Moog modular - Friday night Jam

 A impromptu jam last might. 

My mate Ed and I decided to play with the old Moog.

This hasn't been used in a while so it was good to see most things worked.

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The old VCOs drifted a lot so it was a battle to keep things in tune.

This is the old moog:

Who's the girl (playing that 1960ish Moog Modular)?

Above are some Synthesizer.com sequencers / modules

and other misc 5U modules

Patch notes:

The two 960 sequencers are synced.

The right is the master.

They control various filters, VCAs etc of Moog 

I'm using one sequential switch to add variation to the sequences

Its triggered from the 1st 960 and the Klee 

-------------------------

Two Q960 sequencers can be synchronized or used independently to create complex sequences. They can be patched together to create longer sequences, or one can be used to modulate parameters of the other. 

Here's a more detailed explanation:

1. Synchronization: 

To run two Q960 sequencers at the same speed, the clock output of the first sequencer can be patched into the shift input of the second.

Ie; Use the osc of the 1st sequencer to shift the osc of the second sequencer.

To create a slower tempo on the second sequencer, you can use a clock divider (like the Q962) to reduce the clock speed before patching it into the second sequencer.

2. Creating Longer Sequences:

By patching the step output trigger from the first sequencer into the shift input of the second, you can create sequences that are multiples of the original length. 

For example, chaining two 8-step sequencers in this way can create a 16-step sequence, or even a 24-step sequence by using the three rows of the Q960 

3. Independent Use and Modulation:

One Q960 can be used to transpose the sequence of the other, by patching the first sequencer's step output to the second sequencer's shift input and using its CV output. 

You can also use one sequencer's CV output as a modulation source for another, controlling parameters like filter cutoff or VCA. 

One sequencer can control the gate of another to create rests or shorter phrases within a longer sequence. 

4. Additional Tips:

The Q960 has a reset input, and the reset can be triggered at any point in the sequence, allowing for complex rhythmic patterns. 

The Q962 sequential switch can be used for various purposes, including dividing the clock, muting sounds, and controlling the sequence direction.

My 5U sequencer setup

 Currently I have five sequencers in my large format 5U setup

1. Moog 960

2. Two q960 synthesizer dot com  sequencers

3. Klee

4. MFOS sequencer.

The MFOS is difficult to clock without a mod.

These modifications often involve using a simple op-amp circuit (like a TL072) and a CD40106 inverter to boost and shape the incoming clock signal.

In some cases two CD40106 hex inverters connected in series may be necessary in order to give the gates and triggers being fed to the MFOS gear CMOS characteristics.

The op-amp acts as a buffer and gain stage to amplify the incoming clock signal. The CD40106 then inverts the signal and shapes it into a clean square wave that the sequencer can understand.

Till I get around to doing this I've found that the output of the MFOS sequencer drives the others quite well. Here is the basic patch.

Building the Klee sequencer - Part 3

 This is part 3 of the build process of the Klee Sequencer.

 

I've been intending to build this for many years.

It's a pretty deep and unusual sequencer which uses shift registers.

You can set it up to be two 8 step sequencers, one 16 step  se or an 8 step & 16 step.

There is a random section, it features gates & triggers.

It's been described as a Music Thing Turing Machine with more control.

These notes are just my personal record of the building process as I encountered it.

I'm not a professional technician.. just a hacker. I use these to help trouble shoot should I encounter any probs. If they help someone else, that's great too.

I've divided the build into 3 stages

Here are the first two pages:

Klee build - part 1

Klee build - part 2 

 

Links

+ Official build notes

+ Synthcube 

+ electromusic

---------------------------------------

 This is the top of the daughter board.

Im about to populate it with pots, sliders, switches, LEDs etc.

The slide Pots sit on top ..All the slide pots are 50K

There are 2 types of switches

27 x On-On

16 x on-off-on

---------------

There are 3 x 1M pots

& 3 x 100K pots  all linear

Im soldering some of the on-off on switches first.

