-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Estee [mailto:
mikest@...]
I've always thought it would be nice if one could standardize a
schematic syntax for modulars. Something for describing topology, not
so much as an exact sound (tweak the knobs!) I know there's already a
schematic language for signal processing, and that might be a good
place to start, but I was hoping for something a little higher level.
Way back in the Dark Ages (the 70's) there WAS a standard for this. In a
flowchart-like format, signal sources were drawn as circles (usually with
the waveform drawn in the center), control voltage sources (controllers)
were rectangles, and modifiers were triangles drawn 'pennant-like.' Signal
flow was generally drawn from left to right; control voltages went
vertically, with a tendency to put CV sources at the bottom affecting the
modifiers, etc. above them. Parameters were drawn under each element, etc.
This is what a lot of us used for many years. You can see it in a lot of old
issues of Keyboard and Polyphony (later Electronic Musician) magazines.
Then modulars winked out of view, and when they came back, it seems everyone
has completely forgotten these conventions. This came up about three years
ago and I mentioned this; few knew what I was talking about. It was
eventually dismissed as an "East-Coast thing."
Honest! This was really used! Widely, at the time, or so we thought! <g>