PAiA 9700 & MIDI2CV

[J. Larry Hendry]

> From: Andrew Schrock <aschrock at cs.brandeis.edu>
> I believe that the midi2cv needs to have two jumpers installed to have it
> operate as volts/octave. Is that what you're talking about? 

If we are discussing the 9700 MIDI2CV8, then I would like to offer some
facts to enlighten this discussion from an owner.  I have two MIDI2CV8s in
the single space rack mount.  There is no firmware selection between V/Oct
and V/Hz unless John has been hiding some secrets (and firmware upgrades)
from me.  When you build your MIDI2CV 8 you build it for EITHER V/Hz or
V/Oct, NOT both.  An extra circuit board and 4 extra tuning controls are
provided on the V/Hz board addition.  The standard MIDI2CV8 without this
board addition is V/Oct - period.  There might be some way to install some
ganged switch to switch all of the outputs from one scale to the other IF
you have the V/Hz board installed.  However, I have not looked into that
option enough to determine if it is possible.  So, I built one of mine for
V/Hz and the other for V/Oct.  The rack holds two, the price was right, so
what the heck.

Basically, you determine whether your MIDI2CV8 will be V/Hz or V/Oct during
the construction.  If there is something else newer than that, I am in the
dark.  So, if one of the great synth techs (respect intended) on this list
knows more, please correct me.  I do know that Kevin Lightner used one of
these in an ARP project he did but he made some modifications to it.  Given
his reputation, I would expect whatever modifications he made were probably
darn good ideas.

Now, the newer version 2.0 firmware does support either Mono or Mulit
modes.  Default is mono changing to multi is as simple as sending a program
change # 00 to the MIDI2CV8. No sysex required.

If there are other owners of the MIDI2CV8 that have elected to install the
V/Hz board, I would like to converse with you concerning changes effected
by the latest firmware upgrade.  Please e-mail me privately if you have one
of these.

Concerning the firmware upgrade, I would like to thank John Simonton for
distributing this significant performance upgrade as a "bug repair."  I did
buy my MIDI2CV8s when they were first made available.  John provided all
the early buyers with the upgraded firmware at no cost, including the chip)
because there was some bug (in the din sync I think).  We got a lot more
than a bug correction from the deal.  Thanks John.

I have since purchased a Kenton Pro2000 and can say that it is superior to
the PAiA kit.  However, it also cost 4 times as much.  The PAiA is a great
value for the price.  The Kenton is expensive and worth it.  Put the two
together and you have mega channels, using the Kenton for CV accuracy and
the PAiA for all those extra triggers and gates you need.

While I am on the subject, I do not own Tony's Expressionist.  But every
single person I have ever heard say anything about it was saying ALL great
things.

Larry Hendry