MIDI->CV and controller

[T.J.]

jorgen.bergfors at idg.se wrote:

> Well, I asked for opinions on the Paia. Do anyone out there, that doesn't sell a competing product, think that the Paia is a toy? Is Paul right? He might be, but in that case nobody else seems to have realized it. Any comments?
> I have the impression that 8 bits would be enough, if you use a separate channel for the pitchbend information, and use analog portamento/glide. I don't require the Hz/V option.
>
> Any more thoughts on the Paia Midi2cv8?
>
> /Jorgen

    This really depends on your application, if the MIDI2CV8 is what you are looking for.     I built one of these as a replacement keyboard for a Minimoog. I
got the kit without the panel, as I wanted to use 1/4" jacks. The kit
went together easy and construction time was minimal. The instructions
seemed well thought out.
    As far as performance, under computer control it worked flawless. It
could drive two seperate Minimoogs with a variety a control functions, like VCF
or VCA. Very useful. It did fall a little short of replacing the
original keyboard. The unit doesn't remember but the last key down,all
other notes are lost. This can be quite challenging for playing the Mini
with an external MIDI keyboard. For example if you play "sloppy" as I do in
the heat of a solo,you can loose the note altogether. By going for say
the C note, if you accidentally brush the B on the way ,you can hold
that  C all day and nothing will happen, it forgot you were holding it
down.Sounds trivial, but I've
been playing a Mini since 1974 and developed a style.  I could hold 5
notes down as long as the C was the lowest it would sound. Guess I have
to play "clean" for it to work properly. That was my only complaint
about the unit. It actually worked better than I expected for my
application. It would do the classic Mini staccato-legato trigger
perfectly. As far as tracking/pitch drift it out performed the original Mini
keyboard hands down.
       If you do the Mini as I did, I connected the pitch CV out to the
Keyboard CV in, a 6- prong plug under the Mini ,this way the glide
circuitry worked. It also involved shorting the kbd V-trig. The pitch
bend CV out went through a 10k attenuator to the VCO in . You could run
the velocity CV out  through an attenuator to either the VCF or VCA in.
A cool effect the Mini never had.
All in all not bad for under $100.00.

 Here's a pic of my unfinished toy if your interested:
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Frontrow/4877/midmoog3.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Frontrow/4877/midi2cv8.jpg

Terry Furber