AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SERGE MODULAR MUSIC SYSTEM by Rich Gold with Darrel Johansen and Marina LaPalmaABOUT THIS MANUAL ‘This aanual 15 an instruction and users aanual for the Serge Systes Nodular Synthesizer. It is intended to serve tuo purposes: 1, A Self-tutorial instruction aanual for those who have never used a synthesizer before and for those who have used a syothesizer, but nat a Serge, before. 2, A User’s reference nanual and guide that provides inforaation or how to use each aodule, how to interconnect faodules to produce certain effects and how to interconnect the Serge with other devices. This aanual is arranged into the folloving sections: 4, The Introduction. 2, Self-Teaching Patch Hunber One--Betting a Sound 3. The Theory of Electronic Music 4, Self-Teaching Patch luaber Two--The Theory of Sound 5. The Serge Systen Modules 6, Appendices 1 you have never used a synthesizer belore it is strongly suggested that you read sections 1 and 2, working cut the patches as you go. If you are confused at this pint, dan"t worry, keep going, These exercises will give you the basis for understanding the explanations in subsequent chapters. If you have used a synthesizer, but not a Serge, the patch worked through in section 4 provides good working tnowledge of the basic andules of the Serge. 14 you are already faniliar with the Serge systea, specific inforaation on the different sodules and how to patch thee together can be found in sections 4,5 and 6. For inforeation on interfacing to other equipsent, refer to the Appendices.AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SERGE MODULAR MUSIC SYSTER TABLE OF CONTENTS {INTRODUCTION ANP AND SPEAKER, coaporent stereo systea, power anplifier, stage agplt fier ‘CONMECTIN coRDS AC connectars, RCA, phone, sini-phone, banana, bare wire, cannan, Cinch-Jones, aaler, adaptors THE SERGE SYSTEN ‘COMMECTING SERGE TO SPEAKERS AND AMPLIFIER LEARNING PATCH NUMBER ONE STEP ONE ~ Getting Sound ‘TROUBLESHOOTING STEP THO ~ Mixing STEP THREE - Filters STEP FOUR ~ Vottage Conteot STEP FIVE ~ Keyboard Control STEP SIX - Envelopes STEP SEVEN = Sequences ELECTRONIC MUSIC. THEORY SOUND anplitude, frequency, waveshape, voltage vo TaGe aicrophones, speakers, amplification, synthesizers THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYNTHESIZER ascillator, potentioneter, block diagram, input, output, filter, tage recorder, voltage control THE SERGE SYSTEN sound sources, sound processors, control voltage sources, processeé inputs, voprocessed inputs, jack color-co6ing LEARNING PATCH MUNBER TWO STEP ONE - Mavetoras nd Hareonics STEP TWO ~ Aaplitude end Mixing STEP THREE = Filters high-pass, Jon-pass, band-pass, “0, cut-off slope STEP FOUR ~ Voltage Control low-frequency oscillator, processed inputs, 10/0¢ linear FR STEP FIVE ~ Touch Key Contre} EP S1X ~ Envelopes anplitude aatulation. ring sodulation, triggering rox ther waveforas, self-triggering, delay, envelopes with sustain STEP SEVEN - Filter Control and Sequences tracking 1W/OCT, sequencer control, VEC rhythas puts. +0TABLE OF CONTENTS ‘continued? 5. THE OVERAL( DESIGN OF THE SERBE SYSTEN THE THREE KINDS OF VOLTABES St audio, control, triggers THE FOUR KINDS OF NODULES St signal generators, audio processors, control voltage generators, control voltage gracessors, other types. STBNAL SOURCES 52 Now Tiabral Oscillator, Precision WOO, Noise Source, Dual Slope and Transient Generator, ringing filter, audio rate sequences CONTROL VOLTASE SOURCES 55 fandoa Voltage Generator, Extended ADS, Touch Activated Keyboard Sequencer, Dual Slope and Transient Generator, Extended Range WCF, low Frequency oscillator AUNIO PROCESSORS Si + adéatrve synthesis, subtractive synthesis, aodulation, saveshaping, Variable "0° VOF, Varsable Slope WEF, Variable Fandnidth WCF, Resonant Equalizer, Triple + Woveshaper, ave Multipliers, Dual Universal Slone + Generator, envelope follower, sub-haraonic generation, | man-Binear waveshaping, YC Coaparator, pulse-width + wodvlation, YC Phaser, Quad Yoltage-Controlled Aaplifier tutput mixing, Bual Audio Miser. Universal Equal Power Audio Processor, Voltage Controlled Stereo Mixer, Multi~ Channel Stereo Mixer, Multi-Channel uadraphonic Mixer, + Stereo Output fixer, Matrix Meer CONTROL VOLTAGE PROCESSORS ou Variable "0° VCF, Dual Universal Slope Generator, portasente, VC Router, Dual Processor, Seooth § Stepped Function Generator, slew lisiter, track-and-hold, UFO, stepped Functions, sasple-and-hald, correlation, stair generator, randon voltage generation, coupler, active Pracessor, Touch Activated Keyboard Sequencer, horizontal sequences, vertical sequences, randor sequonces, tauch pads 6. BRPENDLY USING EXTERNAL SOUND SOURCES SENDING SIGNALS OUT EXTERNAL CONTROL VOLTAGES COMPUTER. INTERFACINGsnveDDUCTLON 4A SYNTHESITER is a ausical instruaent, which aeans that it is @ tool for aaking music. ith any tool there are two things to learn: what it is that is being ade AKD how to use the tool to help in its aalang. In this case you have to learn about the structure and the nature of the ausic you are waking, whether it be electronic, rock, jazz, classical or shat-have-you, AND hox to use a synthesizer. However, these two things, the music and the instrusent, are highly inter-related. Take the piano for instance, which wovld not have been develuged unless there already existed a certain Kind of ausic (chordal, aany voiced). And yet, once developed, the piano changed the kind of ausic written and played, It is unlikely that Rags would have been developed 1¢ there had been no piano, The sane is true for the synthesizer. It was developed originally in the Sixties as a response to certain inds of ausie that was already being written and played (tape collage, “classical electronic* and certain nds of jazz), yet it soon changed the ausic for which it was built. Before long it Found its way into other binds of ausic, such as pop and rack. $0 of course each of these ausics changed the synthesizer as well. There 15 nowy for instance, a *phater* available on aost synthesizers-- a device that electronically duplicates certain rock and rol] recording techniques. AIL of this is to say that a synthesizer is best understood within the context af the ausic in which it is to be played, A good way to learn about synthesizers is to listen to records and tapes of other synthesizer players, to go to concerts of electronic ausic and to read books available on the subject. In the beginning 4uitation is a good idea so that one can learn what 18 considered good standard practice, what is fresh and nex, and what is a cliche. ‘he Voltage Controlled Modular Electronic Music Synthesizer (the instrusent’s full rane) exists in tuo worlds at the save tines the world of electronics and the world oF sound. Although the objective is to produce ausic, a Little of bath these worlds aust be conquered to be able to use the synthesizer to its full potential. Ths 45 because, as will be explained in aore detail later, the synthesizer is not really one instrugent, but rather, an asseably of saaller ones andules) which can be hooked together (patched) to create aany oi fferent Jarger instrusents. The synthesizer player really is, in part, an instrugent builder, and just as an electronic organ designer aust inow sosething about electronics, acoustics and ausic, so aust 1 good synthesizer player. However, you do not need tu know auch about either electronics or acoustics to use the synthesizer to aake good ausic. The synthesizer itself is an excellent teacher of both siaple acoustics and eleuentary electronics. INTRODUCTION. t-1(NP AND SPEAKER The Serge System does not contain its own aaplifier and speaker so it aust be connected to such a systea to hear any sound, Below are the aost coason systees and vhere the Serge connects to thes COMPONENT STERED SYSTEM SERGE This is the most comson hone stereo systen (though sosctiaes the pre-anp and agp are integrated into a single larger coaponent.) The Serge should be connected to the AUI-IN inputs in the back of the pre-aap. The Serge can be thought of as another coaponent, coaparable in level to that of a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Reweaber to have bath speaters hoaked up and to switch the controls on the front of the ore-aap to AUI-IM, Keep the voluse down until you have a good sense of the loudness of the Serge so that you don’t overdrive your speakers, Most speakers are built for classical ausic sound spectra, Synthesizers fare able to produce sounds that have Far aore energy in the *high* end and can damage speakers if care 1s fot taken, If there is a headphone output you can use it to Listen to the Serge without the speakers. Since it is a *stereo* you can Listen to two voices seperately by connecting one voice to the Left AUt-IN and one to the right AUI-IN. POMER AMPLIFIER Sonstiges in a studio situation the Serge will be directly connected to a power amplifier. This 15 not recomsended For hone use. Wer this configuration is used, the only controls on the voluee are on the Serge itself so it is iaportant that they be kept at appropriate levels so as not to danage the speakers. STAGE AMPLIFIER/SPEAKER (ROCK AND ROLL AMPLIFIER) 1H you are using a stage or rock and roll type aaplifier/speaker the Serge should be plugged inte the Hl-Level or Line level input, rrRabucroNCONNECTING CORDS Cords are used to connect between the various aodules on the synthesizer, and also to connect the Serge to other electronic devices. Every connector on the end of a cord or on a device, has both a Type and a Sex (sale tor fenile). nly connectors of the sase type and of opposite sex can be connected together. Below are the connectors commonly found in electronic sound equipaent. THE A CONNECTOR FEMALE This is the "poner plug and is used, alaost exclusively, to get 120 volt AC current cut of the wall. 14 your equipaent is nat working the first thing to check is whether everything 15 plugged in. Many AC power ‘lugs have a third, round nib, This is the ground connection. Unfortunately nat all AC jacks have 2 hole to accompdate this nib so an AC adaptor aust be used, However in aoct cases grounding is not required. fnather problen that arises with AC connectors is that you usually end up with far aore aales then Fenales. One solution to this is an "octopus" which accepts up to eight plugs and also has the advantage ‘of allowing the user to turn everything off at once. Most octopi also have a fuse which can protect your systen fron danage, If nothing goes on at all, check to see that the fuse is stil) good. INTROBUCTION 1-3THE RCA or PIN CONNECTOR MALE FEMALE The jacks on the back of wast howe stereo systeas are ACA fenale. Note that the wales of this species have Little skirts around then that grip the outside of the fenales. Make sure that these grip tightly by bending in these skirts just slightly. The skirt is the "ground* while the pin in the center is "hot and carries the signal. Since they are often used in stereo situations, they often cose in a joined pair. Wien using such a pair aake sure that the correct ends are used. "HE PHONE CONNECTOR MALE o FEMALE These are the plugs that are found on the end of guitar cords and the jacks that are Found on the front of ‘rack anps. (They are alsa the jacks found in eld-fashioned phone systeas and hence their nage). The shaft ‘of the Phone plug is divided by a narrow black band. The tip is the signal, or “bot*, while the upper shaft 1s ground, A stereo version is also available with two black bands on its shaft. In the stereo version, the loner two segaents carry the signal, while the upper section is ground. " uQ ge Seeouno The stereo phone will only work when used vith 2 jack aade to handle this type of plug. Typically an instrunent input is mona, while a headphone cut is stereo. IrReQUCTION 1-4HIME-PHONES. NINT-JACKD —- 0 MALE FEMALE: ‘hese are the jacks Found on the output aodules of the Serge systen. (Note: the Serge systen uses the fusrican-aade version of the aini-phone aarufactured by Switchcraft. Mini-phones wade in Japan are alaost identical, but do not use thea since they becone interaittent when used with the fAeerican jacks, Like the full-size phone plug, the tip carries the signal and the upper steeve is ground. DANENR CONNECTORS Within the Serge systen alaost ail patching and connecting is dane with banana plugs, which are so naved because of their curious shape. These connectors are not grounded or "shielded", that is, there is no ‘wrapping of wire sesh arqund the central wire, The cords are usually color-coded by length. BARE WIRE SPeaxes CONNECTOR Ste Comp OF This type of connection is usually only found between aaplitier and speaker. Always aake sure that the speakers are connected to the aeplifier befare turning the aaplitier on. If the systen is a stereo systen, fake sure that *phase* is aaintained by connecting both speakers identically, ne of the strands is sarked to sake this siapler. [CANNON CONNECTORS The cannon (or HLR) connector is aost often found on sicrophone cords, ft is a "balanced" connector with two signal lines and @ ground. Note that the aale’s prongs are within a skirt and that this should not be confused with a fenale connector. Tre cannon connector clasps shut and a button or lever aust be pressed to disconnect thea. INTRODUCTION 1-5EINDH-JONES ‘Often found on power supplies, speaker wires and trigger cables because of its inability to be connected backwards, This type of connector is used for wires that need to be comected and disconnected frequently. HOLEE CONNECTORS This type oF connector is usually used far internal power supply connections since they are not frequently disconnected, Note that the four connections are nuebered on the plastic housing, RAPTORS ‘Mt tines it will be necessary to patch between a jack of one type and a jack of another type, There are two ways to solve this problen. The first is with a cord with twa different kinds of plugs an the ends. and the second is with an adaptor. Cords with two different plugs can be purchased or can be asseabled without auch skill. When eating such cords be sure that the grounds of the two plugs are connected together and the signal parts of the plugs are connected together. Perhaps the most conaon way of dealing with the problen is with adaptors. These are saall devices with a jack or plug of one type on one sige and another type on the other side. It is also possible to find adeptors that go frou a jack to the sane kind of jack which are useé priaarily for ‘ating one Long cord out of two shorter cords. hen purchasing or asking for an adaptor be sure to specify not only the type of jack/plug needed, tut also the see, hile it is possible to stack one adaptor on another, or to place thea in elaborate cosbinations with various kinds of cords, it is wise to reaeaber that the wore connections one has the aore likely sonething wall qo wrong. In fact, this probles is so coson that it no sound is cowing cut of your systen, right after checking to aake sure that everything is plugged in, check the adaptors. Jn the long run it 3s worthwhile to purchase the correct cords and adaptors for the jab. You will find ‘that they are easy to lose and a box for thea coves in handy. You aay also find that you lose fexer of thee if you can aark thea in sowe personal fashion. INIRODUCTION S-BTHE SEROE SYSTEN Uhite the Serge aay look ite a single aachine, it is actually a collection oF auch saaller devices or, a5 they shal] be called from now on, MODULES. This explains the word Nodular in the full title: Voltage controlled sodular electronic music synthesizer. Except for the internal power supply wires which supply thes with the power necessary te operate, each aodule is COMPLETELY independent. They are no aore interdesendent than your TY and your toaster are when plugged into the sane AC wall socket. Unless hooked together with PATCH cords these aodules renain independent and can be used separately. But the real interest of the synthesizer lies in hooking these aodules together. The Serge is divided into panels that are 17 inches across and 7 inches high. Except for the sequencer/keyboard sodule, which takes up a whole panel by itself, each panel contains a muaber of different odules, Each aodule is surrounded by a Line and has the nage of the sodule at the top and the logo “SERGE at the bottoa, Modules with the saae nase are identical and interchangeable, Learning about a synthesizer is earning about what each aadule does separately and what they do when all hooked together. Iw Tern of SeRce Fee /Rack, INTRODUCTION 1-7CONNECTING SERGE TO SPEAKERS/AMP In all Serge systeas there is at Least one andule whose function is to connect the Serge to the aap/speaker systea, These are called ‘output aodules* because they take the signals froe the Serge and QUIPUT thea to the speaker and aaps. Output andules have inputs that accept banana plugs fron the other sodules on the Serge and have either aini-phone, phone ar RCA outputs. These non-banana connectors can go directly to the anp/speater systes, elo are diagraas of the various aodules that serve this function, Each diagran 15 Labelled to show where to “input® into the agdule and where to take the ‘output* frog. The output cord goes to the anp/spealer systes, Under each diagran are instructions for setting the dials or POTS (short for potenticseter) on the ‘aodule, Tt is ieportant that these instructions be followed at this point. In particular, no cords other than those listed shuld be patched to the output acdule, In the following section this andule is reterred to as the Output Hodule. © Fu Rout Q ru ricnT Q Fur ricur @ ruc cerr @ rue coer 1 the Serge is not zlready on, flick the power switch ON now, The aap should be turned all the way down, connections You are now ready to aake your first electronic sound, which will also test whether all the inter 50 far are good, After the sound the theory. INTRODUCTION 1-8,‘LEARNENG PATCH NUMBER ONE Or, Making Sounds Knowing Nothing. STEP ONE Lol Locate a Precision YOD or a New Tiabral Oscillator on the Serge. It you choose to use a Precision VOD, set ‘ts Range switch to HI. Both of these aodules are Oscillators and differ frow each other only by soae special features, All identically labelled sodules are identical and interchangeable, so that if the systes contains tore than one of these aodules any of thes will da, For brevity these two acdules will be referred to as "0SC*. oureuT WN] mooue Im the following discussion the Precision VCO will be used as the exaaple Oscillator aodule, though the New Tiabral Oscillator can be substituted as in the above diagran, 4.2 It should be clear that all of the jacks on the OSC, though of different colors, are Banana sacks, as are alaost ali the connectors on the Serge systea. This arans that only one kind of plug is needed to patch frou ‘anything to anything else: a banana to banana cord. This kind of cord, since it is the prisary core for patching various andules together, we will simply call a PATCH CORD. LEARNING PETC NUMBER OME 2-11,3 At the top of the OSC there is an QUIPUT section containing three jacks Labelled SAM, SINE, and TRIANGLE. Like aost aodules on the Serge the cutput section will be enclosed within a border. Take one end of a Patch ord and insert its plug into the jack Labelled SAV. The other end of the cord should be inserted into "Input 1 of the output sodule ‘see previous section). Hake sure that the voluse contrat on your aap is all the way dow. Jn the above diagran, and in all subsequent diagrans in this section, a patch cord will be shown by 2 thick Line drawn betwaen the appropriate jacks on the wodules. The output aodule will be shown as a square with Input 1 Labelled, The aaplitier/speaker is shown by a skall spesker. 