behavior when CV out of range

[Harry Bissell]

IMHO: I wouldn't constrain CV unless something bad would happen... some
designs like filters etc don't track well anyway...
Some users like to abuse inputs... (and outputs)...

BUT I would clamp any circuits that do "bad" things like stop working, or
thump horribly.. or suddenly GET OUTRAGEOUSLY LOUD... or things like clock
frequencies breaking into the audio range....

I hope that doesn't anwser your question :^)  Harry

Buck Buchanan wrote:

> Hi all, got a question for the group on basic design philosophy:
>
> What's the consensus on how a given module should handle CVs that go
> "out of range."
>
> One of many possible examples: Some VCO is set up to handle a CV range
> of say -5V to +5V (system CV range).  And lets just say that when the CV
> goes over +5V, the sweep tracking goes out the window, the freq. goes a
> little further and stops - no harm done.  And suppose on the "bottom"
> that the module stops oscillating as the CV drops below -5V.  There
> could be other symptoms (including device failure I suppose) and this
> type of thing could apply to any voltage controlled module/parameter.
> I'm purposely being non-specific.
>
> So what's the feeling out there?  Do you like a module that exhibits
> poor,  non calibrated, or even bizarre behavior at the end of it's
> ranges?  Or would you rather have it setup so it's not possible to go
> out of range (either with clamps, clippers, etc.)?
>
> Personally, I've got some modules with precision clippers in the CV path
> so the range stops cold exactly where I want it too.  But maybe that's
> not the best thing to do especially in cases where nothing "bad" happens
> as CV goes out of range.
>
> I know one option is to set it up such that a CV *shouldn't* go out of
> range:  say when manual control (CV offset) is at "max" and input CV is
> at "max" then the total CV will be just at "maximum".  The drawback to
> this seems that without an external CV applied, the module can't be
> tuned to it's maximum range.  I believe some Serge modules fall into
> this category.
>
> Part of the reason I ask is that I tackle this issue almost every time I
> start a new module and I notice that a lot of the designs out there
> don't *appear* to address this issue.
>
> Any enlightenment is much appreciated!
>
> Buck