Fundamentals Of Modular

Synthesis
by Gryphon O'Shea

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 Introduction:
I decided to write this document because though there is a plethora of info
available online about modular synthesis, I find that it is very difficult for a beginner to
start off without proper knowledge of basic terms, processor types, concepts,
techniques, and everything else that makes it possible to understand and apply modern
synth documentation and discussion to your applicable knowledge base, as well as
taking the ball and running with it on your own sound design adventure. I plan on doing
my best to describe every fundamental sound design component, technique, etc. in the
most comprehensive and applicable and terms that you can understand without having
prior knowledge, to provide a ideal starting point for any future independent study.
Though I will be covering lots of basic synthesizer terms since it is important to
think of them from the ground up to get the most of them in he modular world (by
understanding what the are really doing under the hood) it is assumed that you are
familiar with synthesis and basic voice structures. I will ned be describing what an LFO/
Envelope is, etc.
I may repeat things many times and come across as redundant. This is me trying
to drill this stuff into your brain and make sure it sinks in! I may describe the same thing
5 ways, but as this is not an essay written for english class, I think it's better to maybe
give 5 descriptions of the same exact function, because if the reader doesn't understand
4 of the function/technique's descriptions, and the 5th just click with them, that is more
important to me than the redundancy.
Pictures are not drawn to scale. They are dawn out on my iPad to give the reader
some visual indication of the function I am describing. Sometimes I am only referring to
a waveform's change in amplitude throughout a wave drawing. This does not mean that
since I drew the cycles a little closer together that I am saying the frequency has also
increased. Please take the drawings in context, and use them as reference for helping
you to understand the point at hand.

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 A Quick Reference/Preface Patch

Though it is assumed that you have basic knowledge of synthesis, I am going to

write out a general subtractive monosynth voice patch that should be fairly obvious to
those with knowledge, but might help to remove some frustration from the beginning
chapters, and to help you to get a sound out of your system to follow along with the
concepts of how to patch intuitively.

Basic 2 Oscillator Subtractive Synth Patch:

• CV Keyboard/Sequencer Module CV output -> Oscillator 1&2 1v/oct inputs via

Mult
• Oscillator 1&2 desired waveform outputs -> Mixer Inputs 1&2
• Mixer Output -> Filter Input
• Filter Output -> VCA Input
• VCA output -> System Output (Speakers/Soundcard/Multitrack Recorder)
• CV Keyboard/Sequencer Module Gate Output -> Envelope 1&2 Gate Inputs
• Envelope 1 Output -> Filter Cutoff CV Input
• Envelope 2 Output -> VCA Input

There you have your basic monosynth patch. 2 oscs with levels set by a mixer, go
into a filter, then into the output. envelope 1 controls filter cutoff, envelope 2 controls
volume.

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 CHAPTER 1: Control Voltage

First thing is first - Control Voltage. You will no doubt have heard this term
everywhere you go when reading up on Modulars. Here is what it is, how it works, and
what it is used for: Synthesizers use oscillators to generate a tone, and this is the most
fundamental part of a sound. However with just a tone, we have no musicality, as
listening to one tone with no motion or change in quality throughout, playing constantly
with constant volume, pitch, timbre, etc., and that is useless. Control Voltage (CV from
here on out) gives us the ability to control all of this using any circuit that outputs a
voltage, and connecting that voltage output to the parameter we wish to control.
Consider a keyboard: A keyboard in its most basic sense uses only keys to control its
output, and only has 2 factors that determine this: "if" a key is played, (determining
whether there is output or not) and "which" key is played (determining the pitch of the
output.) what the keys on a synthesizer are doing is actually producing 2 calibrated CVs
to convey this information to the sound generating engine - one CV to tell the engine
wether a key is pressed or not to generate a sound (a "gate" voltage,) and one tell the
oscillators what pitch to play (a calibrated CV.) simply put, a gate is used to turn
something on/off and a cv is used to control something's level.
Though these are some common cv types, it is worth stating that the voltage on
a circuit is synonymous with that parameter's level. When you turn a parameter's knob
up, the voltage applied to that parameter's circuit increases, turning that parameter up.
Applying more voltage to pitch (turning the pitch knob up) results in a higher pitch.
Reducing the voltage applied to a Lowpass filter's cutoff (turning a filter's cutoff knob
down) will turn down the cutoff frequency of the filter, outputting a low passed sound.
Applying more voltage to an LFO frequency (turning LFO Freq knob up) will make the

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LFO cycle faster, and so on. This is all just VOLTAGE. All a synth does is routes voltage
around its circuits to generate musical results. I hope to describe how you can become
a voltage wizard in the following text to make any sound you want.

1V/Octave CV

1V/Oct is a common term referring to a cv input calibrated to receive a voltage

that is scaled to pitch intervals of notes. This is how it works: for every 1V received by a
module, it increases in intervals of 1 octave. Consider a keyboard controlling the pitch of
an oscillator: the keyboard is outputting a cv value for each key on the keyboard so that
the lowest possible C is calibrated to produce a specific voltage (let's say 1V) and each
step produces a 1/12th of this voltage, up to 2V resulting in C1,3V resulting in C2, etc.
In a hardwired synthesizer, all of this is pre-configured inside the circuitry, so that
pressing the keys will always be routed straight to the oscillator pitch by default. In a
modular synthesizer, you have no hardwired connections, so modules with need to track
their controls by musical intervals (like oscillators) are given a 1V/oct input to patch the
control source (such as a cv keyboard or sequencer) into.

In use: note-pitch and filter keytracking inputs jacks are generally labeled as 1V/oct
to show that they are calibrated to receive scaled cv as their control input. It means this
is where you plug in your pitch CV. The "MIDI Note #" of the cv world.

1V/Hz CV

Though 1v/oct is the common standard for modular synthesis nowadays, there are
some exceptions to the rule (such as Korg synthesizers) tat use a linear 1V/hz approach
to cv tracking. As octave intervals are the result of doubling the frequency of a note (i.e.
A0=220hz, A1=440hz, A2=880hz, A3=1760hz, etc) a 1v/oct Oscillator is calibrated in an
exponential manner making it so that each volt received tells the oscillate to double the

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frequency for each additional 1V it receives. 1V/hz callibrated modules however
produce a liner response in hertz rather than a musical response in notes, so if each 1V
= 440hz (A1) on your 1v/hz synthesizer, 2V will produce 880hz (A2) but then 3V will
produce 1320hz, falling halfway between A2-A3. So if you plug a 1v/Octave keyboard
into a 1V/Hz oscillator, you will get this atonal response as you play up the keys, and the
same goes for plugging a 1v/hz keyboard controller into a 1v/oct calibrated osc.

In use: if you have an old synthesizer that you wish to incorporate with modern
gear, check whether it is 1v/oct or 1v/hz. If it is 1v/hz, you will need a converter (such as
the English Tear by The Harvestman) to convert the cv signal from one to the other. 1v/
hz is no longer common, so this is not a huge issue, but should be addressed.

Gates & Triggers

A gate is a signal that only lives in 2 states: On ("high",) or Off ("Low".) When
low, a gate output will put out 0v, having no effect on whatever it is patched into. When it
goes high (turns on) it moves immediately from 0v to its full strength (typically 5v or 10v
depending on the module) and outputs that until it is turned off again, falling immediately
to 0v again. The easiest way to imagine this is again using the keyboard example: when
no key is pressed, the gate is low, outputting 0v to the amplifier, so no sound is
produced. When a key is pressed, the gate goes high, immediately outputting a signal
of 5v, telling the amplifier's gain to turn up by 5v, letting a sound pass through
immediately when the key is pressed, then continues to be amplified while the key
remains pressed as the gate is "high" (active, producing 5v) and then goes silent once
the key is released causing the gate to go "low" (off, outputting 0v.)

Of course this is what you get by just patching a gate signal directly into a VCA's
level CV input. Modules like envelopes are used to add a shape to a gate, so to utilize
an envelope in this example, you can plug a gate output into a an envelope's gate input
which will make an envelope begin its ADSR journey (staying at the sustain point as

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long as the gate is high, just as it would on a hardwired keyboard.) and then when the
gate goes low, the envelope begins its release stage, dropping back down to 0v at the
time set by the Release knob. So, to utilize this envelope to control volume, you would
take a Gate generator (such as a keyboard controller, sequencer, anything that outputs
gates,) patch its gate output into an envelope generator's gate input, then patch the
envelope cv output into the VCA's gain cv input.

In use: A gate is a signal used to tell something to turn on by outputting 5v when

"high" then when to turn of when outputting 0v when "low." It only lives in the high/low
states, and is never in between. Patch it into other modules gate inputs to have control
over them being on/off. Patch it into cv inputs to have control over 0v or +5v level
control (off to full.) The "MIDI Note On/Off" of the cv world, which can also be patched
into anything (not just a VCA) to have turn it up 5v whenever the gate is high.