I think they have the second highest profile.

The jacks are the tallest components.

Everyone has their own way of installing components so that they slot nicely into front panels.

I like to do it a bit at a time.

Just slowly and carefully make sure everything lines up.

The switches make positioning the face plate tricky.

Getting the faceplate finally on was a really challenge.

The shape of the switches makes it extra hard, but it finally went on

---------------------

I forgot to install the 1K resistor

So I added this on the rear of the daughter PCB

It made all the difference.

Finally, the knobs are all on.

 

 

Looks great and works too

----------------

Now that I've finished the building bit, its time to work out what all the controls do.

Much of the sequencer is pretty straight forward.

However there are some unique sections which need a bit of research.

 Invert B

 

A bit about the Invert B function.

We have two eight bit shift registers called A & B.

They can either be tied together to form one giant sixteen bit shift register or each of these shift registers can recirculate its own eight bit pattern. 

The 8X2/16X1 switch takes care of this.

 

Shift Register B has a switchable inverter on its output.

It's a unique way to create a 32 bit pattern out of a 16 bit pattern.

 

There are 3 modes in which Inverter B can be used:

A. 8X2 Pattern

B. 16X2 Pattern

C. 8X2 Random

 

A. 8X2 Pattern

     Shift Register A circulates an 8 bit repeating pattern 

     Shift Register B circulates 16 bit repeating pattern 

     Output A produces a unique 8 step Pattern 

     Output B produces a unique 16 step Pattern 

              (The last 8 bits are the inverted first 8 bits)

     Output A+B produces a unique 16 step pattern

 

B. 16X2 Pattern

     Shift Register A and B are joined together, circulating a 32 bit repeating pattern 

     Output A produces a unique 32 step pattern 

     Output B produces a unique 32 step pattern 

     Output A+B produces a unique 32 step pattern 

 

C. 8X2 Random

     Shift Register A circulates a random, non-repeating pattern 

     Shift Register B circulates a 16 bit repeating pattern 

     Output A produces a random, non repeating pattern 

     Output B produces a unique 16 step pattern 

     Output A+B produces a random-non repeating pattern 

        with a repeating element supplied by Register B

 

The inverter essentially inverts the active bits in the register as the sequencer steps along.

(turns all the high bits into low bits or vice versa)

 

You can get really interesting results esp from the A+B output.

  

-----------------------------------------

LOAD Bus 1

 

Load Bus 1

There are a few ways of triggering the bit load function:

1. Manual - press the top green button

2. load input jack... a clock signal from a clock divider seems to work fine.

3.  load bus 1

 

So it looks like Bus 1 can trigger the load function.

This doesn't always happen..

It only happens when there is a change in bus... eg the klee steps from bus 3 to bus 1 .

 

-----------------------------------

 

 

Merge

This is how you tie notes (legato).

You also un-merge triggers from gates.

 

"when the merge switches are off (down position), the gate of each stage will stay high for as long as our clock signal is high. 

If the clock signal has a very long “on time”, then our gates will be on for the same long period of time. 

If the clock signal has a very short “on time”, again, our gates will be on for just that short period of time. Already, we see an advantage here – the length of the notes produced by the Klee can be varied by varying the duty cycle of the clock" 

 

"The merge switches provide a way to manipulate the gate bus even further by altering the number of triggers and gates present on a particular bus, and by altering the width of the gates on a particular bus. 

It does this by ‘merging’ adjacent gate signals together"

The gate ontime (width) is now no longer proportional to the on-time of the clock

(Know the Klee manual).

 

--------------------

The CLOCK

 

The clock you use to drive the Klee is important.

Actually any fluctuating voltage ... random or rhythmic will do.

It can be a sine, triangle, saw or pulse. It could be an envelope generator, a VCO or an LFO.

The only impt thing is that its transition includes going from below 2.5V to above 2.5V and below again.

