is it. You then think: well, what might I use those control signals on a MIDI wire/bus for? Turning Notes On and Off is the obvious answer. But MIDI also carries Continuous Controller (CC) info as well. CC are simply values that slide from top to bottom. The most obvious use for this is to control a Mod Wheel or Filter Cutoff. Some clever people realized you could build disco lights that were controllable over MIDI. Which brings us to CV.

CV is like a simpler version of MIDI and carries data from one place to another. In Analog synths CV simply carried a voltage that might be anywhere from top to bottom. That voltage (CV) signal can be read and therefore used to control anything that is accessible to the CV bus. Initially that is anything there is a socket for on the back of a unit but then you can use a Combi to translate to anything a Combi can reach so the options are pretty broad before we even starting talking about Thor's Mod Matrix.

Back to your question - what would I use the CV for? Well nothing if you don't have a purpose. And don't feel bad about that. However if you want to make something that has a pattern that plays over and over and you aren't making that pattern in the Sequencer then a Matrix, Thor, CV Mutant etc. are a great place to generate the pattern and CV the way to carry that control data from place to place.

This set of four pieces from 1979 are pretty good examples of CVs in action in a pre-MIDI synth (Roland System 100) as they define a lot of what you hear from sound creation to performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA3ItW1A-GM

This second video shows a System 100 doing some of what you hear above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=187&v=6YSEmCI9qSA

You will probably find your own uses for CV over time. The possibilities for CV are almost unlimited.

Excellent explanation Benedict!

[gak]

Experimentation is your friend if you have the time with CV. It can be SO amazing.

Yeah, except for until I posted this thread, I couldn't get ANYTHING to do sh.t!

Got some really interesting stuff going now. The "rhodes" into the snare on kong. Ok, I'm starting to get it now