41.4 On the OSC you will find a POT that is labelled PITCH. (POT is the nase given to all knobs on synthesizers because beneath the faceplate the knob turns a potentioneter.] Turn this POT so that its pointer is set to 11 o'clock, 1.5 There should be no sound from your speakers until, slowly, you turn up the voluae on your aap. You should hear a buzz. Set the volute on the aap so the sound is at a cosfortable level. Try aoving the PITCH POT back and forth. You should hear a whining sound that eoves up and down aot unlike the sound of a police siren. the further the Pitch FOT is turned clockwise the higher the sound becoses; tke further counterclockwise, the lover ‘the sound, ‘TROUBLESHOOTING TF YOU HEAR NO SOUND, then it is tiee to "troubleshoat*=-that is, to Look for the probles and fix it. This should be done as aethodically as possible and with as cool a head as you are able to muster. Things go wrong for the test engineers. Learning how to troubleshoot is just another, and rather iaportant, thing to learn about synthesizer playing. Below are some elewentary trouble-shooting steps if no sound is heard: (fe sure to do these things one at a tine.) . Check to see that aap, pre-anp and Serge systen are all plugged into an AC outlet and that each device 15 turned on. Al the aodules on the Serge are turned on by the single aaster switch. If there 15 a Teuch-Activated Keyboard Sequencer in the syster, one of the red Lights on one of the touch pads should be hit. 8. Visually check that everything is patched correctly together. The SAM output of the OSC to Input-1 of the output sodule. The output of the output aodule to the aap. The aap to the speaters. C. Check that OSC’s pitch POT is set to the 11 o’clock position and that the saail switch on the PCG is set to Hl (if you are using the PCO as the OSC). Try aoving the pitch pot right and left to see if anything happens. Check the settings on your Output aodule against the settings listed. E. Check to see that all the settings on your pre-aap are correct. It should be set to AUX if the synthesizer is patched into AUS, The tape aonitor switch should be off. Tey unplugging the cord that goes to the aap froa the Gutput sodule and touching the discomected end with your finger. If the aap and speaker are set up correctly you should hear 3 buzz or how. F. IF all alse fails try switching the patch cords, It would aot be the First tiae that 2 patch cord or adaptor was broken. Try a different OSC. LEARNING PATCH KUNBER ONEow that you have your first PATCH working there are a few things you can try: 1.6 Try turning the Pitch pot as far to the Left as it will go. At sone point it will start to tecoae 2 series of clicks, Then try turning it as far to the right as it will go. The pitch will get higher and higher until it is barely within the huaan range of hearing. Try turning the POT labelled “fine tuning", Like the Pitch POT it alters the Fitch, but over a much sealler range. 1.7 Unpateh the plug inserted into the SAM output. The sound will suddenly stop. Re-patch into the SINE cutput and then the TRIANGLE output, You should notice a difference in sound quality between these outputs. This quality is called *tiabre” and is one reason why different instruaents playing the save pitch can be Uistinguished, For instance, a piano playing a aidéle C and a violin playing a sidéle C are distinguished by their tinbres. STEP TWO 2.1 On the Serge system find the aodule Jabelled Audio Mixer. Like a few aodules on the Serge this 1s a double fodule, that is, it is actually two identical aadules, one above the ather. For this patch use the top one. 2.2 Patch the SAW cut of the OSC to *IN-I* of the Miner, Patch the output of the Mixer to Input-1 of the Gutput Module. The POT that is associeted with IN-1 by & Line should be turned full left. Make sure that the Pitch POT on the OSC is set as in STEP ONE. 2.3 Slowly turn the POT associated with IN-1 to the right. The buzzing sound heard in STEP ONE should now once again be heard fros the speaker, but at a softer voluge, fy turning the Mixer POT further and further to the right, the sound can be sade louder and louder. LLEPBNING PATCH NUMBER OVEPRECISION veo PRECISION veo Using a second OSC on the Serge set up the above Patch. Use the second OSC's SINE cutput to IN-2 of the fixer. Slowly turn its associated POT up. & second sound being MILED with the first should now be heard, The Toudhess of each of the two sounds can be deterained by their associated POTS on the Mixer. Nate that you can adjust each OSC's Pitch separately. If you have a third SC you can patch its TAIEMGLE output (or any of its rutputs) to IN-3 of the ITER, 2.5 Mhen 2 single piano note is struck the sound quickly gets loud and then slowly dies out (if the pedal 15 dow), Try getting this effect by turning the Rixer”s pot quickly to the right and then slowly bact to the left, LEARNING PATCH NUMBER ONE 2-4STEP THREE PRECISION |saw veo, Jel The Variable @ VOF and the Variable Slope VEF are both filters and differ only in sone of the functions available on then (VEF stands for Voltage Controlled Filter). Either one can be used for this Patch, although in this text we will be referencing the Variable 0 VEF, I¥ you are using the Variable 0 VCF, set the VCO POT full Left and the GAIN POT Full Right. If you are using the Variable Slope WCF, input should be to IN-I and the NIC POT should be full Lefts YC SLOPE POTS should be set full Left. Connect the output froe the UCF's LO jack to the Output aodule. 4.2 Turn the PITCH POT of the OSC to about 9 o’clock, which will produce a fairly Low sound. The HIN POT on the Nicer should be at the level that it had been adjusted in the previous step. LEARNING PETCH NUNBER ONE 2-5Se3 Turn the FREG knob on the Filter all the way right. You should hear a burz siailiar to the one in the previous steps. 3.4 Slowly turn the FREO POT on the Filter to the left, The sound should get softer and softer and finally isappear, However, at willl get softer in a different aanner than when the Mixer’s POTs were turned down. This tae, the sound seeas to get wore and aore auffed, The high buzz in the sound disappears first. and then the rest of the sound. Try O8Cs set to different FREQs, Different outputs of OSCs (SAi, TRL, SINE), and a Miser putput, When listening to these sounds start with the Filter’s FREO POT set full right in order to hear the full sound before faltering it. 3,5 Try the sone Patch but using the BAND output of the Filter the FREQ POT full Left. Try the HE output of the Filter, but start with 3.b It should be clear that there are a lot sore POTS to turn and adjust than there are hands to turn thes. It shuld alsa be clear that the sounds so far produced are still very siaple and hardly ausic. These two probleas are attacked in STEP FOUR. STEP FOUR Certain things about STEP THREE can be easily said. The PITCH POT on the OSC controlled how high or low the ‘frequency of the sound would be, while the GAIN POT on the Hixer controlled how Toud or soft the sound would be. The Filter controlled certain aspects of the tiabre or quality of the sound. Lowiness, Pitch and Tiabre are all components of a single sound, Even in traditional scores these three “paraneters* are notated. LEARNING PATCH RUNBER ONE 2-5At Set up the above Patch using a Precision Controlled VCO in cowbunation with the OSC already being used. Tf ‘the OSC that you had been using is a Precision Controlled Oscillator, then the new OSC should be patched to the VOF jacks 1f the OSC in use was a New Tiabra) Oscillator, then the Precision Controlleé YCO should be Patched to the UC AUL jack, The new OSC will be referred to as OSC 42. 4,2 On OSC #2 switch the HI/LO to LO and turn the PITCH POT full Heft. On OSC AI either the VC AUT FOT or the ‘CF POT (depending on which OSC. is being used) should be turned right te about J o'clock. 4.3 Set the PITCH POT of OSC 41 to about 9 o’clock; set the SAIN POT of the Mixer to a confortable voluae, Set the FREQ POT on the VEF Full right (use LO output). The Pitch of the output will start to rise, getting migher and higher. It aight get so high that you will nat be able to hear it, Then suddenly the sound will drop to a vary Loa seund and start rising again. It is JUST 6S IF you were turning the PITCH POT of the OSC slowly to the right and then suddenly, fast as light, turning it full left. 44 Slowly turn the PLICH POT on OSC #2 to the right. As you do this the speed at which the pitch rises should increase, #5 this rising and falling accelerates to aore than once 2 second, the ear starts to hear it as Constant wavering sound. Mhen it approaches 20 tines per second, the ear no Longer éistinguishes individual sweeps ithough they are stil] happening), but rather hears a new, very low sound as wel] as save strange higher sounds, Turn the PITCH POT on OSC 42 higher and higher Listening to results as you do so, Try switching O5C A2's HI/LO switch to HY and sweeping the PITCH POT to the Left. Experivent with changing the PLICH POT of O80 n. 4,5 Return OSC 41 and OSC #2 to the settings at the beginning of this STEP. ry using the SINE aut and then the TRIANGLE output of OSC #2, hen the SINE out is used, instead of sweeping up and then suddenly falling back down, the sweep is a gentle one foth up and back down. ith the TRIANGLE out the sweep should be sisiiiar to the SINE put except a Little sharper at the top and the totton. The TRIANGLE wave will also go higher than ‘the SINE, and the SINE will aake the output sound go below the initial setting of the PCO. Try these two other outputs with different POT settings on bath PCO #1 & #2. Ad Re-set 50 41 and 42 to the settings at the beginning of this STEP. Slowly turn the VCF POF or the ¥C AU POT from its 3 o°clock setting to its 42 o’clock setting. The sweep will take as long, but won't get as high oF rap as low. At 12 o’clock there should hardly be any sweep at all. As the POT i5 turned past 12 o'clock to % o'clock the sweep should start heading DONNWARD, juaping UPMARD just the opposite of what it had been going. LEARNING PATCH MUNBER ONE 2-7STEP FIVE 5.1 Set the Patch in the previous step, Set the VE AUK or the VOF POT of OSC #1 to 12 o'clock so that there is ‘alaast no sweeping and so that the sound is neither muffled nor too soft, The FREQ should be set arcund 11 o'clock, PRECISION LEARNING PATCH MUNBER ONE 2-85.2 Locate the TOUCH ACTIVATED HEVRORRD SEGUENCER (or IKE as it will be called frow now on) which is noraally at the bottos of your synthesizer and fills an entire panel. 5.3 At the top of the THB Find a switch Labelled "KEYS" and turn it % 5.4 Beneath this upper section there are 4 ROWS and 16 COLUNNS of POTS. The Rows are Labelied #-D and the coluans are nuabered 1 to 1b. Set the POTS in Row A to 16 different positions--it doesn’t aatter what positions these are so Lang as they are all ditterent. 5.5 At the top of the TKR you will find the output section. It contains a nuaber of different outputs ‘neluding ABCD, Ay 8, Cy & Be Patch fron A to {V/OCT in OSC #1 as in the shave diagran, 5.6 Touch the different Keypads at the bottow of the aodule with your finger. As you do, notice that a little Light that goes on on the pad you have touched. The Light reeains on until you have touched another Key, $0 ‘nly one Light will be on at 2 tite, This light indicates that the coluan above it is ACTIVATED. The pitch of ‘the sound should change as each pad is touched. has its light 1it), it should be just 5.7 Turn the pot in the & Row in the coluan that is now activated (i. Tike turning the PITCH POT of the OSC #1, but BY REMOTE CONTROL, 5.0 Try setting the POTS in Row @ so that a tune can be played on the keypads. STEP SIE 4.1 dust as an oscillator’s frequency can be sade to rise or fall by reaote or Voltage Control (that 1s without turning that oscillator’s Pot) there are a nusber of wixers and other aodules on the Serge which can control tthe GRIN ef a sound by voltage contral. The voluae can this be increased or decreased without turning @ pot. Jn general these andules are called Voltage Control led Aaplifiers (VCks ~- or sometines: GATES! when they have single inputs, or Yoltage Controtled Mixers when they have aore than one input. 4.2 Alaost all the Output Mixers in the Serge System are voltage controtlable, aeaning that the Gain of their Inputs can fe contralled by a voltage coaing fro another sodule. Each input to the aixer has one or aore VC inputs. Below are noted the VC inguts for the various Output Mixers. These will be noted as "VC-IN* on the Output Mixer wodule, LEARNING PATCH NUMBER ONE 2-6Orv vert @ 1-12 O'cLecK Otait orcack, @u-tz orerocr @ ruw corr ‘3 Soue Serge Systens have independent Voltage Controlled Aaplifier aodules which often contain ertra Patched as another link in the syothesis chain they can be used instead of the VC-output aixer to In the diagraus below the VC-IN is noted on these aodules. In the patches -an refer to these independent VCRs a5 well. Features. provide voltage controlled gain. that follow, the VC-IN will be stows to the Output Mixer, but it c our our PRECISION VARIABLE VCA ourPuT Lx} 4 veo Q@ ver Mob ULE ve w t ANPICAL VER PATCH ve. Ww . ven Bye I RT Poe y-Jro'cLeck. LEARNING PATE NUMBER ONE 2-10e VO-IN of the sixer should be set “LO and ats FREQ b.4 In the following patch the PCO which is connected to th ‘the sound in the sane fashion that it turned to the left. It will increase and decrease the GAIN {loudness) of controlled the frequency of the other oscillator in the previous patchest mao pl wae Lf ore |] vco @ ver moouLe Er o PRECISION [SAW veo we H1s FREQ PoT NO'dOCK; suited Wh HE! FREQ fot PULL LEFT; switcH Lo 4.4 Try increasing and decreasing the frequency of the controlling FCO. The bursts of souné shoulé get faster and slower, Also try using different cutputs of the PCO (sine, triangle, saw) and listen to the different “shapes* of the tursts. This shape is called the "Envelope" of the sound. 6.8 The Dual Universal Slope Generator (B85) is 2 éual aofule with two identical wodules in it, one above the other, For this patch the upper one will be used. ‘5.7 On the output section of the TK® Find the jack Labelled KP (Key Pulse) and patch it to the TRIG IN of the D8E. The A cutput of the TKB will control the frequency of the PCO as in previous satches. The ovtput of the DS6 should be patched to the YC-IN of the output eodule. LEARNING PATCH MUNBER OME 2-114.8 In this patch the B86 produces a single envelope, unlite the PCO, which produced a continuous streum of envelopes, Furtheraore it will produce this envelope on denand, in this case whenever a key is touched on the TRB, In this sense the TKR is controlling the OSS. The length of the RISE and FALL tives of the envelope are controlled by the RISE and FALL pots on the DSS, To produce the approrisate envelope of a piano set the RISE pot to 1 o'clock and the FALL to 9 o’clock. 4.9 It is possible to get a sosewhat *backward™ feel to the sound by reversing the settings of the two pots. It is also possible to get very long envelopes or envelopes so short that they sound Like nothing aore than clicks. LEARNING PATCH NUMBER ONE‘10 ft the back of each plug on the patchcords is another Banana Jack. This allows you to "stack* the plugs so that you can patch aore than one cord fron @ single Jack on the Serge, You should NOT STACK MODULE INPUTS, however. In order to coabine voltages, a Mixer or Processor is required, 14 you try to stack at the inputs, you will be comecting the outputs oF aodules directly together. This is the one connection that should always be avoided in the synthesizer, and if it is not adhered to, it is possible that you will danage the aadules. This sessage will be repeated: Do not connect outputs together. OK, now that we've said this, lets anderate it a Little, You should not live in total fear of using the systen, In every case, aadoles are protected against inadvertent output shorts, but if a lot oF outputs are connected together over 2 long period of tiae, it is possible to put an excessive strain on the power supply. 1¥ you Find outputs shorted together accidentally, siaply reaove thea, but get in the habit of thinking of “aulting’, or stacking, outputs whenever you are stacking banana cords, =emel Pe 4.11 Stacking cords in this way, patch the output of the 056 to the YC-IN of the aixer AMD to the YCF input oF the filter, Set the associated WEF Pot Full right. Set the FREQ Pat of the Filter to 9 o'clock. oureor fet] MODULE | TOP mopULE oF DSG froucH CONTROLLED KeyBoard Town AeTvATED Revecary Seqveneoe LLERRNING PATCH NUMBER ONE4.12 Tap a Hey. The sound should now approach very closely the sound of an acoustic instrunent, Like the oscillator and the MIXER, the Filter is now being controlled. Not only does the sound get softer and softer es it dies away (ron the action of the Mixer), but it should sound as if it is being damped, or losing its "highs" as thee progresses. This is what happens when a piano note is struck. 4.13 In the Following patch all resains the sage as the above patch except that the # is now connected to the black IN jack of the D6. aed PRecysjoN) TOP MODULE Ds What has been added here is the ability to hold or sustain a sound by keeping cne’s finger down on the keyboard, The RISE will begin as soon as the key is touched, tut the FALL won"t begin until the finger is released, LEARNING PATCH NUMBER ONE 2-18PRECISION vco Joued AcTivarcD REYBOARD SEQUENCER 7.1 Using the lover aodule of the 996, which will be referred to as DS8 42, patch froe the EAD yack to the TRIG JN jack of the SAME aodule. This will be the first tise that you patch between two Jacks of the saee aodule. 7.2 Using the LED Light on 056 42 as a guide, set the RISE and FALL of BSE 42 so that the Tight flashes about once per second or even slightly slover, 7.3 Revove the cord frou KP on the TKE to TRIG IN on DS6 41 and Patch it from END on DS6 42 (stacking th plugs) to TRIG IN on DS5 81, Also stack a patch cord frou the END on DSG 42 to the CLOCK jack on the THB (again, note that we are stacking at the output. No input has sore than one output connected to it, but the output of BSE 42 is aulted to two places, the TRIG Input of DS6 81 and the CLOCK Input of the TKB.) 7.4 The TKR should now begin to *sequence® all by itself, stepping through its coluans as if you were touching ‘one keypad after the other. 7.5 Try turming the RISE and FALL pots of 0S6 42 further and further to the rioht. The KH should step even faster, You aay bave to adjust the RISE and FALL POTS on 096 #1 to the left to keep the sounds fron "blurring ‘together. Try turning the POTS on DSG #2 farther and farther to the leit to sate the TKE step sioner. 7.6 The PATCH that you have now set up is one of the aust comson PATCHES on a synthesizer, yet it ts but one of an infinite variety. To this PATCH other aodules aay be added that change the tinbre, that create complex chyths, that add second, third and fourth voices. Fros this first section it 15 hoped that you tave gained sone sense of the sounds that a synthesizer can create and to soae degree how it creates thea, In the following section the theory of synthesis will be explored. LEARNING PATCH NUNBER OWE 2-15ELECTRONIC MUSIC THEORY SOUND Sounds are vibrations of the air caused by vibrating objects. Take 2 single ausical exaaple--the string on @ guitar. Uhen it is plucked, it is pulled in one direction and released. Because it was under tension froa the pulling, it snaps back to its original position and because of its aosentua, it keeps going through its at-rest position to an opposite state of tension. Reor PLUK, It proceeds to aove back and forth, each tiae with a Little less power, until it coves to rest in its original position. Alaost all struck or plucked instresents vibrate in soae variation of this action, Nhen the string is released it pushes the air in front of it causing a slight extra coapression of the air aclecules or, put another way, a slightly higher pressure, This is called "compression". When the string fJicks back, it causes a slight vacuua, or Low pressure area. This is called ‘rarefaction'. As the string vibrates back and forth fore and aore of these cospression and rarefaction areas are created. They act like ripples in a pond, spreading out quickly and always at the sase speed, the speed of sound. Hf you are standing sone distance away fron the vibrating string when these ripples reach you, if there were sone way of counting how aany waves occur per second, aany things could be told about the string itself! For ‘one thing, because the speed of sound is constant, you would know how aany tines the string vibrates in a second. This nuaber is called the FREQUENCY of a saund. The second thing you mould want to deteraine is how strong the ripples are, that is, how coapressed the cospression wave is and how vacuous the rarefaction wave is, This strength is called the AMPLITUDE of the wave. Mhen working with sound it can also be called the VOLUNE or LOUDKESS of the sound. The faplitude can tell you one or both of two things: hox strong the source of vibrations was (i.e. how powerfully it could push air around) and/or how far anay the scurce of the vibration 18, because the aaplitude of the ripples decreases with distance. ELECTRONIC MUSIC THEORY 3-1There are a nuaber of other things we wish to detect about the sound waves that reach us. Ko object vibrates sisply. Each has a characteristic ‘aavefora* that, when perceived, can identify that object. This is called the TIMBRE or quality of the sound and is how we can distinguish a piano from 2 violin. We wuld want to detect these variations and have a sense of where the sound is cosing fron. We perceive these coaplex waves with cur ears. Me hear different Frequencies as different PITCHES and we can hear thee over the range of about 20 to 20,000 cycles (vibrations) per second. We perceive Aaplitude as Loudness, and resarkably, we can sense the aaplitudes of rustling leaves or those of 3 jet plane. The jet produces cospressions and rarefactions nearly one aillion tines greater than the leaves! Without going into auch detail, this is the way the ear workst The pressure inside the husan head reeains constant (though adjusted to the naraal pressure of the ataosphere of the air.) Wren there are no sound waves in the air, the eardrue is at rest between two areas of equal pressure. However, when a sound wave rigples