 

"Ideally, for rhythmic Klee duty, a pulse signal that can be varied in width would be ideal if one wanted to vary or adjust the unmerged gate time."

-------------------

Random input

The Euro Klee is a bit different to the standard Klee which needs an input of something like an LFO to work.

The Euro Klee has added a steady positive voltage which has been normaled to the random circuit. 

This allows for two modes of Random operation: 

No input vs Yes input.

"No input to the Random jack: 

With the switch down, the Random LED will not light unless you turn the Random Reference all the way down (to 0V). With the switch up, a voltage is normaled to the Random Level pot which then passes into the Random Reference. Set the Random Reference knob below the Random Level knob and the Random LED will light, passing the Random signal to the sequencer. This allows the Random switch to function as an on/off window switch when in Random mode".

 

Signal input to the Random jack: 

With the switch up this functions just as normally described in the Klee manual.

Flip the switch down and the Random signal will not pass"

-----------------

Links

+ Official build notes

+ Synthcube 

+ electromusic

+ youtube 1

 

building of the Klee sequencer - part 2

This is part 2 of my building of the Klee sequencer

The Klee is a classic sequencer.

Sometimes referred to as a "shift register sequencer", the inspiration is from 2 sources I understand:

Don Buchla's 266 SOU and Ken Stone's Gated Comparator. 

The Klee circuitry was designed by Scott Stites and uses two CD4034s as its shift register.

It's design has been adapted to Eurorack , 5U MOTM, 4U Serge & Buchla  formats.

 

Other modules such as the turing machine & the noise ring also use a shift register.

These are worth exploring.

Part 1 and 3 are here

Klee Sequencer - Eurorack format - part 1

Building the Klee sequencer - Part 3 

It's not a difficult build. Just a long one.

Links

+ Official build notes

+ Synthcube 

+ electromusic

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lower mother board is made up of a digital and an analog side.

Digital side now

 

 

R71-R78 --- do not install anything in these positions (leave them empty)

These are marked with a *

100K resistors first

There are 24 of these. 

They are 1%, 1/4W

R 23 TO R26, R30, R49, R52 TO R62, R81 TO R84, R89, R90, R94

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Metal Film Resistor 4.7Kohm 1%

R31, R48, R85 TO R88 

and R32 TO R47   these are the sixteen 12V LEDs ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what's the difference between a Klee and a standard sequencer?

As mentioned earlier ... this uses bit shift registers.

A standard sequencer can only have one step active at a time, but a Klee can have many active steps.

If more than one bit is active , the slider values will be summed.

 

 

R91 - bom says 270K

Was supplied a 270ohm 

I'll use a 270K resistor in the build.

 

 

 

 

 

Film Capacitors 100volts 1000pF

Six of these - C6 TO C10, C18

The 22K resistors ... there are 25 of these according to the BOM however they aren't numbered.

Through a process of elimination, the resistors are

R1 to R22, 50, 51,80. These are all 5% tolerance, 1/4 W

 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

Back to the Analogue Board

It is the source of the signals required for the Variable Range control options. It is also the board that directly interfaces to the power supply, and the board that involves all of the calibration of the Klee. 

 

Dont install this trimmer (R41) on the analog section of the mother board.

If any of the variable range options are installed, then you should refrain from installing R41. The front panel Variable Range Control will take over the function performed by that trim pot

 

 

I accidently installed the trimmer, and had to remove it later

 

-------------

 

 

It's time to install the ICs

The OP amps of the Analog board first

  .. 072 & 074s

Note W2.

This is a jumper. 

W2, is only installed if any of the variable range options are not installed. 

 

(Note that if you are using the older build manual they will mention jumper W1, which I can't see on this Euro board... W1 should only be installed if the power supply, for some reason, has only one ground connection.... as is the case with Eurorack. In other words, if you have a power supply with only one ground lead, install W1. This ties the analog and digital grounds together at this one point).

J16

J16 provides the signal(s) to the front panel Variable Range control(s).

