MOTM

Thank you for that review.  I've been looking forward to ordering one of these
for a very long time but had it on the back burner until now.  I had no idea
about the clock input and pulse output...what great features.


--- Richard Brewster <pugix@...> wrote:

> I have used my Blacet Miniwaves mostly for quantizing, since I like to 
> use scale tones in my aleatoric musings.  I've looked around for a 
> dedicated quantizer, but never found anything well suited to a standard 
> MOTM setup until this.  Not sure when it was added to the Modcan B 
> lineup, but the Dual Quantizer 55B fills the bill.  I've updated my 
> website with some photos and a two minute MP3 demo.
> 
> http://www.pugix.com/top-cabinet.htm#quantizer
> 
> The Miniwave does well as a quantizer.  Modcan offers a version of the 
> Miniwave, too, with a built-in VCO.  There's a quantizer bank in the 
> standard Blacet ROM.  The Davidson SCALE Quantizer ROM is excellent, 
> too.  I'll speak to the differences between the quantizing with the 
> Miniwave and the Modcan 55B in a bit.  First, about the physical Modcan 
> 55B module.
> 
> As you can see from the photos on my site, the 55B fits perfectly into 
> my MOTM rack.  Although it's a thinner panel, the 1/16-inch difference 
> of height (shallower than the 1/8-inch MOTM panels) is barely 
> noticeable.  What *is* noticeable of course is the color.  The panel 
> design is nice and clean.  The jack spacing and locations are different 
> from MOTM.  The switches are mini-toggles, not bat-handles.  Alpha pots 
> are used.  I replaced the knobs, not just because of the look, but 
> because Modcan knobs have a gap in the flute that the set screw goes 
> through, and your finger catches on it.  It's annoying.  Otherwise, 
> build quality is very good; it's clearly assembled with care.  You'll 
> notice that the hardware consists mainly of a large PIC 
> microcontroller.  The six trimpots are labelled, but there's no mention 
> of them in the instruction manual, which is very short.  It would be 
> nice to have a calibration procedure.
> 
> Lead time on this was two months from placing the order and payment and 
> receipt of the module.  I never ordered from Modcan before, but this 
> seems about normal.  When I placed the order, Bruce Duncan responded 
> quickly and asked what power cable I required.  He supplied a MOTM power 
> cable adapter at no extra cost.
> 
> The 55B features.
> 
> There are two identical and separate quantizers.  Each has an input for 
> the CV to be quantized, an output, a clock input and a pulse output, and 
> three control inputs.  There are four parameters, three of which are 
> under voltage control.  You manually select one of three fixed scale 
> banks.  This isn't under VC like the Miniwave bank is.  Each bank has 16 
> scales, selected by the sum of a pot and a SCALE CV input.  There is 
> also a TRANSPOSE pot and CV input; the Miniwave has nothing like this.  
> It is a key transposition, not just an offset.  (I don't really 
> understand the difference.  Maybe one of you will explain it.)  Finally, 
> there is an INVERT input that responds to a gate.  This simply inverts 
> the output around ground.  If your input is all positive, when inverted 
> it is all negative.  I didn't quite see the utility of this until I 
> realized that negative inputs get quantized just fine, unlike the 
> Miniwave, which needs a zero to +10V input in quantizing mode.  So you 
> can merrily quantize a MOTM-320 LFO, using any of its waveforms.  You'll 
> normally want to use an external attenuator on the input for overall 
> scaling.  None of the inputs has a pot for attenuation, due to lack of 
> panel space.
> 
> With nothing patched to the CLOCK input, quantizing happens when the 
> input crosses a quantized boundary, just like with the Miniwave.  On 
> each transition you get a short pulse out of the PULSE output.  It's 
> something I have wished the Miniwave had. (I saw a schematic somewhere 
> describing a pulse output Miniwave modification.)  My demo MP3 shows 
> this off by using it to trigger an envelope generator to make a new note 
> on each transition.  Now, I found that when quantizing the output of a 
> sample and hold, the 55B works better if you clock it with the same 
> clock used for the sample and hold.  It's cleaner, because with large 
> jumps without clocking there can be a zipper effect as multiple 
> transitions are crossed. The 55B makes a nice sample and hold by itself, 
> with a no-droop digitized output.
> 
> I admit to general ignorance when it comes to scales.  But I can say 
> that the choice of scales in the three banks has a good variety.  My 
> favorite is the B bank, which includes Algerian, Altered, Aux 
> Diminished, Balinese, Byzantine, Diatonic, Spanish, Double Harmonic, 
> Hindu, Sixtone Symmetric, Nine Tone, Overtone Dominant, Pelog, 
> Prometheus, Enigmatic, and Octatonic.  (These are listed on the Modcan 
> website as being in the C bank, but the downloaded manual puts them in 
> bank B and to my ear this seems right.)
> 
> Overall impression is of a very nice module that I will use a lot.  Now 
> maybe it needs a few Modcan siblings in my cabinet.  The Clock 53B looks 
> very interesting....
> 
> -Richard Brewster
> http://www.pugix.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
> 
> 


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