[sdiy] RE: [AH] Analogue Sys. RS300 CV to Midi - 1st Impressions

[phillip m gallo]

Peter,

Your MIDI quantizer sounds like a great module,(which is what i would call
any module that bridged the analog and digital technologies and not require
attached PC).

Can you assign as single input voltage across a pair of MIDI Controller
Coarse and Fine message types?  For instance Breath Controller number 2 and
34 (dec)?

regards,
p

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Grenader [mailto:peter at buzzclick-music.com]
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 1:59 PM
To: analogue at hyperreal.org
Subject: [AH] Analogue Sys. RS300 CV to Midi - 1st Impressions


This morning I had the fortune of laying my hands on the first Analogue
Systems' RS300 to hit North America the moment it was unboxed.  I thought
I'd give you all my impressions of this (hint) fabulous device.

I understand that this touches upon a sore subject for some of you (midi
instruments) and at best the great debate for the remainder.  My personal
feeling is that analog and digital machines CAN live together as both have
their place and purpose in that society.  Well, the RS300 just brought them
(a lot) closer.

This device has 8 programmable inputs and one midi output.  Each of the 8
ins can be user-assigned through a front panel LCD screen to any of the 127
midi controller numbers so that analog voltages be used to control midi
instruments via their midi implementation charts. This alone is quite
liberating, as it breaks you free from what I see as the two big misses on
all analog modeling instruments - the lack of control modularity -and- the
inability to transmit most of the controls signals they can generate out of
the of the instrument to others.

The RS300 erases all that.  Imagine having filters sweeps synced to pans on
not only one instrument, but many - all at the same time.  Envelopes longer
than those each machine is capable of generating.  Random control of
anything you wish.  Audio range A.M. Non -linear control. - there are a
billion possibilities.

This type of control is nothing new to analog machines.  The Doepfer A-192
has allowed you to do this for a few years, and it allows for twice the
inputs (16) as the new Analogue Systems device.  There is one distinct
difference between the two which however which, for the time being,  puts
Bob WIlliams' new gizmo that  a football stadium ahead of the Doepfer
offering:

Channel 1 can be assigned to generate midi on/off messages.

Your RS-300 can be used to not only control a midi machine, but play it as
well.  This is a big deal.  It was possible using Doepfer equipment, but
required the purchase of their keyboard controller board, a soldering iron,
a clugey interface and some solid design knowledge to get it working and
while it did well for a limited range of notes, full polyphony was a bit of
a core and a hardware nigthmare.  The RS300 does this without thinking.

While I was playing around wit this thing, I got an analog sequence going
and used that to play a Voyager. WOrked like a charm and  the tracking was
perfect when the same sequence was routed through a quantiuzer and applied
to the 1v/octave freq input of an Analogue Systems oscillator. Think of the
possibilities. Keep in mind that if I had wished, I could have recorded this
sequence as a midi track  in Cubase, or DP, or Protools, where is could be
stored for future use.

Because of the unit's LCD screen, you don't need a computer in between the
two for easy programming.  To me, this is as equally of big of a deal as its
ability to generate midi notes.  No Sounddiver template, no Mac/PC madness,
no hassle.  You can get it up and working with two patch cables from a cold
start.

I've used the A-192 extensively and have grown to appreciate what this type
of control is capable of.  If you've heard Electrolux, its littered with
this as 98% of the sound on that piece was generated on a SuperNova Ii,
although the added analog control had almost everyone fooled..

Now with the added feature of easy generation of midi notes I'm really going
to go nuts.

- P

P.S. Electrolux can be heard here:

http://www.buzzclick-music.com/music.html

scroll to its title and hit the 'listen to' link.

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