past, with its fluctuating bands of high and low pressure, the eardrua is pulleé slightly outward during a rarefaction wave and pushed slightly in by the high pressure part of the wave. This aeans that the eardrun 15 ‘going in and out at the sage rate (with the sane frequency) as the original sound source, The eardrua's vibrations are transaitted by aeans of saall bones to the cochlea, a spiral organ in the inser ear failed with 4a Tiguid and coated on the inside with aillions of small hairs. Each of these hairs is connected to a nerve ‘ending through which these signals are sent to the brain. If we could take a picture of a seall section of air through which a sound wave is aoving, it wight Look Like this: In this érawing each dat represents 2 few aillion air aolecules, but even with this simplification it 1s a rather cluasy way of describing how 2 wave “lovis", Here is a better way is to describe the "pressure’ at tach point of such a waver dove The Line Labelled "0" is noraal pressure and the wavy line is a graph of the pressure of the wave. When the wavy line is above the 0 Line, the pressure is greater than noreal air pressure, when below the 0 line, it is less than air pressure. ELECTRONIC MUSIC THEORY 3-2Below are two sound waves drawn using pressure graphs: AAA The difference between these two waves is that the top one goes further above and below the 0 Line than the bottoa wave. This indicates that its faplitude or loudness is greater and is weasured frau ‘peak to peak", (row the top of the highest peak to the bottox of the Lowest trough. Below are two aore waves. Notice that in this case the auplitude of the two waves is the sage, but that in the sage length of tiae there are twice a5 aany excursions up and down in the bottos wave as in the top ~~ that is the bottos wave has twice ‘the Frequency of the top wave. The bottom wave will sound ONE OCTAVE HIGHER than the upper wave. If 2 wave has twice the frequency of another wave, me hear it as one octave higher. Notice that if the first octave starts cout at 80 cycles per second (or 80 Wertz which aeans the same thing), then the nest octave starts at 140 Hertz (twice the first), the third will start at 520 Hertz, the next at 640 Hertz, then 1280, 2560, and 5120 Hertz. Whereas the First octave had 2 range of only 160 cycles per second, the top octave had a range of 2560 cycles per second! But to our ear/brain both sound like a single octave, Below are two waves: ELECTRONIC MUSIC THEORY‘These are two wave types that you will find on aost syathesizers; the top one being a SAMIOOTH wave and the botton being a SINE wave. The two aaves in this drawing both have the sane frequency and the sase aaplitude but a different SHIPE, The shape of a wave affects its TIMBRE or sound quality. Picture your eardrua being pulled in and out by the two waves shown above to see the difference in the kind of aotion the liquid in the cochlea would have. In the real world, of course, nothing can vibrate in quite these shapes and if it could, the air canot ripple in quite this fashion and if it could the eardren cannot be aoved in precisely this way. But it can all come renarkatly close, Below is what a guitar sound wave eight look Tike: OUTAGE Voltage can be considered to be electric pressure. By the siddle of the 19th Century, aany of the advantages of Converting sound waves (rapidly changing ataosperic pressure) into voltage were discerned. Priaary aacng thea vas that while sound waves died out relatively rapidly, voltage waves could be sent thousands of wiles over wires, around corners and through walls). The aain probles wis how to convert sound waves into voltage waves and then, after a journey of perhaps # hundred ailes, convert the voltage waves aore or less accurately, back into sound waves. In other wards, the probles was the invention of the telephone. A Microphone is a device for converting sound waves into voltage waves, or ataospheric pressure into electric pressure. The siaplest aicrophones have a diaphraga which acts auch like the eardrua in its response to sound waves, Tt is pushed inwards by a coapression wave and pulled outward by 2 rarefaction wave, This diaphraga ts attached to a device which, when it is pushed inward creates a Positive Voltage and when it is pulled outward Creates a Negative voltage, then the diaphrage is at rest, its output is Grauné-- or 0 volts. U ssn DIAPHRAGM ELECTRONIC MUSIC THEORY 3-4Bes ale erro ih alto ent re Sd ee sound wave input, Aue wave és oA AAA eee vee 3 ume A Speater is a device that takes a voltage wave and converts it into a sound wave, Though there are wany kinds oF speakers the aost coaaon ones work by aoving a cardboard speaker cone” with an electro-sagnet, U cone Tooggaee le rd In this kind of speaker the coil of wire attached to the speaker cone sets up aagnetic fields which push and pull itself in and out from the peraanent aagnet as the voltage changes, thereby pushing and pulling the cone in and out. This creates rarefaction and compression waves in front af the cone. The speaker cone, therefore, reproduces the aovesent of the diaphraga of the sicrophone ané in so doing reproduces the original sound wave. > > ELECTRONIC mUSiC THEORY 1-5,Tt was the ability of such a systea to transeit sound over long distances that first attracted attention. it soon becawe clear that there were other advantages, Once the sound wave was converted into a voltage wave, it vas far sore aalleable. It could be anplified, for instance, so that when the speater re-created the sound it could be louder than the sound originally picked up by the aicrophane, aa G S ae ( ly bane B A speaker doesn’t know where the voltages it is receiving are coving fros. Its cone wil] aove in response to ‘any varying voltage. A SYNTHESITER is a device which creates and sculpts voltages of various shapes that, when directes to a speaker, create sound that can be used in musical settings. THE DEVELOPNENT OF THE SYNTHESIZER Frou the earliest days of electronics, there have been various devices to create and alter voltages of audio frequency. We've already discussed the aaplifier which takes an input of a varying voltage and puts out that sane varying voltage wagnified in anplitude, Another device is the oscillator, which siaply puts out a varying voltage in a noaber of siaple shapes: SINE saw ; 4 e ee TRIBNGLE SQUARE CTRONIC MUSIC THEORY 3-6A knob, or POT (short for POTentioaeter, which is the device the snob turns) an the front of the oscilator would detersine the frequency of these waves, that is, how often in one second the wave would rise and fall. The first step tonards electronic ausic was taken when the OUTPUT of the oscillator was connected, or PATCHED ‘to the INPUT of the aaplifier. The OUTPUT of the aaplifier was sent to the speaker, fe Hae ote the "block diagrant used above. In this fora of notation a block indicates an electronic device. The arrow coaing out of a device ts its output, while an arrow going into a device is its input. fn output of one device is always the input to anather device. The output of 2 speater goes to the input of your ear, What ‘outputs rom your south inputs into soaone else’s ear. father device was the Mixer, which takes inputs and adds then together to produce a single output. Unlike the anplifier the aixer has sore than one input. ELECTRONIC MUSIC THEORY 3-7Stil] another iaportant device was the Filter, A filter is a device that can eliainate or accentuate various Srequency components of a coaplex sound. Far instance it can be used to eliainate all the very hich cosponents (the hiss? in a sound, by only allowing those Frequencies in the range of the human voice to pass. A pot on the front of the filter controls which frequencies will be attenuated or elisinated. Faercd: ose. eee mixex| Jie There were two problees with this procedure of adding device after device. The first was that very quickly there were just physically too aany knobs to twiddle. The second problen was that the knobs couldn't be turned quickly or precisely enough. The aaplifier could not be turned up and then quickly down again fast enough to fae the ‘sound envelope" of a single whack of a dram. The invention oF the tape recorder, just after Morld War I, solved sone of these problews. A single sound could be procuced electronically, recorded on to a short piece of tape, and spliced onto another previously ‘ade sound and so on until a string of sounds had been aade. Two of these tapes could be aired together ‘through a aixer and recorded on a third tape, The speed of the tape sachines could be varied, end the segaents could be reversed or even cut to fora spliced "envelopes*. This was (and still is) a very tedious process, but it is a very rich and Heribte one. & studio built to be able to produce electronic tapes in this way is called a Classical Electronic ausic studio. The First aajor iaprovesent in the classical studio cane fro Coluabia University where they devised 2 controller which could set all the dials instantaneously froa the instructions given on a punched paper tape. Tt wasn’t until the Sixties that the synthesizer as we now know it was designed by Don uchla and Robert Hoog ty adding Voltage Control to the classical studio. The Voltage Controlled Electronic Music Synthesizer solved both of the tuo aajor probleas of the classical studio by eaploying Voltage Control which works in the following sanner: Each device is given a special input called a Voltage Contra] Input. This input accepts a voltage such that as this voltage INCREASES it is JUST ‘LIKE TURNING UP THE KNOB ON THE FRONT OF THE DEVICE, And when the voltage goes down it is like turning down the pot on the front of the device. That is, a voltage can be used to CONTROL the device. For instance, in a voltage controlled aaplifier, if the voltage at the voltage control input increases, it turns the aaplifier up and aakes its output louder. ost ELECTRONIC MUSIC THEORY 3-8(ote that in these block diggrans, as a aatter of convention, the control voltage input is on the bottom of the device, the "signal input is on the Left side and the output is on the right side.) In a voltage controlled oscillator, a rising voltage at its voltage contro! input would wake its Frequency rise, For each device the control voltage affects only the function of that devite. Control voltages solved both probleas of the classical music studio: with enough control voltages you could Change all the settings of all yeur devices. Aad secondly you could change these settings so rapidly a5 to sete instantaneous, You could change the settings very, very slowly, or you could change thes at audio frequencies, for instance 500 tiees per second. Wien a devices’s settings are changed at those rates, some very strange things begin to happen, aany of which can be ausical. ‘The only problen Left, of course, is where to get all these control voltages. This problen is not as great as it sees for a control voltage is identical to any other kind of voltage. For instance, we could use an oscillator to control an aaplifier since the output of an oscillator is a voltage! [Neha ost. jose In the above exzaple Oscillator 42 is controlling the aaplifier, saking the signal frou Gscillator #1 louder and softer. Host of the early synthesizers have two different sets of patch cords, one for the control voltages and one for the signals, even though the voltages theaselves are indistinguishatle. The Serge Systen does not aake this Aistinction, THE SERGE SYSTEM ‘The SERGE SYNTHESIZER 1s a Voltage Cantralled Nodular Music Synthesizer. By MODULAR >t is axant that it 15 coupases of separate devices or nodules which aust be patched together to produce a complex saund. By Voltage Controlled is seant that alaast all of these devices can be controlled by a voltage as well as by their ow pots, By wasic 25 deant thet the Serge can be used to create complex, ordered sound, and ty Synthesizer is faeant that it needs no other input (though it is able to accept one) and that it can create, or synthest sound. ELECTRONIC MUSIC THEORY 3-9There are Four basic kinds oF Modules on the Serge. Many sodules can serve aore than one of these functions: SOUND SOURCES. The basic sound source is the oscillator though there are others such as white noise. Sounds froe the external world, so long as they have been converted into appropriate voltages (by the use of aicrophones or pickups) can also be used as sound sources. Oscillators are coapletely voltage controllable. SOUND PROCESSORS, Frocessors are devices that input one or wore signals, operate on these signals, and then output a different but related signal. Mixers, filters, wave shapers, aaplifiers are all processors. Alaost al! of these devices are voltage controllable. CONTROL VOLTAGE SOURCES, Control voltage sources are devices that are used to create the voltages which ‘are used to control other devices. The keyboard, for instance, puts out a voltage which can be used to control the setting of an oscillator. Other devices are envelope generators, sequencers, saaple/hold devices and envelope follovers. These devices are voltage controllable theaselves, aating possible complex levels of control. CONTROL VOLTAGE PROCESSORS, These devices input a control voltage, operate on it, and output a related but different voltage. Processors and portawentoes are exanples of these aodules, Each aodule on the Serge is surraunded by @ border with the naue of the device at the top and the Serge 1090 at the bottoa, In soe cases there is wore than one device in a sodule and these are referred to as “dual” or ‘triple® aodules, These dual or triple aodules are two or three cospletely separate, though functional ly identical sotules. Every sodule has at Least one output. Qutputs are usually enclosed within a border of their own, ALL processor type aodules have at least one input as well as an output. Host aodules have contra) voltage inputs which control the function of the wogule. These inputs are of to basic types: ‘PROCESSED INPUTS which have a gat associated with the input jack that can attenuate, asplify and/or invert the contro} voltage. UNPROCESSED CONTROL VOLTAGE INPUTS affect the given sodule in a predetersined may. Host aodules nave one er wore pots that can control the function of the aodule without a control voltage. In fost aadules these pots control the basic setting of the sodule on which the control voltages operate. These pots are labelled with their function, for instance. GAIN, FRED, etc. ‘The jatks an the Serge are color coded. BLACK JACKS indicate audio or signal voltages. BLUE JACKS indicate control voltages. RED JACKS are pulse input/output jacks and are used to turn aodules on and off, have thea step through stages and control the tiaing of various functions. OTHER COLOR JACKS are special jacks whose function will be described individually. ELECTRONIC MUSIC TREDRY 3-10LEARNING PATCH NUMBER THO STEP ONE ouput manner (ote: The output aixer should be set the save as in the First Learning Patch. In this section, block ‘izgrans will be used to represent the patches, Each aodule is represented a5 a block. Its signal output is fron the right side of the block. Signal inputs are stown going in to the left side of the block. Control voltage inputs go in to the bottoa of the block, and control voltage outputs are shown cosing off ‘the top of the black. Each of these inputs/outputs will be labelled on the diagraa. Ary special pot settings necessary to aake the patch work will be listed below the diagraa. On soue of the diagrzas drawings of the waveforas will be drawn nest to the appropriate patchcord.) There are two basic oscillators in the Serge systes: the New Tiabral Oscillator and the Precision VCO. They are identical oscillators except for soue control and output functions unique to each. This discussion will concentrate on the New Tiabral Oscillator but you can try it with both the oscillators. 1.1 Set up the above Patch on your Serge. The SINE out of the OSC ithe abbreviation *OSC* will be used from ‘ov on to refer to any oscillator, either a Mew Tiabral Oscillator or Precision Controlled VCO) should be patched to Input $1 of the Output Kixer, 4,2 O8ts produce repetitive varying voltages referred to as "waves". These waves are produced in different “waveshapes of which SINE, SAM, TRIGNELE and RECTANGULAR are the aost comson. én OSC can produce these vaveshapes at different frequencies. The frequency of a wave deteraines its pitch. The higher the frequency of 2 wave the higher its pitch. The shape of a nave deteraines its Timbre or sound quality. Fach OSC on the Serge provides 2 nuaber of siaultaneous outputs, all at the same frequency but with different wave shapes. eee SQUARE SLY swe IVY” TRIANGLE AVI SAW LEARQING PATCH NUMBER THO 4-1hile aust OSCs on avst synthesizers can produce maves across the entire spectrua of huaan hearing ~~ about 20 cycles per second to 20,000 cycles per second-~ (cycles per second will be referred to as Hertz), sone OSCs on ‘the Serge synthesizer, can go below this threshold. Maves of these low frequencies are useful as control voltages. 1.3 A Sine wave is the siaplest fora, Any wavetora except a perfect SINE wave can be treated as a coabination ‘of aix of siapler waveforas. That is, ANY wave can be analysed as a six of Sine waves of specific frequencies and auplitudes, 1.4 One way of visualizing this is with a chart that has the audible Frequencies across the bottow and anplitude on the verticle axis AMPLITUDE sSvsy 20 0 bo 310 Go FREQUENCY Note that the scale across the bottoe is EXPONENTIAL; that is, each interval sarked off is TWICE the Frequency tf the previous interval even though the intervals are of equal lengths. This is the way we hear, mith each octave having twice the frequency spread of the previous octave (e.g. 70,40,80, 160,320,640...) and yet these intervals sound iéentical to our ears/brains. The Exponential scale contrasts with a LINEAR scale where each interval is a set distance froe the previous interval. For instance @ linear stale would procede 20,40, 69,80, 100, 120,140. 1 ower ‘ e Xj 2X5 3x; HX, SK, OX; 7K; ete, * Ry EXPONENTIAL heen ellaane 7 > : x x5 a HT A RT ete 2 EXPONENTIAL TERMS LEARNING PATCH MUMBER TMD 4-2To notate a sound on this chart, place a vertical Line at the point where each component Sine wave occurs. The height of the line will indicate the relative aeplitude of the Sine wave. This vertical scale is also exponential and is seasured in Decibels. Though our actual perception of Loudness is not quite this sisple (we are less sensitive, for instance, to frequencies at the top and bottos of the scale), generally speaking, the higher the Decibels the Louder the sound. Far instance a pure Sine wave with the frequency of 440 vould be shown Like this: sees $5 ilo 20 wo Blo. 1.5 Most sounds, including electronic sounds, are composed of aore than one sine wave, Ke now have two ways of picturing a sound,: its pressure or voltage ave and its sine-vave spectrun. The *shape” of a wave refers to its voltage as can be seen on an oscilliscope, This is called a tise-doazin dsiplay. The spectrun graph is called a Frequency-doesin graph and is an analysis of the voltage aavefora, Below is 2 wave and its hypothetical frequency-donain spectrua. 0 sey $510 wo We... 1.8 To deteraine the overall shape of a wave fron its coaponent sine waves, the values of the coaponent waves AT EACH INSTANT are added together. LEARNING PATCH NUMBER TWO 4-3This also acans that if tuo waves of identical frequency but oF opposite “phase” Core goes up vhile the other goes down) are nixed together, silence will result. AsBee Phase 15 noted in degrees where 360 degrees brings a wave right back to where it starteé. 1.7 In theory, any sound can be created by adding together sine waves of the correct anplitude, frequency and phase, This is called “additive? synthesis or “Fourier* synthesis. This technique is of Ivaited use in the synthesizer because the muaber of sine saves would have to be trenendous. 4,8 Another reason that this technique is not often used is that aust sounds, and alaost al] ausical sounds, are conposed of sine waves in ‘haracnic® relaticnship to a “fendasental*. The fundasental usually corresponds to the apparent pitch of a complex sound ané is usually the lowest strong sine wave of the sound. If *K" 15 the fundamental and the ether sine waves are in a harwonic relationship to it, then there is 2 sine wave at D1,3K,AN,Kesvete, These sine waves are called ‘overtones* and they generally decrease in amplitude as they tet higher in piteh, Below is the spectrua of a typical acoustic ausical instrunent such as e guitar: LEARNING PATCH NUNBER TWO 4-4333 yo f0~« mo 540 18ND ote that the overtones seeu to be getting closer and closer together on the spectrux chart the further they get foe the fundenental. We hear thea in this fashion, Reseaber that the audio spectrua as we perceive it is ‘exponential, bat the overtone, or haraonic series, is linear! To calculate the positions of the haraonics add the fundamental frequency to itselt to get the first overtone; add it in again to the total to get the second harsonic, again to get the third and soon. An ecauple would bet Firsts 100} Seconds 1004100; Third 100+100+100; Fourth:100+100+100+100; etc. Thus it can be seen that the Frequencies are spaced at equal, absolute spacings, that is the haraonics fall on a Linear graph. 