Triggers are very similar to gates in the sense that they are also used to send a
+5/+10v signal out to trigger the functions of other modules. The difference between a
trigger and a gate is that while a gate stays high while it is held, a trigger is a
instantaneous signal (or "pulse" as they are also referred to) which sends a very short
+5/10v voltage out, then drops immediately back to 0. Triggers are generally produced
by Clock modules (outputting a constant flow of pulses at a set tempo to sync modules)
sequencers with a per-step trigger output (to trigger an envelope per step,) keyboards
with a trigger output separate from the gate output (so a gate can be used to control one
sustained envelope that will not re trigger when playing legato, while a envelope
triggered by the Trig output will re-trigger every time a new key is pressed) and as a
feature available on some special modules depending on their settings (Eg. EoR trigger
on a Makenoise Maths.)

In use: Triggers are commonly used to trigger envelopes with no sustain, to send
an instantaneous trigger to a module with a triggered function (changing the direction of
a sequencer with a "direction" input, for example, or triggering a drum sound on a drum

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module) and for the example stated above when used above when used in collaboration
with gates.

Note: just like the 1v/hz note there is another for gates. Some old synthesizers use
an inverse gate voltage called an S-trig i read of the common standard v-trig used
nowadays. If this is the case for your vintage synthesizer, you will need a converter
(again, English Tear works) to interface it with standard v-trig gear.

Control Voltage for Function Generators

Though the most common and simple way to use cv is to control a 1v/oct
oscillator via a 1v/oct cv source to play notes, it is probably the least exciting. There are
many, many modules in the modular world that are used to create common (LFO/
envelope) cv mod sources, as well as much more complex mod sources and functions
which are module-specific. What's more, most parameters on every module have cv
inputs to use cv to control them.

As I stated in the intro paragraph to this chapter, any parameter's level is equal to
the amount of voltage applied to it (by turning its knob, as the simplest example.) This is
not very exciting, as you can turn a knob on any synthesizer's parameter's to change
their levels. This is where CV Function Generators come in, ad where things start to
get really fun.
A cv function generator is any module that is used to create moving voltages in a
specific shape or pattern that is used to control ("control" voltage!) another parameter.
This is where your envelopes, LFOs, and all mod sources come in. A cv is essentially a
mod source: it is used to modulate another voltage, whether that is the 1v/oct cv
controlling the pitch's voltage producing notes, or the envelope's cv output being used to
control the level of the VCA passing audio out to your speakers.
The main difference between cv from function generators and 1v/oct cv is that
1v/oct cv is calibrated to control a parameter such as an oscillator's pitch by a set

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amount, resulting in musical note intervals. A cv from a function generator (which will be
referred to from here on out as just "cv" and only 1v/oct cv will be specified) let's your
control the amount of the cv strength via a cv amount knob at the destination's input.
Here is how patching cv works: you take the cv that you want to use to control
another parameter (let's any sine wave LFO) and patch its cv output jack into the cv
input jack of the parameter you want it to control (let's say filter cutoff frequency.) The
input jack on the filter module will have a knob next to it labeled "cv amount." This knob
determines how much the LFO will will now effect the filter cutoff. When this cv amount
knob is all the way down, the LFO voltage will have no effect on the filter cutoff. As you
turn it up however, the amount of voltage from the LFO that is let through to the filter
cutoff increases, turning the filter cutoff up and down (in a sine wave shape, as we are
modulating it with a sine wave LFO.) since what we are doing is applying a rising and
falling voltage to the filter cutoff circuit, we are essentially doing the exact same thing as
turning the cutoff knob up and down repeatedly, except that the LFO is doing it for us,
rather than manually doing it with our fingers. So with CV and function generator models
that produce it, we can essentially "use any module outputting a voltage to turn the knob
of any parameter with a cv input." This is the fundamental technique used to program a
modular synthesizer.
Consider a patch with an oscillator being controlled by a cv keyboard, going into
a filter, going into a VCA whose level is being controlled by an envelope, which is being
triggered by the cv keyboard's gate:

Kbd key -> 1v/oct input on oscillator, sawtooth output from oscillator -> filter input,
filter lowpass output -> VCA input
Kbd Gate output -> Envelope generator gate input, Envelope output -> VCA cv
input

This is a very basic synth patch, and the only cv modulation going on is the
envelope controlling the shape of the volume. We can make it into a little bit of a more
useful synth patch by using the CV output from an LFO to control the cutoff of the filter.
Patch an LFO's sine wave output into the cv input for filter cutoff. Now, the filter cutoff

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CV knob (not the actual filter cutoff knob) will control how much that the LFO will "turn
the knob" of the filter cutoff back and forth (in the shape of a sine wave.)
We can control anything like this - LFOS into VCA to control how much of a
VCA's input passes through to its output, envelope to Filter cutoff/resonance etc, LFO
into Envelope Generator's Attack, making it so the attack stage becomes faster or
slower each time it's triggered as the Attack knob is being turned up and down by the
LFO.. Your imagination is the limit.
Summary: As all parameter's on a synth module are controlled by voltage (this is
what turning the knobs do to parameters - apply/reduce a voltage to turn them up/down)
you can use cv from modules to control each other's parameters, essentially having
control over the knob of any parameter they are patched into. Standard cv outputs are
the "Mod matrix SOURCE" of the cv world, cv inputs are used to make a
parameter the "destination" of this mod source, and cv amount knobs are the
"mod amount" of this mod path.
Note: sometimes a parameter's FM input will be labeled as a FM input. This is
seen sometimes in filter modules for the cutoff cv, ad occasionally on other modules. If
you see no cv input jack but you do see an FM jack, use this FM jack to input your cv.
The reasoning behind this will be explained in the FM sections of the Audio Signals
chapter.

Mixing Control Voltages & Modules with Multiple CV Inputs

Though mixers are usually thought of as a way to mix audio signals going into
the same destination, one of the beauties of modular synthesis is that there are very few
rules, and both audio signals and cv are voltages, so they can both be patched into the
same modules to be effected the same way (though the result is not always useable.)
Mixers, however, are extremely useful for mixing cv signals together to control the same
parameter. Take filter cutoff for instance - you may want to be able to use an LFO and
and envelope to control the cutoff. In this case, since this filter only has one input for
cutoff cv, you would stick an LFO and and envelope into the inputs on a mixer module,
patch the mixer's output into the cutoff cv input, then use the mixer's level knobs to
assign how much of each cv goes through to the output. The overall modulation amount

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is still dependent on the cutoff cv amount knob, but the ratio of the strength envelope
and the strength of LFOS that arrive at the cutoff cv input is set on the mixer.

This is how mixing cv result:

As you can see (hopefully, apologies for the crude drawing,) the solid mix graph
represents the mixed cv's effect on the filter cutoff - it is being modulated in the shape of
the LFO, while also being modulated in the shape of the envelope (indicated in dotted
lines,) making for a more interesting sound which has repetitive movement from the
LFO cv, and movement over time from the envelope cv.
When a module has 2 cv inputs for one parameter, it has an internal mixer that
mixed both of the cv inputs to affect the one parameter, at levels set by the cv amount
knobs. Sometimes it will feature a 1v/oct cv input (for things such as filter cutoff, which
will track pitch when the filter resonance is self-oscillating) with no cv amount knob, plus
a cv input with amount knob. What this means is that the 1v/oct input has a set cv

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amount (calibrated to receive 1v/oct cv and let it affect the parameter at musical 1v/oct
intervals, for instance in the self oscillating example I gave, patching a cv keyboard's
output into this Jack will result in the self oscillating filter playing the note intervals
played on the keyboard. It can also be used for exponential FM - remember, 1v/oct is an
exponential calibration as octaves are exponentially increasing hertz -if an audio source
is patched here, but we will get into audio rate cv later.) and the 2nd cv input with cv
amount knob is meant to be used for modulation cv.
Multing: Multing is a way to duplicate one cv signal signal for use with multiple
destinations. This is done either with a Mult module, or with Stackables (cables inspired
by the banana cables used by Buchla and Serge modules which allow you to stack
multiple cable by plugging cables into other cable heads via a socket on the back of the
tip.) a Mult module has 4 sockets. Patch your cv into one Jack, and the other 3 Jack will
now contain copies of that voltage ready to patch int 3 different cv inputs to modulate 3
different parameters with the same cv.
Note: Multing works for cv signal (outputs) only! You cannot use a Mult to give an input
3 jacks. Use a mixer to feed multiple cv's into a single input. Also, regular mults can only
accept one cv signal, then the other jacks must be used to patch that signal into other
modules' inputs. (There re some exceptions for multifunction mults such as Mutabl
Instrumens' Links module.)

Study Points & Terminology covered in this chapter

• What control voltage is
• What a 1v/oct cv is and what it is used for
• What a 1v/hz cv is and what it is used for
• What a Gate is and what it is used for
• High/Low state of the gate
• What a Trigger/Pulse is and what it is used for
• Sustained envelopes vs pinged envelopes
• What turning a knob is really doing
• Using standard cv to control modules with other modules
• How to mix cv
• Why some parameters have 2 cv inputs
• Multing a cv to route it to multiple destinations

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 Chapter 2: VCAs

How to properly think of VCAs

Most people coming from a hardwired synthesizer background think of a VCA as

the amplification stage of the sound design process, and as a kind of volume control.
While this is the most common and basic use of a VCA, this in not how you should think
of it, and not what it is. A VCA is something that takes a signal at point A (whatever you
patch into the VCA input) and gives you control over how much of that signal is passed
through to point B (whatever the VCAS output is plugged into) as determined by the
voltage applied to the VCA's gain. Usually a VCA will feature one of more channels,
each equipped with an input Jack, a gain knob, a cv input Jack, a cv amount knob, and
an output jack. When you plug a signal such as an audio signal into the input and plug
the output into a destination (such as the input to your speakers,) the gain knob will
apply voltage to the gain circuit (remember, turning a knob just applies voltage!) and the
signal will pass through to the output. It is like a dam that blocks the input from flowing
into the output, and whatever voltage is present on the gain is the amount of signal that
the dam lets through. In this instance, turning the gain knob to apply voltage to the
VCA's gain will let a constant stream of audio through to the speakers at the level set by
the gain knob. Constant sound. No on/off. Not very useful, as we could just do this with
a mixer. But with modular synthesizers, we have this amazing thin called control
voltage! So.....

