Sunday, 5 May 2019

225e - my notes regarding using this module

Some notes re using the Buchla 225e.- MIDI & USB decoder
There are 2 sections to this module.
The bottom section is the preset manager. The top is the MIDI decoder.

 The Preset Manager

 It's a pretty important module to have. In fact the 225e or a 206e should be the heart of any 200e system as they are the only two 1U Buchla modules to have a preset manager.
The 225e has the capability of displaying the current firmware version for any e series module in a system.


This preset manager allows you to save & recall most of the knob & switch values of Buchla 200e and 200h modules. Of course the system wont recall your patch cable positions (unless you add a 210e).
Any "e" or "h" module's blue knobs can have their settings saved.
Grey knob settings cannot be stored.

The data from each preset is stored under local memory.
You may store & name up to 30 presets30 presets.
Scrolling through the presets can be done either with a CV pulse applied to either of the banana jacks or by pressing the associated last & next grey buttons.

This is a cool feature as it allows you to remotely change the presets as part of your performance.

You will need to "Remote Enable" each of the 200e/h modules you wish to connect to the 225e.

The DATA button allows you to choose between naming and selecting the preset (indicated by the LED).
The top LED is the Global selection. This handles things like card formatting.
1.Global Mode
This top LED is selected by pushing the DATA button/switch till the associated LED lights up

There are 3 parts to this Global setting: Rem (Remote), Disp (display) , and Base Channel.

Rem controls the remote status of all the modules.
Disp sets the LCD contrast.
Base Channel: controls how the preset manager responds to messages 
received on the specified base channel

2. Name Mode
This is how you name or rename a preset (after it is stored in memory).
Hit the “mode” button (it's under the word DATA) which will turn on the "name" LED.
Use the next switches to direct the cursor and the data wheel to select the letters/numbers.
When naming is complete, push the “mode” switch (a few) times, until it returns to "select" on the LCD.

3. Select Mode
This is how you store and select a preset.
The top line of the LCD shows the current (last recalled) preset number followed by its name (if it has been named). .
The second line indicates memory locations for storage (1 to 30).


To store a new preset, use the DATA knob to select your memory location. then hit the left "store" button.
Doing this will store the current states of all the modules with the remote enabled LED activated.

To recall a preset, use the DATA knob to select your desired preset. then hit the right "recall" button.
The chosen preset appears in the top line (Current ).

 

The MIDI/USB Decoder

The second part of this module is the Midi/USB decoder.


This will convert Midi signals to control voltages , pulses, and clock.

These control signals appear on three kinds of busses:
1) Internal Busses (A,B,C.D)
2) Note Message Busses (E,F,G,H,)
3) Controller Busses (J, K, L, M, N, P)

Note messages are also applied to busses A,B,C,D (in addition to E,F,G, and H).
Continuous Controller and Clock messages are handled by busses J, K, L, M, N, and P.
Any number of busses can be assigned to a single MIDI channel.


1) The Internal Busses (A,B,C.D)
 These four busses are routed internally to 200e series modules that respond directly to MIDI messages.
 Each bus can respond to one selected MIDI channel OR you can assign the same midi channel to more than one bus. (This gives you the possibility of polyphony if for example you are using four VCOs on each bus).
There are 11 modules that (that I'm aware of ) which respond to these internal busses.
They are the 259e (VCO), the 261e (VCO), the 281e, 281h, (Function Generators) , the 292e, 292h (LPG), the 222e & 223e (Touch controller keyboards), the 250e (MARF), and the 251e (sequencer), 252e.
Pulses are routed to a 281e, velocities to a 292e, and pitches are directed to up to four 259e's or 261e's.

This is one possible configuration... 3 independent VCOs ... and an independent  250e.

There are two dip switches on the back of the 291e, 281e, 261e and 259e.

 This is the rear of a 281e
 The DIP switches are on the right

These dip switches have to be set to A or B or C or D.

The pic above is the rear of a 261e VCO.
The dip switches are in the lower left corner.
The modules' ID will be shown in the Preset Manager display.



Up to four 259e or 261e Complex Oscillators can be assigned to the four internal MIDI busses A D
Thus you can get up to 4 note polyphony if you use 4 VCOs.
To do this you need to assign the VCOs to the same midi channel. Then set set Poly/ Mono to Poly.