1.9 Besides the Sine wave the New Tiabral Oscillator also has a Sawtooth output, # Triangle cutput and a Variable waveform output that can put out a Square wave, or other waveforas. (The Precision VCO has all these cutputs except for the Variable wavefora,) Below are the voltage or pressure diagraas of these waves and the spectrua charts of these waves. [Lig TRIAWCLE sAwtoorn SQUARE Additive synthesis can be greatly siaplified by using these sore coaplex sounds since these waves will often contain the desired haraonics. 1.19 The Triangle and Square wave contain only the od harsonics tharaonic 41,43,45,47, etc), although the aaplitude of these haraonics decreases aore rapidly in the Triangle than in the Square, The Sawtooth wave contains bath even and odd harsonics that decrease at about the sage rate as in the Square wave. LEARWING PATCH MUNBER THO 4-5sll Try the different outputs of the OSC including the Variable output. The pot directly below the Variable output adjusts the shape and therefore the tindre. AVAL SISO . @ VARIABLE OUTPUT 1,12 Though all the outputs of the OSC are of the sage aaplitude, the saw and the square wave aay seem louder ‘because our ears tend te hear conplex sounds as louder than pure ones. All waveforas froa the oscillators have a4 to 5 volt peak-to-peak voltage, The Sine output is fron +2,5 to ~7.5 volts, Black jack outputs typically have this voltage range. The other outputs of the osc. have a voltage range of 0 to 5 volts (still a 5 volt over-all aaplitude). +S — 12.5 O ° —-25 BLUE JACK Bidck Jack 4.13 This patch uses the Precision Controlled VCO with the MI/LO switch at its LO setting to change the range Of the oscillator fro a range of 20 to 20,000 Hertz (audio range) to a range of .01 to 500 Hertz, Start with the Pitch pot at its furthest right position and begin slowly aoving it to the left. The pitch should get lover and lover until a series of clicks appears siaultaneous with the sound, The further left you go the sore ‘the pitch drops avay until you are left with only clicks. Because hearing only goes down to about 20 Hertz you ‘can no Tonger hear the frequency as a pitch, but the sharp edge of the sawtooth wave pulls back the speaker Cone each time producing the “click*, If you try the sane thing with a sine wave, you will hear nothing, for there are oo sharp *edges" on @ sine wave. But iF you can see your speaker, you will note that the cone 15, still aoving in and out silently and slowly, responding to the changing veltage. Most audio anplifiers can only go down to a certain frequency after which there will be no action in the speakers at all. LEARNING PATCH MUNBER THO 4-5sreP Ho ose outruT mopuLle 2st Patch the Sine output ot two OSCs to two of the inputs of the upper sixer of @ Dual J-input Audio Mixer. Nate that this aodule is a dual aodvle and that the top aizer is totally separate fron the bottow wixer. Patch the output of this aixer to the Output Mixer (GCA, UPAP, etc.). Each of the inputs of the aixer has a Pot associated with it that can Liait, or attenuate" the gain of its input. The output of this wodule is the sumaation of all its inputs at their assigned gain. 2.2 Tune the two OSCs so that they are very close in pitch and set their gains so that they are at the saae level, When they are exactly the sage pitch, they should sound lite 2 single sound. If they are a few Hertz ‘apart, you will be able to hear a *beating® between thee, The frequency of this beating is the difference in frequency between the two sine waves. 2.3 Try adding a third Sine wave to aake a tri-tone. 2.4 Unpatch all but one of the OS(s. Turn up its abser pot and note that the ear hears the sound 2s unchanging EICEPT that it gets louder and louder. This is comparable to the way the eye sees 2 photograph and its blow-up 25 identical only the blow-up is Larger. 2.5 Very few sounds in the world have a steady aaplitude or gain. How a sound’s gain changes is one of the clues as to what is vibrating, [t is one of the coaponents of the over-all feel of a sound. For instance, a piano nate gets very loud very quictly when struck, then slowly gets softer and softer. 1f the way this auplitude changes were altered, we would not easily recognize it as a piano sound, This anplitude shape is calleé the ENVELOPE of 2 sound, because like a letter in an envelope, the sonic inforeation is contained within ite 2.6 Because of the way our ear/brains process sound, the aaplitude of 2 sound aust increase exponentially in ‘order for us to perceive it as linearly increasing. For this reason the pats on the aiver are logarithaic, 2.7 hen the pot of the associated input is turned to the right, the sound increases in level. Turning it to the Left will cause the sound level to decrease, The shape of the wave and its frequency renain the sane except for this change in aaplitude: AXKOAA ODP : wsPuT, AMPLIFIED ATTENUATED LEARNING PATCH RUNBER TNO 4-7STEP THREE S.1 A FILTER is a nodule which aakes it possible to eliainate certain components of a sound, depending on its frequency. AS we said earlier, every sound can be thought of as the suasation of a nuaber of sine waves, each with a different frequency. The Filter allows us to Listen to those Sine waves in a sound which fall above, below or girectly arcund a Frequency set by the Pot Labelled *FREG* on the filter, 3.2 While there are a nuaber of different outputs on the filter, all outputs can be thought oF as different Combinations of HI pass and LO pass outputs, ‘3.0. LO PASS falter lets PASS through to the output al} those sine wave coaponents in the input sound which ‘are LOWER than the Frequency set by the FRED Pot. gag pr stead Lo, 3.4 Slowly turn the FRED, Pot to the left and the *hissy* sounds will start to disappear. As turning of the pat continues the wid-rance will disappear, and finally there will be nothing left but a very iow sound, the fundanental, of the oscillator. If the FRED pat is turned even further, it will elininate this sine nave as well, leaving na sound. 55 Re-patch the above pate using the HI PASS cutput. Now the Filter lets PASS only those sounds which are higher than the Frequency set by the FREO POT. It lets pass to the output only the High frequencies of the input sound, Starting with the FREO pot full Left and slowly turning it right, the fundasentel will drop out and then the aid-range. ONLY the hiss, or very top part of the spectrua, will be Left of the input sound. | u greq ~~ be Some Nath LEARNING PATCH NUMBER THO 4-33.6 In teras of waveshape the LO pass filter SHOUTHS out a wave, It finds those components which change the least. Matheaatically, it can be said to take the integral of the wave, A HI PASS filter takes the derivative of a wave, That is, the HI pass filter finds those parts of the wave which change the fastest. Below are sone typical wavefora outputs froe HI and LO pass filters: aA apa OAR to PANS ANAM 8 £855 3.7 fn *ideal” filter would not alow any sounds Higher or LOver than its cut-off frequency to Pass. It would ook Like this on a spectrua charts =] | a see IDEAL Mt PASS. But all filters fall short of these ideals, not only because no technology is perfect but because such filters fo not produce very ausical sounds. The cut-off sharpness is aeasured in db/oct with 0 db/oct being no cut-off at all and 40 db/oct being about as sharp as ve can hear. Nost synthesizer filters are in the 5 to 24 éb/oct range. The Variable @ Filter has a 12 db/oct cut-off, The Variable Slope VOF’s cut-off can be varied Froa 0 to 12 db/act using the second POT below the input labelled VC SLOPE. &b LO PASS CUT-OFFS LEARNING PATCH NUMBER TWO 4-9fnother phenomenon of filtering available on the Serge is called the "G*. Host filters tend to aaplify the frequencies near the the cut-off. The aore these frequencies are aaplified, the higher the 0 of the filter. In ost cases, the higher the G, the sharger the cut-off, Knocking on the table is a typical low @ sound fron the natural world, A drua head has a aediua @ and a bell has a high @. Lo @ med. Q wae 3.10n the Variable @ WCF the @ can be adjusted by using the POT just below the YOO label. On the Variable Slope VCF when the slope is set so that it is very sharp (full right) the @ is very high. Using a very AI O it is possible to *scan* through the overtones of a sound by slowly turning the FREO Pot of the filter. Everytiae the Freg. is the saae as an overtone it will asplify that overtone, 3.9 The BAND output of a FILTER filters out everything but a area around the Frequency set by the Freq pot. It is useful for listening to a single part of & ore coupler sound, Below is a diagra of how Hi, LO and BAND Pass are related to each other. bo mp se PASS 3.10 While HI pass filtering occurs only rarely in nature (a cheap transistor radio tends to be 2 hi-pass filter to ausic by cutting out the lows), LO pass filtering abounds, In aany ausical instrusents, 2 piano for instance, once the string is struck the highs tend to be filtered out leaving only the lows-~ the typical action of a LO pass Filter. The hunan aouth is also a LO pass filter and is responsible for cur vowel sounds, which again are LO pass Filter sounds. Tsll The GRIN pot on the Variable @ VCF controls the level of the signal input exactly Like the PO! on a wiser. Tt aust be turned up to hear any output. If the @ of the filter is set high, the GAIN should usually te turned foun so that when the FREQ of the filter and the frequency of an overtone coincide, the filter 1s not overdriven, (Soactiaes this is the desired effect. Even though the filter will overload, no danage will be one.) 3.12 The Variable Slope VCF has tno independent inputs which can be sanually “cross-faded” or ized together using the MIX pot, If IN-l is used as the input jack, be sure that the MIK pot is set to the left; vice versa for IN-2, LEARNING PATCH MUMBER TWD 4-10STEP FOUR ourror, mopole STEPS One, Two and Three could have been been set up in a classical ausic stutio. STEP FOUR begins the euploration of Voltage Control, a technique which extends electronic synthesis to its aodern fora, 4.1 Patch the SAM output of a Precision VCO to the VE-AIK or VOF input of a second OSC, either 2 PCD or NTO. The PCO is used as the first OSC because it has a range switch allowing it to oscillate at very Low frequencies. This range switch should be set to LO, 4 SAM wave is a voltage which rises rou 0 to 5 volts and then swiftly drops back to 0 volts. It does this over and over again. then an OSC is voltage controlled it is Like TURNING its FREQ pot by RENOTE CONTROL. When this controlling frequency is rising it is exactly Like turning the FREO pot to the right. When the contralling voltage 42115, it is like turning the FREY pot to the left. 4.2 Turn the VC AUL or the VEF POT on the second OSC full right and the GAIN up on the audio aixer until the sweeping sounds of the oscillator can be heard. The sound will rise higher and higher and suddenly fall back to a very low sound only to begin rising again, The pitch is produced by the secand ascillater, The first ‘oscillator’s Saltooth wave is causing it to rise and then swiftly fall. This is a stylised picture of the pressure wave being produced: He oF ose ea os 27 ose ‘ aor PAPAS Ege od © OAR AAA Bry ore Swe LEARNING PATCH NUMBER TWO 4-1!1f the TRIANGLE or SIME output of the First OSC are used instead of the SAM, the following waveshapes are produced. These can be heard as different patterns of rising and falling pitches. To AAALAC, UU DULATING TeIANeLE, WANE, magouLAaTine swe WAS Cae Be eate! 4.3 Increase the first oscillator’s frequency slowly, Listening carefully to the results. At First the ‘sweeping will get faster and faster until a frequency approaching 20 Hertz is reached, at which point the sound takes on a aulti-haraonic quality. This is called Frequency Modulation, or Ft, because the frequency of the second oscillator is being changed or *aodulated” at a rapid rate by the first. FH is a aajor technique of audio synthesis. 4.4 Set the FRED of the First O8C so that the sweep of the second takes 2 fen seconds. fs the Pot associated with the control voltage input on the second OSC is aoved frou its full right position to a 12 o'clock setting, the sweaps will become shallower and shallower, although the tiae they tate reaains the sanz. fs this Pot 15 turned to the left, the sweeps will have a greater and greater gain but an inverted one. Whereas a Pot set to the right causes the sweep to go upward and thes suddenly fall downward, when it is set to the loft the sweep is downward and the juap up. Control voltage inputs that have Pots of this type associated wth thea are called “Processed Inputs". These Pots control a device internal to the aodule vhich can aaplify, attenuate and/or invert a control voltage input. It is because of their extreae usefulness that they are they are the typical control voltage inputs of the Serge, The Serge also has Processor Modules which can be patched to serve the sage function. LEARNING PATCH NURBER THO &Below are some of the possible outputs of a Processor with a SAV input. io 5 ocLock ad 1 Force, SS ot croc NAAN 7 o'ev0en 4,5 By setting the first OSC to HI (its range is switched to 20 to 20,000 Hertz, the audio range), an extresely wide range of sounds is possible with different cosbinations of FREQ and Processing pot settings an the tro OSts, This range can be extended even further by using different waveforas. The First OSC is referred to as ‘the Modulator (or the signal, a tere fron radio broadcasting); the second OSC is referred to as the Modulated oscillator, or the Carrier. The setting of the processor, which deteraines the relative gain of the two OSCs, 4s called the Index, The frequency of the two oscillators and the setting of the Index deteraine the output of the sodulated OSC. While the nathesatics of FA is not siaple, particularly with waveforas other than Sine vives, in general the spectrua of the output looks sosething like this: Sewage The frequency of the Modulated OSC sets the center Frequency. There is an ‘overtone’ or “undertone? every " Hertz where “f* is the Frequency of the Modulator. The aaplitude of these over /under-tones is determined by ‘the Index and the frequencies of the oscillators. The overall shape of the aaplitudes 1s butterfly and 1s called a fessel function. In FH, sub-haraonics which would al] below 0 Hertz are "folded back* up to thetr “absolute” value. If the Modulated OSC is set at 200 Hertz and the Modulating OSC is at 60 Hertz then there should be sub-haraanics at 140, 80, 20, -40 and -100 Hertz, However these will be heard as 140, 100, 80, 40, and 20 Hertz, LEARNING PATCH NUMER THO 4Such aathenatical descriptions, while interesting, are not vital to electronic music. Working with the synthesizer is rather Like clay sculpture--you can work at the scund until it is right. Keeping in aind that the output of an OSC, either aodulated or unmodulated, is a varying voltage, and that such voltages can be used to control the frequency of other OSCs there are innuserable coaplex patches available to the synthesist. 7 . ee ose |_fevneue [+e(] 4.6 IV/OCT. The AV/OCT control voltage on the oscillators is an extrenely precise contral voltage input wose effect is calibrated with detailed attention, The relationship of input voltage to output frequency 5 this: For every velt increase at the 1Y/0CT input the OSC will rise EXACTLY one octave. One reason that such an input is valuable is that aost synthesizer teyboards and other electronic ausic devices have output voltages that are set exactly to this relationship, Bath the NTO and the PCD have two IV/OCT inputs. (The second 1V/0CT input on the NTO is Labelled Fortanento In, It has another function assoczated with the pot and Control Voltage inputs below it. For now the pot should be turned full right.) When two different control voltages are received by an OSC they are added or suaaed together, after processing, so that beth have an effect on the aodulated oscillator and yet do not interact with each other. LEARNING PATCH MUNBER THO 4-1447 FIN In the above patch, if both O5Cs are set to audio frequencies, very interesting shifts in tiabre occur when the Processing Pat is turned to different positions. However, shen the AUI-IN is used, there are also apparent pitch changes. ose ose ourput |x] Sune Fue oR iFM 4. In this pateh if the apdulated OSC is a Mew Tiabral Oscillator, then connect the sodulating signal to the IW-FH, If the Precision VCD is used, use the FA-IN, Sweeping the associated pots of these inputs sets the Index, The sound produced should be siailar to that produced by an audio voltage to the AVI-IN except that the over-all piteh does net sepa to change as the INDEt is changed. The FH-IN and the IN-FN signal inputs are LINEAR, that is, equal rises of voltage produce equal increases in cycles per second, LERBNING PATCM NUMBER TWO 4-15STEP FIVE AI) the sodules in the previous step could have been found ine classical music studio except for the voltage controlled oscillator (although even it as found in sowe.) It is a powerful group of aodules, with the ‘oscillators providing the basic pitch aaterial, the alxers adfing these sounds together and adjusting their voluses, and the filters altering the tinbre of the sound. Yet with only these aogules sany of the siaplest sounds and patterns in ausic could rot easily be achieved. In aost ausics there are discrete pitches whereas with the aogules in the last step there were only sliding tones. Secondly it was hard to get non-repeatiing patterns. The Touch Activated Keyboard Sequencer Module, or TKB, is a single large aodule designed specifically to produce control voltages. As discussed earlier, there is no physical or electrical difference between audio and control voltages other than that MOST audio voltages are between 7.5 volts and 42.8 volts, and a!) audio voltages are between 20 and 20,000 Hertzy while control voltages are between -12 and 0 volts, or 0 and +12, with Frequencies anywhere hetween 0 and 500 Hertz. The actual difference between the two voltages are the uses to which they are put, The saae voltage can be used in different ways. In one case it could be an audio voltage, in the other 1t could be a control voltage, However, soae voltages are siaply aore useful in one situation than the other. The voltages produced by the TKR are designed to be used as contral voltages. ose q were The THD has four rows of pats across, labelled A,B,C, and D, and one row af keypads, There are 14 coluans each with four pots (one free each row) and one keypad. At any given instant ONE and ONLY ONE coluan is activated and this is indicated by an LED (Light Enitting Diode) on the keypad of the respective coluan. These coluans will be referred to from now on as STAGES. Sul The aain outputs of the TKR are located at the top Left-hand section on the acdule, enclosed in a border. There are five aain voltage outputs (blue jacks) labelled 4,8,C,D and ABCD. Fatch the A output of the TRB to ‘the IV/OCT input of the OSC as shown in the above diagran. The OSC should be set to an audio frequency ané its output sent to the output aodules. Turn KEYS switch on and aake sure that no other cords are patched to the 18. 5.2 Touching keypad 41 activates stage #1 which is indicated by the LED that Lights on keypad $1, Turn the pat im stage 41 and in row @ (the top pat in stage #1) right and Left. The O8C's frequency should shift up and dow correspondingly. This pot is now resate-controlling the frequency of the OSC using a voltage that is appearing at output 4. 15.3 Touch keypad 42 and set its @ pot to a different setting then the A oot of stage 1. By alternately tapping Keypads #1 and #2 you can get the OSC to produce two different ‘notes* or pitches anthout sliding froe jane to the ather. This same procedure can be used to tune all 16 pots in row A. This is the tuneable teyboard. LEARNING PATCH NUMBER TMD 4-18The output of the IKB is NOT an audio voltage but rather 2 series of steady, or BC (direct current? voltages which are CONTROLLING the setting of the OSC (or whatever adule or paraneter the output is patcheé tol. The ‘SC is designed te respond to these control voltages exactly like it responds to the turning of its pots, Just as the notes on a singer’s score do not oscillate, so the voltages frox the TKB do not oscillate but aerely specify the OSC frequency. Below is a diagran af the voltage outputs of the TRB, and the OSC. NO OO, 2 wa" Ke ur | © 00 8 O68 0 © ma sais be active. The sane is true for Rows C and D. It is possible to use all four of these outputs (or as aany a5 needed) SINILTANEDUSLY a5 in the Patch below: Now at each stage the pot in Row A controls the frequency of the Modulating OSC while the pot in fow B controls tthe base frequency of the aodulatet OSC. Row A and B could be replaced by any two roxs. By touching the sixteen different Keypads and setting the appropriate pots, sixteen different sounds can be set up and recalled in any order at the touch of a finger. 