CVing VCAs

Since letting a constant stream of signal through the VCA is not what makes a
VCA special, we are going to ignore the boring gain knob which only applies a set

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voltage to the gain circuit. What we're going to focus on is the CV area on the VCA.
Let's turn the gain knob all the way back down and focus on the CV input and amount
knob of the VCA, as this is far more useful. The CV input is where you can patch a cv in
that you want to control the level of gain, as any amount knob (as any cv amount knob
does) scales the voltage that this cv applies to the circuit (so if you apply 10v to the CV
input and turn the amount knob up 80%, 8V will be applied to the gain circuit.) This lets
you use cv to control the amount of signal A reaching signal B.
As the simplest example, using the Gate output of a cv keyboard will apply 5V to
the gain circuit when a key is pressed and the gate goes high, then immediately go back
to 0V letting no signal through when the key is released and the gate goes low. In our
patch, this results in no sound output (0v of gain,) to hearing full level output when the
gate goes high (5v of gain) to hearing no sound output as soon as the gate goes low
(0V.) this is what is happening inside of a hardwired synthesizer when the VCA is set to
Gate Mode (a feature on synths such as the Roland SH101.)
As this is also pretty boring, using a gate signal to turn the VCA's gain to either
+5V or 0V with no movement and no points in between nothing and full, we will instead
use a better suited cv source for the job - an Envelope. As we still want the keyboard
pressed/unpressed (gate high/low) to determine whether a sound plays or not, we will
still use the keyboard's gate output, but to tell the envelope whether to play or not,
rather than to tell the VCA gain whether to let signal through or not. For this patch, we
will patch the keyboard's gate output into the Envelope Generator's gate input jack to
tell it when to play and how long to sustain (as long as the gate is high) and when to
release (when the gate goes low) then patch the envelope output into the VCA cv input.
We must then turn up the VCA's cv amount knob to set the amount that this envelope
will control the gain. All the way up = the envelope's highest point will let maximum
signal through, and lesser points will scale the amount down relatively. This is how you
use a an envelope to control a VCA to control the level of your audio signal going out
into the speakers. Which though incredibly useful, is not extremely exciting, as it is a
standard feature on most hardwired synths. It does however give you the option to use
any cv generator in your system to control the level of the audio output, which can be
cool for drones and that kind of thing. Set the gain knob high so there is some constant
sound present, then patch a slow sine wave LFO into the VCA cv input, and turn the cv
amount up a little bit to let the LFO slowly make the sound get louder and quieter, giving
it some constant movement. That's kind of cool, way more control than a standard
hardwired synth.. Anyway, the truly cool part is coming up now!

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 VCAing CVs

"You can never have too many VCAs!!"

This is a frequently quoted sentiment in the modular synth community and leaves
some new users thinking "Why? I can't possibly have that many sounds going
simultaneously to control the volume of..." Which brings me around to the reason why I
opened this chapter the way I did, and why I put a whole chapter aside for VCAs: "A
VCA controls how much of ANY signal at point A goes through to ANY destination at
point B." And what signals do we like to patch around between points a lot on modular
synths? That's right! A VCA's biggest use in a modular synthesizer (and one that really
increases your synthesis capabilities exponentially" is to control the amount that a cv
goes into the destination that it wants to modulate, and to have cv control over that
amount!
So what can you do with this? A LOT! Let's go to another simple example: some
VCA'd LFO modulation of filter cutoff. When you patch an sine wave LFO into a filter
module's cutoff cv input, it makes the cutoff go up and down by an amount set up by the
cutoff's cv amount knob. But when we patch the LFOS first into a VCA input, then patch
the VCA output into the cutoff cv input, we no have voltage control over how much o
that LFO goes into that cutoff cv input, essentially allowing any cv we want to turn that
cv amount knob automatically. So... Let's choose an envelope to cv the VCA gain
(amount of LFO passing through the VCA to control the filter cutoff.) turn the VCA gain
knob down, and turn the VCA cv knob up to the amount of LFO that we want the
envelope to let through. This is the result we get:

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 As you can see, the LFO has no effect on the filter cutoff until the envelope is
gated. Once the envelop starts rising, the envelope' voltage is applied to the VCA's gain
circuit, letting more of the LFO through as the envelope goes higher, less of the LFOS
through when the envelope decays, and then fading down to 0 passing through
(unmodulated cutoff) when the gate controlling the envelope is released. If this envelope
is also multed to cv a VCA which is controlling the audio output to the speakers like in
our last example, when a key is pressed and the envelope is gated, the amount of LFO
filter modulation will fade in an become stronger as the audio fades in and becomes
louder, decay as the volume decays, sustain at a constant level of filter modulation
when the volume sustains, then fade out along with the volume when the gate goes low
and the envelope releases.
Another thing you could do with this patch is turn up the VCA's gain knob a little
to mix it's constant voltage in with the gain circuit's voltage controlled by the envelope's
cv. so use the exact same patch we had, but turn the gain knob up a little bit on the VCA
as well. This will make it so that there is constant LFO passing into the filter cv input
when the gate is low, and when the gate goes high and the envelope runs, the
envelope's voltage adds to the amount of LFO passing through to the filter cutoff. This is
the result:

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 As you can see, there is a constant gain when no envelope is running, then when
a get goes high triggering a envelope, the running envelope adds to the constant level
of LFO the VCA was already passing through via the gain knob.
Here is an example when another and wave LFO (Let's call it LFO2) is applied to
the VCA cv instead of the envelope:

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This illustration only represents effect of the AMOUNT of LFO1 modulating the filter (the
frequency remains unchanged from the original LFO at the VCA input) but notice that
when the LFO at the VCA cv input (LFO2) goes higher, LFO1 effects the filter cutoff
more strongly. This is because when the LFOS is higher and it i CVin the VCA, the
VCA's gain circuit is receiving more voltage from LFO2, letting more of LFO1 pass
through it into the filter cutoff CV input.
MASTER THIS STUFF!!! It is one of the most powerful parts of modular
synthesis and vastly expands your modulation capabilities. You can seriously never
have too may VCAs - it essentially gives you cv amount control to ANY parameter -
even a cv amount knob!

VCAs as voltage controlled Mixers

Many multi-channel VCAs (modules that feature multiple VCA circuits or

"channels" in one module) have a "sum" output, which is essentially a mixer that sums
the output of each VCAS together into an equally mixed (all VCAs added together in
unity, no level control) sum output. This allows your to take multiple signals, and mix

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them together into a destination, each with independent cv control over how much each
signal reaches the destination. This essentially essentially makes the sum jack an
output that uses let's the VCA a mixer as described in the CV section, but instead of
having only having manually adjustable level controls (which the gain knobs will act as
in this situation, as they provide a set level of the VCA input running into the output, just
like the level controls on a mixer) you have voltage control over the levels using the cv
inputs on each VCA.
for example, you can use 3 different audio signals (let's say 3 different waveform
outputs of a single oscillator - saw, sine, and square) and you run them into each
channel of a 3 channel VCA module with a sum output. Now patch 3 different LFOs
(lfo1= sine, 2=square, 3=saw) running at different rates into the cv inputs of these
channels. Observe the result:

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Now what you get is all 3 Oscillator outputs running into their destination (usually a filter,
then into a VCA, then out into speakers) at levels controlled by these 3 LFOs. So the
LFO1 makes osc 1 louder and quieter back and forth in a sine shape, LFO2 makes osc
2 full/off in a square shape, and saw LFO3 makes osc 3 rise from 0 linearly to full then
drop back to 0 in a saw shape. And this is all at different rates out of sync, so the levels
and combination of each oscillator waveform output will be constantly moving around
eachother, layered at different levels at different points, creating a very alive and full
sound with 3 layers to it, all moving in different directions at different rates. And this is
just with 3 waveforms of the same oscillator playing the same pitch, and modulated only
by LFOs. We could have 3 completely different audio sources patched into this VCA's
inputs (a full synth sound, a full drumbeat, and a bass drone for instance) and have 3
totally different voltages controlling their levels (LFO, Envelope, and envelope follower
for instance) giving us some pretty damn crazy mixing capabilities, all by utilizing a
single 3-channel VCA module. And lee in mind you can also do this with CV signals.
Running 3 different CVs into one cv input, all having the amount that they pass through
to affect that cv input controlled by other CVs... This stuff gets crazy quick. Already we
are beyond what most hardware and software synthesizers can do, and we are just
scraping the surface on basic use of VCAs.
Again... Take your time with this stuff. Try it, experiment with it until you
understand it!! It is a vital tool and you won't be taking advantage of having a modular
synthesizers until you completely understand using VCAs. This is probably the most
important chapter of this whole document, as these techniques give you arguably more
control over your sound design than any other module. VCAs are essentially the "Mod
AMOUNT control of the modulation matrix of the cv world" with the ability to also
give that "amount" a mod source.

