MOTM

I think you have a minor misconception aboot the VCO.  The keyboard does 
not cause the VCO to trigger or fire.  The  VCO is always "on", the 
keyboard (in your configuration) is telling the VCO what frequency to 
generate.  If you remove the ADSR and the VCA from the patch, you will 
see that the VCO is always on and that the frequency depends on the last 
keyboard note played.

The keyboard is sending oot two signals in your patch: 1 is the CV to 
the VCO to determine the pitch of the note and 2 is the gate to the ADSR 
to determine the dynamic envelope.

Does this help?

PLL, BFG

Matthew Hiscock wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I had a pretty basic "theory" question about how decay works in a 
> (mono) modular:
>
> Let's say I have a simple [keyboard -> vco -> vcf -> vca -> mixing 
> desk] setup, and that I'm using an eg to control the vca.
>
> When I press a key on the keyboard, it triggers a certain note on the 
> vco and also makes the eg fire. Then when I take my finger off the 
> keyboard, does that note instantly stop sounding at the vco level? I'd 
> be inclined to think "yes" but then what about decay....
>
> If I take my finger off the keyboard, the eg wants to have the signal 
> continue - if there's no more signal, obviously the "decay" control is 
> irrelevant.
>
> Is it then the case that the vco in a modular is *always on* so that 
> you *need* a vca to just selectively bring up the volume when a note 
> is actually being played? And the purpose of voltage control is to 
> just adjust the frequency, not turn the signal "on" or "off"?
>
> I ask this because I'll be growing my modular (from just a filtering 
> station) in very slow increments, so I want to make sure I get the 
> order right.
>
> thanks,
> Matthew
>
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