565 LEARNING PATCH NUMBER THO 4-17Jn the above patch the processing pot associated with the AUA-IN processes the incoming voltage from the TKE, Below are soee typical processed TKB voltages ea +KS ae fee oureuT, | eRocessine. Por FULL Rica | _ gesgsine vor seosesine | Potton. 5.6 It is convenient to think of the TKB in this saner: All the pots in each row are tied to a common output output & for the pots in row & far instance) but only one pot is activated and that is detersines by which Seypad was last touched, Since there are four rows, four paraseters or aodules can be controlled in 16 pre-set ways and these pre-sets, or stages, can be accessed directly by the touch pads. LEARNING PATCH MUNBER THO 4-18Sue? SIX hen a piano note is struck, a bell gonged, a table tapped, an airplane flies overhead, a sentence spoken, 2 sink drained, an organ nate sustained or when any other object aakes a sound, that sound has an amplitude shape to it, an "envelope", that grovs louder and softer in various ways as tine passes, 1586. #36. PLANO eet ORGAN NOTE tm, BS V3ee AIRPLANE OUCEMEAD swe peawed. see, SEATENCE SPOKEN. In these charts the loudness of the sounds is aeasured in db (decibels? while the duration 35 aeasured in units of tier (seconds, ainutes, etc.J. The envelope refers only to the loudness of the sound, not to the frequency content of the sound, (We can again coapare this “envelope to an envelope which holds 2 Jeter and think of the content of the sound as the Letter.) Every sound we hear has an envelope, and this is one of the ways various sounds are distinguished froe one another. In this sense the envelope can be thought of as part of the tiabre of a sound. Even artificial sounds have envelopes, for instance, this is the envelope of a piano, reversed: 1 sec. BACK UBARD ‘Finwo LEARNING PATCH MUNGER THD 4-156N ENVELOPE 1 THE TRACE OF THE PEAK VOLTAGES OR PRESSURES OF A WAVE. =o Bike i —+- ENUELOPES The Gain Pats on the aixer, when turned frow Left to right and then back to the left, can give the input signal ‘an aaplstude envelope. The device or aodule that autosates this function is the Voltage Controtled daplifier {¥cA) or Gate and can be found both ab an independent aodule and/or as part of anst output wodvles. These fsodules are listed in STEP 46 of the First learning patch. Every YCA has @ signal input and 2 signal output and, Like a mixer, has a Pot which can adjust the aaolitude of the output in relation to the input without affecting any ather paraneter of the sound. In addition, the VOR has at least one Voltage Control input. As the control voltage rises, the aaplitude oF the output increases: as the control voltage falls so dees the output anplitude. The control voltage, in effect, turns the Gain pat of the VER by reaote control. 4.1 The Serge system has @ wide range of VOAs, but 4or the purpose of this patch, the VOAs on the output sadule ‘will be used. The signal input and output resain the sane, Each input has an associated ¥C-in, usually Tocated below or above the signal input (see the section on Qutput Mixers if your wixer is not aenticned in Learning Patch #1), Since Input #1 is used, YC-input #1 eust be used to control its gain. Make sure there are ro other patch cords connected to the aodule, The Gain associated with the input should be set to 10 o'clock. At this tiaey no sound should be heard foe the VCR, 1H the systen being used has 2 separate VCR aodule, that aogule aay be used instead of the VCAs on the output ie fea vow of Loe If the YOR is a dual of quad aodule eake sure that the correct inputs, outputs and YC-ins are used LEARNING PATCH NUNBER THO 4-204.2 Patch this patch: The Dual Universal Slope Generator contains to identical andules both of which will be referred to as a DS6. In these patches either one can be usec, The KP output of the TKR is in the saae bank of outputs as the A and B outputs. Tt has a RED jack which indicates that it is a TRIGGER cutput which is the third kind of voltage on the systea, Audio and Control being the other two, [L's function is to either turn soaething on or turn soaething off. & Trigger voltage is always either volts (its low state) or +5 valts (its high state). That aoeent when it goes fros 0 volts to S volts 1s called its "positive transition’ or “leading edge". It is this transition which turns functions on and off. All trigger outputs and all trigger inputs are RED jacks. It is possible in soee cases to use appropriate control voltages to trigger certain acdules, particularly if the control voltage has a sharp leading efge. (There are also a few places where these Trigger pulses can be used as audio waves if they are fast enough, or ‘as control voltages if a two-level contral voltage is desired.) If a control voltage can be thought of as turning a tnob by reste control, a trigger is like pressing a button or tapping a hey by reaote control. & trigger Looks Like this: eo ° Au exp ne ose’ TRIGGER Each tiae a keypad is touched on the THB, 2 trigger pulse appears at the KP {Key Pulse output. 8 will reaain in its HI state as Jong as the key 25 being touched, LEARWINE PATCH NUMBER TAD 4-21In the above patch this trigger is sent to the TRIS-IN of the OSG at the bottos right hand of the aodule, When this adule receives a Trigger pulse it produces exactly one VOLTAGE ENVELOPE. This voltage envelope is 2 cowson, siaple acoustic envelope sisilar to aany musical envelopes such as piano, guitar, ete. It has two basic parts: The RISE and the FALL. ‘hese two slopes are set by the two pots on the USE Labelled RISE and FALL. with these two pots the Rise and Fall tine can be set anyuhere frou 1/1000th oF a second to about 5 seconds. 4.2 Patch frou the KP out on the TKB to the TRIG-IN on the OSG and tap 2 keypad on the TKB, Directly above the ‘output jack on the DS6 is an LED (Light enitting diode-~ a seall red light) whose brightness is proportional ta the voltage of the envelope output. That is, as the envelope rises in voltage, the Light gets brighter. Set the Rise and Fall pots to about 11 o°clock. The LED should take about one second to go froe off to fully 1iE to off again. Different settings of the Rise and Fall pots will produce different timings. Set thes so that they produce an envelope of this typ pH Se 4.3 Conplete the patch from the output oF the DSS to the VC-in of the YCA (the VC-cantralled wixer will be referred to as a VEA when being used in that function). When doing so aake sure that the Gain pot is set to the appropriate setting. If there 1s 2 sual] aacunt of sound "Leaking" through, turn the Gain pot slowly to the Teft just until nothing is heard. Sone YCA?s (the UPAP, OHK, GCA, QVK, ang SHK) can be overloaded 1f the initial gain i set too high, This wil] not danage the aodule, but it aight overload your aaplifier or speakers, Use caution on these anfules, alvays starting out with the pot turned down, then increasing the gain vith the contral voltage applied until the sound 15 the proper level. LEARNING PATCH NUMBER THO 4-22‘54 Touch a keypad on the TKB, This will cause a nusber of things to occur simultaneously. First, as already ‘iscussed, it will cause the Stage of the TK that has been touched to be activated. At the same instant it causes a Trigger Pulse to be produced at the KP output of the TKE, This pulse Triggers the 0S6 to produce its envelope. This voltage envelope is patched to the VC-in oF the WCA where the effect is as if turning the GAIN pot up and then down by reaate control, As the voltage of the envelope increases the gain of the VCA Increases. When the envelope starts its Fall, the gain of the YEA begins to decrease. 4.5 In general the voltage controllable paraaeters of a andule are the sase functions that can be controlled vith its pots, For the CA, then, the contrallable function is its GAIN, where a High voltage to its VC-input creates a high GAIN and a low voltage produces a iow SAIN. Once again, any voltage can be used to control the Le 7 oe we. ven, SorruT This will be heard, if the contro} O5C has a low enough Frequency, as a kind of backwards sound which slowly gets louder and Jouder and suddenly cuts off ~~ only to begin again. Using a SINE wave as the controlling voltage produces this effect: 5.6 Slowly increase the frequency of the sodulating OSC. As you do so the sound will *beat* faster and ‘aster. Wren this beatieg approaches 20 tiaes per second (20 Hertz) a aore coaplex sound appears that 1s sonewhat similar to FM nodulation. This sound 1s called Aaplitude Modulation or AK. Like FH the sound is dependent on the Frequency of bath OSCs and the relative aaplitude betwgen thea, This relative aeplitude, or Index, can be set in the following aanner: \ ourruT ost wwovoee | ose LEARNING PATCH NUMBER THO 4-25,In these patches the GAIN on the aixer or YCA deteraines the Inder. This technique can provide a wide range of sound types fraa tromelo to a hollow reedy sound to very coaplex sounds when non-SINE waves are used, In teres of the frequency spectrua, if a sine wave aodulates 2 second sine wave, two NEN frequency coaponents are produced, one being the sun and the other the difference between the two original sine waves. The original frequencies appear as well. That is, if the two original waves are 60 and 200 Hertz, then the output will be @ ix of 40, 200, 260 and 140 Hertz waves. f uodule closely related to the VCA is the FING Modulator, which provides a third type of aoduiation along with FW and AN, Ring adulation is one of the oldest electronic music techniques and it is useful for producing coaplex and "odd" sounds sinilar to, but thicker than, the input sounds. In its aost basic aode 2 RING aodulator takes two input frequencies and outputs the su and difference frequencies ONLY, That is, if one input is 500 Hertz and the other is 160 Hertz, then the output is a 450 Hertz and a 350 Hertz wave aixed together, This differs fron AN in that the original signals are cancelled tut. If the input signals are compler, containing overtones, then every overtone of one wave 1s sumaed and differenced with every overtone of the second wave. 6.7 On Serge systen RING modulators the tno inputs are labelled X and Y (though in some ring sodulators these inputs aay be labelled as sieply #1 and 42, or as signal and carrier). The output is labelled OUT. The pat at the batton of the aogule is not a SAIN pot, but rather a pot which changes the function of the andule frow a standard YEA (full Left) to a RINS andulator when it is nearly full right. MoDULE ose The RING aadulator is often used in conjunction with sounds fram the ‘real* world ("eoncrete* sounds) to give then an electronic feel, In this case, the *concrete™ sound is fed to ne input of the RING and the electronic sound to the other. It can also be used as a kind frequency shifter where a sound is shifted to a higher or lover frequency. For this, a filter must be used in conjunction with the ring aodulator to filter out either ‘the sue or difference coaponent. This kind of frequency shifting alters significantly the haraonic relations cof the overtones of the sound being shifted. LEARNING PATCH NUMBER TMD 4-74Low pass SEITER Se TIN nar Recerca eh eee ETE Ee be omar ie” or 4.8 Sone of the RING sodulators on Serge systeas have tuo auxiliary inputs, Tabeled VC-¥ and VC-1, which act Like VOts for their respective input. They are useful for bringing out the original sound anidst the RINS NONRATED sound. slr or Pse Fae ws Ke Te The 086 produces one voltage envelope every tiae it is Triggered. This trigger pulse aay cone froa aany places on the synthesizer but in the above patch cae fron the TKB each tine 2 keypad was touched. The slope of the rise and {a1] of the envelope is set by the two pots labeled RISE and FALL. 4.9 While this voltage envelope is often used to control the aaplitude or gain of a sound, it aay be used to control any controllable aodule. In the following patch the envelope is controlling the frequency of an OSC: ost eureur Mopuce Wlect LEARNING PATCH AUNER THO 4-25,The following patch uses the TKS to trigger the 056 and control the frequency of the OSC. There are other features on the DSB and other ways of controlling it to extend sts use far beyond this siaple control function, TRIGGERING FROM OTHER WAVEFORMS. The DSG, and in fact all TRIGGER-activated devices on the Serge, are triggered by the positive or rising edge of the Trigger pulse and not by the falling edge or the +5 voltage level itself. Not only a Trigger pulse from a trigger output but any sufficiently fast rising edge will tragger the 095. The SAV wave output of PCO looks like thist AA Note that it only has a Falling edge and therefore cannot trigger the DS6. However, this wave can be inverted by a Processor. The saw cutput of the OSC is patched into any of the three inputs of the PROC. The associated pot of the input should be set full Left. Settings to the Left of 12 o’clock on & pracessing input produce inverted outputs. While Processors usually accept control voltages, they can also accept audio voltages. tee ence © @ ALL 19 [oe Pee a ps comme TEAM i sess, nr pt LERRNING PATE NUNBER THO 4-26If the C9 is set LO and the Frequency set very Low (to the left), the output of the processor will be series or ‘train’ of rising edges that can be used to trigger the DSG over and aver again, ate La] Fae Sone processors have an OFFSET pot that adds a set voltage to the output depending on its settting. If the processor being used in the above patch contains an offset pot it should be set at its 0 volt position 412 o'clock). ‘he DS6 should be set so that the duration of the envelope as a whole is shorter than the *period® (the period of 2 wave is how long it takes to coaplete one cycle) of the OSC"s sawtooth wave so that a full envelope can be generated before a nev one is triggered, A DSG will not respond to 2 new trigger until it conpletes its entire Rise-Fall cycle. SELF-IRIGGERINS and DELAY. The BSS has an END output that generates a rising edge at the completion of each envelope ané RERAINS high until after another envelope is triggered. LEARNING PATCH NONBER TWO 4-27This END Trigger can be used to Trigger any triggerable aotule, including ITSELF. hen the envelope has cospleted its cycle, a Trigger appears at the END jack. Since END is patched to TRIG-IK, the aodule is re-triggered and the cycle begins again. This patch turns the DS6 inte an oscillator! When the Rise and Fall tiees are set short enough, so that the total rise and fall tiae is less than one twentieth of a second, this OSC is within the audio range and can be heard directly through the speakers, Jy adjusting the RISE and FALL pots different waveshapes can be achieved fron saw to triangl WVVWWN By using two DSG5 a delay can be created between 2 trigger ané the generation of an envelope or between successive envelopes of 3 098 that is oscillating. NING PATCH NUMBER THO 4In these eraaples the length of the second envelope deteraines the delay. this envelope is not *hearé* in any other way. VOLTAGE CONTROL, Naturally the DS6 can be voltage controlled itself. In this aodule different contro) voltages produce different Rise and Fall slopes and thus different Yength envelopes. The VC-IN has an associated T-way switch which allows for 3 possible aodes of control. When the switch 15 positioned to either RISE or FALL the control voltage controls EITHER the Rise or the Fall, In the center position a control voltage will control both Rise and Fall simultaneously. The VC-IN has an associsted controt voltage processor so that the control voltage can be aaplified, attenuated and/or inverted. One good place to get control voltages to control one DS6 is frou anather 056: =n 4 ser Fast: a ve-o8e, Ose SET stow: a Tea oF Varner cenere rae eanciores. wD SET very stow Tre 1" EWVELOPES WITH SUSTAIN, The DSG has an ingut Labeled IN which accepts 2 voltage. If this voltage is higher or lower than the output voltage of the DSG, then the output voltage will rise or fall ta the input voltage at a rate set by the RISE and FALL pats. This input is useful for aaking envelopes which sustain as long as the Trigger pulse reaains high. For instance, the KP out on the TKP resains at 5 volts as long as a Finger is held down on the keyboard. ose. LEARNING PATCH NUMBER THO 4-29STEP SEVEN then a piano note is sounded, not only does it have an overall anplitude envelope, but each haracnic or avertone has its own envelope. In aost acoustic instrusents the higher the frequency of the overtone the faster it dies avay. The lowest tone, the fundasental, dies avay last. This pattera is very auch lite closing down a fully opened LO PASS filter. Fasonncern ons, 120 anome [3am | AMHaRmon [SH AAA Tine ~Ane— ‘The control voltage applied to the filter sets the cut-off frequency. Usually the higher the voltage the higher the cut-off frequency, What sakes it easier to simulate ‘natural* sounds using a VCA and a filter is ‘that the anplitude envelope is often siailar to the *harwonic spectrua envelope". g E $ ‘ z $ 5 i 3 t Time ame angpuare FuUTER cyt-ore Ree Seve ore 7.1 The sisilarities of these envelopes combined with the tautology "if all the hargonics die anay the sound has died avay", sake at possible to simulate natural sound even without the use of a VGA. The cut-off Frequency of the filter should be set Low enough so that no sound gets through unless an envelope is applied. The envelope should be applied to the YOF input and the processing got should be turned full right. The envelope should be set so that it rises rapidly and falls slowly. If the two O8Cs are set to produce a fairly harwonic butt Bell-ite sound shuld rest ourrye | ese Lo] ose, ose EARNING PATCH NUMBER TMD 4-207.2 When this sane pate is combined with a UCA controlled by the sane envelape, and if the two OSCs are controlled by the A and 8 outputs of the TKB, the result can be an interesting keyboard instrusent over which the composer has a lot oF control. Sf liaitation of this patch is that the initial cut-off frequency of the filter 15 always the sane while the frequency of the OSC shifts under control af the THB. & way to correct far this is by patching row B not only to OSC #2 but to the 1V/OCT input of the filter. Since these inputs are very precisely calibrated, and since they are being controlled by the sane voltage, the filter and the OSC will "track", so that the cut-off frequency of the filter will follow the frequency of the oscillator. 7.4 This patch uses the THB in only one of its two aajor aodest the keyboard aode. It is possible to use'it in an autoaatic or SEQUENCER wode where different stages are accessed automatically. Near the upper right-hand corner of the THB is a CLOCK input which accepts a trigger pulse (it is red, indicating a trigger in). Every ‘tine the THB receives a trigger pulse at its CLOCK input it steps one stage to the right. If it is at stage 8 it will step to stage 9% If it is on stage 16, hovever, it “wraps around” to stage 1, Using 2 06 set up as a slow OSC ta provide trigger pulses, the following patch will step the TKR through its stages: LEARNING PATCH NUMBER TAO 4-217.5 For this patch it is helpful to set ali the pots in row A to different settings so that the different stages are distinguished fros each other. Below is a Logical evtension of this autowated TKB combined with the instrunent sound we previously developed: (| In this patch 956 42 acts Ike a clock for the whole systen, fs it ‘ticks* it steps the TKB along and simultaneously triggers the #1 156. 