In the old build manual, you needed to put a jumper here I understand.

The manual for the Euro-Klee  says

"You do not need to install any of these jumpers – it’s all taken care of on the daughterboard."

The CMOS ICs - CD4051, & 4066 x 4

------------------------------------------

The digital board

CD4071 - U3, Quad 2 Input OR Gate

CD4013 - u5 , Dual D Flip Flop

CD4053 - Quad 1 of 2 Switch -  multiplexer - u9

 

CD4093 Quad Schmitt Nand Gate x 3

 U4, U12 – U13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LM358 Dual OpAmp x 2.... U1, U8

 

 LM324 324 LOW POWER QUAD OP-AMP IC x2

U14, U15

 

CD40106BE Hex Schmitt Trigger x 3. U2, U10 – U11

 

Transistors 

Only one type of transistor is used throughout the Klee Sequencer – the 2N3904 NPN transistor, and they’re all located on the Digital Board. These transistors are used to drive the clock, reference and gate bus LEDs. There are six of these transistors.

CD4034 x 2.... U6 & U7

they're 8-Stage tri-state bidirectional parallel/serial input/output bus registers

 

 The board is pretty much done.

Now time for the headers

 

----------------

 

Putting the headers in is a fiddly process.

Here is a list of the headers:

Analogue Board: SIL Pin Rows --- J1, J3, J5, J6, J7, J8, J10, J12, J13, J15, J16 

                            MTA Headers --- J2, J4, J9, J11 (not placed in 2015+) 

Digital Board: SIL Pin Rows --- J2, J4, J5, J8, J9, J11, J12, J13 

                             MTA Headers --- J1, J3, J6, J7, J10 (not placed in 2015+) 

 

 

I like to line up 4 at a time and solder, then pull the boards apart and reposition 4 more.

 

Eventually, the boards should look something like this

------------------

This is the top of the daughter board.

It holds the switches, sliders, pots, LEDs etc.

Some of the sliders sit on top of some of the headers we just soldered.

Socket pin shaving time to decrease chance of shorts ..

TRy to cut them as close to the PCB as possible to avoid any shorting.

Ive added some electrical tape as well

 

To be continued.......

Building the Klee sequencer - Part 3

Klee Sequencer - Eurorack format - part 1

-----------------

Links

+ Official build notes

+ Synthcube 

+ electromusic

+ CGS gated comparator

+ Scott Stites_Birth Klee

+ Klee seq mods

Klee Sequencer - Eurorack format - part 1

Finally getting this Klee sequencer built.

The Klee sequencer is an exercise in the unpredictable.

It can be used just like a normal linear step sequencer but that would negate all the complicated circuitry inside.

 

Klee patterns are like "loose clay". That's one of the reasons for its name. 

That, and I suspect it may also be in honor of the artist Paul Klee, who's abstract paintings reflect this unconventional type of programming.

I think I purchased the kit in 2016 but you can still buy these from Synthcube

This is Rev 1.22D

 

These are the virgin PCBs

 It looks like one of the main differences between the Klee and  a standard step sequencers is that the Klee can have more than one step running at a time. 

 

You need to load the steps you wish to use. Loading just 1 step (actually a bit) will approximate a standard sequencer. 

 

Links

+ Official build notes

+ Synthcube 

+ electromusic

The LED driver circuit

You can load up to 16 steps or bits before you run your sequence.

(You do this by flicking the switch above the step "up" and pressing the LOAD button).

 

The output voltage of each of these bits are added together.

There are 3 CV outputs:

CV A Output: The output voltage of all the steps in the "A" section

CV B Output: the output of all the steps in the "B" section

CV A+B Output: the combined outputs of all the steps together

Getting back to the build:

Need 16 of these to match the sliders (8 on each side)

 

Slider LEDs in sync with bits: Cut/strip the included purple wire into the appropriate lengths and place them into the Step spaces

The board is divided between digital and analog sections.