Study Points & Terminology covered in this chapter

• What a VCA really does
• Using VCAs with audio
• Using cv on VCAs to control amount of signal passing from the VCA input to the
VCA output
• Using VCAs to cv modulate the cv amount of another modulation (processing
cv through a VCA)

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• Mixing the voltage from a VCA's cv input and gain knob to blend external and
constant voltages controlling amount of signal passing through the VCA
• Using a multi-channel VCA as a voltage controlled audio/cv mixer

Chapter 3: Audio Signals in a

Modular Synthesizer

What is an audio signal, actually?

In this chapter, I am going to start addressing audio signals and how the work in
a modular system, a lot of which you may not have experienced or considered coming
from a hardwired synth background. First, we have to address what an audio signal
actually is. An audio signal is actually identical to CV in the sense that it is exactly the
same type of signal - a Voltage! When an audio cable sends a sound out to a set of
speakers, what it is really doing is sending a voltage down a copper wire, to be
amplified and converted into audible sound which is played through he speakers. The
the difference between an Oscillator and an LFO is that an oscillator generates a
voltage in the shape of a specific waveform with a speed of above 20hz (20 cycles per
second, the lowest threshold of perceivable audio to the human ear.) ad LFO is a sub
20hz oscillator that can't be heard, but rather is used to create voltage in the shape of a

!21
waveform that is used to modulate (virtually turn to knob on) any other parameter. The
reason we use different waveform outputs from oscillators is to produce different audible
timbres with different harmonic content. The reason we use different waveform outputs
from LFOs is to create a voltage which rises and falls in the actual shape of that
waveform (sine rises and falls constantly, saw rises to a point then drops immediately to
0V, etc.) to apply a moving voltage (aptly called a cv, as it is used to CONTROL
something, not to hear on its own) to a circuit in order to control the level of that
parameter in that shape. A 1hz waveform goes through 1 full cycle per second (for
instance, it will take 1 second for a 1hz sine wave to move from 0v to +5v down through
0v to -5v, then back up to 0v to complete its full sine wave cycle.) a 5hz LFO will
produce 5 cycles in one second, and so on. Since an LFO and an oscillator are both
outputting voltages in the shape of waveforms, they are both the SAME THING, just
designed to excel at different uses, and dedicated modules usually feature additional
parameters useful for timbre manipulation/shape manipulation etc, depending on
whether it is a module meant to be listened to, or a module meant to have highly
programmable control over other modules' parameter's (oscillator vs LFO.)
What this means is that an oscillator can be used as a cv as well as output into a
filter/speakers etc as a sound source. The only differences is that rather than slowly
modulating a parameter moving it up and down repeatedly like a LFO, an audio source
patched into a cv input will turn a knob up and down so fast that the change is not
audible as modulation, but completely changes the timbre of the circuit it is modulating.
This is known as FM (frequency modulation - modulation at AUDIO rate rather than
subsonic CV rate) and is incredibly useful for a lot of deep timbre shaping.
An LFO and an oscillator module's frequencies can generally run up/down into
each others sub 20hz/20hz+ frequency rates. Imagine a 2hz sine wave LFO cv output
into an oscillator's pitch cv input (cv modulation input - not 1v/oct input.) the LFO will
make the pitch of the oscillator rise and fall twice or second, resulting in a kind of police
siren sound. Now take the frequency knob of the LFO and turn that up slowly. As you
turn it higher, the pitch will move up and down faster and faster until about 20hz (out of
subsonic cv rate into audio rate,) when it will begin to move up and down so fast that the
rises and falls are no longer perceived as such, but more as a buzzy sound, imparting
harmonic content and distortion bands as the frequency keeps increasing. This is the
result of FMing something, and it is what you get if you plug an audio oscillator's output
directly into a parameter's cv input. I use the example of an LFO sweeping into audio
range because it is important to understand exactly what a voltage moving at audio rate
is doing to the signal it is modulating, and performing this frequency sweep starting from
an LFO and rising to audio rates let's you actually hear it. It is also important to know

!22
that these two are both the same exact signals, just running at different frequencies for
different purposes.

FM in a Modular System

FM = Frequency Modulation, which means modulation turning a parameter up

and down many hundreds/thousands of times per second to warp the sound into a new
timbre. The most basic form of FM is plugging an oscillator's waveform output into
another oscillator's pitch CV input, and turning up the CV amount to modulate the pitch.
(FM technically means something else, but this is practical FM in modular synthesis,
and is generally how we refer to this technique.) Any parameter can be modulated at
audio rate, and though the effect may not be desirable or even audible, you should
experiment with using audio rates to modulates plenty of parameters just to see what
the effects are like, and what FM is capable of. Again, there are no rules in modular
synthesis, and that makes it fun!
Generally, pitch, VCA gain (Amplitude Modulation, or AM) and filter cutoff (Filter
FM) produce a fairly predictable timbre when you FM them (which you will learn with
practice, and which varies depending on both the qualities of the audio/waveform you
use as the CV, and the qualities of the signal you will be modulating.) For instance, a
square wave FMing a sine wave will sound different from a sine wave FMing a square
wave which will sound different from a saw wave FMing a lowpass filter at low
resonance which was sound different from a square wave FMing a band pass filter at
high resonance.. Etc.
FM between oscillators depends on a few factors: the waveform/frequency of the
oscillator being used as the modulator, the waveform/frequency of the oscillator being
modulated (referred to as the "carrier") and the amount that the carrier is being
modulated by the modulator oscillator.
Filter FM produces a similar type of effect to pitch FM, which relies on the
waveform/frequency of the modulator oscillator, the filter type, and the resonance
setting of the filter. Higher resonance sounds tend to produce more harmonic content in
interesting peaks when FM'd, while low resonance filter fm ca be used to do more subtle

!23
buzz, dirt, and grit (though a non resonant filter can still get extremely distorted when
FM'd at a strong amount.) if you modulate filter cutoff slowly by hand or with a cv signal
on a filter whose resonance is high and who is also being FM'd by an oscillator, you will
get some very interesting activity in the harmonics and resonant peak bands, resulting
in some weird scary monster throat sounds.
AM is again similar but has one unique qualities (again, better to hear it an
experiment with it than try to describe it or imagine it on paper.) It relies on the
waveform/frequency of the modulator oscillator, and the quality of the sound at the VCA
input. What AM is doing is turning the amount that a signal passes through a VCA to the
VCA output up and down hundreds/thousands of times, again audibly warping the signal
just like any type of audio-rate modulation.
Note: This is why some cv input jacks are labeled FM input. A cv input Jack and
FM input Jack are essentially the same thing, though sometimes you might have a
linear/exponential fm input Jack with special calibration for different calibrations of how
much the modulator effects the carrier when the cv/fm amount knob is turned up.

Harmonic & Inharmonic FM: The Relationship Between

Modulator & Carrier Frequency

One thing that remains constant through every type of audio rate modulation type
is the pitch & type of the modulator oscillator (again to specify, this is referring to the
oscillator that you are patching out into something else's cv input to modulate that
parameter at audio rate.) this is because the amount of hz (times the parameter is
turned up/down per second) and waveform (the "shape" that it is turned up vs down, for
instance equal rise/fall on a triangle wave, turn all the way up linearly with a saw wave
then drop immediately to 0, etc) have a huge effect on the resulting sound. The
relationship between the modulator frequency and the cutoff frequency actually have
the biggest effect on the resulting sounds, as even intervals/ratios of the modulate's
pitch and the carrier's pitch will produce more tonal, harmonic sounds, while totally odd,
unrelated intervals between the two will produce more atonal "sounds" and "effects"
such as clangs, bells, buzzes, etc. both have their uses, and both are valuable.

!24
 If you want an easy way to make your FM sound tonal, here is a quick and easy
process: take 2 oscillator, and tune them against each other to a musical interval (for
clearest results, tune them to the same frequency, or the same note on different
octaves.) now patch one oscillator's output into the other's input, and Mult the same 1v/
oct cv signal (a keyboard cv output, sequencer, anything that will be tell an oscillator
what notes to play) to both oscillators' inputs. As the 1v/oct source plays notes into
these oscillator's, the will constantly play the same notes, which makes it so that the
modulator will bring out the carrier's own harmonic overtones (as they share the same
fundamental tone, even a different intervals) and will produce a coherent, musically
tonal sound (it will produce actual notes.)
If you FM an osc without tracking the 1v/oct on not oscillators from the same
source, notes played into FM osc's may result as something completely different from
notes, with no discernible interval relations between notes, and different timbres per
note played. Also very useable, suited well for percussion, metallic sounds, fx, etc. To
achieve these sounds, plug a 1v/oct cv into only the carrier oscillator, and run notes into
it. As different notes are played, one the modulator stays at the same frequency while
the carrier moves up/down. This means that the ratio relationships between the
frequencies of the 2 oscillator's changes per step, and will produce entirely different fm
tones at ever different frequency played.

