Wiardgroup

--- In wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com, RSA <wiard300@y...> wrote:
> Hi Gary. Can you expand on the added capabilities of some of these
mods, I am interested in the:
>  
> VCO coarse FREQ knob and VCA mod

I have been using an AS French Connection as my keyboard for the 300.
 It outputs 0 volts at the lowest c key, and a volt per octave above.

  The issue is this;  the lowest note in the orchestra is the B flat 3
octaves below middle c.  In order to play this note, the lowest B flat
on the keyboard is a minor 7th above the zero volts' c, which means
that the VCOs will have to play this low B flat with nearly 1 volt
being sent from the keyboard.  With such an offset, the 300 VCOs would
not tune that low.  So this mod changes a resistor value on the coarse
tune pot to increase its range an additional five octaves.

I also had this problem when using a Doepfer Shaltwerk with this
system.  The Shaltwerk performed fine with the excepton that when you
introduced a midi keyboard to transpose the sequences, it simply added
the corresponding midi note's voltage to the sequencer's note value,
causing even the lowest sequencer/keyboard combinations to output
around middle c.  This mod simply allows me to set the VCO frequency
to as low as I care to, regardless of whatever lack of control I have
of the device controlling the system.

The VCA mod is simply that Grant has found that by moving some of the
 signals around,  crosstalk from the VCO is greatly reduced.  When
using an unmodified VCA to gate a Sine Wave for FM, the pulse wave is
faintly present. even when fully closed.  This mod greatly reduces
this crosstalk, making them much more useful as an independent
circuit, without the trace presence of the pulsewave signal of the
mother VCO.

>  
> Borg VCA mod

All of the latter day Borg Filters have the VCA mode, which switches
the Borg into a 1 poll filter mode, similar to the Buchla Lowpass Gate
in "Dual" (VCA & Filter) mode.  I use the Borg in this mode on almost
every patch.  I give the patches a very woody character, often
associated with Buchla Synths.

I just received another Borg, and it does not have this mod.  It goes
off to Wisconsin tomorrow...

>  
> Omni Filter gain mod

The OmniFilter gain mod was a way of compensating for the lower output
of the Omni in Bandpass mode.  It simply gives gain to the inputs when
they are turned all the way up.  It allows one to overdrive the Filter
even when you are using a single source.

>  
> Noise Ring Sync

This allows for the syncronization of the Clock circuit of the Noise
Ring with an external signal.  I thought that, in lieu of having an
external clock input, being able to sync the internal osc provides
some sort of way to set the relationship of the Noise ring to other
time based modules in a patch.

That's it.  Grant = if you have anything to add about this, please
jump right in!

This week, we (it's Grant who is doing everything - I am just paying
for it) will be getting the first etched Wiard faceplate (a Blue JAG
with lions).  If this works out, Grant thinks that it may mean that he
will be able to continue to manufacture 300 Series systems!  That is
very good news....


Gary

Gary