Start  with the IC sockets

Analogue side first

25 x 100K resistors first.

R1 to R 25

They are all on the left of the board

These 100K resistors have a tolerance of 0.1%

These are involved in mixing the voltages from the programming pots.

Their tolerance will play a role in how accurately this is accomplished.

100ohm next

R49 to 57

Diodes 

There are three varieties of diodes to deal with on the Analogue Board. The 1N4148 diodes could be substituted with 1N914 diodes. The 1N4001 could be substituted by any other high power rectifier diode (such as 1N4002, etc). The BAT85 could be substituted by any low voltage Schottky diode (such as a BAT42), but be very careful that it does not exceed 400 mV at 10 mA.

 

 

There are 28 x 1n4148 signal diodes

D1-D28

UA78L10ACLP Voltage Regulator

The 1n4001 diode

Cap - Film Capacitors 63volts 0.33uF 5% - C9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Electrolytic Cap 4.7uF - C11, 12, C10 ??

 

 

The 104 caps - 0.1uF

There are 14 of these

I think these are just for decoupling

C1 - C8 & C13 to C18

 

 

Resistors The default value for R33 is 1K – it is used if the standard 8V fixed range is selected as the function of position 8 of the rotary Range Switch.

R33 is going to determine the maximum voltage that can be “dialed in” with the Variable Range Control.

 

 

 

 

100K OHM TRIMMER POTENTIOMETER CERMET 25 TURNS 3296W

These are marked 104

R42, R43

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Range Switch Position / Maximum Pot Range Voltage/Interval (V/Oct) 

1                                   0.333V, Major 3rd Interval 

2                                   0.4167V, Perfect 4th Interval 

3                                   0.583V, Perfect 5th Interval 

4                                   0.666V, Minor 6th Interval 

5                                   1V, One Octave 

6                                   2V, Two Octaves 

7                                   4V, Four Octaves 

8                                   8V, Eight Octaves

 

Fortunately, these values are adjustable using the trim pots. 

With the standard values, ranges 1 through 3 are adjustable from 0V through 0.625V. 

Range 4 is adjustable through 1.28V with the standard values. 

Ranges 5 through seven are adjustable through 5V 

Range 8 is adjustable through 8.1V. 

If one changes any of the divider resistor values for these ranges (R26 through R33),

it is possible to exceed these ranges. 

 

BAT85 Diode --  D30

D30 provides protection from any negative voltages that may be applied to the External Variable Range jack. This jack directly feeds the input of U7, which is a CD4051. The CD4051 cannot accept a voltage lower than 0.5V below its supply rail. D30 is a BAT85 Schottky diode that will prevent voltages 0.4V below ground from being applied to U7.

These 8 trimmers are marked 103

10K Vertical 20 Turn 3296W

Their designators are R34 to R41

These 10K trimmers are used for calibration of the Range Switch voltages.

The trim pot on the bottom left (R41) in the pic needs to be removed. 

So really you only need to install 7 of these

Some notes re the GATE BUS

As I'm building this kit, im reading the manual..... so this may change as I learn more.

Please shoot me an email if i'm in error.

 

It seems that the gate switches work on a similar principle to the CV section.

 

There are 3 gates/triggers which trigger when the switches for each step are in the up position...

ie when  the steps are illuminated. 

 

Gate bus 1 corresponds to sequence A

Gate Bus 3 corresponds to sequence B

Gate bus 2 is kind of a merge of both sequencers.

 

The centre gate bus 2 is a logical NOR function of Bus 1 and Bus 3.

That is, it will only trigger if bus 1 & bus 3 don't trigger (light up).

 

To be continued .......

building of the Klee sequencer - part 2

Building the Klee sequencer - Part 3

 

Links

+ Muffs - troubleshooting

+ Official build notes

+ Synthcube 

+ electromusic

+ CGS gated comparator

+ Scott Stites_Birth Klee

+ Klee seq mods