7.b 8 ausical ravback with this patch is the regularity with which the system aoves along. But since the 086 is voltage controllable, we have 2 way of altering the clock’s rate by using a row of the IKB to Voltage Control it. The speed of the clock now has becoue an intregal part of the "ausical instrusent* that was constructed by patching together aodules. By setting the pots in the row controlling the DSG, it is possible to set the tie at each stop- in other words, to control the rhytha. Furtheraore, row D can be used to control the Length of 56 81, the envelope to the VCA and to the Filter. With a thoughtful setting of the pots, 16 ‘different sounds in a desired order, in any rhytha, can be produced and repeated: outeur, mooule Rte LEARIING PATCH NURBER THO. 4-32THE QVERBLL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN With this Last STEP all three Kinds of voltage and all four sajor types of sodules found on the Serge have been used. The Three Kinds of Voltage: AUDIO YOLTABES: Black Jacks, 20 to 20,000 Hertz, Gutput voltage typically -7.5 to 2.5 volts. Audio voltages produced by blue jacks typically 0 to 5 volts, However, any voltage range, so Jong as it oscillates in the audio range can be used as an audio voltage. Black inputs are typically AC coupled, feaning that the slow or non-changiog aspects of the voltage are blocked. CONTROL VOLTAGES: Blue Jacks. Typically 0 to 500 Hertz but can be higher particularly in the case of FM and aM, Usually either -5 to 0 volts or 0 to 5 volts but can range aver -10 to +10 volts. Blue inputs are 1E coupled aeaning they respond to the full range including negative voltages. ‘TRIGGER or PULSE VOLIABES: Red Jacks. Either 0 volts or 5 volts with a fast rising edge between @ and 5 volts. Sone red outputs can hold the high Level indifinitely, others fall back to 0 in a set tine. Red inputs are triggered by the rising edge and therefore other voltages, such as inverted saw waves, can be used to trigger. Some re inputs control certain functions of a sodule as Tong as the voltage resains Hl, In these cases any 5 volt level will sustain the function, The Four Major Kinds of Wodulest SIGNAL GENERATORS. These sodules produce audio voltages as their output. The oscillators are erauples of this kind of aodule, The Noise Source aodule is another. CONTROL VOLTAGE GENERATORS, These aodules produce control voltages as outputs. Envelope generators and sequencers are exaaples of this type of sotule. AUDIO PROCESSORS. These aodules input audio voltages, operate on these voltages and output a relates ‘audio voltage. Filters are an exaaple af audio processors. In general they operate on the tiabre of the ‘sound. Anather type of audio processor inputs two or wore audio signals and cosbines thea in various fashions. Mixers and ring aodulators are exanples of this type of andule. ‘VOLTAGE PROCESSORS. These andules input a control voltage and output a related control voltage. & processor is an exaaple, in which case a control voltage is the input. The output aight be the sane voltage inverted. A Fifth type of aodule that has not been dealt with yet is an Audio-to-Control-Voltage converter. One example aight be 2 aodule that inputs an audio signal and outputs a control voltage representing the envelope of that sound. Such @ aodule is called an envelope follower. Once the concept and basic principles of these five types of modules are understood, an infinite array of new insteonents* can be ade or ‘patched* out of the acdules available on the Serge. ew aodules, once their basic type is deterained and their internal workings understood, can be easily added to existing aodules. in ‘general, andules of the sane type can be substituted for each other. Each of the next five chapters will cover one of these five types of andules, presenting andules ané functions ot yet covered, Tt 1s suggested that each aodule be explored as it is presented by setting up patches using it with aodules already understood. THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM S-tSIGNAL SOURCES OSCILLATORS, oth the NTO (New Tiatral Oscillator) and the PCO (Precision Controlled Oscillator) have been treated earlier in this sanual as to their ability to generate audio frequencies. Both the NTO ané the PCO ‘have an input Labelled *SYNC*. This input allous two OSCs to be Jocked together so that they will not drift apart in frequency, Two OSCs that have drifted just 2 fox Hertz apart can cause a “beating* to occur at their difference frequency. Sonetines this 1s the desired effect, producing a choral quality ta the sound. When using the SYNC, one OSC is locked to the fundasental OR to a strong overtone of 2 second OSC. Locking onto an ‘overtone is useful in the setting up of chords, In the above patch OSC 42 is locked to OSC #1. It cannot drift, An interesting phenovenon occurs 1f OSC #1 is set very low and its SAM wave is used to SYNC OSC #2. 1f OSC 42 is now swept upwards over its range, either using its pot or a control voltage, you will hear it Locking onto one overtane after another, creating & “just-intoned™ stepped scale, ey seTsiow WHITE and FINK NOISE, White noise i5 a cosplex wave in which ALL frequencies appear aixed together. The sound {5 a sort of hissing sound, Since it contains all frequencies it can be Filtered in various fashions to produce bands of sound in aany different frequencies. This is the ultiaate saterial for subtractive synthesis. It is also useful for producing percussion sounds such as snare éruss, WHITE WOKE THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERSE SYSTEM 5-2Pink noise 15 like White noise except that it sounds lower, aore Like a waterfall. The low frequencies have sore anplitute. RINGING FILTER, The VCFA can be ‘rung* auch Like a gong, with a trigger pulse to the TRIG-IN. By adjusting ‘the FRED, eifferent pitches can be achieved. Adjusting the O will alter the sound froa percussive clicks to bell-Iike sounds. the output 15 2 daaped SINE wave. Damrer waves his technique can be used when other signals are applied to the INPUT of the filter to produce a wide range of interesting sounds. SLOPE SENERATOR. As already discussed, the USE, can be patched to trigger itsel¥ to produce an OSC. the frequency is set by adjusting the Rise and Fall tiae either with the pots or with a control voltage, The 0S6 ‘can have 2 voltage controlled wave shape if the switch on the VC-in is set to either RISE or FALL. NA AYYW,. eset To: aaNet Fi sect THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM 5:AUDTO SEOUENCES. A sound source of a wore unusual nature can be found in the TKR. To use the TKB as a sound source the CLOCK trigger aust be well into the audio range. The cutput is taken fron either A, 8, C or D outputs and sent directly to the output or to a audio processor such as a filter, Each pot on the chosen row defines the voltage of the wave at one point, so the waveshape 1s composed of sixteen levels. The frequency is ‘one-sixteenth of the frequency of the clock, Interesting waveshape variations can be produced by adjustng the position of the various pots. POTS we Row A ser w oIFFeRENT Positions. A” voutace Pease FILTERED WAVE ene ALL DESIGN OF THE SERBE SYSTEM 5-4CONTROL VOLTAGE SOURCES VE and the 2RV8 (The Randoa Voltage Generator). Very often you will want a changing voltage. Either it won't uch aatter shat voltage it 15, of you aay want 2 surprise, Such situations cowe up when working with certain kinds of aadern music such as Stochastic or Aleatoric, as well as other ausics such as syaphony ané rack and roll. In particular it sounds aore “anieated* to have the tisbre of an electronic sound slightly changing in a randoa or non-consistent aanner. The Serge provides three kinds of randou control voltage: stepped, saooti, and pulse. These are diagransed elon Smooth nepal” STEPPED SU ULSI Tuii PULSE ‘The RATE pot at the Botton of the aodule deteraines the overall rate of change, a function which can be voltage controlled, The rate of randoaness can be controlled on the random aodule, and a Processor or a processing Input can scale the randoa autput to any desired level. The following patch is useful for exploring the possibilities of the sooth and the stepped randon outputs THE OVERELL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-514 your Serge has aore than one random andule it is possible to use a randoa control voltage to control the rate of the second randoa voltage. The pulse autput can be explored using the following patch to provide 2 randoe rhythai AER, The Extended ADSR is an envelope generator that can produce aulti-seguented envelopes of a aore cosplex variety than a single 0S6 is able to provide. In certain tinds of synthesis this 1s necessary, since few natural envelopes are @ siaple rise and fall. The ADSR is able to provide 2 four-part envelope labelleé Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release, as in the following diagras +s ATK stDEcay piesa 44 SUSTAW LEVEL A RELEASE: This envelope, in a general sort of way, represents the envelope of truapet or any instrueent which can sustain a nate at a steady level. The sustain section is settable to different Sustain Levels by aeans of 2 pot and voltage contral. In addition to these functions the ADSR also provides a delay that sets an aaount of tiae between the receiving of a trigger and the onset of the envelope itself, This is useful when triggering related ‘envelopes with the sage Trigger or Gate. The aodule is triggered by a pulse to its GATE input. Usually this trigger comes from a keyboard device such as the THB’s keyboard output (KP) which is a trigger that stays at a +5 volt level as long as a Finger resains on the key: +s oT SG a ‘THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERSE SYSTEM 5-6‘his sustained high Level will be used in the tining of the ADSR’s output. ‘he ADER has five pots, each with an associated control voltage input jack. These control voltages affect the sane segaents as the corresponding pots. The upperanst pot/control voltage input sets the length of the delay between receipt of the trigger pulse and the onset of the envelope. The further left the pot is set the longer the delay. The second pot controls the slope of the Attack in auch the saee way as the Rise pot on the SG, It too, is voltage-controllable, The third pot/VC-input contrals the slope of the initial Decay, which falls to the voltage Tevel set by the fourth pat (Sustain). The ADSR will sustain the voltage output set by this fourth pot AS LONS AS THE GATE INPUT REMAINS HIGH. In the case of the TKB’s KP output, this is as long as one holds a ‘Finger down on the Keypad. When the GATE goes low, the fifth pot deteraines the slope of the final decay. 7 ae - Emcen pawn & SUSTAINS SOUND: The ADSR functions in a slightly different fashion if the trigger pulse is applied to the TRIS input and not ‘the GATE input. When there is no input to the GATE, the output of the ADSR reaains at the voltage level set by the Sustain pot (pot 44). Wien the ADSR receives a trigger pulse the voltage drops to 0 volts fro this level at a rate set by the Release Pot (#5). The voltage then rises to the peak voltage at a rate set by the ettack pot and finally draps back to the level set by the sustain pot at a rate set by the decay pot, “ 9 TRIG +s out THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM 5-7Using both inputs, aore coaples envelopes are possible. For etaaple, during the sustain tive set up by 2 GATE pulse, 4 trigger received at the TRIG will cause a new attack to start. White in the sustain aode of an envelope, the AISR will respond to changing contro} voltages at its sustain input. This wakes complicated sustains possible. susTA TRIG ‘TOUCH PAD KEYBOARD on the TKB. The TKE can be thought of as two separate but interconnected aodules: the Sequencer and the Keyboard. The two andules can be partially separated fros each other by switching the KEYS ‘itch to OFF, She Keyboard provides the user with three voltage outputs. KV outputs a voltage depending on which Keypad was, Last touched. Each keypad is assigned a voltage such that keypad 41 has the lovest voltage, Keypad 42 the ‘second Jowest and so on up to keypad #16 which has the highest voltage. The voltage increase between any tee adjacent keys is equal and can be used whenever an equal-teapered scale is needed. A processor or processing input can be used to calibrate an oscillator to produce any desired equal-teapered scale including the western 17 divisions to the octave. +s nv ° Crom she Pressure output is a voltage proportional to the aaount of pressure applied to the keyboard with the ‘anger When used to control 2 ¥OA, it can act auch Tike an expressive envelope generator simulating the piano-forte® (soft-Loud). “HE OVERALL DESIEN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-8The pressure output works by using 2 capacitance detector. You will find that the position of your other hand in relation to the faceplate of the synthesizer affects its output, TRANSIENT GENERATOR, The DTG is a saaller version of the DS6, It is a dual aodule, the aodules being side by side, The Rise ané Fall are only voltage-coatrallable sinultaneously and can not be controlled separately. Each DIG has two outputs: a final pulse which can be used for recycling itself or for triggering another function, and an envelope output. ae He Ne Lert ore eho. eee COMPLICATED Soest EXTENDED RANGE VOF. A surprising source of control voltages is the Extended Range VCF (VCFK) which, lite the Variable 0 filter, can be sade to *ring" ~~ in this case, to ring at sub-audio or control voltage frequencies. The VEFY should be set to its LO setting, A trigger applied to its TRIG in, when the B is at a high enough setting, causes the danyed oscillation which is a useful control voltage for treaolo effects. DAMPED wave Jars THAT ERE: Senate consid When the BOND output of the VOF is patched back into its own input to produce a feedback Loop. the VCFK will oscillate, Sine waves are then available at its HI, BAND, and 10 outputs. these sine waves will be 90 degrees cut of phase with each other and are useful for creating stereo and quad panning patterns. ‘THE OVERALL DESTEN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM 5-9veex geTiLo LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR. the PCO in its LO setting produces voltages of sub-audic frequency. This ¢requency can be sade even lover by the application of a negative voltage, or a positive voltage inverted by its processing input. A PCO. NTO Vea | 6ET!t0 r) THE OVERALL DESIEN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-10‘AUDIO PROCESSORS, ‘here are tour aajor paths to analog electronic music synthesis. ADDITIVE SYWTHESIS: Since any sound can be shown to be aude of sine waves, it is possible to construct any sound by adding the appropriate sine waves together. While conceptually this sess to be the ost flexible taethod of synthesis, in reality it is a difficult and tine-consuaing procedure except in soxe lisited cases. Often it is aore practical to ain already complex sounds together, SUBTRACTIVE SYNTHESIS: The opposite of additive synthesis is subtractive syothesis. In its ideal fora, one can take shite noise, which contains ALL frequencies and subtract the ones not wanted, auch like the sculptor chipping away at a block of stone, Nore coasonly, the synthesist takes appraninate waveforas, such as catooth waves, oF 2 aix of waves, and "chips* avay at these sounds, MODULATION: There are a nuaber of electronic processes that take one siaple wavefora and aodulate it, oF alter it, with 2 second wavefora, This would include AM, FM and Ring adulation. The resultant waveforas are then often subjected to either additive and/or subtractive synthesis. WAVESHAPING: Maveshaping is a technique where a given wave is input into a device and a related but different wave is output, For instance, a siaple waveshaper is a "Rectifier” which outputs the absolute value of its input wave. ee sine wave BAAS Taance LXV eccrine, — LSA SLNAAN gecririeo, Site wave FRANCLE WAVE Modules that waveshape signals, add signals together, Subtract parts of signals, or that Modulate signals are called Signal Processors. The Serge systes is Signal Processor-rich synthesizer and includes aany processors ‘that are not found on any other synthesizer. Sa far in this aanual the processors dealt with have been Mixers, Voltage Controlled Aaplifiers and Filters. VARIABLE @ VCE (VCFG). The ¥OFB has all the functions of a regular CF plus 2 few unique features. NOTCH OUTPUT. This output allows all the frequencies of the input signal to pass EXCEPT those in = band directly around the setting of the FRED pot and control voltage. It is useful for reaoving certain sound froa a aore conplex one. Ame, FREQ. wore ouTPUT THE QVERPLL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM S-L1VARIABLE SLOPE VOLTAGE VF «VcFS): OO or RESONANCE. *O* is the property of a Filter where the cut-off frequency is anplified and fed-back into the original signal to produce a bell-lnke or ringing sound. Different levels of @ produce different tonal qualities. In the VCFO this function is both adjustable by a pot an¢ voltage controllable by the VCO ingut. AUTORATIC GEIN CONTROL. One of the prableas with 2 Hi-Gain O filter 15 that 34 the cut-off frequency hits an overtone that is higher in anplitude than expected, it can overload the filter and/or the speaker systee and cause distortion, The ABC keeps the output gain constant at the cut-off frequency and is activated by inputting the signal into the ABC-IN. The regular input UN} does not have an ‘NBC, but does have a GAIN pot associated with it to attenuate the signal to desired levels. Other than having the regular features of a voltage controlled filter, tthe YEFS has the following features: IXED INPUTS, Two inputs IN-1 and IN=?2 which can be aited using the MIX pot situated between the tro inputs. Full right allows only IN-Z to be processed while full left allows only IN-1, Pot settings: between these extrenes allow a eix of the tuo inputs, the 12 o'clock setting being an equal air. VOLTAGE CONTROLLABLE SLOPE, The Slope of a filter is the ancunt of attenuation per octave the input signal is attenuated beyond the cut-off frequency. Though an “ideal” filter has a 60 éb/oct cut-off or even greater) slope, this is not a particularly useful slope ausically. In fact, different slopes have sifferent tonal and tinbral effects which can be used with good effect, In the ¥CFS the slope can be adjusted either by using # contral voltage (the input has a Processing pot associated with it) or wanvally by using the pot directly beneath the YC SLOPE Fracessing pot. aA Fou ecu (> -18 Ob.) ETA EERTER (12 Pd eee wt rune weer (2-6 Db) ose [ae NIK use ose. 20F THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTER $12VARIABLE BANDWIDTH VEF (VCEZ). A band pass filter 1s useful for Listening to a part of 2 auch Larger sound, The nature of this band can be described by noting its Center Frequency ané ats Band Width, ean WITH eum Ucenren Frequenct The VOF2 allows the user to either aanually control or voltage control oth of these peraueters. The center frequency 15 controlled aanually by the FREG pot and voltage controllable by the VOF input (processed) and a IV/OCT VC input (precision calibrated to be able to track the oscillators). The band width is also controllable by voltages using the VE-B¥ input (processed), the 1V/OCT VC input (precision calibrated) and by a anual pot located just below the processing pot. | esourrer & & t 1 “me > + Gea Aa eee ROE 2 as The VOF2 also has four other outputs: LO PASS. The cut-off frequency being the LO edge of the Variable Bandpass. HI PASS, The cut-off frequency being the HI edge of the Variable bandpass. LO BAND. & faxed width bandpass filter whose Io cut-off Frequency is the 10 edge of the variable width bandpass. M1390, 4 tnd it ns ier hse at fee she ge th ate wet tape vance 64np etree ann L puns A Lower BAND Lo PASS THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-13,‘he VCF2"s output on al] five bands is flat, that is there is no resonance or 0, ané therefore 1s ideal for processing concrete sounds, or for studio use since the Filter does not change the quality of the sound that it is passing. RESONANT EQUALIZER (EO), An Equalizer or Coab Filter is a bank of band pass Filters that covers the entire spectrum and whose outputs are aixed together such that the agplitudes of each filter can be controlled. With this device the sound as 2 whole can be adjusted and balanced to suit. The Resonant Equalizer has ten bands with each band”s output being controlled by a pot that is labelled with the center frequency of the band, When the pot is turned to the right, the band it controls 1s aaplified up to about the 3 o’clock position (this is 12 b higher than the input signal). Past 3 o'clock the band is given sore and sore resonance, If the pot is turned to the Left the associated band is attenuated further and further. ‘The EB has three outputs. The £8 output suas together all ten bands while the resaining two outputs each sua together alternating outputs (the Lower jack outputs 61, 218, 777, 2.6K and 11K Hertz while the aiddle cutputs the other bands). ‘The bands are arranged in sevenths so that a false tonic does nat develop. @ Level pot at the bottoe adjusts the over-all gain of the output and prevents overload when the resonance 1s set high. These fixed resonant bands are comson in alaast all tiabres produced by ausical instrusents, and it is the skill of the violin or piano sanufacturer in tailoring these resonances that partially deteraines the quality of the instrusent. ORIGINAL SIONAL SOME POSSIBLE OUTPUTS TRIPLE WAVESHAPER. (TNS), The Triple Maveshaper aodule contains three identical devices which can be used ‘to convert santoath waves into sine waves and can provide a wide range of other foras of sound and tuabre aodification. The tiabre can be affected by a aanual pet and two different YC inputs which operate on the sound in two different ways. It is a useful aodule for producing interesting and changing sound tiabres, sonething difficult to achieve in other synthesizers. THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-14WAVE MULTIPLIERS (VOM. The dave Multiplier Module is a triple eodule that, unlike aost other ‘ulti-nodules on the Serge, contains three DIFFERENT sodules. Each of the three aodules operates on its input in a unique fashion, transforaing siaple sounds into