Using FM through a VCA

FM can be run through a VCA just like any other signal. Connect the modulator
signal to a VCA input, connect the VCA output to the carrier's cv input, and use on the
VCA to control how much of the modulate signal passes through the VCA to FM the
carrier. This lets you have cv control over the amount of FM imparted to a patch, in
exactly the same way as you would control something like volume or filter cutoff. Fo
instance, to create a buzzy destroyed transient, you could patch a very steep fast
envelope with 0 sustain into VCA cv, and this will create a very intense amount of fm
buzz/distortion of a split second whenever the envelope is gated, adding some initial
strike to your sound. Or you could use along envelope to have the fm slowly fade in
whenever the envelope is gated, then slowly fade out when the envelope is released. Or

!25
mix long envelope's cv output and a LFO cv output in a mixer module, and use the
combined output to create a constantly pulsating amount of fm that also rises and falls
in the envelope shape whenever the envelope is gated... The possibilities are endless,
and this is another great example of making use of a VCA in a way not normally
considered in a hardwired synth.

Study Points & Terminology covered in this chapter

• What a an audio signal really is (an audible voltage, the same as cv but at a
much higher frequency to be used as an audio output or to FM something,
rather than a control voltage which uses its rising and falling shape to control
something, turning it up and down)
• How to use an audio signal as to FM another voltage (parameter level)
• What AM and filter FM are referring to
• That some LFOs can run into audio range, and vice versa, allowing you to
sweep back & forth between slow cv modulation to audio rate FM.
• Using FM through a VCA to have cv control over FM amount, useful for
producing progressive timbre changes/transients

Chapter 4: Common Modules

and their Functions

!26
 Now that we have discussed the fundamentals of connections and controls used
in modular synthesis, I'm going to take a bit of a look at some common module types
that you will encounter in module systems, their basic functions, common cv inputs, and
how they differ from their hardwired synth counterparts.

Sequencers in a Modular System

Though we have used a lot of examples of a cv keyboard to describe most of the

initial 1v/oct and gate functions, this was mainly to give you a tangible visual example to
easily understand those basic functions. In reality, though it's perfectly possible to play a
modular synthesizer with nothing but a cv keyboard, this is not extremely common, as it
limits your musical output to wha you ca physically play with your fingers. Modular
synthesizers go far beyond this, and are just as much melody/rhythm generators as the
are sound generators. The most common way to perform melodies with your
synthesizer is with modules called sequencers, and it is much more exciting, as voltage
does a much better job controlling sequencer parameter's than it does controlling your
fingers' parameters.
A standard sequencer module features a way to set a tempo (either via a tempo
knob, or via sync to external tempos, as addressed in the upcoming Clock Generators
section of this chapter,) a series of programmable step controls (generally a knob for
each step, usually 4, 8, or 16 steps) which determine the voltage that the sequencer
outputs, depending on which step is currently active, and a reset input (which resets the
sequencer to first step whenever it receives a trigger/pulse)
A sequencer is programmed by its step controls. When you turn one of its step
knobs, you are setting the voltage that the sequencer will output when this step is
selected as the active step. The sequencer progresses through the steps on every beat
of the selected tempo (or every time it receives a trigger/pulse at the sync input.) so
let's say you have a 4 step sequencer running at 120BPM with its division set to quarter
16th notes, and the steps turned to up to output 1V on step 1, 2V on step 2, 3V on step

!27
3, and 4V on step 4. You want this sequencer to control the notes played by an
oscillator, so the first thing you want to do is tune the oscillator to its base pitch without
any external voltage applied (Let's say we turn the pitch knob until the oscillator is
playing a C1 note), then patch the sequencer's output into the 1v/oct input of an
oscillator. Whichever step in currently active will now apply its voltage to the existing
voltage on the oscillator's pitch circuit (the voltage that setting the pitch to C1.) so what
we end up with when the sequencer is running is a looping progression of C2, C3, C4,
C5 (since we are patched into the oscillator's 1v/oct input, each 1V that is added to its
internal voltage will result in the oscillator adding one octave to its pitch.)
As this is great in theory, how do we turn the sequencer's steps so that they output
the exact voltages required to make the oscillator play the musical notes in a scale?
Well, this is not humanly possible as voltages are analog and smooth with no stepping
in between values, so we use a circuit/module called a quantizer. A quantizer is a
circuit that has the exact voltages required to make a 1v/oct-calibrated oscillator play
musica note intervals memorized, and will take any voltage that you patch to its input,
and output the exact voltage for the closest note to the voltage patched to its input. So
say (these numbers are arbitrary, but it is the concept that matters) you sequencer is
playing a 1.447V signal which does not fall on an exact note value of a 1v/oct callibrated
oscillator. You patch the sequencer output to a quantizer module's input instead of
straight into the oscillator. The quantizer knows that a 1v/oct calibration recognizes
1.36V as A1 and 1.5V as A#1. Since the 1.447V is closest to the 1.5V A#, the quantizer
outputs a 1.5V cv which you then patch into the oscillator's 1v/oct input, and the
oscillator will now play an exact A# (assuming you have tunes its own Pitch knob) rather
than the exact voltage of 1.447V from the sequencer, which falls in between notes.
A quantizer has many other functions for processing CV, and those will be
addressed in a dedicated Quantizers section of the Voltage Processors chapter.
Some sequencers have quantized output jacks built into the module, which will
always output note quantized voltages, eliminating the need for a dedicated quantizer
module.
Unquantized sequencer outputs are also useful, as sequencers aren't just for
sequencing notes: as a sequencer just outputs cv, you can use it as a rhythmic mod

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mod source for any parameter with a cv input (such as filter cutoff.) this is useful for
changing a parameter on any module for each beat of the selected BPM (if you want the
filter to open and close by the amount set by the step knobs every 1/4 note of a
130BPM tempo, for instance.) an easy way to think of a sequencer is this: when they
are patched into a parameter whose own knob is turned all the way down applying 0V to
the circuit, and you turn the cv input amount on that cv input all the way up, the
sequencer step knobs will apply voltage to that parameter that will have the same effect
as if the parameter's own knob was changed to the position of the currently active step
knob. Unquantized cv can be desirable for this, since you may want that parameter to
be set to levels produced by voltages in between the voltages that produce musical
notes in an oscillator (this wouldn't be possible wit a quantized output, as it only outputs
the voltages recognized as notes by a 1v/oct calibrated cv input, and nothing in between
these values.)
Another example of a sequencer being used in a way not necessarily obvious way
would be to sequence a VCA's level (that is being used to pass audio out to the
speakers) in order to sequence the volume output per step. Turn the VCA gain knob
down to 0, the VCA cv amount up to full, then use the sequencer step knobs to program
how loud the volume will be per step. Steps set to 0 will apply 0v to the VCA gain circuit,
outputting no sounds, allowing you to program rests into you sequence!
Some other common jacks on a sequencer that we haven't yet addressed are a
Trig/Gate Out, a transpose input, a reset input, and per-step trigger outputs.
Trig/Gate output: This Jack outputs a trigger (or a held gate, if the sequencer has
adjustable gate length per step) that can be used to trigger functions (commonly
envelopes controlling volume VCA/filter cutoff) per step. This lets you fire your
envelopes on every new note of the sequence, just like if you were playing staccato on
a monophonic keyboard.
Transpose input: This Jack is used to apply an external cv to the sequencer that
will add a voltage to the voltages set by the sequencer steps. For instance, you have a
sequence of 1V, 1.2V, 1.4V, 1.8V playing. You patch a 2V cv signal into the sequencer's
transpose Jack. The sequencer will no output the step voltages +2V: 3V, 3.4V, 3.4V, and
3.8V. This can be very useful for creating melodies with different notes on every

!29
sequence loop, by plugging a moving cv into the transpose jack (a slow saw wave LFO
for instance) an using the quantized output. The notes will start off playing at their
original levels, and as the Saw LFO rises, the notes will rise along with it, then drop
back to their original notes and begin to rise again when the saw LFO ends and begins
its next cycle.
Reset Input: A reset input will immediately reset the sequencer to the first step
whenever it receives a trigger. When the sequencer runs, it generally runs from step 1
to the last step, then loops back to step one from there. This can be useful for syncing
the sequence to the to the playing of an entire voice by resetting via a gate that is also
being used to trigger the voices filter/output envelopes (so every time the voice is
played, the sequencer begins playing from the first step, rather than playing for the
current step it was on when the voice was gated) and by using modules that produce
rhythmic triggers to create some rhythmic sequence length variation. As with any
module, it goes as far as your imagination goes, and can be utilized for anything you
can think to do with it.
Individual step triggers/gates: Som sequencers (like the Makenoie Pressure
Points) have jacks on each step that output a trigger/gate (some kind of high/low
voltage output, trigger is instantaneous, gate will output a high voltage the entire time
the step is active, so it will output longer gates at slow tempos, shorter gates at fast
tempos.) One use for these would patching a selection of individual step gates out to a
mixer, and outputting that mixer to a separate envelope that than main envelope to add
some variation to the transients of some steps. This is one way of creating envelope
varied accents, where the filter decay might be a little longer on accented steps (great
for 303 type stuff) because the filter is being controlled by a separate envelope for the
accented steps. Another common use is to patch a step's individual gate/trig output into
its own reset input, so this step forces the sequencer to reset to step 1 on the next step.
This gives you the ability to change to step length of your sequence on the fly by taking
a cable and patching it into the reset input, then taking the other end of it and patching it
back and forth between different step trig/gate outputs. You can even have voltage
controlled last-step switching using a "switch" module, as will discussed in its own
section of this chapter.

