*VIDEO* You can never have enough VCAs! Here is why...PART 3

ghee hgt · Post by **ghee hgt** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 7:28 pm

nice inspirational vid.
i got 3 oscillators and 8 vcas (or 12 if i use frames parasite euclidean seq) in my little system.
now i know better what do do with them.

Useful Noise · Post by **Useful Noise** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 8:03 pm

FrankMurder wrote:Part 3 is up:

Why can I never have enough VCAs? Part 3 - Wrapping up modulation and a few other pointers.

Very nice series Frank and should be required viewing for anyone just starting out in the world of modular synthesis. Should help answer a lot of questions for a lot of newbies out there.

But don't give away too many secrets about the always underrated VCA Amplitude Modulation! It's been the secret weapon of myself and many other sound designers over the years!

Manzanedo · Post by **Manzanedo** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 11:43 pm

pwranml wrote:[...]shoving their vca knowledge down everyone's throat and then posting a vid of them using 10 vcas to make what sounds like a robot taking a shit on the floor.

Yes.

enj_music · Post by **enj_music** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 3:01 pm

How do you like the Wave Boss?

FrankMurder · Post by **FrankMurder** » Tue Apr 19, 2016 5:45 pm

enj_music wrote:How do you like the Wave Boss?

I like it. It has alot of funtions and is pretty practical thing to have around especialy for wave shaping.

doctorvague · Post by **doctorvague** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 5:47 am

Thanks so much for these great videos! I'm an experienced patcher but VCA's have always been my weak point of knowledge and use. After binge-watching these yesterday I patched up a simple audio-rate AM patch that I really liked. Not as fiddly as FM, and lots of musically useful timbres. I see myself doing a lot more AM stuff in the future.

I have 2 Pittsburgh dual VCA's in my rig. Pittsburgh's description says this:

The perfect voltage controlled amplifier for both audio and CV applications. Dual, high quality linear voltage controlled amplifiers with both offset gain, CV attenuation, and a mix out. Each VCA includes a CV attenuators and input pass through attenuator. The output of each VCA is sent to a fully buffered mix output that allows the Dual VCA to act as two channel voltage controlled mixer.

That implies that what would normally be a fixed bias voltage knob they're saying is an "input pass through attenuator" which I see as operating differently (bypassing the VCA rather than biasing it), but I'm not sure what the difference would be in actual practice. There's also the possibility it's just a bias knob they are labeling differently. Anyway, I hope this isn't too much of a thread derail, but since this is all about VCA's I thought maybe someone could shed some light on it.

Thanks again!

Waldemar · Post by **Waldemar** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 12:53 pm

Thank you very much for the excellent videos.
This is what i you need ;-)

FrankMurder · Post by **FrankMurder** » Wed Apr 20, 2016 6:46 pm

doctorvague wrote:Thanks so much for these great videos! I'm an experienced patcher but VCA's have always been my weak point of knowledge and use. After binge-watching these yesterday I patched up a simple audio-rate AM patch that I really liked. Not as fiddly as FM, and lots of musically useful timbres. I see myself doing a lot more AM stuff in the future.

I have 2 Pittsburgh dual VCA's in my rig. Pittsburgh's description says this:
The perfect voltage controlled amplifier for both audio and CV applications. Dual, high quality linear voltage controlled amplifiers with both offset gain, CV attenuation, and a mix out. Each VCA includes a CV attenuators and input pass through attenuator. The output of each VCA is sent to a fully buffered mix output that allows the Dual VCA to act as two channel voltage controlled mixer.
That implies that what would normally be a fixed bias voltage knob they're saying is an "input pass through attenuator" which I see as operating differently (bypassing the VCA rather than biasing it), but I'm not sure what the difference would be in actual practice. There's also the possibility it's just a bias knob they are labeling differently. Anyway, I hope this isn't too much of a thread derail, but since this is all about VCA's I thought maybe someone could shed some light on it.

Thanks again!

I am not 100% sure about the Pitsburgh Dual VCA, I do not own one. I imagine many VCAs have different internal routings and circuits to achive the same function but with different sound charachteristics.

You should be able to hear it. Try different settings on the "pass through" with CV, a high pass through setting and negative cv should give you a ducking sound. A high pass through and possitive cv should raise your volume above unity and or clip you signal if it is a "bias" setting. If it behaves in a different manner it is some special design I have not played with and I would be very interested in trying.

Let me know how it behaves

MOD WIGGLER

MOD WIGGLER

VIDEO You can never have enough VCAs! Here is why...PART 3