ausically conplex and interesting ones, They should not be confused with such devices as Ring aodulators which aultiply their input signals in a Linear fashion ~~ the Mave Multipliers are highly non-linear in their action. In sany ways these aodules represent a new nade in the typical synthesizer patch. rar ven |-C| [e* wove |_sfeur LJ veal nd aver. NEw UPPER WAVE MULTIPLIER: The Upper aodule of the trio is the siaplest of the three, It has a switch for two different settings characteristics. In the HI setting it acts to anderately "square up* or soft clip the signal, The soft clipping is aaplitude dependant, producing changes in tiabre as the leans inreses Be weer “LS LS on Jn the LO setting at acts like a Linear VCR, a device useful for producing different types of AH sounds. contRot Votrace soump eur euT In both settings the aadule can be contratted either wanually or with 2 VC (control voltage.) ‘HE QVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM 5IDOLE WAVE MULTIPLIER: The Middle Wave Multiplier has two inputs, each producing a slightly different result at the output. One input is DC coupled and has a blue jack. The other input is AC coupled and has a black jack. A sine wave will sound the sage when connected to either input, but a triangle wave will produce different effects. These inputs can be used together to provide unusual effects. The general effect of the andule is to produce new odd overtones fro a sine wave ingut when the manual pot is turned or when 2 voltage is applied to the VC input. However, control voltages of complicated natures or inputs sore coapler than sine or triangle waves can create shiasering bodies DF sound somewhat resiniscent of over-blown wind instrusents. The VC input can accopt AC signals, allowing for coaplex eodulation, MANIA, BOTTON WAVE MULTIPLIER: Like the Middle Multiplier, the Bottom one also has tuo independent (but identical) inputs. Both inputs are AC coupled. The general effect of the andule is that of @ full-vave rectifier for audio signals, which aeans that negative voltages are "flipped" up into the AR OY THE VERRALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-16Such a rectified sine wave contains only even haraonics and is ane of the few vaveforas to contain ‘only these harsonics. The Botton Kave Multiplier, in actuality, contains three wavetora-transtoraing circuits in a carefully controlled series. Like the upper two wave aultipliers the aodule provides oth sanua] and voltage control over the ‘output. Unlike its companion aodules, however, there are tno distinct outputs, OUT 1 and OUT 2. OUT 2 provides 2 "squared up" version of OUT 1. CHCWOWWOWO), CMC our t One inpartant feature of this lower aodule is that, unlike sisple rectifiers, the aaplitude of the output does not decrease through succesive rectifications. fverall, these three ave Multipliers provide a aethod of producing tiabres as rich and as varied a5 acqustic sounds and yet having the precision and repeatablity of analog synthesis, DUAL UNIVERSAL SLOPE GENERATOR (DS6). The DS6 can function as a non-linear lo-pass filter essentially by softening the slopes of the IN signal. Generally speaking, the less steep the slope of a wavetora the fever high frequencies it contains. To accoaplish this the RISE and FALL tines must be set quite fast. Increasing either the Rise or Fall tive will increase the filtering action. meet Ps weTe: ALL uTeuT, shores e The eAsAe: THE OVERALL PESTON OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-17fecause the RISE and FALL tiae on the 055 is voltage controllable, when used in this fashion, the actule becoaes a voltage controlted filter. se bpaue SoF eas Closely related to this patch is the use of the DS5 as an ENVELOPE FOLLOWER. An envelope Follower is @ fevice or soGule that inputs & complex sound and outputs a control voltage proportional to the envelope of the input. 4 soun WwW VOLTAGE ovT To create an ENVELOPE FOLLOWER it 15 not desirable to exactly follow the voltage, for that will sisply reproduce the wave itself, perhaps with a slight delay or softening of the slopes. Rather, an envelope follower should Follow the rising voltages as closely as possible, but have a very stow FALL tise, shen this is done, the uppper edge of the wavefore alone is traced, this being the envelope, “Are oF Mars steer: FAST ESE Maen. flow ESE. SHE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-181H the OSB is set with a fast FALL tiae and a slow RISE tine, the B53 will follow the negative peaks of the sound, Usually these peaks are alaost identical to the positive ones, but not necessarily always. The negative envelope can be used directly to "shut down” a VCA, This can be useful for suppressing backgrounds during sotos and for inverting dynanics. Another use of the OSG is that of an SUB-HARAOAIC or UNDERTONE GENERATOR. This is accomplished by applying a very fast pulse train to the TRIG IN and by having the BSG set to audio frequencies. The 056 will not respond to a second trigger until its envelope is coaplete. If the duration af the envelope is set (aanwally of with a control voltage) Longer than the time frawe between the pulses in the train, it will ‘skip! one (or aore) pulses. If it aisses a single beat, the frequency 1s lovered by an octave; af it nisses two, the frequency is lovered by an octave and a fifth. Note that this wave has an inverteé trapezoidal shape. SUUUULILILILILL AANNAAAMAA cone SSN/IS/NISN/™ 1sT SUB- iow nd Uae ee PUR RMOI. It is sowetines desirable to shape the envelope so that it has 2 NON-LINEAR SLOFE. this 1s often the case when producing long sustained sounés or sounds that gradually change in loudness aver 2 Long duration. The 188, when patched to the VOR, will seea to have little effect on the loudness of sound at the start and the end of the long envelopes. This is because of the wide range of the VCR's and the exponential relationship between the voltage and the aaplitude, By “Feeding back” the output ef the B85 to the VC-IN and setting the processing pot to the left, the final ‘output 15 nade non-linear. This phenosencn occurs because higher voltage to the VC input causes the slope to decrease, so the DSG renains longer at the higher voltage Levels. 1 the processing pot of the 0S6 is turned to the right, the feedback has the opposite effect: the envelope becowes 2 sharper and sharper spite, useful for creating short percussive envelopes. THE OVERALL DESION OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-19COMPARATOR (COM): The action of this aodule is this: then the voltage of the *-" input is greater than the “4 input, the OUT goes high to 5 volts. Btherwise the OUT is 0 volts. The pat sets a threshold voltage which is added to the *# input. If there is no ‘+ input, this pot alone sets the voltage which the *-* input aust rise above for the OUT to go high. 7 wow IJLELELS This device can be used to create rectangular waves of various duty cycles. By inputting a saxtooth wave into the *=" input (which is labelled with a ‘sawtooth wave to indicate this) and inputting @ contro} voltage into the ‘4* input, a valtage controlled pulse width generator can be created. These pulses sound ike a certain kind of filtering or phasing. A square wave contains only odd harmonics but é:fferent rectangular waves contain ¢ifferent haraonics depending on the “duty cycle" (anount of ON tive to OFF tine! It is interesting to note that rectangular waves with duty cycles of: 1 to 2 have these harsonics sissing: 2,4,6,8,10 etc. (a square wave has only odd haraonics); 3 to t have aissing haraonics 344,912 vte.; 5 tel have missing haraonics 5,10,15,20 ete. » >A e = SULLA ‘he pulse outputs of the CON can be used to trigger any device on the Serge that requires a trigger pulse. THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERBE SYSTEH 5-20PAASER (PHA). When tuo identical signals of different phase are aixed together, various frequencies of the Signal are cancelled out or attentuated. Which frequencies are cancelled is dependent on the phase relationship between the two signals. *Phasing* is often created when a single sound arrives at the ear at two slightly different tines, for instance via tho different echoes or two speakers playing the sane sound, In these cases one of the sounds arrives slightly delayed because of the extra distance it aust travel. In rock and roll this technique is called flanging and was first created by playing the saae song on two different tape aachines with a thuab on the flange of one of thes, slowing it down slightly. Electronic Phasing is a related technique except that instead of delaying the entire signal the delay, and hence the phase shift, occurs only at one specified frequency, This phase shift can be pictured as a well sith fairly sharp sloping sides with a phase shift of 180 degrees at the botton. Two saw WAVES 20T OF PURSE @F'95° 20 22,900 HERT2 roRICIAL StenAL. TON (ize puase oF + ci SHIFTED s1ensaL 0 sep PuRSRL 20 12.000 AN le oie 180" FLANGED SioNAL. The Serge Phaser is a three-stage phaser providing outputs at each stage (360, 720, and 1080 degrees), however, the characteristic sound of phasing only occurs when these phase-shifted signals are aixed back into the original signal. (The shifted signals by theaselves are useful for certain spatial efects, ‘aking a sound appear te be aoving through space. Our ears are particularly sensitive to phase in relation to position as it is the phase difference between our ears which gives us @ clue as to direction.) A aixet output of the Phaser appears at the MIXED output, adjustable by using the aanual pot labelled MIX. Fell right is the unphased signal, full Left is the fully phased signal, The center of "frequency shift well 45 deterained aanually with the PHASE pot and/or with a control voltage (VC in), The YC In can be attentuated by the got below it. These controls are very precise and log-conforaing, allowing the frequency of the Phaser to follow the shifting of its input signal if desired, THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERSE SYSTEM 5-21This aodule also comes in 2 DUAL PHASER Module 2PHA). The upper phaser has 720 degree phased output as well as the aixed out, while the lover phaser has a 340 degree out and the aixed out. If desired, these two aodales can be strung together to produce a single, deeper phase shift. It has been found that if the ‘tived output is aited back in with the input signal an extraordinarily deep, resonant sound can be produced. QUAD CA. (GC). The Quad YEA contains four independent VCHs each with an sudio input, a voltage controt input, an output and a GAIN pot, These are logerithaic VAs and are useful for putting envelopes on ‘sounds, and for Aaplitude Hodulation, 2-VCA RING MODULATOR THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM 5-22‘OUTPUT DLING For three aillion years, in fact up until eighty years ago, EVERY sound heard by a nan or 2 wowan x25 rntegrally associated with its source. The sound of a lion inplied a lion, the sound of 3 snapping twig i 4 snapping twig, the sound oF soaebody calling out your nane iaplied somebody calling out your nase. This changed suddenly and irrevocably with the invention of the record player. The sound of a lion could now be a speaker cone vibrating. The sound of sonebody calling out your nase could be a telephone. Despite this recent change, me huaans stil] hear sounds as distinct entities. Even though all the sounds in a roe combine to fara a single conplex pressure wave which vibrates aur ear drun, we still hear the faucet ripping, the cloap oF shoes in the apartaent above, the cars wooshing by outside, the conversation 19 the other oon; and if the radio is on not only do we hear ausic, we can hear the singer, the bass player, the piano, the druas and even soaething else called the "hiss", All these separate "sound sources” are MIXED in the air to impinge on ur ears as a single complex wavefore, Our brain easily sorts thes out. This ability to sort different sounds is valad even with electronic sounds. & synthesizer can create tno different scunds, aix the together, and the ear upon hearing thea, can separate thea out again. For three aillion years not only could we tell that a lion was roaring, tut we could tell that the Lion was roaring over there, that the twig broke behind that bush, that soeetady called your nane behind you. It was possible to localize the sound in space. While it is iaportant to know that a big cat is around, it is just as important to know where. (You run the ther way.) A ‘sound entity” is located in space by hearing the sound twice, once with each ear. Because sound tates tine to aove thraugh the air it reaches one ear before the other ~~ just enough to create a phase Gifference. The brain can process these phase differences to locate the direction of the sound source. The relative loudness and quality of the sound help to deteraine the distance of the sound source. # phenosenon called the “Doppler Shift" helps to deteraine whether the sound is cosing of going, Because the brain discovers the curection of a sound by phase difference ané distance by relative loudness, location can be siavlated with two speakers, With two speakers appropriately placed the brain can locate a recorded Lion pacing back and forth. To accoaplish this a single sound is PAANED back and forth between the two speakers. A MINER is a aodule that adds together a nunber of different sounds and sends the sict outputs. & MIXER can be categorized by the nuaber of inputs and cutputs it has. yre to one oF sore A PANNER takes one sound and sends it ta two or more different speakers, fating ‘rox one to the other, This creates the illusion oF eovenent. A CROSSFADER takes two sounds and saoathly aites between thes so that 2s one sound decreases in aaplitude, the other increases. The Serge systen offers a wide variety ot voltage-controlied Gutput Mixers, aany of which also contain Panners, Crossfaders and voitage-controlleé Aaplifiers. These aixers also have at least one grounded output iack that an be directly patched to an aaplifier. Typically this jack is a Mini-phone, but say be Phone or REA, This shielded connection output allows the syathesist to run fairly long cords without picking up hu or crosstall: Hany of these Output Mixers also have sini-jacks which allow the synthesist to bring in externsl sound sources such as tape recorders and pre-anpélified wicrophones, THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM 5:DUAL AUDIO MEIER (MEK and MIK2). This andule allows a aix of three signals, each with its om level setting with an associated pot. 1-2 can accept either a grounded input fro the external world or a signal sree ancther Serge acdule, but nat both at once ‘connecting to the aini-ack will disconnect the banana jack input). Each of the two mixers on this dual aodule has an auxiliary input, TW-4, this 25 8 unity gain’ input, The input signal is aixed with the final output. These auriliary inputs can be used to create a -1N 1-007 aixer. QUAD VCA 90K). The Guad CA contains four separate, independent VCAs and provides an additiona} ovtout wix oF ali four VCR outputs. These VORS are arranged as parallel coluans with the outputs at the top of the aodule. The gain of each VoA can be controlled by a BAIN pot at the bottoa of the wodule or by a YC BAIN voltage control input. This input is used to control the overall level of the sound with control voltages such as envelope generators aed TKB outputs, On each VEA there 15 an AM control input of a lower sensitivity for anplitude aodulation of the signal. VOR #1 also has an EXT IN, a wini-phone jack inout that can accept external signals. The AIX output 15 2 mix of the four outputs of the VCRs and has both a Banana output for use within the Serge and a aini-jack output so the signal can be exported to other pieces of equiprent. fn AUX IM 1s provided, which is 2 unity gain input that is wixed into the final 1+2+3+4 MIX, This input 15 useful for creating larger configurations of atxers. SHE OVERFLL DESIGN OF THE SERSE SYSTEM 5-70UNIVERSAL EQUAL POWER AUDIO PROCESSOR (UPR). At the heart of the UPAP are four YEAS which, though they an be used separately, can also be used as dual VCR units, providing various panning, crosstading and fixing functions. Because of the range of uses it is the aost space-eftective andule for a saall Serge Systes. Below is a block diagran of the aodule. wot Ie W344 o 1-4 0 ach VOR can be used separately with signal input at 1,2,3 and 4 respectively, @ signal to input 142 will be sent to VCRs 1 AND 2 far panning and an input to 3+4 will be set to ¥CAs 3 AND 4, These “dual* inputs can be mixed with the individual inputs to the CRS. The output of each VOR appears individually at outputs 1,2,3 and 4 respectively. There are four aixed outputs: 142, 344, 1#3 and 244, Qutputs 143 and 264 have, im addition to their banana jacks. aini-phone sacks to be Used to send the output to external equipaent. These are the usual Left and right stereo outputs. Fach individual VER has its own VC anput located directly beneath its signal input. The overall gain of VOR 14 2 can be controlled by a single pot Labelled {+2 and its associated VC input. There is an Identical configuration for VOA 344, Lastly, the gain of the tuo pairs cf ¥OAs (1 8 2 and 3 & 4) can be controlled by the Pan/Fade pots and their associated VC inputs such that, if set properly, the combined gein of the two reasins the sane during a cross-fate between the THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-25PATCHES: 1. Four Was: Note: PAN/FADE Lots Ee Setoee OF TO 2, Two Crossfaders: Par/pape | 10 ottocK ve B44 USED: Pan/FADe: 2 O'CLOCK THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-263, Two Stereo Pannerst PAN/FADE: 10 O'ctocK te se4 Used @©@- Paw FADE! 2 o'cLocR ose 4, Four out sixers THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-27A Note on the PAN/FAL The PAN/FADE Pot and WC contro} allows the syathesist to achieve an equal power pan between two speakers. The typical pan in early synthesizers vas achieved by using two VCAs, one controlled by a Linear envelope, ‘the other controlled by the inversion of that envelope: veal K#-——| ose Vea }—] AN a This technique caused a severe dip in overall loudness of the sound at the half-vay point. The PAN/FADE contrat on the Serge corrects for this probles by keeping the total power (and perceived loudness? equal as the sound aoves fron speaker to spedter. This technique uses sophisticated circuits to compute the aaplitude of the sound at each speaker. At the center point the aaplitude of each speaker is down exactly 3 DBs. Siailar circuits are provided in the quad and acto panners to provide sulti-channel equal power panning. > 1 as “ PETIONAL SERGE, TRAIN EQUAL, FOWER Jo use the VE input to achieve a full pan, the Pat should be set, on the 1-2 Pan, just to the right of the position where all the sound is sent to speaker #2, A 5 volt peak envelope will then sweep the sound cross to speaker #1, For Panning between output #3 and #4, the pot should be set just to the left of the position (all the souné is in specker #4). The arrow underneath the VC input indicates the direction which 4 positive voltage “acves the pot”. 