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 Sequencers are incredibly useful in the modular world, and give you much more
control and variation than most any software or non-modular hardware sequencer.
Control voltage and relationships with other rhythmic modules makes them capable of
MUCH more than standard 8-step looping melodies. Get your hands dirty, experiment,
have fun!

Clock Generators & Clock Multipliers/Dividers

Clocks are modules whose sole purpose is to generate a useable signal to sync
many modules in your system together, so that you can relate rhythmically musical
patches between multiple modules, with multiple voices.
What a clock output does is sends out a series of evenly spaced triggers (pulses)
at the tempo set by a tempo control or synced to another external clock (or MIDI clock, if
your module features a MIDI clock to CV converter) to patch into other modules' sync
inputs, or to trigger modules like envelopes or drum modules on every beat of the set
tempo.
What sets a clock module apart from a sequencer's tempo module is that a clock
module is focused purely on tempo operations, and generally gives you much more
control over tempo operation + more tempo based features that allow for programming
much more rhythmic variation than a simple clock built into a sequencer.
First and foremost, nearly every clock generator module with incorporate a
multiplier/divider feature. While simple this is an extremely valuable tool for constructing
sounds which have rhythmic relationships with an entire song, or on a greater scale,
patches in which many voices share rhythmic relationships with each other (and if
synced to an external MIDI clock, with an entire DAW project or other master clock.)
A clock divider essentially provides many outputs at different multiples/divisions of
the set tempo. Depending on the module, this is done either by providing many output
jacks for different divisions (i.e. A jack for 1/16, a jack for 1/4Triplets, a jack for x2, etc)
or by giving you multiple outputs that you can program behavior for on a digital menu
interface (like the popular Pamela's Workout module by ALM for example.)

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 This is how it works: Let's say a clock's master tempo is running at 120BPM
whether by sync or by internal settings is irrelevant. You want to sync a 16 step
sequencer to play a 16th note melody at 120BPM. You take the x16 output from the
clock module, and patch it into the sequencer's clock/sync input. The sequencer will
now step at 120BPM 16th notes whenever the clock is running. Let's say now that you
like this tempo of the sequencer note progression, but you don't like that you have the
filter envelope being triggered by the sequencer's Trig output, since it is being triggered
every step and the staccato repetition of the quick per-step envelope is not the sound
you are after. You are looking for a resonant filter sweep that starts off at the first note of
the sequence, and sweeps downward throughout the full 16 steps, then starts sweeping
again from the top when the sequencer loops back around to step 1. You would then
use the x1 clock output jack to trigger the filter envelope. As the sequencer is running
16x faster than 1x, the filter envelope will be triggered once every 16 steps of your
sequence.
clocks also usually feature a "reset output" that you can use to Mult into the reset
inputs of any modules synced ("clocked") to it. What this does is outputs a trigger every
time a the clock is started/stopped (either via external sync or via a "start/stop" function
on he cock module, such as a button.) This means is that any module like a sequencer
with a reset input will always bounce back to step 1 when the maser clock is started or
stopped, so every time you run the sequencer, all modules that it's reset output is
patched into will always start together from step 1.

PW/Gate length:

CV Input: Some clocks give you voltage control over parameters (most commonly
tempo!) This lets you patch a CV into the clock to modulate the tempo. A triangle wave
LFO for instance will make the tempo rise and fall evenly and repetitively. And in turn, all
modules synced to the clock will speed up & slow down accordingly, and at their
patched divisions! You can get some pretty cool effects using nonlinear and tempo-
triggered CV to modulate clocks which many modules are synced to at different
divisions.

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 Voltage Processors: Attenuators, Atennuverters, Offsets,
Rectifiers, etc.

Voltage processors are just what the name implies: modules that take a voltage
and make "modifications" to them. I use the word modifications rather than modulations
because they generally have no motion in the edits they make - their functions usually
effect the characteristics of an existing voltage by adding to/subtracting from its existing
voltage, changing the polarity (positive/negative value) of the voltage, and scaling the
voltage evenly upward or downwards. This chapter will provide a rundown of some
common voltage processors and how they can be useful in your patches.

Attenuators: An attenuators is one of the most common and useful circuits in a

modular system. It is actually the same exact thing as a CV amount knob, or the level
knob on a mixer to control each inputs level. To "attenuate" means to "turn down." What
a CV amount knob does is lets just a certain amount of the voltage at a CV input
through to effect the parameter it is patched into. If you run an envelope that rises 5V
into a filter with the filter CV amount knobs turned all the way up, the filter cutoff
frequency will rise 5V from its own voltage provided by its cutoff knob at its highest
point, in the peak of the envelope rise. If the CV amount knob is only 20% up however
(assuming we are in a perfect world and the knob position reflects an exact reflection of
its voltage processing) then the envelope will only make the filter cutoff frequency rise
1V from its original setting. Keep in mind, it reduces the entire voltage by a 5:1 ratio, it
doesn't just limit the highest point, it scales the entire voltage down by 1/5th (including
the lower points in the envelope voltage - any point in the rise where it would have been
providing 1V modulation, it will only be providing .2V modulation if scaled down to 20%.)
An attenuator works the exact way. It gives you the ability to scale voltages before
going into CV inputs where CV amount knobs are not provided on the module (yes,
these exist sometimes.) Here is a basic LFO being attenuated 50%:

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 Attenuverters: An attenuverter is a bigger, much more useful brother to the
Attenuator. An attenuverter is actually just a bipolar attenuator. What this means is that
an attenuverter's 0% scaling happens when it's scaling turned completely to the "noon"
position. When turned all the way clockwise, it outputs 100% of the voltage. When it is
turned all the way counterclockwise, it outputs -100% of the of the voltage. A negative
voltage will subtract the existing voltage from a circuit (essentially the same as turning
its existing level set by its own value knob down.) Remember the inverse envelopes on
the Roland polysynths? A negative-moving envelope will turn a filter down on its rise, up
on its decay, sustain at a certain point below the parameter's original level, then drift
back to the original level when released. A very useful effect! Here is a graph
representing an attenuverter's effect on the same LFO in the attenuator example at
different positive/negative levels:

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 As voltage processors can work on any type of voltage, they will also effect audio.
Try Multing your audio to a delay, adding a TINY ms delay time, and sticking the output
into an attenuverter to produce an inverted phase version of the signal they plays a tiny
bit after the original. Now modulate that delay time! You can do some cool things when
experimenting with mixing a modulated inverted signal back with the original. Ever
wonder how phasers were discovered?
Offsets: an offset, rather than scaling a voltage up or down, adds/subtracts an
absolute value from an existing value. Offsets can also be bipolar (+0V in the middle, +/-
V clockwise/counter clockwise.) this is how it works: let's say you have a saw wave LFO
with a 2V amplitude, rising from 0V to +2V. This would normally make a 3V value rise
continually from 3V to 5V over and over when it is patched in to modulate it. If you stick
the saw wave into an offset's input, add +2V to the offset, it will now be a +2V to +4V
modulation, making the 3V value rise from 5V to 7V over and over. If you offset that saw
wave LFO by -1V, it would result in a saw wave that starts at -1V, rising up through 0V,
continuing to rise to +1V. Here is how these examples would look:

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 As you can see, you can use an offset to make an entirely positive or negative
voltage into a bipolar thru-zero voltage. It can also be used to make a bipolar voltage
entirely positive or negative. Consider a sine wave running from -5V to +5V. Adding a
+5V offset to this voltage would result in a 0V-10V voltage, in effect modulating a
parameter in a sine wave shape (up and down) but the lowest point will be +0V (the
parameter's setting prior to modulation) and the highest point will be +10V rather than
turning the parameter down 5V at the low point and turning it up 5V at the high point.
Observe:

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 Rectifiers: A rectifier is a processor that makes any voltage unipolar. It usually
provides an output for only positive values and only negative values. It doesn't separate
these values from the current signal: it actually transforms all voltage levels into
positive/negative values. This is how it works:
Assume you have a -3V to +3V triangle wave LFO. You stick it into a rectifier input,
then take the rectifier's positive output. This positive rectified output will start at +3V, fall
to 0V, then begin rising again to +3V. This is because what it is doing is taking any
voltage's distance from 0V, and outputting that voltage as a positive voltage no matter
what. It only cares about its distance from 0. Observe this example:

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 A more complex example to show some more interesting use of a rectifier would
be to take a triangle wave moving from -7V to +3V. You can take either output (it will do
the same thing, just resulting in all positive values or all negative values) but we will use
a negative one for this example. The negative output would start at -7V, rise up to 0,
then bounce off 0, falling back down to -3 (rather than passing through 0 to 1, 2, 3, as it
is moving through these values but on the negative side instead) then rise back up to 0
(as the positive values fall back down from +3 through 0 on the way back to -7) and
bounce off 0 falling back to -7. Sounds complicated but it's not that bad. Here is how it
looks:

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 Using a rectifier in this manner with an un-even distance from 0 at its highest
positive point and its lowest negative point, it is possible to create completely different
LFOs that the ones your LFO module is capable of producing.
Rectifier's are also useful if you have set a parameter (such as filter cutoff) to an
exact point that you don't want it to go any higher than (or lower than, not both)
regardless of how much it's being modulated. You set the high/low point manually with
the filter cutoff knob, then let's say you want its modulation to be crazy but only
subtracting from the cutoff frequency - you would stick all your modulation CV through a
rectifier, take the rectifier's negative output, and now only negative voltages will be used
to modulate the cutoff frequency, effectively only subtracting from its own voltage -
never adding.

