Triggering the VCS3 Envelope Shaper
The unit has Envelope Shaper (ES) trigger assignable to either a DK keyboard (if attached) or
any of the 4 midi gates (gate1-gate4) via a front panel rotary switch. How many of the 4
gates are available depends on the mode used (see above). E.g. in
Poly2
mode, only 2 gates
are available (gate1 and gate2). In
poly 4
mode (Quad Units only) or
Controller
mode all 4
gates are available to trigger the VCS3 ES.
Red
and
yellow
panel LED’s light when midi Gate 1 and/or Gate2 are triggered.
Gate 5 and gate 6 outputs are via jack sockets and offer Midi start/Stop and Midi clock
signals for interfacing and synchronizing with other external midi devices.
Using the front panel CV Scaling Potentiometers
CV1-CV3 can be scaled using the 3 front panel potentiometer knobs. These allow different
response to midi generated control voltages. Of particular importance is the fact that EMS
Synthi oscillators use
0.32V/Octave
standard
NOT
1V/Octave as on most other synths. For
pitch CV1 it is necessary to switch the toggle switch to the 0.32V/Oct setting and scale knob
set to maximum value 10. This will produce correct chromatic scales on Osc1 and Osc2. For
CV2 and CV3 you can either use 0.32V or 1V/Oct setting as you wish for different responses.
The 1V/Oct option is useful if a CV channel is being used as a modulation source rather than
give pitch control of a synthi Oscillator. Also if your VCS3 oscillators 1 and/or 2 are not
exactly scaled to 0.32V/Oct use the 1V setting and adjust the scaling pots until you get
proper chromatic pitches.
NEW FEATURE FOR 2010: precision multi-turn trimmers for fine tuning of
0.32V/Oct scaling of CV1-CV3.
On the rear of all Midi-CV units produced from Nov 2010 onwards, you will find 3 multi-turn
trimmers. These are adjusted by inserting a small flat head screwdriver. They are labelled :-
The purpose of these trimmers is that on many Synthi’s, Osc1 and Osc2 scaling is not
precisely 0.32V/Oct (unless its just been serviced). This results in out of tune /non-chromatic
pitch scaling even if pitch cv at 0.32V/Oct is used to control Osc1/2 frequency. These
trimmers allow you to get around this problem.
0.32V/Oct Adjustment
CV1
CV2
CV3
