Frank,
I have a PAiA MV-8 that is collecting dust. I always had a hard time
getting it calibrated just right with a Korg Mono/Poly. I got an Encore
Expressionist last year and it has worked very well for driving multiple
synths. I've also heard good things about the JKJ Electronics converter for
driving a single synth.
I tend to work with both MIDI and CV so I can't really help you decide. For
some things, like good exponential portamento, you can't beat a good
monophonic CV keyboard. I try to use MIDI and sequence most parts through
MIDI/CV but sometimes you just gotta control it in real time and put down
the audio.
The JP-4 mods look very interesting. I hadn't seen them before. The synth
that I've owned the longest is my JP-4. I bought it new in 1980 and I doubt
that I will ever part with it. [I sold a Moog CDX (aka The White Elephant)
and a Fender Rhodes to get it!] I've wondered about getting CV into it and
now I know that it can be done! I doubt that I would use it as a 4-voice CV
keyboard but ya never know. I always could get great control out of the
sideways mounted Roland pitch bender. It is a lot easier for me to get
natural vibrato out of that bender than any vertically mounted wheel. I
guess an alternative would be to find a Roland System 100M model 184 4-voice
keyboard but that would be more than a really good MIDI/CV converter!
-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Vanaman
To: motm list
Sent: 2/9/2000 8:47 PM
Subject: [motm] MIDI->CV; KBD->CV
From: Frank Vanaman <
fvanaman@...>
Hi y'all
I'm looking for comments-
Recently there was a comment about the PAiA MIDI2CV convertor being, er,
well, about as good as one might expect for the price. (Larry H, I
think?)
After the er, ah, <cough> modest financial outpouring required to get me
MOTMing, I'm not inclined to spend a great boatload of cash on a
MIDI->CV convertor ∗right at the moment∗.
When I got my 300 VCO going, I did the calibration with the Mono/Poly,
which I discovered is my only V/Oct synth (particularly strange since
it's a Korg) with actual CV connections out the back. Happily, the M/P
was putting out precisely, to the best determination of the DVM, one
volt per octave. Yahoo!
So, I've got a simple CV source for now.
But what of the future? I was reading in Tom Moravansky's site about a
CV-Gate in/out modification for the Roland Jupiter 4.
http://www.synthservices.com/jp4.html(and beware, the files are big, for no apparent reason)
It seems as though this could be a neat way to have up to 4 voices worth
of CV and Gate -- hand played, that is, or arpeggiated by the JP-4. As
you might have guessed by all this hemming and hawing, MIDI is not a top
priority with me. (Though please don't get the impression that I'm a
MIDI nay-sayer!)
So, is anyone else out there sorta wandering in this direction for a CV
generation contraption? (or is everyone using the lovely Kenton
convertor?)
Just idly wondering-
Frank Vanaman
Baltimore