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 Keep in mind that all these modules can process any voltage, including audio
signals. There can be some useful effects to be explored when processing audio
waveforms with modules such as Attenuverters and rectifier's, especially when used
prior to modulating and mixing in with the original signal, or prior to FMing the original
signal/filter. Have fun with this stuff! Explore the possibilities. Modular is all about
thinking outside the box.

Modular Envelopes

Envelopes! The most common and arguably the most useful function generator.
These are the main tools you use to shape your sound's volume, timbre, modulation
amounts, and pretty much the way that anything moves from start to finish. Envelopes
can be triggered either by gates (for sustained envelopes, that will sustain as long as
the gate is high providing a 5V voltage at the envelope's gate input) or pinged by a
trigger/pulse, generally making them run from attack to release in a way determined by
the envelope's settings.
The main thing to consider about a modular envelope is its featured modes. The
three most common modes on an envelope are ASR, ADSR, and AD (usually with a
cycling option) modes. Some envelopes will have fixed modes, many will have
switchable modes. This is something to consider when picking which envelopes you
want to use in your modular system. So first off, I will give you a rundown on each of
these:
ASR Envelopes: An ASR envelope is an envelope that, when gated, will rise from
a 0V output to a full voltage output (usually +5V or +10V, ready to be attenuated by the
destination parameter's CV amount knob, though some envelope modules have
adjustable output strength knobs) at a speed set by the attack parameter (sometimes
also called Rise,) and stay outputting the full voltage until the gate goes low, when the
voltage will drop back to a 0V output at a speed set by the release parameter
(sometimes also called Fall.) If the gate at its input goes low before it has reach its
sustain point, it will fall to 0 at the release rate from whatever voltage it is outputting

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when the gate goes low. This means that if your attack/rise parameter is set to take
about 10 seconds to rise to its full 5V and you release the gate after 6 seconds, the
rising envelope will fall from 3V (6 seconds in, if it's taking 10 seconds to make a linear
rise to 0V to 5V) back down to 0V, rather than continuing its rise all the way to the full
5V.
ADSR Envelopes: An ADSR envelope is one that you should be familiar with from
your hardwired synths. When a gate at its gate input is low, it outputs 0V. When the gate
at its input goes high, it will rise to full voltage output (rate set by attack/rise knob,) then
drop (at a rate set by the decay knob) to a voltage output lower than the full voltage
output (level set by the sustain knob) then stays outputting that voltage forever until the
gate at its input goes low, when it will then fall back to 0V output (at a rate set by the
release knob.) Like an ASR envelope, if the gate at its input goes low before it has
reach its sustain point, it will fall to 0 at the release rate from whatever voltage it is
outputting when the gate goes low.
AD Envelopes: An AD Envelope is essentially an envelope that will always act as
if it was triggered by a trigger/pulse, regardless of whether it receives a trigger or a
sustained gate at its gate input. Every time the voltage at its gate input goes high
(regardless of how long/short it is high) it will rise all the way to the full voltage output
regardless of whether the gate goes low (unlike ASR/ADSR envelopes) and then
immediately begin its fall back to 0V (at a rate set by the decay/fall knob) regardless of
whether the gate is held high. There is no sustain on AD envelopes; they will always
begin their fall immediately once they finish their rise stage.
Cycle/LFO Mode: Most AD envelopes have an option called Cycle mode
(sometimes called LFO mode) which usually is turned on/off by a button or switch.
When an AD envelope is cycling, this means that as soon as they finish their fall stage
ending back at the 0V starting point, they will immediate begin their rise stage again.
Followed by their fall stage. Followed by their rise stage. And so on..
This makes it possible to effectively turn an AD envelope into an LFO, or even an
oscillator with short enough rise/fall times (fast enough to run at over 20 rise/fall cycles
per second. Over 20hz = audio range, and a 1hz = 1 waveform cycle per second!) The
waveform shape will be determined by the relationships of the rise/fall times. Equal

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times will result in a triangle waveform, rise with no fall will result in a saw wave, fall with
no rise will result in a reverse saw wave. Observe:

An important thing to note (that will lead to understanding some more complex
uses of an envelope generator) is what is actually going on in the circuitry of the
envelope: When a gate is entered into the envelope, what the envelope is actually
outputting is that same gate signal with slew added to its rising and falling edge. A gate
wants to rise instantaneously to 5V when high, then drop instantaneously to 0V when
low. The envelope's rise adds a kind of resistance (called "slew") to the instantaneous
rise and fall of the gate voltage: instead of rising immediately to 5V with no resistance,
the rise time makes that voltage need to push through the resistance, making it take
longer to reach its high point to higher the rise setting, rather than going straight there.
The same is true for the fall time, and the release of voltage from the high to low point. It

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wants to travel immediately back to 0V, but the fall time adds resistance (slew) to the
release of voltage, making it take longer to fall to 0 the greater the fall setting.
The reason it is important to think of this is because certain envelopes & rise/fall
generators (such as the Makenoise Maths) let you input any signal into its gate input,
and it will add slew to any rising vintage via the rise setting, and separate slew to any
falling voltage via the fall time. This lets you take 1v/oct CV and add portamento before
outputting it to your oscillator for instance, with a separately programmable portamento
time for rising notes and falling notes. Very useful!
Voltage Control over Envelopes: What fun would modular envelopes be if we didn't
have voltage control over the parameters? The most common and obvious CV inputs on
an envelope module are for voltage control over the rise & fall times. The higher a
voltage is input to the rise/fall inputs, the longer the rise/fall will be. The most common
uses for this are very mild LFO CV amount into the rise/fall times (adding a very mild
change in the rise/fall times per gate, as the LFO is constantly moving. This will result in
slightly different attack/decay speeds per note played, giving your sequence some life
even if it's barely noticeable,) to run envelope output into each other (or themselves!) to
create more logarithmic/exponential slopes (see the next paragraph for this,) to
modulate the fall time of a very fast cycling LFO's fall time, making it move from very
fast to a little slower, making the entire cycle take longer, effectively adding to the time
between LFO cycles (creating a "bouncing ball" type effect,) and modulating the rise/fall
times subtly with an LFO when the envelope is cycling at audio rates, effectively acting
as a waveshaper (imagine a cycling envelope with equal rise/fall times resulting in a
triangle wave oscillator. Now imagine modulating rise/fall times in opposite directions
with a +3v to -3v sine wave LFO (so rise gets positive voltage while fall gets negative
and vice versa,) modulating the rise/fall back and forth through zero in opposite
directions, effectively changing it from triangle, closer to reverse saw, back through
triangle, closer to saw wave, back and forth.) observe:

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 Linear/Exponential/Logarithmic Curves: Linear, Exponential and Logarithmic are
basic algebra terms used to describe the curve shape of a slope on a graph. As a Y=X
curve in algebra is the shape of a directly linear rise/fall slope (Y= rise, X= Run,) we can
also use more complicated equations to describe difference slope characteristics.

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Exponential curves describe slopes whose shape behaves like this:

Logarithmic curves describe slopes whose shape behaves like this:

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 There are plenty of resources on the math behind logarithmic/exponential slopes,
but as this document is based on using these functions for creative musicality, I'll let you
look that up on your own time if you're interested. This is the lowdown: an exponential
rise will start rising at a mild rate, and then about halfway through, will increase
exponentially to a very steep slope. Logarithmic rise is the opposite: the initial rise is
very steep, then slows throughout to a more gradual rise as it reaches the end of its
slope. Exponential rise/fall have the same shape as their rise counterparts, but to
opposite effect. An exponential fall will fall steeply and then even out by slowing down
toward the middle. Logarithmic fall will start falling slowly, then will turn into a steep
curve around the midway point. If this is confusing, seeing how the slopes look makes it
much easier to understand, so please refer to the images above. Exponential rise is
useful for modulations whose rise wants to be really steep, not smooth. Exponential fall
is useful for falls which lose a lot of their level initially, but take a long time to die out
completely (such as boomy kicks with decay tails.) logarithmic falls are useful for a tail
whose volume wants to stay ringing at a fairly consistent level, then drop off all at once
as it reaches the steep part of the logarithmic curve. This stuff is hard to describe
verbally. I encourage you to play with it. Imagine how a sound rises or decays, and
picture the curve of the increase/decrease in volume/brightness.. Which curve most
resembles that sound?
Some envelope modules have switches/knobs that let you select/control the
exponential/linear/logarithmic response of the curve. If your envelope does not have
these but does have voltage controllable rise/fall times, never fear! You can program
these yourself. By patching a linear envelope out into a VCA input, then Multing the
same envelope to CV the VCA, it will generate an exponential response. This is
because as the envelope is at the lower stages of its rise, less of its output is being let
through the VCA output. As the rise increases, the envelope also turns up the VCA,
letting more of the envelope through. To generate a logarithmic response, you would do
the same thing, but with the VCA gain turned all the way up, and using an inversed Mult
of the envelope to CV the VCA. This means the rise will start off full power, and as it
rises, the inverse envelope subtracts the amount that is being let through the envelope
at the same rate. This may seem complicated, but following these methods and

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practicing will get you comfortable with it over time. Observe a basic sketch of the
exponential curve being formed. It's confusing to look at, but it shows the result of an
envelope modulating its own level passing through the VCA as it rises and falls:

This video is a good demonstration of using 2 AD slopes on a Makenoise Maths to

modulate eachother, creating different complex and alternating curve responses http://
youtu.be/18ve3t1xJVU

Modular LFOs

Ahh, the LFO. So simple, but so easy to warp into a completely endless source
of fun once we start getting into CV, keytracking, transforming waveshapes, clock sync,
retrigger, and all the other goodies we get with modular.