Plus each of the four sections of one 292e/h Quad Dynamics Manager and one 281e/h Quad Function Generator can be assigned these A - D busses if their module ID is set to A.  

The module ID is used to distinguish multiple modules. (Unlike the oscillators, the 292e and 281e Module ID is not the same as the Bus name; but instead bus A-D corresponds to the top to bottom on one module.)

2) The Note Message Bus (E, F, G, H)

These four busses handle note messages only, decoding them into front panel control voltages 
The 3 CV outputs corresponding to Pitch, Velocity, gate & Note on.(pulses with sustain information).

 3) The Controller BUS (J, K,L,M,N,P)

These 6 busses handle controller and clock messages which are translated into 0-10V CVs
Each controller Bus is divided into 2 groups: (a) or (b).....(two controllers for each of six busses)
Controller output bus P(b) is actually not a controller, but is a dedicated MIDI Clock output.


To select a Bus use the "bus select" buttons.
This will light up the LED next to the bus you have selected.
Then using the cursor buttons, select your DATA type.
Finally using the knob to the right of the cursor buttons, enter the data.

For the Internal Busses (A  to D) , the DATA types are as follows:


1) BUS ........... selects the channel A, B C etc etc
2) Channel - Midi Channel 1-16. (channel 0 = inactive channel)
3) Polyphony or Mono : (Note on).
     If Mono is selected in this field, then new note messages will cut off the previous notes and new    pulses or notes will be generated out the assigned bus. This is the default and best if you have a limited number of oscillators or want to assign each oscillator to a specific MIDI channel.
     But if you
enable polyphony, the bus operates polyphonically between A-D or E-H as notes overlap.In Poly mode, up to four note messages (note on, pitch, and velocity)are distributed betweenA-D or E-H busses but ONLY IF they are addressed to the same MIDI channel number.

4) transposition (Xpose) pitch - causes midi note-on messages to be transposed up or down (+/- 2 octaves). The units are in semitones (chromatically)  -24 to +24
5) FT = Fine tuning pitch (0 translates to the standard A = 440Hz) .Goes up to 99 cents
6) Vl. Velocity.
----------------------------------------------------------

For Note Message Busses E, F G, & H
The display changes:
1) BUS ........... selects the channel E, F, G, H.
2) Channel - Midi Channel. (channel 0 = inactive channel)
3) Polyphony or Mono
4) Xpose - transpose 
5) VEL = Velocity curves = (Envelope shape ?)...the display shows the curve shape.
Normally this info is sent unaltered to a 292e LPG but if desired, non-linear transformations can be applied to velocity.

Velocity curves are displayed graphically, with the normal linear response displayed as /, and other
responses displayed as slanted or bent lines. Reversed velocity responses are particularly useful for implementing voltage controlled cross-fading.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

When Controller Busses J to P are selected the data entries change.
You will see something like this:

1) BUS ........... selects the channel J, K, L, M, N, O.
2) Channel - Midi Channel. (channel 0 = inactive channel)

The last two fields specify the controllers numbers assigned to the selected bus.
PW (for “PitchWheel”/pitchbend), AFT (for Aftertouch) or Continuous Controller (CC) numbers 0-125
(Note: Typical preassigned CC numbers found on most keyboard controllers include 1 for Modulation/modwheel, 7 for volume, and 64 for sustain switches)

Controller numbers may be arbitrarily chosen, but keep in mind that some fixed controllers on
busses A - D are routed to certain modules internally.


If Channel is set to “Clock” (after 16 and before 0) a different interface is displayed:

The Div fields allow the 225e to generate 10 volt pulses based on rhythmic divisions of an incoming MIDI clock. The numerator represents a count; valid values are 1-8. The denominator represents a note length.

1: Whole note                                                     8: Eighth note
2: Half note                                                        12: Eighth note triplet
3: Half note triplet                                               16: Sixteenth note
4: Quarter note                                                   24: Sixteenth note triplet
6: Quarter note triplet                                          32: Thirty-second note

A pulse is issued after every count of note lengths. In the example above, 1/4 means “every quarter note” and 3/8 means “every third eighth note”.

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