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Subject: Re: Sync'ing oscillators...

From: "J. Larry Hendry" <jlarryh@...
Date: 1999-12-28

> From: "Brousseau, Paul E (Paul)" <PaulBr@...>
>
> On the MOTM-300, however, the sync is marked "I/O". How does it know
which
> oscillator is the master and the slave? Do you plug the Sync I/O jacks
into
> each other, or you you send the oscillator outs to the sync in? And
what's
> the functional difference between hard and soft syncing? Or do I have
> completely the wrong idea of what the sync feature does?

Well, here is my take on it. Basically, the sync I/O on the MOTM is the
ONLY place to connect sync input. You then use the switch to select hard
or soft sync. Soft sync is more what you described of the slave oscillator
being a multiple of the master oscillator. Hard sync is another story. A
few months back right after the 300 came out, there was a lot of discussion
in this subject and a minor modification was made to the soft sync
function. Hard sync forces the slave oscillator to the same frequency as
the master, which can result in significant distortion of the slave
waveform, AND a very well recognizable sound. Once you hear hard syncing,
you will say "oh yeah, I have heard that on <insert list of recordings
here>.

You can use a waveform output of the master oscillator as the signal source
to connect to your sync input of the slave oscillator. However, you can
ALSO use the sync I/O jack as the output of that signal. When using the
sync I/O as an output, you should set the sync switch to soft. Using the
sync I/O as the source of your sync from your master allows you to not tie
up one of the waveforms (although I guess you could use a multiple). I
find I always use the sync I/O as my output signal source from my master
osc. I guess that will change when the micro-VCO comes out since it may
not have sync. It will need to always be the master with the 300s getting
their sync source from one of the micro waveforms.

Now, one of the more experienced modular guys will have to speak to which
of the available waveforms makes the best sync source.

Larry (stooge still learning modular) Hendry