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 LFOs, like I mentioned before, are just oscillator's that run between 0hz (hz=
cycles per second) and 20hz (anything under 20hz in inaudible) used to modulate other
modules' parameter's up & down in the shape of their waveforms. Usually, modular
LFOs will go a good amount beyond 20hz (sometimes even as far as 800hz!) to be able
to sweep back and forth between modulating something at LFO rate, getting faster and
faster until it passes through 20hz, when it will then begin FMing its destination rather
than shaping it via control-range CV. LFOs can also be used as oscillator's when run at
audio frequencies, but usually are not as suited for the audio jobs as dedicated
oscillators, as their circuitry is usually not as focused on tracking 1v/oct CV into notes.
Still, it's good to have the option, because more functions are always better than less!
So now with that brief description of LFO basics out of the way, let's get around to the
characteristics of modular LFOs in particular.
LFO CV Output Range: LFOs voltage output usually depends on the type of
waveform you will be outputting. Generally speaking, sine wave & triangle wave LFOs
outputs a bipolar voltage (back and forth between -xV and +xV) to provide the up and
down modulation effect, rather than just rising back and forth between 0V to xV. Square
wave and saw wave LFOs usually output a unipolar 0V to +xV output, turning a
parameter from unmodulated level up to a certain point, then back to unmodulated level
before rising up again. Usually you are given an inverted output for these unipolar
waveforms so that you can have them modulate a parameter from 0 to -xV instead of
+xV, if that is the effect you are looking to achieve.
I use the xV value, because different LFO modules output different levels of
voltage. The most common voltage outputs are -5V to +5V or -10V to +10V for sines
and triangles, and 0 to +5V or 0 to +10V for saw and square waves. X just = the voltage
strength of this output, and I use it so that I don't have to specify the max value in every
example.
LFO Outputs: Common LFO outputs include the main CV output (where the
LFO's voltage goes out, used for modulating other modules' parameters. LFO modules
with multiple waveforms may feature individual output jacks for each waveform's
output,) Inverse output (the inverse output for the LFO. Useful for either using unipolar
waveforms to modulate a parameter downwards with negative CV rather than adding.
Also useful for modulating a second parameter in the opposite direction of the
parameter being modulated by the main CV output, such as cutoff and resonance in
different directions) and sometimes, a EoR/EoC trig output (End of Rise/End of Cycle
output: sends a short trigger/pulse out to another module at the end of the rise segment
or at the end of the full cycle of each wave cycle. Useful for triggering other modules
such as envelopes in sync with the LFO waveform.)

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 LFO CV Inputs: common CV inputs jacks for parameters to be voltage controlled
on LFOs are Rate (the speed of the LFO in hz. Modulated this speeds/slows the LFO,)
Amplitude (modulating this parameter will modulate the output voltage of the LFO
making the LFO Output stronger or weaker in terms of voltage,) PW/Waveshape (some
LFOs feature transformable waveshapes. The most common of these is PWM, which is
common on analog LFOs. This will be addressed later in the chapter.)
LFO Gate Inputs: it is also common for LFOs to feature an array of trigger/gate
input jacks for various sync and triggering functions. Common functions include the
main Gate input (When a cable is patched in here, the LFO will begin running from its
start position whenever a gate signal at its input is high, and stop, dropping back to
outputting 0V when it goes low,) a Sync input (this is handled in one of two common
ways, either via reset trigger or clock signal - will be discussed in next paragraph.)
LFO Sync: Depending on whether your LFO is completely analog, it will sync in a
different manner. Digital LFOs usually feature an actual clock sync input, where you can
patch a clock signal in, then the LFO's digital frequenter generator will read that clock
and compute a tempo based on it to drive the LFO rate. The rate knob then usually acts
as a tempo divider/multiplier. In analog LFOs, since there is no frequency generating
computer inside of the module and the frequency is purely voltage controlled (VCO!) it
features a clock sync in the same way that oscillator sync is generated in an audio
oscillator: by resetting its waveform to the beginning of the cycle every time it receives a
trigger at its sync input (sometimes called reset input on most digital and some analog
LFOs) so if it as running at a speed of 3 cycles per second and the clock at its sync
input is running at 1 pulse every 1.5 seconds, the LFO will run 4.5 times in 1.5 and then
when it receives the clock pulse, will restart from the beginning of its cycle. Here is a
sketch of this example using a sine wave LFO:

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This is quite literally a reset and is its input called so in some LFO modules, but is also
called a sync input in some purely analog LFO modules (such as the bubblesound
uLFO.)
As with any manual, manufacturers have different ways of labeling things based
on the functions and behavior they have integrated on the module. Some modules
(such as the Modcan quad LFO) have only an input for Gate per LFO for trigger
functions, with the response style (sync, reset, gate, etc) selected by a push button.
ALWAYS refer to your module documentation. Take none of my function text as law.
Transforming Waveshapes: A popular feature on modular LFOs is the ability to
transform your waveshapes. This is done either by shifting through interpolated
wavetables in the digital wave bank (a technique utilized by digital LFOs such as the
Modcan quad LFO. On this type of LFO, each waveform is more like a wavetable of
many waveforms, with a control that lets you morph the waveshape through each each
of them with smooth interpolation, or even CV the morphing, resulting in constantly
morphing waveshapes,) or by modulating the behavior of the rise/falls of voltage on
analog LFOs (the most common being PWM, modulating the % of time spent high vs
time spent low. Another example is adding slew to rise/fall to create exponential/

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logarithmic slopes, the same as what we discussed in the envelope's section. A good
example of this type of analog LFO modulation is represented by the bubblesound
uLFO.)
Square/Pulse Wave LFOs as clocks/gates/triggers: Picture a square wave. No
rise or fall time (instant) and always outputting either 0V or max voltage ("high" or
"low") ... Remind you of anything? Any pulse LFO is essentially a cycling gate voltage,
with gate duration set by the pulse width. So a square (50% PW) wave = even time
spent high before dropping low before rising high again, etc. 50% pulsewidth = high
50% of the time, low the other 50%. A narrow pulse (let's say 10% wide) will provide
10% of its cycle spent high per 90% of its cycle spent low. A wide PW would to the
opposite. This makes it possible to use a narrow pulsewidth LFO as a trigger source,
with all the nifty features of a modular LFO (voltage control!) this means when Pulse
width Modulation is introduced, it lets us have voltage control over actual gate duration
(% of its cycle spent high/low) while its actual rate (the time on each cycle) stays
constant. This can be pretty useful! Observe a sine LFO running at 0.5hz modulating a
1hz pulse wave LFO:

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 As you can see, the pulsewidth per cycle is wider when the sine wave modulating it is
higher, and narrower when the sine modulating it is lower. This can be very useful when
it is being used to gate an envelope or even a VCA directly, so that the gate length per
step gets longer and shorter, while the actual rate of notes played stays the same.
Analog vs Digital LFOs: There are some differences between analog and digital
LFOs, with benefits on both ends. Here is a basic rundown to help you consider what
best suits your system
Digital LFOs
• Generate waveforms based on stored digital waveforms, as is the case with digital
oscillators. Though these are modifiable (via CV to frequency & transformation) they
will always play perfectly, and each run will be the same. Sometimes this is desireable
in an LFO, if you want straight synced modulation. You can work around the perfect
repetitiveness by adding very subtle modulation to freq, transform, amp, etc from
another non synced source.
• Able to completely tempo sync to a clock signal then multiply/divide tempo via rate
knob (assuming the LFO features this function)
• Transformable waveshapes via wavetable methods (assuming the LFO features this
function)
• The ability to make modules with multiple LFOs running at different divisions of
eachother (and other multi-LFO module-specific functions that require multiple LFOs
to be able to read eachother's exact tempo)
• Generally more stable CV frequency tracking
Analog LFOs
• Waveform generated entirely by voltage like a VCO, real, imperfect voltage. The
standard "analog" benefit
• Handle running up into audio range with higher resolution
• Voltage control of waveshape actually affects the voltage creating the shape, not the
shape's position on a wavetable (very different result of waveform modulation - not
necessarily better or worse)

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