1H the pan/fade pot is set beyond these cut-off positions, it will increasingly override the control voltage action. For exaaple, if pan/fede pat 1-2 fs turned full left, nothing will te heard tron cutput #2 reqardless of other VC inputs. THE OVERELL DESIGN OF THE SERBE SYSTEN 5-20VOLTAGE CONTROLLED STEREO MIYER (QVM). The QVM is a four-in, two-out aixer, Each input can be individually ain controlled by a GHIN pot and @ YC gain input. Furtheraore, each input can be directed to either or both of the two outputs by seans of a pan pot. This panning function can also be voltage controtied by the VE Pan input. The arrow beneath the VC PEN input indicates the direction of the pan upon receipt of @ aositive voltage, Like the UPAP this is an equal power pan. a) e® @| ©0006 Pot SETTING FoR TWO ChaMEL PAN: The OWN has ausiliary unity gain inputs for each of its two output channels, These can be useé to create ‘an Bin 2-cut aixer by patching the outputs of one (WK into the AU-INs oF another OVK. The AUI-INs aso have a sini-jack input which can be used to bring external signals into the Serge. qvm i Jo The QVM provides a sini-Jack cutput for both the right and left channel, allowing the QM to be used as an cutput mixer. THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM 5-29ULTI-CHANNEL STEREO NIVER (SM1).The SAK is a 2K input, 2-out aixer where J rs the musber of Qual Stereo Panner aodules. Typically there will be three or four of these input andules. Each input channel is identical to the input channels of the QVM with individual gain control pot ané YC inputs and pan contrat (also in both eanua] and voltage control sodes). Each channel has both @ banana input and a sint-jack input to be used with external signals. The Stereo Gutput Module is identical to the GWN’'s output section in that it has a deft and right output and a Left and right auxiliary input (both of whach have bath banana and nini-phone jacks). In addition, the Stereo Gutput Module has a Naster Gain Contral which can attenuate all input signals siaultaneously with either aanual or voltage contral. SY omen’ CHAWNELS—-AUX-IN 1 CHANNEL oF SMX MULTI-CHANNEL QUATRAPHONIC NDXER (ON), The QAK is an I-input, 4-output aixer where { 15 the sunder of ‘Quad Channel inputs (fros 2 to 7). Each input channel can te sent to any of the four output channels, either with manual or voltage contrel. Each input channel has four AUR-INs which are deéicated inputs to each of the four cutputs, Each input’s averall gain can be contralled either aanually cr with 2 control voltage to its VE-ALL. The Quad Output Myer acdule contains four aini-jack outputs and four AUY-INs, one for each of the tutputs. There is also # aster gutput gain control that can sinultaneously attenuate al! four channelsy feanually or by voltage contro! to its VC-ALL, THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN1 WPUT CHANNEL OF QAX Each input has tno panning controls: frant to back, and Left to right. These panning controls are identical to the panning controls on the UPAP, QUM and the GMI (see these andules for a description of how to effect perfect equal pover pans) with one addition. Each of these two pans contains an extra Jnverting input that allows 2 positive voltage to pan in the opposite direction. ONE SOUND Moves Wes ONE soUND MOVES cow THE OVERALL DESIEN OF TAE SERGE SYSTEMTo achieve a perfect rotation of a single sound, two sine aves of identical frequency, 90 degrees out of phase are required. These can be obtained using the VCFI filter by patching the dang output to the IN and ‘setting the Filter to its low range. Sine waves 90 degrees out of phase are available at the Band and Lo ‘outputs, SwesPINe Asoun> ARouND FOUR SPEAKERS, The high quality of the OM allows rotation of 2 sound at audio frequencies providing 2 "spatial sodulation™ (8m). Sounds patched into the AUI-INs of the input aodule will only appear at their assigned outputs and only viten that output is gated open by the panning contrals. Pi cwamen 2 auneinss Ss) CIRCULAR, SOUND rece THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-32Te achieve a perfect rotation of a single sound, two sine waves of identical frequency, 90 degrees out of phase are required. These can be obtained using the VCFX Filter by patching the Band output to the IN and setting the filter to its low range, Sine waves 90 degrees out of phase are available at the Band and Lo outputs. SwErPING ‘AsouNP AROUND FOUR SPEAKERS. ‘The high quality of the OME alloxs rotation of @ sound at audio frequencies providing a "spatial nodulation” (5M), Sounds patched into the AUI-IKs of the input sodule will only appear at their assigned outputs and only Wen that output is gated open by the panning controls, Piowanmen 2 ava-is 2» AR 5ounD, EEA PRE SNP THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEH 5-32STEREO OUTPUT MIXER (MPD. The MBP is 2 4-in, 2-out aanual aixer that provides individual aznual contro} ff gain and output selection panning) for cach of its four inputs, it also has two AUY-INs that ablow the sizer to accept external signals (using the aini-Jack inputs) or to be converted inte a 2-1n, 2-out aixer using 2 steres output wixers patched together. TATRIK MINER (MAK), The NAX is a 4-in, 4-out aanually controlled siser. The level of each of the four inputs at each of the four outputs 15 detersined by the GAIN pot Socated at the intersection of the appropriate input coluan and output rov, The faceplate below has that pot circled which controls the evel of input 42 to output C. ach input has an overall gain control so that that input can be attenuated equally throughout the aix. THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-33COWTROL VOLTAGE PROCESSORS Because there is no difference, other than frequency, between audio voltages (AC) and control voltages (DC) it should not seea too strange that it is possible to have aodules which process contro] voltages in auch the save vay that there are andules which process audio voltages. Nor should it seee odd that these andules for processing control voltages are theaselves voltage controllable. These andules extend the range of shapes and foras that control voltages can have, and thereby extend the possiblities of control. It is the control voltage processors which ‘aold* the control voltages that deteraine the coaplex dynanic shifts so taportant to interesting electrenic ausic. The siaplest of these devices have already been explored--The control voltage Processors that are found on the contral voltage inputs of aany aodules on the Serge systea, These processors cnable the user to auplify, attenuate and/or invert the control voltage. EXTENDED RANGE YE. (VOFA). When the VOEX is in its LO, setting it can be used to filter out the haraonics cf sub-audio waves, Uhat is, of control voltages. Like audio frequencies, sub-audio frequencies can be described in teras of the sua of Sine waves of given aaplitudes. The VOFX can be used to filter out these waves either in a HI, UOy BAND or NOTCH Filter aode, The LO pass output will sound as if the filter is stoathing the control voltage. Nate that this saocthing function is voltage controllable since the frequency of the oscillator is controllable. The lower the frequency the sacother the control voltage becoues. In the Following patch the saoath randoa is deteraining the Filtering of the output of the TK. ee Ne Lo PASS OUTPUT OF YCFX DUAL UNIVERSAL SLOPE GENERATOR (DSG). The OSG can act as a Positive or Negative or Positive/Negative SLEW or Portanento device. & Slew is a device which slides froa one voltage to another voltage; @ Positive slew affects positive-going voltages (not just positive voltages, but changes in a positive direction), and Negative slew acts on negative-going change posirie suew ws Neserye THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERBE SYSTEN 5-14hen both positive and negative slews are present the device 1s often called a Portasento or lassande aevice. Because the DSG will Rise or Fall to the voltage IN, it can be used as a Positive and/or Negative Stew haiter. The slower the Rise or Fall tine setting, the aore that paraneter acts like @ slew. & Positive slew, for instance, would have a slow Rise tise and a very fast Fall tive. Because the DS6 is, voltaye-contrallable, it 1s 2 voltage-control able slew. BI-DIRECTIONAL ROUTER. (ROW). This unique triple aodule can be used in one of two wayss ONE-IN THO-OUT SHITE. fn input at B can be sent to either output Al or A2 depending on the state of Input AI-A2. If AL-A2 is HI (45 volts) then & appears at Al, otherwise it appears at A2e TWO-IN ONE-OUT SWITCH, Tf there is an input at Al and a second input at 42 then Al will appear at the cutput B if AI-A2 is Wl, otherwise A2 will appear at the output, Note that if there is an JAPUT at B there CANNOT be an input at either A or AZ, This would, in effect, short outputs together. bite in the above patches audio voltages are being routed about, control voltages can be routed in wuch a siailar way. However, anytiae there is an instantaneous change in voltage there will te click. mice pat At, Rost psc! rKe | Gal Fas ‘THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM 5-35UAL CONTRA VOLTAGE PROCESSOR (PRC). The Processor is to control voltages what 2 Mi voltages. It can be used to sue together up to three control voltages. Each of its independently be attenuated, aaplified and/or inverted, Furtheraore a anual offset voltage that can be adéed into the aix, This offset voltage is available at the cuts ‘even if there are no other inputs. jer is to audio three inputs can pot sets 3 fixed ut of the Processor SNQOTH AND STEPPED FUNCTION GENERATOR. (S86). The $95 is a dual aodule that contains two different and ‘independent aodules (though an internal coupler is provided). These are very versatile aodules that can be patched to process control voltages in a wide variety of ways. THE SMOOTH FUNCTION GENERATOR SLEW LIMITER, The Saooth Function Generator serves as a voltage contro}ied Slew Liaiter on its Input. The slope of the slew (both positive and negative) is deterained by the sanval RATE pot and VC input with associated attenuaticn pot. Lc] ‘TRACK AND HOLD, A Hold input is provided on the Sacath Function Generator. when this input receives Hi voltage it has the effect of HOLDING the present output voltage level until the HOLD input goes lov, 1f the RATE is set very fast so that the Suooth Function Generator follows its input closely that is, Tracks the input), the receipt of a pulse train at its HOLD will produce a Statrcase-tike series of voltages. : a ovreuT THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-26‘LOW FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR (LFO). 14 the input of the Saooth Function Generator 15 patched to the VOLE Jack, the output is a triangle wave whose frequency is determined by the RATE and control voltages, The CYCLE output will be a series of pulses with the sane frequency as the triangle wave utaet. ‘Wren the Seooth Function Generator is patched to cycle,the MOLD function reaains operative to be able to produce up and down staircase-like voltages. STEPPED FUNCTION GENERATOR SANPLE AND HOLD, A Saaple and Hold is a device which produces a discrete stepped wavefore froa a changing input voltage. Wien 2 pulse is received at the SAMPLE input, the voltage appearing at that instant at IN appears at STEPPED OUT and is HELD there until another pulse is received at SAMPLE, viven this process is repeated. TE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM 5:CORRELATION, The RATE pot and the VE input with its associated attenuation pot control the *correlation* of one voltage output level to the previous voltage output level. In the stepped voltage as correlation increases, each step aust be closer and closer to the previous step. SUILILILILIL. tte tat Low CORRELATION i ae Mi CORRELATION When the RATE pot is at a siddle position, and the input is a randox voltage such as the S/H Source fon the NOISE nodule, the output apprariaates the function called I/F. 1/F is @ randoa-Like function that describes the shape of natural coastlines, cloud anvenents and aany Kinds oF ausic. wen Kwown Coase bine Wh Sw 1/4 eunerion STAIRCASE GENERATOR, When the input 1s patched to the CYCLE jack and pulses applied to the SAMPLE, 2 ronplex staircase wave is generated at STEPPED OUT, deterained ty the pulse frequency, the position of the RATE pat, and a VC. ouTeuT eae ‘RANDOM VOLTAGE GENERATOR. It is sonetines desirable to create randox voltages to control the various fevices on the Serge, or, if the system already has one random voitage generator, it is sonetiaes desirable to have a second, Using the Coupler output on the SSE and the S/H Output on the Roise Source aodule it is possible to Patch the S86 to becone a randos voltage generator. THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-38COUPLER The Coupler is a comparator which is hard-wired (that is it is not patchable, but is pre-wired beneath the panel). The Coupler compares the levels at the Saocth and the Stepped outputs. Whenever the Step Function Generator is HIGHER in voltage than the Saccth section, the output of the Coupler goes HI. Otherwise, the coupler is LO. The coupler bas two identical outputs. STEP FUNCTION SmooTH EVWCTION _ ‘he S/H Output of the Moise Source is a randonly andulated sentooth wave. This form of wave is good for generating random voltages with sanple-and-holds. Since this wave is always going from 0 volts to #5 volts, there is an equal probability for any voltage to be selected. Since the frequency is, randos, it 1s inpossible to predict what voltage will be saapled. The S/H Gutput is patched to the input of the Stepped function generator, whose RATE pot is turned full right (low correlation). The output of the Coupler is used ss the input to the Sample on the Stepped Function enerator. This seae coupler output 1s used as the pulse INPUT of the Seanth Function generator, whose own rate is set fairly slow. The output of the Sacoth Function Generator 5 ‘now a continuous randos voltage; the output of the Stepped Function generator is @ stepped random voltage while the output of the coupler is a random pulse output with randoa on-tines a5 well 35 ‘onset tines. The rate of change is set by the Stooth Rate pot and its associated VC. me A \ AWA oo Ramettioy, Genera THE OVERELL DESTEN OF THE SERGE SYSTENACTIVE PROCESSOR, (ACPR). This aadule contains two separate and different aodules. The Lover sodule is a sisple processor that alloys the user to invert a control voltage and apply an offset. This sodule 1s useful for processing control voltages sent to andules without processing inputs. The upper aodule is the Active Processor. It has two inputs, IML and NZ. The output of the aotule is 2 ‘six of these two inputs. The VC input and the anual pot control this aix. A cross-fade between IM and TWD is dove by turning this pat from full left to full right and/or by applying 0 volts to 5 volts to the VC. This allows a saoeth change between control voltages, for instance, fro a sequence to a random voltage contral af an oscillator, or between an envelope and its inversion. When the pot is at 12 o'clock an equal aix between IML and INZ appears at the wodule’s output. This aodule can have the effect of ‘ultiplying contral voltages. @ voltage at IN2 will be aultiplied by the VC if the knob is set full left. This aodule is able to accept AC signals and can act as a Linear VCA as well as a Linear cross-fater between tno audio signals. ‘TOUCH ACTLVATED KEYBOARD SEQUENCER: (TKB). It is useful to think of the THR as composed of twa separate parts: The Sequencer and the Touch Pad Controller. 14-STAGE Sequencer, Only one stage can be on at any given instant. Each stage contrals @ specific column of pots, so that if stage #7 of the Sequencer is on, it activates all four pots in stage 47. In its naraal aoée the Sequencer will advance one stage every tiae it receives 2 CLOCK pulse. That 1 if the Sequencer was on stage 45 and it receives a CLOCK pulse it will advance to stage #4, If it is on stage #16 and receives a CLOCK pulse, it wraps around and activates stage #1. This function was escrined in an earlier section, There are, however, a nusber of other ways of controlling the Sequencer to produce elaborate ausical patterns. THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-40UP/MOWN, If a HI voltage is applied to the UP/DOWN input, the Sequencer will step DOVAMARDS instead of upward when it receives a CLOCK pulse. If it is on stage #1, it will wrap-up to stage #16, HOLD. If at any tise (either in its up or down aoée) the Sequencer receives a HI voltage at its HOLD input, the Sequencer will stop until the MOLD input again drops LO. This is useful for producing elaborate rhytha VARIABLE LENGTH SEQUENCES, Jt 15 often desirable to have sequences shorter than sixteen stages, or to have variable Length sequences. For these purposes two RESET inputs are available at the top of the TW. The RESET is triggered by 2 pulse froa other pulse outputs on the THE or by pulses fron other andules. In the above patch, to get the TKB to RESET to Stage #1 you aust farst touch Keypad #1, The nuaber of stages clocked atvanced before resetting 1s deterained by the Transient generator which is Triggering the RESET, Set this Transient generator so that about four stages are clocked through before RESETting occurs. If you tauch a different Keypad, say 47, you will find that the sequence resets to that stage. Each RESET input resets to the Keypad last touched, Using the above patch, and by touching different keypads, it is possible to produce an interesting interactive sequencer, THE OVERALL DESIEN OF THE SERGE SYSTEX 5-41foove each stage of the Sequencer is 2 Pulse output that goes high when that stage is ON. One oF their uses is to Trigger the RESETs providing a second way of producing sequences shorter than 1 stages. If the pulse out of stage #10 is patched to the RESET, the sequence will step through to Stage Wand then RESET instead of activating Stage H10, Hote that the sequencer will sequence ely to the stage just preceding the stage that is patched to the RESET and will not include that stage, eset y [80 cue TKR tn this patch, just Like in the previous one, the sequence will return to stage Ht only if that was the Lact keypad touchet, otherwise, it will reset to whatever pad was last touched. In the above atch you can get the sequence to activate stages 5,6,7,8,9 and then reset to 5 oy tapping stage 6's Feypad, By tapping different keypads different Length sequences can be ‘played', each ending at stage The two RESET inputs on the TKR are independent of each other though identical in function. By using ‘then both, two different sequences can be set up ant chosen by 2 tap of the finger, In the patch helew the Pulse cut of stage 7 is sent to one RESET input and the pulse fron stage 15 is sent to the ther. By touching Keypads 1-5, sequences are activated that start with the touched tey and terinate sith stage #6. By touching keys 0-14 siailiar sequences, but ones that terainate with stage 114 are Set up. bith a touch of a finger they can be selected, That touch also chooses the beginning stage of the sequence, }c VERTICAL SEQUENCER. The TKP contains a second Sequencer, this one in 4 stages, which is clocked independently of the azin 16 stage sequencer. The clock input for this sequencer is labelled VERT CLOCK, The VERT Sequencer’s output 15 labelled ABCD. Every tive a Trigger is received by the Vertical Sequencer it steps DOK one ROW. That is, if it was on Row 8, it will progress to Row C. After Row D it wraps around to Row A, The output at ABCD is deteraines by the pot that is in the activated Stage cf the Progeanser (as deterained by the aain Sequencer and the Keypads) AND in the row specified by tthe Vertical Sequencer. If the activated stage af the Prograsaer is not changed, then the Vertical Sequencer will have a four stage sequence set by the four pots in the activated stage, THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEN 5-42oven xetrap #7 Hin the above patch, stage 47 is now activated by touching its associated Feypad, the four pots 10 stage 47 will deteraine AKCO’s output. A particularly useful function of the this Vertical clock is that it allows the user to produce sequences of up to 4 stages, This is done by having the sain sequencer clocked by an external clock and faving the Vertical Sequencer clocked by the Trigger out of stage #1. The 64 stage output ts found at the ABCD output. Coneider what happens when the vertical sequence starts on Row A. Since the wain sequencer clocks through al] sixteen stages, all of Row A appears at output ACD. when the aain Sequencer gets to Stage #1, its pulse out, steps the Vertical Sequencer down one rom, to Row B. The Main chorizontl) Sequencer now wraps around and clocks all the way across, with the pot settings in Row B appearing at the ABED output, This will continue, stepping to row C then to row D until the 6# stages have been sent to the ABCD Output. The sequence will then repeat itself. FANDOM SELECT. 1f the Randoa Select is pulsed at the sage tise as the RESET, the sequencer will reset ton rod soe TOUCH PADS. The 16 Touch Pads can be used to interact with the Lé-stage Sequencer, or can be used independently. Sore of its interactive functions have been discussed already. It 15 iaportant to rote that the CV, KP, and PRESSURE outputs are always selected by the touch pads and not the Sequencer except when the Sequencer is in the Randow aode. when the KEYS Switch is OM, the Touch Pads ‘vill also turn the associated Sequencer stage on, IY the KEYS switch is OFF, then the Sequencer and Touth Paés will be totally independent unless the RESET inputs are used. Both the Ki and PRESSURE outputs produce the full range of control voltages, fro 0 to + volts. The KV output 15 equal-voltage steps, so with the proper processing, a {2-note equal-teapered scale can be set on the oscillators and Filters. OF course, other equal-teapered scales can also be set. THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTER 5-42ANALOG SHIFT REGISTER, (ASR). An Analog Shift Register is a sequential sagple and holé device, It 15 also referred to as 2 Bucket Brigade Delay. The Analog Shift Register available on the Serge has three stages, ‘though tho or sore aodules can be linked to provide Longer chains. Each stage of the ASR can hold and save a voltage which is available at all tiees at outputs 1,7 and 3. hen the device receives @ Trigger at PULSE IN the voltage stored in stage #1 is aoved to stage 425 the voltage at stage 42 goes to 43 and the voltage at #3 is lost. Stage #1 picks up the voltage found at SAMPLE IN. It as this action which gives the device the nane of the bucket brigade. Wwe. ost OVER-ALL ACTION RY YEN FRY i Z 1 Ne [S ae Zs me ST om STAGE ez PULSE OWE THE OVERELL DESIGN OF THE SERGE SYSTEM eed oe mat eS diet td bd Ko HHL EEE Ee